Putin Strikes

[OJsDad]

So, have any of you actually got to play Putin Strikes yet.  If so how is.

I'm wanting to get back into board wargaming.  Growing up in the 80's I liked Gulf Strike and World War 3 games, and would like to find some games dealing with modern issues. 

[panzerde]

Still sitting here, unpunched. Too much else in front of it!


It looks good, and a quick glance at the rules suggests that it will be a quick game to learn. The most interesting part I've seen so far is the two large areas on the map that are already marked as nuke contaminated! Nothing like fighting in the vicinity of Chernobyl.

[mirth]

Putin Strikes Manual available on-line Downloaded it just a while ago, too early to comment on this yet 

Nice. Some interesting design decisions.

[Crossroads]

Still sitting here, unpunched. Too much else in front of it!


It looks good, and a quick glance at the rules suggests that it will be a quick game to learn. The most interesting part I've seen so far is the two large areas on the map that are already marked as nuke contaminated! Nothing like fighting in the vicinity of Chernobyl.

While I've famously unpunched it and tidied it up with those Oregon Lam marvel makers, I've not yet had the time to actually play it. We've got one more Blood and Bridges scenario queued up at the club, then one Nations at War / Airborne scenario. After that I'd sure like to give this a go.

Seems reasonably simple and fast flowing, perfect for those three hour Thursday club sessions. What intrigued me was the concept all units become disrupted after action, to resemble the "first month of war" effect on untried troops who're otherwise armed to their teeth. 

[avrotim]

Putin Strikes has been sitting at my front door all day and nobody told me.  Dang kids...

[OJsDad]

Wife is asking for Christmas gift ideas for me.  I'm going to put this on the list.  Is the best place to purchase from oss site or is there a better place to purchase. 

[Crossroads]

Finally found the time to have a first go at the game. Instead of playing the full game, I just decided I'd have a little test game with Invasion of the Baltic states as the objective.

So I set a couple of home rules for this small scale solo.

Baltic states with their organic units, and to make for the Bn sized forces now about to be deployed to each nation, I gave them the weakest NATO Bdes each instead, to even up things. I gave them six Airpower chits, but decided that only three of those would be available for first turn.

For Putin's forces, I alloted them two full Guards Tanks Divisions (the only two Div chits in the game), three Air movable Bdes per Baltic nation to invade, and finally, three regular Mech Bdes per Baltic country they face, for a total of 2 Divisions and 18 Bdes. I gave them five Airpower chits, for an initial air superiority over the map.

The rule set is relatively simple, here's some key points.

• Stacking limit is two divisions per hex, three brigades counting as one division for stacking purposes.
• Movement factor is not on the chits, each unit has a 6 MP in their use. River crossing, Forests take 2MPs.
• Combat Results Table depicts losses as Bdes, for instance a 1/2 result is attacker losing one Bde step and defender two.
• All attacking units are Dispersed/Disrupted after fighting, making for some interesting counter attack options.

Here's the setup. I kept the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian units at their home soil, while deploying the NATO Bdes in a manner they could fight together as one stronger Battlegroup if so decided.

Russians are deployed so the other Guards Tank Division attacks from Pskov, another from Belarus having traveled from Smolenks. Otherwise I try to keep my options open.



Turn 1 sees the Red Horde invading (well, they do have red chits!), with the first objective a quick annexation of Lithuania.

First, a 2x6d roll for air superiority. Advantage Russia, so they place their Airpower chits first. (They should have been off the map in the setup, actually).

In Latvia, the three Air Assault Brigades land to the middle of the country, to secure a perimeter for the advancing forces who first need to take Vilnius. Two Airpower chits support the attack on Vilnius, any surplus Airpower moves the CRT one col left (and never any more), so I could have done with one Airpower here, and sent another one to Latvian coast to support the destructions of the Latvian Bdes there. 

In Estonia, I decide to stay behind Narva river, and wait for my Guards Tank to storm their way north first.

[spoiler=Turn One - Movement][/spoiler]

Turn 1 Russian phase done, with Vilnius holding on (cities have an organic Garrison force with a DF of six, and cities shift CRT colums two cols to the left. There's the river too, one col shift, so Russian Airpower only shifts one col to the right against three defensive col shits. A 3:1 attack becomes 1:1 attack. A lucky die roll with 1/1 result. (The remaining defending Lithuanian unit uncorrectly dispersed, only attacking units Disrupt).

One of the peculiarities of the rule set is that any destroyed units get a chance to re-enter the game, except when a casualty to Nukes. I did not allow re-entries here as I wanted to see what the units in play can achieve.

There's a clear opportunity for NATO forces to counterattack in the Latvian plains. Trying that during NATO turn! 

[spoiler=Turn One - Russians Attack!][/spoiler]

Turn 1 NATO phase sees the counter attack in Latvia succeeding with 2:1 odds and a 1/2 results. The stack consisting of two Russian Air assault Bdes is wiped out, while I choose the weakest attacking unit, a NATO Bde, to become casualties. (There's a penalty for units from different nations when attacking together, but I didn't use it here.)

Situation in Estonia is worrying, I move my NATO and Estonian Bde together, and bring an Airpower chit to defend them. NATO's only got three Airpower chits at this stage.

The picture is taken during Turn 1 Administrative Phase, where all Disrupted units recover for next turn action.

