GMT Games releases 3 New Boxed Games
First Look

Ukraine ‘43 (2^nd Edition) – Normandy 44 (2^nd Edition) – 1914 Serbien muß sterbien

Ukraine ’43

(2^nd Edition)

(Tanken from the back side of the box.)

Less than two weeks after the Kursk Offensive on August 3^rd 1943 the Soviets launched a massive offensive near Kharkov that ripped the German line apart. The ensuing battle began their summer offensive that would take them across the Ukraine to the Dnieper River.

During August the two sides were equally -matched and a tremendous war of attrition raged from Kharkov to the Sea of Azov with neither side will to give ground. In September, bled white by the never-ending Soviet attacks, the German Army retreated in haste to the safety of the Dnieper River. In October, the battle raged along the legth of the Dnieper and for the Perekop Peninsula, the only land exit to the German 17^th Army in the Crimea. During this three month period German reinforcements poured in from every sector, but it was never enough. Three Soviet Tank Armies and four Soviet Fronts ground through nineteen Panzer and Panzergrenadier divisions. German and Soviet losses were staggering, Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, fell on November 6^th.

Box Contents

The game contents that are found within the box are:

• One 28 page rulebook
• Three Setup Cards
• Two maps (total area 34″ x 36.5″)
• Two identical Player Aid Cards
• 372 die-cut counters (9/16″ size)
• Two 6-sided dice

Game Scale

The game scale of Ukraine ’43 is:

• Time: 5 days per turn
• Map: 10 miles per hex
• Unit: Primarily Divisional. (Soviet rifle divisions are grouped two divisions per unit, while most Soviet armored and mechanized units are corps.

The 2^nd Edition has been re-designed to play much faster using the system used in France ’40 and Normandy ’44. Players familiar with those games will find the new Ukraine ’43 very easy to learn. All the components will be upgraded such as the counters going from half-inch to 9/16 size, the map will be enlarged so the hexes can accommodate the larger counters, and each scenario will now come with a setup card to facilitate setting up the game.

Ukraine ’43 attempts to simulate this important campaign in a moderately complex game. The design uses the conventional ”move-fight-exploit” Sequence of Play and the Zone of Control Bond rules. Soviet Tank Armies and German Panzer Corps spearhead the constant attacks and counterattacks. With both sides able to attack, the game becomes a tense battle of skill and nerves.

Tell them you saw Ukraine 43 on Mataka.ORG.

MSRP $55.00

Normandy 44

(2^nd Edition)

(Tanken from the back side of the box.)

Normandy 44 is a 2-to-3 player, regimental level game of the D-Day landings on June 6^th and the battles that raged in Normandy for the next 21 days. During this crucial period the Germans had their only chance to push back the Allied invasion before the preponderance of Allied men and material made the outcome certain. During this period the US 1^st Army fought across the Cotentin Peninsula and captured the major port of Cherbourg while British forces took on the bulk of the German panzer divisions near Caen.

Each turn represents 1 day. Each hex represents 3.8 kilometers (or 2.3 miles). Most units are regiments or brigades, though the majority of the armor units are represented as battalions.

The game uses a simplified version of the Ardennes ’44 system: Move, Fight and Reserve Movement. All units are rated for troop quality, while all armor units have a tank rating. In each battle these ratings are used to provide shifts for either the attacker or defender. Other important shifts are provided by air power, naval support, artillery and Tiger tanks.

The game includes a 22 turn Campaign game, a 7-turn Tournament Scenario that focuses on the Allies linking up the beaches and a scenario covering the battle in the peninsula and the capture of Cherbourg.

Changes made to the 2^nd Edition

MAP

• Flooded Hexes better defined.
• A few roads moved off the hex spine for clarity purposes.
• A few typos fixed.
• A reminder added to the TRT that no SM or Truck Movement on Turn 1.
• Some cosmetic changes to the terrain that have no effect on play.

