Updated 080622
- TITLE: Russian Front
- PUBLISHER: The Avalon Hill Game Company (TAHGC)
- SCOPE: (World War II) A Game of the War in the East 1941-1944
- TAHGC CATALOG VERBAGE: The result of another major advance in the state of the art; an innovative treatment of strategic level game of warfare on the Eastern Front of WWII.
- GAME BOX VERBAGE: Russian Front is a game that re-creates the ebb and flow of the largest, longest, and most costly military campaign of World War II. The game covers the vast theater of operations and the massive forces employed by the Soviet Union and by Nazi Germany and her allies.
- YEAR PUBLISHED (EDITIONS): 1985. An unofficial WGA 2nd edition (1998), with errata corrections, additional optional rules and other clarifications by the top rated players is available upon request.
- CREDITS
- Research and Design: Neil Zimmerer.
- Development and Rules: S. Craig Taylor, Jr.
- Production Coordination: Thomas N. Shaw
- Prep Department Coordinator: Elaine Adkins
- Typesetting: Colonial Composition
- Printing: Monarch Services
- Production Coordination:
- Playtesting: Joel Bonham, Mike Craighead, Bud Daunhauer, Joe Davis, Vincent Fratelli, Charles Gittings, Jon Hicks, Gary Hoover, Ken Kaufman, Wayne Lanham, Rex Martin, Neal Schlaffer and the Aberdeen Gamer's Association, Eric Schultz, Bruce Shelley, Clay Smith, Zeke Zelenevitz.
- NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2
- WGA COMPLEXITY SCALE (1-10): 7
- TYPICAL PLAYING TIME (HOURS): 2-18 hours depending on scenario or campaign game played.
- MAP SCALE:
- UNIT SCALE: German Divisions, Russian Armies, Naval fleets, River flotillas, Air Forces.
- TIME SCALE PER TURN: Month
- NUMBER OF GAME TURNS: Campaign game starting in 1941, 1942, and 1943 in addition to a Barbarossa 3 turn, 1942 -13 turn scenarios.
- PARTIAL ARTICLE LISTING: Click here
- GAME INVENTORY: 518 die cut counters, four mounted maps for a 32"x22" full-color mapboards, basic game rulebook, advance game rulebook, 1 die, charts.
- WBC & AVALONCON HISTORY: Continuous event since Avaloncon 1991 through 1997 then discontinued.
- PBEM TOOLS:
- A benchmark Java application VASSAL module for Russian Front is complete which I have used to complete several remote play games. . A WGA PBEM tournament is possible using a tournament scenario yet to be defined as a function of player interest.
- WGA unofficial 2nd edition Rulebook updated 12/04/07 (256 kb indexed pdf, zipped) with clarifications prompted by Q/A answered by James Pei, the recognized premier player.
- PBEM OPPORTUNITES: Contact Wargame Academy if interested as a tournament scenario is being defined and a PBEM tournament is planned.
- WARGAME ACADEMY COMMENTS: This is perhap my favorite 'small' scale operational game on the Russian Theatre. Plan for about 20+ hours for the campaign game. Very interesting impulse movement game allows the defender reaction movement and where battles take place in a hex negating units ZOC. This results in a front more fluid that that of other games such as THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN where fronts are created by interlocking zones of control. RFT is described as a game of 'holes'. Air and Naval battle mechanics illustrate the importance of these support units. As such the non-phasing player has decisions to make during the phasing players movement phase making remote play a bit more challenging. In most cases reaction movement is not use until the end of the phasing players turn. Both player allocate air and naval during both player turns. The game also uses hit points for multiple combat rounds. 'damaged' units retain their offensive capability but become more brittle. Eliminated units are more expensive to replace than removing hits through replacement points. An expanded map/rules version is in design by Marty Roeckler et al.
- WARGAME ACADEMY GAME TOOLS: Two game play copy (one unpunched) and the WGA softcopy rulebook,
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