RATTENKRIEG

UPDATED!: Rattenkrieg 1 (Rats War) Pocket Battle #1, 2nd Ed, "Assault on the Tracktor Works" is a solitaire game on a battle during the Stalingrad Campaign by the German 6th Army - the assault on the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory. Stoutly defended by the Soviets, who made use of the sewers and underground passages to move about the area like rats, to defend it block by block. Hence the name *Rattenkrieg or Rats War.   

For more history or information, please do a "Duck Duck Go" search on "Stalingrad".

Now what makes this game different than all the other Stalingrad games out there? Besides being solitaire, it is also the smallest Stalingrad game ever made! And it packs a punch in it's PBG format.

UPDATE : TPS games recently updated this game with graphics by Mark Mahaffey (PBG #1 2nd Ed).  Play is the same, just better looking game map and counters.   Also an additional PBG  that adds more territory to the game series that matches the right side with additional counters. This is PBG #6, "Battle for the Barrikady Factory".  Same rules for PBG #1 are used for PBG #6.

 

No rules have been provided to add these together, but highly probable to be made. Why? Well PBG #1 only has 4 Air Strike Track spaces on the AST and PBG #5 has 8. Doesn't make much sense that one side of the battle would have 4 less than the other side.  I just roll a die at the beginning of the game if I add both PBGs together and on an odd roll, I use the 4 space AST and on an even roll, I use the 8 space AST.  Also, I don't allow PBG #1 German units attack on the PBG #6 map.  There will not be any additional rules for playing the games concurrently.  It would be too easy for the German player to send all of the units to wipe out one map. 

This is Pocket Battle Game #1 by Turning Point Simulations (TPS). Turning Point Simulations and Against The Odds Magazine are divisions of LPS, Inc. (Landsknecht Publishing Services, Inc.). This game is copyrighted by LPS, 2010-2022.

Rattenkrieg was designed by Steve Cunliffe and developed by one of my favorite game designers Paul Rorhbaugh (see a review of his game Kekionga! A Dark & Bloody Battleground 1790" on this blog.).

The whole game comes on a 4"x6" format, printed front and back on medium card-stock, it looks like it will hold up for a few years of play. The game board is on the front, along with the "air strike tracker". In addition to the game, a player will need five D6. I used 2 yellows and 3 black d6 myself.

Here is a German aerial photo of the area on the game map, 1942. It is of the Tractor Works. The Germans did not create aerial photography, but they had the best optics in the world for their aerial cameras.
 
On the backside of the map are the instructions. Counters are double sided and need to be cut out for play (btw, one can get a free set of die cut counters for this game and the game with an order from either TPS or ATO Magazine.).

Time to break out the reading glasses and a magnifying glass. 😀

Setup is straight forward, Soviet counters are placed upside down (no peeking!) on the red (dark grey) shields. The extra Soviet counters are placed upside down to be used as reinforcements (i.e. the "pool"). German counters are placed on the grey arrows on the left side of the game board with a maximum of 2 counters (and 1 General) on each arrow. Air Strike counter is placed on "4".

Since it is a solitaire game, the Germans are controlled by the human and referred to as "the Player". While the Soviet is pretty much programed into their spots and they do not move (I would say historically accurate as Soviet units didn't think on their on very much and were under orders "to defend to the death".).

Game Turn: (or how I won war, Ma!). Find a recording of "The Sacred War" and other Soviet War songs to play during the game or the Horst Wessel Song for the Player. Also a few swigs of Jägermeister for the Player (5 or 7+ shots).
then proceed to do the following:

Strategy Phase steps 1-3
step 1 - is Soviet infiltration.
step 2 - is German movement.
step 3 - is deadly surprise (snipers & ambush).

Combat Phase 4-7 do steps 4-7 for each of the contested areas
step 4 - is dice determination
step 5 - air strike
step 6 - hellish combat
step 7 - bloody aftermath

Victory Conditions or Terms of Victory
The player wins instantly when no Soviet counters remain on the map or loses the instant there are more Soviet counters than German on the map otherwise the game continues another turn, repeating steps 1-7.

That's it. Out of the 10 100's now or so games I have played, I have lost 85% of them. Those snipers hurt! I bet there were some wicked snipers as "Hell hath no fury" like a female sniper and I don't blame them! How close to history? Well, the Germans lost the entire 6th Army at Stalingrad! They lose it here too.

Complexity of the game = VERY LOW
Solitaire = HIGH (hell, it was design from the beginning as solo, dumb bunny.)
Fun Level = HIGH
Nail biting = 4 fingers worth. And it is my scratching finger too!
Length of typical full game = 15+ minutes. Play is fast, maybe 15 to 25 minutes. First time was 45 mins, learning the rules.

The game can be found here Rattenkrieg (click on name) on Turning Point Simulations website.

Tell them that "ab" sent ya. You won't get it for free and you'll still have to pay for your coffee.

I am glad to say, I like this little game a whole lot. I am glad it was the one that Steve picked out to send to me.  As it has been a whole lot of fun this past week playing in the wood shop while waiting for glue and paint to dry on a couple of normal wood working projects I have going on. (I best be taking photos for me other blog, huh!) 

Enjoy and Goodbye till next time!

Thanks for reading!
-ab out

Also I need to add, this blog is considered to be a living blog. Changes will be made to it as needed to clarify, correct errors or update with new information.  And I apologize, but this review may contain references to graphics that are no longer on this blog. Long story, but it was Google who removed them.