We were inspired by Blackcloud's thoughtful & enthusiastic AAR to take a stab at playing this Infantry Attacks meeting engagement & exit scenario after having been severely disappointed with our previsious play-through a couple of years ago. Thought that we would see if we could "get a leg up" this time after a long hiatus in playing face-to-face. We hoped that a fresh look at the IA rules might help us to change our rather dim view of the rules for this WWI variant of PG.

Alas, though it was an interesting and relatively quick play, that same disorganized mess of a rule book made this a frustrating & unpleasant slog. Luckily, the German leader draw was likewise awful, and there were 5 MANDATORY FOW-shortened turns that mercifully helped end this one quicker than others have noted. All the Germans leaders were eliminated, to only a single Russian leader lost.

There was simply no stopping the rampaging Russian force from nearly-annihilating the hapless Landwehr formations. German casualties mounted each turn in part from lucky combat and morale recovery die rolling on the part of the Cossacks. As the PG fates would have it, this one went south for the Imperial Germans immediately and there was no sudden change in fortune during our playthrough. This scenario mirrored what happened that day painfully well for the victorious Russians.

We gave this one a generous 2, and do not recommend it for shared pla. We look forward to a complete rulebook rewrite to untangle this unfortunate mess. In the meantime, avoiding the set of August 1914 scenarios, or creating your own set of DIY rules for this game is probably good advice.