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    Stalingrad for Beginners: Basic Tactics
    Stalingrad for Beginners: Basic Tactics
    Stalingrad for Beginners: Basic Tactics
    Ebook181 pages1 hour

    Stalingrad for Beginners: Basic Tactics

    By George Phillies

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    About this ebook

    Stalingrad, the 1963 game from Avalon Hill, is the most intensely analyzed board wargame in the history of the wargaming hobby. Stalingrad for Beginners - Basic Tactics presents fundamentals at a level suitable for the novice player.

    Appearing just in time for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Stalingrad from the Nazi invaders, Stalingrad for Beginners -- Basic Tactics introduces novices to fundamental game tactics, including combat factor counting, 3-1-proofing, the mass 1-2 strategy, and the hypermodern defense.

    Thanks to the internet, players around the world can now compete using computer play by email tools. Phillies offers what those tools do not, namely instruction in Stalingrad game play.

    Author and Professor George Phillies is a recognized grand master in the play of Stalingrad. For almost a half century, his articles on game play, game tactics, and game strategy have been eagerly sought out by Stalingrad players around the world. His treatment "Stalingrad, the Middle Game", is widely recognized as the best single article ever written on the game. You cannot find a better instructor in Stalingrad play than George Phillies.

    George Phillies is a Professor in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute interdisciplinary program in Interactive Media and Game Development.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGeorge Phillies
    Release dateJan 29, 2013
    ISBN9781301509096
    Stalingrad for Beginners: Basic Tactics
    Author

    George Phillies

    George Phillies is a retired Professor of Physics. He also taught in Biochemistry and in Game Design. His scientific research is focused on polymer dynamics. He also writes science fiction novels and books on politics. Books by George Phillies include:FictionThis Shining SeaNine GeesMinutegirlsThe One WorldMistress of the WavesAgainst Three LandsEclipse, The Girl Who Saved the WorldAiry Castles All AblazeStand Against the LightInpreparation: Practical ExerciseBooks on Game Design SeriesContemporary Perspectives in Game Design (with Tom Vasel)Design Elements of Contemporary Strategy Games(with Tom Vasel)Stalingrad for Beginners - How to PlayStalingrad for Beginners - Basic TacticsDesigning Board Wargames - IntroductionBooks on PoliticsStand Up for Liberty!Funding LibertyLibertarian RenaissanceSurely We Can Do Better?Books on PhysicsPhysics OneElementary Lectures in Statistical MechanicsPhenomenology of Polymer Solution DynamicsComplete Tables for ‘Phenomenology of Polymer Solution Dynamics’

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      Book preview

      Stalingrad for Beginners - George Phillies

      Preface

      The series Studies in Game Design presents analyses of the design and strategy of games. George Phillies, Professor in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Program in Interactive Media and Game Development, serves as Series Editor. Professional book length contributions are invited.

      Titles in this series are

      1 - Designing Modern Strategy Games

      2 - Modern Perspectives on Game Design

      3 - Stalingrad for Beginners - Part 1 - How to Play (33,800 words, 82 full-color figures)

      4 - Stalingrad for Beginners - Part 2 - Basic Tactics (32,000 words, 84 full-color figures)

      Anticipated future titles include Stalingrad for Intermediate Players, Advanced Stalingrad Tactics, Stalingrad Replayed, and Introduction to Wargame Design.

      Foreword

      This volume is Part 2 of Stalingrad for Beginners. Part 1 - How to Play is separately available. Stalingrad for Beginners has two objectives. The first is to introduce readers to one of the great board wargames of all time, Avalon Hill's Stalingrad. The second is to demonstrate to game designers, a study by example, what is meant by game strategy and strategic analysis when the rules are completely known.

      Part 1 of this two-part book demonstrated the rules of the game. Part 2, now before you, introduces a few basic game tactics. For continuity between Parts I and II of Stalingrad for Beginners, I have used a single continuous set of Chapter and Figure numbers, so that the last figure in Part I was Figure 82, and the first Figure in this book is Figure 83.

      Why play Stalingrad? Stalingrad has passed the test of time. By an enormous margin, Stalingrad has received more strategic and tactical analysis than any other board wargame. It has survived that analysis, the opposite of games for which careful analysis found that there actually is a perfect plan that guarantees that one side or the other is certain to win. Despite careful examination by very clever players and vast amounts of competitive play, Stalingrad continues to be reasonably well-balanced, offering a good chance for victory by either side. Stalingrad offers you, the player, a game with enormous tactical depth, a game which continues to reveal new insights, better tactics, and wiser strategic considerations.

      For game designers, Stalingrad for Beginners has a different purpose. I will demonstrate that under certain conditions modern board wargames can be subject to deep serious strategic analysis. A critical condition is that the players have to know exactly what the rules are. If the rules are secret from the players, as seen for many computer games, opportunities for strategic analysis are greatly reduced. Indeed, when rules are kept secret, as in many computer games, the response of the game to player actions can be mysterious, frustrating, and pointless. The other critical condition, of course, is that the rules have to support depth of analysis. Light wargames in which combat consists entirely of rolling dice and terrain is divided into large irregular areas generally do not support deep analysis.

      Are tactics important? Why do people play games? Jim Dunnigan once reported that more than two-thirds of the people who played the games in his magazine Strategy and Tactics played the games solitaire. Many of those people were using the games to understand better the history about which they were reading

      Some people want to buy the latest thing in board wargaming, play it a few times, and move on to something completely different. Stalingrad was published a half-century ago. The play-and-move-on set has long since played and moved on.