RULES

• Units no longer lose a step when retreating through an EZOC (13.2). The old version works against the function of ZOC Bonds and the change will help the German player which was needed.
• Minor change to Advance After Combat in Bocage (14.4.1). As long as the attacker enters the defender’s vacated hex and exits the bocage hex via a road, it can advance two hexes.
• Minor change to Cherbourg Perimeter effects making it possible for the defender to earn the Armor Shift (16.3). An obvious error that needed to be fixed.
• The German player may use friendly Caen city hexes as a conduit for Artillery Shifts and Defensive Support (17.2) in the same way as he uses his HQs. The units must be within 3 hexes of Caen and a 7th Army Supply Point must be expended. This rule became necessary when the 47 Pz Corps HQ’s arrival time was changed to it’s historical arrival on Turn 6.
• –1/+1 Weather Table DRM for Storm and Clear-6 deleted. This rule caused too much confusion and could be crippling to a player if clear weather or storm lasted too long.
• Werfer Brigades can now move their full MA and fire. These units were very mobile and used for quick reaction.
• The effectiveness of Strafing was toned down and a new modifier added (19.1.4). The old version of the rule was found to be too powerful.
• Allied Automatic Victory and Campaign Victory Conditions changed slightly. It is now more difficult for the Allied player to achieve an Automatic Victory.
• Optional 3-Day Storm rules modified (28.1 and 28.2).
• Optional Flanking Fire rule and solo play suggestions deleted due to space constraints.

COUNTERS

• All Kriegsmarine strongpoints changed from gray to deep blue.
• The stronger 12SS units included in C3i are now added.
• Three US TD battalions removed from the US O.B. It was discovered
  that these three battalions were still equipped with towed
  guns in June 1944.
• An M5 tank battalion and the US 99th Independent Battalion
  added to the Units in Britain. These units were available and
  partially make up for the three tank battalions removed.

• The 200 PzJ/21 Pz unit went from a 1-step: 2-4-5, to a 2-step:
  3-4-5.
• The 192/21 PzG went from a 5-6 to a 6-6 at full strength.

• A few cosmetic ID changes to the German units. These have no
  effect on play.

• A few minor changes made to the at start locations and arrival
  times of German units to improve accuracy. With the exception
  of moving the 47th Pz Corps HQ from At Start to Turn 6, these
  changes have very little effect on play.

PLAYER AID CARD

• The “No effect” result changed to an A1 result.
• The Explanation of Combat Results received minor clarifications.
• The Disruption (D) result was removed from the Strafing Table
  and a new modifier added if the target is using Strategic Movement.

Tell them you saw Normandy 44 on Mataka.ORG.

MSRP $55.00

1914 Serbien muß sterbien

(Tanken from the back side of the box.)

 On June 28, 1914, in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, bullets fired by the Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip killed the heir-apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. One month later, on 28 July Austria-Hungary declared was on Serbia. That day, river monitors of the Austria-Hungarian Danube fleet fired the first salvos of the war at Belgrade. Three Austro-Hungarian armies, the Second, Fifth and Sixth, assembled on the Serbian frontier to fulfill the slogan being shouted in Vienna: ”Serbien muß sterbien” (Serbia must die). However within days of mobilization, Russian intervention on behalf of Serbia caused the Austro-Hungarian to withdraw most of their Second Army from the campaign. Despite this significant loss of strength , the Austro-Hungarian commander Feldzugmeister Oskar Potiorek proceeded with his planned attack and invaded Serbia on 12 August. This initiated a four month long hard-fought slugfest on the banks of the Drina and Sava Rivers. During August and September the Serbs were able to repulse several invasions and even crossed into Austro-Hungarian territory themselves. But as the campaign wore on, attrition and the lack of artillery ammunition took its toll. By early December the Austro-Hungarians seemed to have victory in their grasp when they captured the capital Belgrade. However the Serbs counter-attacked and their supreme effort routed the Austro-Hungarian invaders and ejected them from Serbia. The campaign ended where it started with both belligerents utterly exhausted.

1914 Serbien muß sterbien – The Initial Campaigns on the Balkan Front in World War I realistically covers the battles fought in and around Serbia during the first year of World War One.

1914 Serbien muß sterbien – (an Austro-Hungarian jingle that translates to ”Serbia must die”) is a comprehensively researched model that explores the intriguing set of campaigns fought in Serbia in 1914. The game includes an accurate order of Battle and detailed game map. The map encompasses the primary theater of war from Peterwardein in the north, Sarajevo in the west, to Aleksinac in the south-east. The game system used is the same as found in 1914 Offensive ä outrance. The game has a playtested, concise, and well organized rules booklet.

1914 Serbien muß sterbien – includes four scenarios, three historical and one alternative-history situation. The largest scenario, the Grand Campaign, covers the period from the initial Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia in August, to utter exhaustion and stalemate in December.

The game-design goal is to produce an enjoyable game from which players can learn a great deal about the campaign and the geography of the theatre of war.

Tell them you saw 1914 Serbien muß sterbien on Mataka.ORG.

MSRP $55.00

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