This scenario play-through lasted a very tedious, 24 sessions before we gave up in frustration, as we were still trying to learn the miserable 2nd Edition Infantry Attacks rules. This was another unpleasant experience. As stated in our previous August 1914, AAR, the 2nd edition rules set is very poorly-organized, and contains many holes, needs a better & clearer set of definitions and is very confusing for novice players. The wonky road movement rules from traditional PG prevails in this game and one must use the FOW rule which mostly makes for unruly & ill-coordinated or sequenced attacks -- IF they can occur at all!

Our mistake was trying to master the IA rules first as an initial step in returning to face-to-face play of the Panzergrenadier series. We thought that since IA is set in WWI, it would be far easier to learn game rules that did not include tanks, flame-throwers, poison gas, efficient mortars, paratroopers, AT guns, amphibious vehicles, AFVs, naval gunfire and aircraft.

This 2nd August 1914 scenario was our introduction to the bookkeeping nightmare that is the 40-turn (10 hours of game time) pre-plotting of the OBA for both sides. It is incomprehensible that one must plot artillery bombardment so many turns in advance, and cannot shift the mandatory 3-hex pre-plotted bombardments more than one hex hex each turn. A more realistic and flexible artillery plotting protocol would greatly improve this game. The opposing forces in WWI WERE ABLE to change their artillery plots to other parts of the battlefield at least every 2-3 hours no matter how intensely the intended barrage was planned. Mounted couriers would have been able to get back-and-forth between frontline units and supporting artillery batteries to make changes in barrage pattern relatively rapidly - in spite of the lack of secure & reliable radio or telegraph communications.

In this encounter the Russian side was closing in on a victory as German morale collapsed after the capture of the overall commander and his second-in-command panicked & deserted. I give this scenario a generous rating of 1.

Our hope remains that there will soon be a major rewrite and needed clarification of the IA rule book. In the meantime we prepared a set of house rules that are at least consistent and easier to learn & use. These will try out in the future when we can face the prospect of another August 1914 scenario.