I've watched the Russian series Soviet Storm quite a few times before most of it disappeared from Youtube. There are a few episodes in English still there including this one on Operation Bagration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuV_wUHRv9s
Anyway I'm thinking about getting the game but I've noticed that the Germans don't have much of a chance. The house campaign scenario has 1 German win out of 3 games and the H2H scenario is even worse; 12 Soviet blowout wins against none for the Germans with many of the players questioning the victory conditions. Anybody have some advice on the matter; should this game be pursued? jonny
Well, I'm currently playing a Minsk GC as Sov vs the AI, so I'm not sure if my answer will be relevant, but I have two observations:
1) The Germans are well-fortified, often behind major rivers, and it is difficult for the Sovs to crack the line. Once the Sovs finally crack the line, the terrain is very swampy, with lots of rivers, so the Sov advance is channeled along a few roads, again, generally with plenty of river-crossings.
2) From what I've seen so far, it will be difficult for me to win the GC as Sov; I've captured most of the objectives other than Minsk, and still need 5000 points to simply avoid a major defeat. For a major victory, I need another 25,000 points, and I don't see where they will come from. I've already shifted my focus from taking objectives to killing Germans, but I don't see how a major victory will be possible.
So far, for a Sov player vs the AI, I cannot say that the game is very enjoyable--it is a real slog getting through the German fortifications, and once you do so, there is virtually no German resistance as you advance through the swamps on the few roads, and meanwhile you have to mop up all of the Germans along the initial lines to get VPs. meh....
key to germans-go on foot
Another question: The documentary I just watched (see above) says the Russians attacked with 5000 tanks and 2.4 million men. In F 40 the German Army is 300,000 men with 3000 tanks. The after action reports for M 44 say that the turns take 6 hours minimum: Stands to reason, a typical F 14 move with a million man army takes about 3 hours. Any input anyone?
I remember the 44 turn 5th guards is committed game was a long slog for the russians. Play that one if you have a russian player that can do his turn quickly. The german turn is a snap. The russians might take a solid committed hour and that is max with all units in play. Its a big game and you get the "minsk feel" for the terrain and the units and the year of the war. There are a ton of varied units for both sides. THe one thing that slows the game down is the bad weather. You moving 1 or 2 hexes a turn because of soft ground, mud or even a storm, the game is a drag.
No game is as big to me as F40,esp the alt game with varied startegy. I don't even think the Minsk campaign game seems that big-there are a lot of fixed units for both sides, units you cannot move. In F40 there is just a ton of crap to move every turn for both sides and it is never ending.