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Kevin Marshall
United States
Newbury Park
California
We Are DEVO!
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Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942
Uwe Eickert's "Conflict of Heroes" games, produced by Academy Games appeal to me on many levels. The game mechanics are elegant and far from fiddly. The components are great in form and function. But most of all the firefights play out in a very cinematic way coming down to that very last moment where things can swing either way.
The rules for Conflict of Heroes underwent a revision after the first game in the series (Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942) came out. I never played the game with the original rules but reading over the rules, I think they made a good decision. The updated rules are available on the Academy Games website or in the follow up games (Storm of Steel or Price of Honor).
"Conflict of Heroes" is a squad-level tactical wargame system. The current rules are well organized and easy to understand. They are peppered with many examples to help clarify points and designer notes that explain why certain descions were made, usually giving historical information to support the rules.
The chits used in this hex-game and large and easy to read. This is important because all the information is located on the chits. There is no need to have to look up tables and charts to figure out a particular unit or tank's information. The maps are also very stunning. The mounted boards are modular and feature very nice art. My only quibble with them is that the hex numbering is a bit counter intuitive and could be a bit darker...but then they would probably distract from the art.
Each and every game of Conflict of Heroes that I have played has been exciting and tense, often coming down to the very end of the last turn before a winner emerges. I believe that this game has been well-tested and the victory point system seems to be implemented perfectly.
This past week I had a friend over to play a firefight. My ideal goal with this game is to utilize the structured firefights to teach my opponent and I the ins and outs of this game. Unfortunately that has not been logistically possible. So this week I decided to jump to firefight number four "The Bunker".
This firefight is the first to feature vehicles and a bunker, so it was a learning experience. We both read up ahead of time so things would go smoothly, which they did for the most part. I played the Germans and activated first. Many of the Soviet units were allowed to set up hidden. It wasn't long before I drove my unarmored trucks right up into a trap. A Soviet tank hidden in the woods was revealed and showed my trucks why it is a bad idea to drive up ahead of your tank support. By the end of turn two things were going very poorly for the Germans.
I managed to divert my forces to the south after a lucky shot destroyed the second Soviet tank which was blocking my way. Prudent use of cover and my "speedy" tanks, allowed me to avoid the dreaded anti-tank gun in the bunker. Flanking the bunker enabled me to destroy it and claim the hex.
At this point all I had to do was survive the last turn, still controlling this objective and victory would be mine. The Soviets had but one tank across the valley on the top of the hill and one rifle squad that could JUST manage to reach the bunker. He would have to fire upon and destroy my tank and then use all his CAP's to get his rifle squad to claim the hex...
Well, amazingly enough the Soviets pulled it off. It was a great cinematic ending to this game.
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