Vision Inspired

The most amazing thing to me about the war in Ukraine was that I already knew the map of the country from years of playing the 1963 Avalon Hill wargame "Stalingrad".  Mariupol was a town I had already heard of.  The Southern half of the board is perfect for the Ukraine wargame.  Just add the boundary of Ukraine and add sixteen (6+16=22) more cities to reflect 80 years of urbanization and the stubborn modern Ukraine defense.  Russian tactics have not changed much in all that time, so using the 34 Russian unit army is a good place to start.  Then I used half the German pieces for Ukraine pieces, 33 units.    Ukraine, like the Germans, seems the more advanced economy and army.  All Russian troops have about 50% higher defense factors than attack factors, so I averaged the two for an estimate of Russian strength.  This is fair because defense is as important as offense, as counterattacks by Ukraine are essential to winning the game.   Russia starts out 44% stronger (186/129) than Ukraine; just as Germany starts out 42% stronger (265/186) than Russia is in Stalingrad.                                                               

Reinforcements

Just as in WWII, the Russian winter and USA convoys to Murmansk helped save and re-supply Russia, now NATO is re-supplying Ukraine.  Ukraine's three key cities are the capital Kiev, the major port Odessa and the city next to NATO Poland, Lviv.  So holding the country together until Western supply can save Ukraine becomes the object.  Each city adds four factors re-supply each month.  There is a race to wear down the Ukrainian army before the re-supply overwhelms the Russians. 

Testing the Game

            Taking Kiev early is the key to a Russian win.  Taking Kiev by July August or September led to Russian wins, while taking Kiev by October or December was too late and led to Ukraine wins, and, of course, never losing Kiev led to Ukraine wins.  Of 13 test games Ukraine won six and Russia seven.  Russia won the first two games, so I overreacted with extra armor, extra replacements, and partisans.  Specifically, I added two 8-8-6 units to start, raised replacements to 15 per turn (5 per city), and added a 2-2-4 partisan unit with a die roll of 1 or 2 at the start of the Ukraine turn.  The partisan unit comes out of replacements and can start in any square behind Russian lines not covered by a zone of control.  This led to three straight Ukrainian wins so I dropped back to the original formula except for the new cities and adding one 8-8-6 armor unit.  Then the next seven games alternated Russia Ukraine Russia Ukraine Russia Ukraine Russia.  This is well balanced but if it slightly favors Russia, I would allow partisans only on a roll of one, in order to restore balance.

Enjoying the Game

I like the compact size of the game with an 11"x17" board which could be folded (or not).  Reminds me of games like Crete, Anzio, and Afrika Korp.  The game has many strategic possibilities.  The Russians can come out of the North, East, or South.  Belarus (North) has a big swamp and is limited to 6 units to start.  The Kiev area side of the swamp is usually more productive, but a jump on the Lviv campaign is tempting on the Minsk side of the Belarus swamp.  The once a calendar year invasion in the Black or Azov Seas can help break out of Crimea.  The East coming out of the Donbas is mostly a long and tedious campaign.  The open area between Sumy and Chernobyl is a good road to Kiev.  The fun of the game is in the counterattacks.

Ukraine Wargame:

https://www.academia.edu/85642103/UkraineGame

New Book:  

https://www.academia.edu/69983378/Weather_Wealth_and_Wars_Empire_and_Climate_Discoveries_Change_Everything

Please cite this work as follows:  Reuschlein, Robert. (2022, August 25), "Ukraine Wargame Developed" Madison, WI, Real Economy Institute.  Retrieved from:  https://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/Ukraine-Wargame-Developed,2022274921.aspx

Dr. Peace, Professor Robert Reuschlein, Real Economy Institute, Nobel Peace Prize nominee 2016-2022 with accelerating interest from the deciding Norwegians.  A consistently growing pattern shows intense interest in my work on my expertclick.com website; daily "hard looks" per year went from 2 to 3 to 48 to 128 to 200 to 322 to 358 by the October 7^th, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize announcement.

Contact: bobreuschlein@gmail.com 

Info: www.realeconomy.com