Post by Whiterook on May 10, 2022 8:12:55 GMT -5
Expand your World at War battles! The initial Soviet forces have taken heavy losses, but NATO has discovered that the Soviets can give as good as they get. The smoking remnants of an American armored brigade dot the hills of the Eisenbach Gap, and still the Soviet attack continues. Now it is the hastily assembled 1st Panzer Division’s turn to stop the red horde. Will the West German’s mix of Leopard I tanks, Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and tank destroyers, coupled with a handful of lethal Leopard II tanks, be enough to stop the Soviet onslaught? It’s up to you to find out.
Oh, there’s a story to this one! I actually saw this one in a Connecticut game store, for a very nice price, and I passed it up! The reason I passed it up was, I had already bought Eisenbach Gap Deluxe (the first game of the series I’d bought, at Origins Game Faire in 2008!), and Death of the First Panzer was incorporated into that game (‘…why by another?’, I thought). Later on a decade+ later, being the purest I am, I’d scored a copy of the original Eisenbach Gap (EG) for free, and had to get Death of First Panzer (DoFP) Panzer at that pinpoint to make the collection complete! …for me, collecting games is as important as owning games.
So having decided I needed a copy of this module, I went on the hunt and paid more than had I bought it earlier. Ah, fate is a cruel Mistress! The module has a relatively small number of components – a plastic bag, cover sheet which doubles as a 11”x 17” map, single sheet of counters and scenario book (with additional rules and clarifications). All these components fit easily into the lovely EG box. The counters moved to matte finish counters, as opposed to the glossy for EG. The numbers on my counters are actually slightly smaller than the EG counters, making them even more difficult to read under stressful combat conditions
…but, I still prefer these over the new systems’. The counters in DoFP are also thicker than EG, making them easier to handle. The playing board is printed on thin folded card stock that forms the inset cover and is half the size of the EG map. There’s nothing new about the terrain features used (hills, woods, rivers, cities) compared with the EG map; but the contrast between the colors is more subdued.
And of course, the mechanics remain unchanged with the second installment of the series. Most elements have hard and soft attacking strengths, comprising a number of dice thrown and a hit number (between a 3 and 6 on a 1d6). Armoured vehicles have defence numbers, based loosely on armour thickness, again with a number for dice thrown and a ‘to save’ number. The defensive strength of infantry (squishies) depends on the terrain within a hex occupied.
On balance attack factors generally outweigh defensive strengths, so casualties quickly build (an accurate reflection of modern warfare). Rather than firing, units can move, some faster than others; although some advanced units such as Leopards and T-72s can move half their movement allowance and still fire (with negative modifiers).
What’s characteristic about WaW is that units are activated by random chit draw (generally NATO having 2 chits for every WarPac 1 = force multiplier). This random draw provides no regular pattern of turns, giving more replayability, particularly in a face to face game.