Academy Games

Two Soviet tanks are ordered to take the small village. The Soviet activates his T-34 and moves it off the road, afraid of land mines (yes, there are land mines in the game, along with mortars, artillery, wire, and much more!). The move costs him 1AP. He does not see the Anti-Tank Gun PaK36 hidden to the south, since light woods block his sight. The infantry unit immediately decides to reaction fire at the T34, at the cost of 3CPs. The infantry’s 2FP is halved to 1FP, since they are firing at the T-34's blue 19 armored defense rating. The infantry has no chance of hitting. The tank stops advancing and fires back at the infantry and deducts 5APs. He decides to fire his red 5FP, since the blue 7FP would be halved to 3. He rolls 2 dice for 9. His attack value is 14 (9 + 5). The infantry has a defense of 13 (12 plus 1 for the wooden buildings they are in). The tank hits! The German player randomly pulls a hit counter and secretly sees that his unit is pinned. It cannot move until it rallies successfully. (Any unit with a unit counter is destroyed if hit again.) The German immediately decides to rally and plays a rally action card. The card allows him to rally on a 6 or better at no AP cost. He rolls successfully, removes the hit counter and is at full strength again. The T-34 decides to stop and ends his activation. The tank counter is flipped to its used side.

The German decides to activate his PzII and moves it up the road 4 hexes for 2APs. The Soviet, seeing the tank, reacts by moving his T-26 forward for 1CAP. The PzII fires at the T-34 for 2APs. He rolls two dice for a 10, which gives him an attack value of 14 (10 + blue 4FP). This is not even close to penetrating the front 19 defense armor of the T-34. This is a problem! The Russian T-26 reaction fires at the PzII for 5CAPs. He rolls a 9 for a total 15 attack value. The PzII only has a 15 defense, so the T-26 hits and the PzII pulls a hit counter. It is an instant DESTROYED counter; he must show this to the Soviet and takes the tank counter off the board. The Soviet gains a victory point and may now activate a unit.

The Soviet feels confident and activates the T-26. He moves forward two hexes for 1AP, wanting to finish off the infantry.  As soon as he moves forward however, he is in the sights of the PaK36 who immediately reaction fires into the T-26’s flank, before the T-26 can fire at the infantry. The PaK36 deducts 2CAPs and fires rolling a 6 for a total attack value of 11. Not enough to damage the tank, which has a 13 flank value. The T-26 turns to face the new threat for 1AP, instead of firing at the infantry unit. The infantry unit reacts by charging onto the tank for a close combat assault (they are not very bright).

The T-34, seeing this, fires his machine guns at the infantry and T-26 using a “Reaction” action card he happens to hold in his hand. The T-34 rolls a 10 for a total attack value of 15 against the infantry and only a 12 against the tank (remember that red FP is halved against blue defense values). The MG fire bounces off of the T-26, but hits the infantry.

This gives a good impression of the fluidity of the game. No player ever just sits, but must always be reacting and thinking on the spur of the moment. Games are fast, furious, and fun for 1-4 players.