Paths to Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June-December 1941

From Compass Games:

At 4:15 am on 22 June 1941 Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion against the Soviet Union, Codenamed Operation Barbarossa. It was the largest military operation in history, three great army groups, involving more than 3 million Axis troops, 150 German divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles. The Soviet Union must fight against the most powerful army, German combat effectiveness had reached its apogee; in training, doctrine, and fighting ability.

Paths to Hell (PTH) (Volume III) is a stand-alone game in the A las Barricadas! (ALB) game series. Recreates the events of those days and allows the players to reproduce the most famous battles of the Blitzkrieg on the East Front at a tactical level. Players take command of either the Allied or Axis forces (or can play solitaire) in the tactical battles of each scenario.

PTH while utilizing La Bataille de France, 1940 base rules, incorporates new and adapted rules and additions for this new front. The WSS promises many hours of fierce fighting between the infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft belonging to the armies enveloped in this conflict. Just a few of the additions include:

• Human wave attacks
• Battalion officers
• Communist Commissars
• Recon rules
• Flamethrower tanks
• Motorcycle recon
• Waffen SS
• Gully
• Rail Roads

PTH have a moderate complexity with good solitaire suitability. The system emphasizes the role of officers. Officers can activate units, coordinate with other officers and their units, call for artillery support, air support, smoke screens, influence moral checks, coordinate assaults, and much more. Rules for special actions.

Based on the principle of simultaneous execution, or simply "WE GO", a hybrid system of turns and "real time". The players must activate unit leaders to perform many actions (fire, assault, move, coordinate, etc). A turn ends when both players have completed all their activations. The scale is company level with units

representing groups of between 30 and 40 soldiers, weapons units represents groups of 3-4 weapons and their accompanying crews (20-25 soldiers), and the AFvs-Transports representing groups of 3 to 5 vehicles and their corresponding crews. Scenarios are divided into turns representing about 12-15 minutes of action.

Turns are divided into the following phases: Command Phase, Initiative Phase, Activation Phase and Marker Removal Phase

The game uses isomorphic mapboards, each of which are aligned to any edge of equal length on any other mopboard. This allows for an almost unlimited number of combinations to create any terrain situation, including player designed scenarios. Each map hex represents a distance of approximately 150 to 200 metres.

The series rules are easy to understand but each game’s scenarios require a solid application of various strategies to win. The result is a good balance of fun, fast-paced, and exciting game play, using realistic game mechanics. WSS games are highly re-playable due to their variety of unit types, numerous scenarios, varying leader capabilities, and random leader selection, and therefore represent great value for your gaming buck.

The War Storm Series
The War Storm Series is a game series designed to simulate combined arms company level combat. Each game in the series has numerous scenarios allowing players to simulate a number of company or battalion level combats.
All War Storm Series games are of moderate complexity with good solitaire suitability. The system emphasizes the role of officers. Officers can activate units, coordinate with other officers and their units, call for artillery support, air support, smoke screens, influence moral checks, coordinate assaults, and much more. Rules for special actions, include create improved positions, entrench, replace officers, road-blocks, clear wire, units in Reaction, double time movement, load-upload, minefields, fortifications, rubble, barbed wire, dragoon teeth, anti-tank ditch and pontoon bridges. The various units include leaders, infantry, political commissars, priests, MMGs, mortars, artillery, AT guns, vehicles, armored vehicles, tanks, aircraft close support squadrons, aircraft bombardment squadrons, and even cavalry.
War Storm Series games are based on the principle of simultaneous execution, or simply "WE GO", a hybrid system of turns and "real time". The players must activate unit leaders to perform many actions (fire, assault, move, coordinate, etc). A turn ends when both players have completed all their activations. The scale is company level with units representing groups of between 30 and 40 soldiers, weapons units represents groups of 3-4 weapons and their accompanying crews (20-25 soldiers), and the AFvs-Transports representing groups of 3 to 5 vehicles and their corresponding crews. Scenarios are divided into turns representing about 12-15 minutes of action. Turns are divided into the following phases:
Command Phase
Initiative Phase
Activation Phase
Marker Removal Phase

The game uses isomorphic maps, each of which are aligned to any edge of equal length on any other map. This allows for an almost unlimited number of combinations to create any terrain situation, including player designed scenarios. Each map hex represents a distance of approximately 150 to 200 meters.
The series rules are easy to understand but each game’s scenarios require a solid application of various strategies to win. The result is a good balance of fun, fast-paced, and exciting game play, using realistic game mechanics.War Storm Series games are highly re-playable due to their variety of unit types, numerous scenarios, varying leader capabilities, and random leader selection, and therefore represent great value for your gaming buck.

Product Information
Complexity: Medium (5 out of 10)
Solitaire suitability: 8
Time Scale: 1 turn = 12 - 15 minutes
Map Scale: 1 hex = 150 - 200 meters
Unit Scale: Companies & 3-5 vehicles
Players: 2
Playing Time: Small Scenarios: 45 minutes and up
Designer: Juan Carlos Cebrian and Niko Eskubi
Artist: Niko Eskubi

Components

4 Isomorfic maps, in full color
8 Overlays (on 1 sheet – to be cut out by player), in full color
5 Sheets of counters (3 of 5/8" and 2 of 3/4"), in full color
1 Standard rulebook in full color
1 Exclusive rulebook in full color
7 Scenario cards featuring 13 scenarios in full color
2 Charts and Table cards (1 for each player), in full color
2 Terrain Charts (1 for each player), in full color
2 Battalion chart (1 for each player), in full color
2 six-side dice