blood & steel

Blood & Steel - The Battle of Prokhorovka July 12, 1943, covers the battle near Prokhorovka Station between three German Panzer Divisions and the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army, during the Kursk campaign.

Units generally represent regiments and battalions for the Germans and brigades and divisions for the Soviets. Each hex represents about half a mile.

Designer - Paul Rohrbaugh

Published by Microgame Design Group (Kerry Anderson)
see the foot of this page regarding a second edition by L2.

Game facts

Solitaire - This is a two player game that also plays very well as a one player game. Solitaire play is assisted firstly by the 'untried units' rule (see below) and secondly formations are only activated for play when their command chit is pulled blindly from a cup of mixed command chits. The random selection of chits mean that a player has no control over the order in which units can activate to move / fire.

Game time - There are only nine game turns in the game and most games can be played to a conclusion in around two and a half hours. There is only one scenario but the number of formations that are brought into play may vary from game to game. This is a Desk Top Published game, which means that the counters are not pre-mounted onto card and this is a task the players must perform a day or so before the first game is played (note, the L2 edition does have die cut counters.

Game size - The map is just 11" x 17" in size (A3 or quarter the size of a standard map), so this is game that can be played on the smallst of tables. One A4 play aid is used and this remains on the table, next to the map. Each formation only has 3 - 5 counters and for much of the game, ther are only 30 - 40 counters in play. This is an ideal game for anyone who's space is at a premium. The map is fine as it stands but I prefer to have all of my small maps enlarged at my local copy shop. The photographs below have been taken on the enlarged map.

Complexity - This is a low complexity game but the mechanics give a feel of something more substantial. The rules are presented on four pages. The basic rules only occupy two and half pages, with the optional rules adding a further half page. It is amazing that Paul has managed to squeeze such a nice game into such a small rule set while still keeping plenty of historical flavour. There are a few questions that crop up that are not covered in the rules but these are always minor and easily settled with common sense (or a die roll if common sense fails !).

Blood & Steel employs one of my favourite game mechanics - 'untried units'. The Soviets have 15 of these units, each representing the remnants of infantry divisions. Their combat strengths vary. During the setup, the Russian player shuffles the counters and places them face down onto the map (I have put a red dot on the rear of these counters), so that neither player knows their true combat values. As these untried units attack or are attacked, they are flipped to their front face to reveal their combat strengths, regularly surprising one or other of the players.

The victory points are awarded for the control of hills and villages. The Germans also get VP's for exiting units off the map, the Russins get VP's for each formation that they DON'T deploy from their reserve into the game. The soviets also get 2 VP's if they clear the map south of the rail line of enemy units (the Das Reich sector).

The VP's creats a real puzzle for the German player, who must balance the exiting of units, with the capture of terrain, whilst putting the Soviets under enough pressure that they are compelled to release their reserve formations.

At the start of each turn, both players roll for air support (only one player can have air support during a turn) and the players level of artillery support is also determined by the dice. As critical points in the battle are reached, these die rolls create moments of anxious anticipation, adding to that overall sense of lack of control that is generated by the activation (chit pull) system. The Soviets have

command and control limitations regarding the deployment of reserves directly to the critical scene as and when required. When reinforcements are requested, a die is rolled to see at which part of the map edge they will arrive - if they arrive too far away from the critical point, then the Soviet player comes under increasing pressure to release another formation in the hope that they will arrive nearer to the centre of crisis - nice touch and just one of several clever quirks that keep the rules simple and the game engaging.

Note - There is an expansion set to the game which adds another two maps.