Drive on Moscow

Game facts

Solitaire - This is a two player game that plays fine as a solitaire game. Just play both sides as best as possible. The Soviet attack / defence strengths are not known to either player until they become involved in combat (see below), this is a bonus to solitaire play.

Game time - The first half of the game takes longer than the second half, set aside around five and a half hours for the full 9 turns.

Game size - This is a two mapper, which will occupy an area of around 3' x 4'. There are 352 counters but half the Russian Order of Battle comes on as reinforcements during the game, so you need an area (like a box lid) set aside for them. setup takes 50 minutes.

Complexity - Described as a low to mid complexity game, I would agree, this has a complexity level of around 4 out of 10. The actual rules are only about 10 pages long. They are in an easy to read two column format, they are well written and complete and I did not come across any area of ambiguity.

The charts and turn track are helpful because they include all the minor rule references that you may forget, such as when to withdraw units from the game and when to consider announcing an offensive. Also the combat effects caused by terrain are faithfully given (not always the case in games).

Drive on Moscow Decision Games.
Original design by Joseph Miranda and reworked by Ty Bomba

This is a two map game, covering the 1941 German offensive in the Russia during October / November for the campaign to capture Moscow.
The map area covers Kalinin in the north to Kursk in the south, with the map scale being 7.5 miles per hex. Units are divisional for the Germans and division / brigades for the Soviets.

A couple of nice touches to the game are (1) All Soviet (non-guard) units are untried, that is, they are placed onto the map face down, so that neither player knows the attack / defence strength of any unit until it becomes involved in combat. This creates some really interesting moments, as defence strengths can range from between 1 and 5 points. (2) Only the Germans exert Zones of Control. This means that the Russians need to maintain solid lines in defence to prevent German incursion, while their own options to retreat become severley restricted as they are often entangled in enemy ZOC's.

As the Soviet player, it is easy to become alarmed at the fast growing pile of eliminated units. However, this game is not about casualties, it is about the Germans trying to obtain geographical objectives in a tight timeframe, with the deteriorating weather increasingly working against them. The Russians will not get many opportunites to attack, but the skill in handling the Russian army is to block / slow down the German forces and disrupt their timetable. Considering the Russian don't have a real capacity to attack, this manoeuvring keeps the Russian player fully engaged.
This website favours smaller games but as a 'mini monster', this is a very playable big game, for those times when you you are looking for something slightly grander to play.

The replay value in this game, is trying to work out how best to use the German army to achieve the objectives within time. Proving that the 'winning plan' still elludes me, here are some replay notes from my most recent game. The sequence of play allows players to

choose whether to move then assault, or assault and then move. I decided the Germans should move first, as this would give me a chance to conduct overruns during movement and then set myself up for some good attacks in the "prepared assault phase". (however, on reflection, I now think that the Germans should start their games

Turn 1 - 1st week in October. The Germans manage to break the Russian line with ease. At Bryansk, Russian defences were so weak, that German forces actually broke through the second line. But generally, things were a little disappointing, as 15 Soviet divisions managed to pull back and avoid encirclement. In one small pocket, the Russian 109th, 363rd and 369th Divisions attempted to break

Turn 2 - 2nd week in October. The superior tactical ability of the German army allows the mechanised units to press ahead, while bypassed pockets of resistance are mopped up. Here the German Zones of Control help pin the Russian units into place.

Overall, the Soviets manage to keep the lines relatively stable but in the rear areas, there is panic, as the German advance is nearing the cities of Orel and Kursk. All Soviet reinforcements are being sent to those cities, to try and build up defensive belts.

Turn 3 - 3rd week in October. The weather deteriorates bringing the Russians some comfort. Heavy rain turns the ground to mud, slowing the German rate of advance.

