Russia's Great War: 1914

A seven-turn game based on Russia’s invasion of East Prussia from August 17–18 through August 29–30. The Russian player wins by eliminating three German corps or by having three corps in the western end of the Western box (i.e., west of the Vistula River) and at least one corps in the other four boxes of the area-movement map. The German player’s victory requires eliminating three Russian corps and preventing any Russian units from being in the western half of the Western box. The five movement boxes are overlaid on a map of East Prussia and a portion of the Russian Empire. Each is divided into two parts, distinguished by brown in one half and yellow in the other. Opposing units may occupy the same box without being in the same area, in which case combat is not mandatory unless the German side plays the German Reckless Advance marker. When battle occurs in the Broken Terrain of the two southern boxes each side rolls a die to limit the number of enemy corps that can participate and might further mess with an opponent by playing a Confusion marker. Other Combat and Random Event markers include Air Recon, Cautious Advance/Pursuit, Cavalry Raid, etc. Restrictions and opportunities also arise based on individual game turns and what happened historically on the days those turns represent. A sidebar describes the historical events. (The game won an award in the Educational Board Game category at the 2019 Serious Play Conference.) Designed to be a solitaire game published in a magazine, the stand-alone version comes with two-player rules as well. Players have to supply their own six-sided dice. —user summary