      If you play Stalingrad, you will surely meet people who claim that that some other title has more historical accuracy. These people think that historical accuracy is good. The author’s opinion is that the ‘historical realism’ perspective has not led to better games. Stalingrad presents an alternative point of view. The virtue of Stalingrad is that it presents challenging playing opportunities for beginners, intermediate players, and grand masters of the wargame table, something that many ‘historically accurate’ games do not.

      Introduction

      The classic wargame title Stalingrad was first published by the Avalon Hill game company in 1963. While the game box and contents give no indication of authorship, the game’s designers are now widely believed to have included Charles Roberts, Lindsley Schutz, and Thomas Shaw. A 1974 Second Edition made slight changes in the rules, based on decisions and writing by Don Greenwood with significant input by myself. The discussion here is based on the 1974 edition.

      Readers who want to follow my discussion may wish to have the game in front of them. While Stalingrad is, tragically, out of print, used copies remain available on internet markets. Computer modules supporting game play via email automatically give the reader a display image of the game. Modules are available for the ZunTzu (ZunTzu.com), Vassal (VassalEngine.org), and Cyberboard (CyberBoard.Brainiac.com) computer systems, among others.. The ZunTzu (J0hn Cooper) graphics are available in laminated form from Camelot games (camelotgamestore.com/).

      What is found in this book?

      Part I introduces a few simple ideas about game tactics. Why is tactical analysis important? Tactical analysis is the primary reason for playing board war games. If you try a game that does not survive tactical analysis, you will soon move on to something else. Stalingrad has had decades of tactical examination, showing what can be done with precision analysis of clearly-specified rules. There can be no doubt that Stalingrad survives tactical analysis.

      Part II analyzes the demonstration game from the previous book. The moves are the same. Discussion centers on why moves were made and what alternative options could have been considered. Neither player made any real strategic blunders, but on some moves there were choices that were taken and choices that were not taken.

      Part III provides opening moves for a second game, illustrating one of the so-called ‘hypermodern’ defenses. Beginners will eventually encounter hypermodern defenses. Some awareness of responses may be helpful.

      Part IV supplies questions that each player should ask in planning a move. If you were designing an AI to play the game competently, finding ways to answer these questions in a computational method might be a significant forward step.

      Part V discusses how to read a Russian defense. Whether you are the German player, asking where to go on your turn, or the Russian player, anticipating how the German will respond to your move, reading Russian positions is a critical playing skill. We advance be example, rpesentinga Russian defense and analyzing it

      Part VI offers a few conclusions.

      In writing the following, I dodge gender issues by referring to some players as him and other players as her. Mindful that it was our World War 2 Russian allies who deployed women as antiaircraft gunners, as nightwitch combat pilots, and in emergency circumstances as front line troops, while German use of infantrywomen was exceedingly limited though not quite zero, I consistently refer to the German player as him and the Russian player as her. In the game, the German player also controls Finnish, Rumanian, Hungarian, and Italian units. The forces from countries other than Germany only make a modest contribution to total Axis combat strength, so in the following discussion all German and German-allied forces are described as ‘German’: They are all controlled by the German player. Some discussions refer equally to both players. I sometimes refer to the player whose turn it is as you controlling your pieces, and the other player as the enemy player controlling enemy pieces.

      Part I - Stalingrad Strategy for Beginning Players

      Chapter Twenty - Introductory Remarks

      Basic Stalingrad strategy is about four resources: military strength, position, time, and player morale. Each player must balance his or her potential losses in military strength against opportunities for positional gain or loss.

      Military strength includes: which units each player has on the board, where those units are located, how many accumulated replacement factors each player has, and the current and future replacement rates.

      Position describes the territory that each player controls, some locations being more valuable than others. It might be supposed that Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad are the most valuable locations, but in mid-game a sound case can be made that the most valuable single location is the city of Kursk.

      Time is the march of months across the time record chart. Cautious German play reduces German casualties, but slows the German advance. Plodding German play gives the Russian extra delaying positions and more units than she might elsewise have had. Clever Russian play reduces Russian casualties, or leaves the German with fewer turns to reach his objectives. Weak Russian play advances the German ahead of his timeline or forfeits units unnecessarily.

      Player morale reflects the subtle mental struggle between the players. A German player convinced that he is losing is more likely to try desperation strategies that will likely ensure his defeat. A Russian player convinced that she is losing, and that only careful defensive play can extract a victory, is less likely to search effectively for counterattacks that dislocate the German advance.

      In his original rules to Tactics II, Charles Roberts differentiated between capability and intention. Capability describes what each side is able to do within the limits of the rules. Capability is subject to exact calculation, though it is hardly unknown for a player to overlook a possible move that he or his opponent could make. Intention describes what each player is likely to plan to do, within the limits posed by available forces and rules. Intention is much more difficult to determine, though you will note my remarks where player behavior is consistent from turn to turn. For example in the demonstration game in Parts II and IV, the German player regularly declines to occupy a square for an attack if he would need to make an extra soak-off. In the author’s experience, it is actually difficult to determine what the other player is thinking in a useful manner.

      To some extent, one resource can be exchanged for another. To hold or advance their front line, players must attack, create sound defensive positions, offer up delaying units,

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