Though the Russians still hold the centre sector (the Vyazma fortress line), their flanks are under heavy pressure. On their left, the Germans have reached the outskirts of Orel, which will make it difficult to reinforce the city. Further south, pressure is also mounting at Kursk, but the Germans are not strong enough there yet to actually threaten the city.

both Orel and Kursk, plus Kalinin is getting reinforced by the Russians, that to lose momentum now would be too costly. The map shows (1) German forces have crossed the 2nd defensive line. (2) in the centre, the Russians still hold the Vyazma defensive line in large numbers. (3) the Germans have surrounded Orel and though weakened, the defenders fight on. (4) the Germans have surrounded Kursk and are preparing for assault. Their forces are weaker than the battlegroup at Orel . (5) The Russians are frantically building defensive belts around Tula. (6) Moscow have a couple of guard divisions. (7) The Russians are sending reinforcements to protect Kalinin.

Turn 5 - 1st week in November. The weather worsens, so that German air support is lost and movement is greatly restricted. This combined with the fact that Orel and Kursk are now isolated, so cannot be reinforced, encourages the Germans to halt operations and refit, ready for the final drive for Moscow. The Russian High Command recognise that this lull is a prelude to a new offensive and Stalin orders a series of spoiling attacks, requiring the involvement of 15 Soviet divisions. Overall the effect iss minimal, though it forces two German mechanised divisions to fall back in the Kalinin sector.

Turn 6 - 2nd week in November. The new German offensive gets under way. There are 4 immediate objectives, the capture of Orel and Kursk, the advance across a 60 mile front to Kalinin and the 'rolling up' of the 150 mile defensive line based on the Vyazma fortifications. Re-invigorated, the German army performs well. The Russian centre collapses with just a handful of units trying

Turn 7 - 3rd week in November. Kursk and Orel both fall, freeing up the German right flank to advance towards Tula and beyond, to outflank Moscow. The importance of Tula had not been lost on the Russians, they have spent several weeks constructing rings of defences around the city (under the yellow counter) and Guard units have occupied the city.
On their left flank, German tank units have entered the outskirts of Kalinin.

Turn 8 - 4th week in November. The dreadful weather returns and movement is again painfully slow. Unable to afford the delay needed to surround Kalinin, German troops assault the city just from the south.

The fighting, best described as a bloodbath, yields very heavy casualties to both sides - yet the Russians hold on. The bad weather has effectively removed the German ability to manoeuvre at will, allowing Soviet reinforcments to concentrat for counter attacks instead of continually plugging gaps. Their attacks around Kalinin do not come to anything, but the fact that they were made, has shocked the Germans.

Turn 9 - 1st week in December. The overall situation deteriorates for the Germans. Kalinin falls but elsewhere, activity is limited to little more than tidying up the line. On the right, the panzers begin their assaults on the outer defensive rings at Tula, hoping to disrupt the defences before they became any stronger. But Gross Deutschland and 1st Panzer Division are repelled, suffering heavy casualties.

They will have to wait for the rest of the German army to catch up to them and make a co-ordinated attack. The initiative shifts to the Russians. For the first time, their aircraft are available to deliver support and with the Russian line relatively stable, the new reinforcements have concentrated to deliver 3 counterattacks. The first is near Maloyaroslavets. Six divisions attack 9th Panzer Division, pushing them back and trapping 161st Infantry Division. The second is at Tula. Seven Soviet divisions with air support,

Conclusions - The game ends with a Russian victory. For the Germans to win, they need to have controlled all of the cities or isolated / entered Moscow. Getting Moscow was clearly beyond the German reach here and failing to get to Tula faster, closed down any chance of victory. Since the Germans get their best movement rates on turns 1 & 2, the German ability to win is probably determined by how well those turns are played out. In future, I will do Prepared Assault first, to punch some holes in the Russian lines and then conduct movement, to get those big early encirclements.

Once movement rates drop, it is a good tactic for the Russians to drop back, so as to maintain a 2 hex gap with the German units, making 'moving assault' almost impossible and also ensuring that the Germans have to move before they attack, costing them the +1 modifier that they would get if they make prepared assaults before movement.