Seven Days to the River Rhine

After a few weeks trying rules, reading rules and trying to write rules for my Cold War/Modern games I came across Seven Days to the River Rhine from Great Escape Games.

Most of the rules that I tried previously including my own attempts were rather dull and uninspiring but after watching some videos and reading blogposts I decided to buy Seven Days to the River Rhine.

I am very glad that I did...

Here are a few shots taken at the end of a game. 

The toys are Skytrex 1/200 British and Russians bought at a show in the mid eighties.

The Challys took a hell of a toll as the Russian tanks crossed this hill.

But payed the price for staying visible too long.

A brace of Scorpions ambushed the Soviet BMPs.

And a Warrior finished the last one off.

The Soviet infantry attack comes to a halt.

To the relief of the British squaddies defending the hedgeline.

Deft card play by the Russians brought a devastating volley of artillery down on these poor chaps, it even knocked the hedge out of line.

Now these rules are definitely not dull, the to and fro of the game is riveting even playing solo. Each side has a limited number of action tokens to spend each turn and when you activate a unit the enemy may interrupt by acting first. This is handled so well in this game it really is a joy to play.

The unit stats are nicely streamlined, tricky things like artillery and aircraft are handled by cards in a simple but effective manner. The cards also add a good amount of flavour, in this last game the Soviet command tank was destroyed by German territorials lurking in a nearby copse. This caused a temporary loss of tokens until a new commander took over and the Soviet attack stuttered badly.

I won't be able to handle a battalion on the table with this rulebook but a company a side will be enough to have a very exciting game.

Great stuff, highly recommended.

 

There are however some important clarifications and errata here  link

Don't let it put you off though it doesn't take long to amend some of the stats.