[spoiler=Turn One - NATO Counterattacks!][/spoiler]

At the end of Turn 3, Lithuania falls, and the invading forces in Vilnius can consider their options for the remainign three turns (I gave Russians just six turns for this scenario, instead of the 8 turns the full game allows for).

In Latvia, the two Latvian Bdes securing the coastline for later NATO reinforcements were wiped out, but as a result of two 1/1 CRT results the two attacking Russian Air assault Bdes.

In Estonia, the NATO Bde together with the Estonian Mech Bde were casualties for the invading forces, but at least were able to destroy one Russian Mech Bde, while the Guards Tank Division considers its options. Time is running out, so leaving Estonia to be, the remaining Russian forces decide to go all out to take Riga, and annex Latvia as the minimum goal for the game.

[spoiler=Turn Three - Lithuania Falls!][/spoiler]

Turn four saw the Russians deploying around Riga, and they were left with two turns to take the city. As defending a city, with an organic DF of six, the remaining Latvian, Lithuanian and NATO forces held on. Turn five resulted in a 1/1 combat results, and for the final Turn Six Russians would have needed a roll of 5 or 6 for a 1/2 results, and entering the city.

A roll of 2 for the final turn was well depicting the lowering Russian morale, and with a result of 0/1 one more Russian Mech Bde became casualties. Time having ran out, Latvia held, more pressure was put on Putin, and my little test game ended in a most satisfying result for the defending forces there.

[spoiler=Turn Six - Latvia and Estonia Survive to fight an another day!][/spoiler]

Final thoughts: Well that was fun. I need to read the rules over a couple of times, playing a solo game is always difficult with one pair of eyes on the rules only. Regardless, Putin Strikes! was the fast moving fun battle I assumed it to be.

And, I need to find a piece of plexi glass that fits my office desk as well, for those days the kitchen table is out of reach  >:(

For the little test game, having two additional NATO Bdes on map saved the day. With organic Baltic units alone, and the one NATO Bde supporting it, this would have seen at least Latvia falling as well. Of course, the attacking Russian formations were not based on any real situation either, so fun little test battle it was.

Next, I will need to take the game to our wargaming club one of these Thursdays. The game plays fast, and even a full battle is not that counter intensive, as this picture from BGG PS forums portrays:

[spoiler=Full Set-up as seen in a BGG Screenshot][/spoiler]

Well done One Small Step Games, recommended action. Now bring the sequel (Struggle For Finland) out now so we can join the maps! 

[Crossroads]

The other week we played a tentative practice session with Tinkershuffle before commencing with a full game. As with my solo session, a Baltic scenarios loosely based on the RAND article. The main difference here is RAND played their wargame with Bn sized counters, what we had here was Bdes and Divs, so less counters, which of course was nice as we're still getting our feet wet with this one.

Havind done the solo session, and having read the single review at BGG, a negative at that (Putin Strikes Out) , I was a bit concerned playing a live opponent this time.

My first concern was the fact the units can either move (six to twelve hexes per turn), or fight, not both. Felt a bit strange as turns indeed are half weeks. But for pure game playing feel, forgetting the time scale, it worked quite nicely actually. Very dynamic gameplay, as counters are moved one stack at a time, per side. Quite easy to make change of plans on a fly, to follow a new opportunity, or what not. A bit like checkers, where you have a plan at the back of your head, and once you sneak that final chit in, all sorts of things cascade in all of a sudden.

The other concern was the Air rules, but it worked quite nicely too. Unlike in my solo play where I misinterpreted the rule, either side gets a full air control per turn, while the other one sits out. Not fun to sit there, taking it all in. Here we agreed on a small house rule, where the attacker (ie Russia) always gets the air supremacy for the first turn. I played the Russians, did not get air supremacy for the first turn, nor the next, ... ah it all went a bit fubar after that. Which is fun of course. So no worries there either.

The one concern I share with the review is that City Garrisons are too strong at 6 defensive points. With the combat modifier one gets from being in a city, it really slows the attacker down, forcing them to fight a war of attrition at every single city hex. So for the full game, maybe a house rule where garrisons are 3 at defense, not 6.

A fun, quick play. Not a simulation, that's for sure, but a fun, moderately easy game regardless.

I have preordered the sequel, "Struggle for Finland", here's hoping it arrives soon!

What else. Oh, we did not use the optional rule for electronic warfare for our game. Maybe next time.

As a summary: if you're looking for a realistic simulation of contemporary battle field, this game ain't it. On the other hand, if you're after a good looking, easy game with a modern theme, this might be worth a closer look. The lack of any scenarios is a minus. Quite easy to make one, though, with not that many different counters in the mix.

[Crossroads]

For some reason I can't upload pictures at the moment, time out after time out. Maybe later  Edit: managed to upload the files

[bayonetbrant]

in case you needed a laugh

[yt]https://youtu.be/YzKhz_p4Xo4[/yt]

[JasonPratt]

I couldn't watch any more after she started peppering the game board with Putin pieces. Did they decide the square chits needed to have their corners clipped to fit the hexes better? -- and if so, was there a sped-up montage of that happening?

[bbmike]

That's probably the most time Ben's ever spent with a real, live woman. 

[JudgeDredd]

in case you needed a laugh

[yt]https://youtu.be/YzKhz_p4Xo4[/yt]

I stopped after she started attacking the box with those knives!  :hide:

[mirth]

Can't wait for her review of Next War: Poland.

[acctingman]

She's kinda hot O0