Kurt and I played at Uptown Coffee, and it was a really close game. My soviets nearly cleared the forest... the only Germans Kurt had left were his headquarters and a Marder platoon. The tensest moment for me was a period around turn 3-4 when I had my units out in the open, advancing on the woods, and the Germans got four activations in a row. I had to sit and watch my platoons methodically being annihilated, with no ability to run away, hide, respond... very demoralizing. I managed to weather it, but it felt like my capacity to hit home with a strong assault had been cut away. As it turned out, I was right, but it was a close game. Another turn might have seen the Soviets victorious.
Playing the Red Army in this game is a tricky thing, demanding a blend of aggression and caution. You only get brief windows of activity, and at the end of those windows, there's the possibility of an extended exposure to enemy attack. So it's a balance between getting your units forward, into positions where they can assault, pin down and kill the enemy, while avoiding being trapped for what feels like an eternity under enemy fire. A very cool game system that, similar to my experience with Combat Commander, takes repeated playings to master, particularly as the attacker.
