Review: Stalingrad- Inferno on the Volga

By Mitch Reed

Seems like I am playing a lot of games about Stalingrad recently. I recently wrote a review of the digital port of David Thompson’s Pavlov’s House and that got me to pull out a game in my collection that I have yet to get to the table. Stalingrad: Inferno on the Volga by was a game that was funded via Kickstarter in 2018 and received a lot of buzz. I missed the Kickstarter campaign, but I was able to get the deluxe Kickstarter version unopened from someone on Facebook of all places. I was not only glad to get this game to the table, but equally as pleased to find that the buzz behind it was well deserved.Stalingrad: Inferno on the Volga is a block based solo game that also allows you to play the game with two or three players in either a competitive of cooperative format. The game focuses on the initial German assault on the city in 1942 and the units represent battalions/regiments (Germany) or brigades/divisions (USSR) that fought in the battle.

Setting up the game for the first involves one of the least loveable things about a block game, applying the stickers. I always seem to get some a bit crooked, but the chore only lasted about 20-minutes. I decided to use the NATO style stickers vice the deluxe “art” ones, it was just a matter of taste. One thing I like about some block games is that they often are used to record unit strength, which saves bookkeeping. The game also came with markers to represent rubble, strongpoints, hex control, the Tractor Factory and an HE-111 and JU-87 to mark your airstrikes. The map is excellent and each hex represents 1.1km of territory.

The game uses a card mechanic as well. I am sure some old grogs are thinking; blocks and cards, no way will I ever play this. However, the use of these two mechanics is key to the game and adds to the ease of play which means more enjoyment of the game.

The basic solo game is pretty straightforward, push your forces into the city before time runs out and the Soviets launch their counterattack. It is interesting how the game ends, the Germans achieve their goals before the last Soviet card is drawn from their deck. In some occasions the Soviet “bot” has you pull a card (rolling doubles or the bot asks you take an action you cannot make), so each turn may not may not lead to a time advance in the game. This is a slick mechanic which adds some suspense into the game.

Each turn the German player can take one of five actions that relate to combat, movement or to collect reinforcements. When the Soviet player goes the games “bot” works very well. Based on the situation at the start of the turn the Soviet “bot” directs you to either move, conduct a hasty attack or spawn more forces. It took some getting used to how this process worked, but once you get the hang of it the turns go very quickly. In my games I felt the “bot” made the appropriate actions that did not suspend reality. The Soviets mostly sit back and try to block the Germans from reaching the Volga, which is historically what happened and the game mechanics portray this in a masterful way.

The cards add to the game by bringing in leaders who give your force a bonus or combat support for deliberate attacks. In combat the German player can use a support card that calls in artillery, air support or engineers. The Soviet “bot” always has you take a card from your hand and use it in combat. Once the cards are resolved the players roll d6’s for each strength point the units involved in the combat has remaining.

Depending on the unit, a hit can be a 4+, 5+ or a 6. Once hits are determined you apply them to the units by turning the blocks to have its current strength on top. Once a unit loses its strength points they are removed from the board. German units are gone from the game and the Soviet units are placed in the spawn box and can come back in the game if the “bot” directs you to conduct a spawn action.

After this you roll for rubble in urban hexes, advance into a vacant hex if your enemy is destroyed and then move onto the next turn. As I said before, once you pick this process up the game moves very quickly and you only need to look up what some of the cards do in the game.

I found each game I played very enjoyable and you really need to think about how you will work to eliminate the Soviet forces in between you and victory. The mechanics really are innovative when compared to other solo games I have played and they easy enough to learn.

Some standard game mechanics are not upfront in the game such as logistics, you can bypass Soviet units and not have to really worry about them cutting off your lines of supply. To me this was not a deal breaker at all and I found that you really have to clear your supply lines to rotate in fresh units who are leading your advance. These extra attacks do lead to more Soviet cards getting drawn which leads to the game ending sooner.

The only real issue I had, and it was very minor was the layout of the rulebook. I assume the game rules were translated from Italian by someone who was very intimate with the game’s design. This caused me to re-read the rules during my first game and cross referencing some of the sections of the rulebook to make better sense of what the designers had in mind. This was only an issue early in my first game and after a while I was on auto-pilot and the entire game only took a little over an hour to finish.

I recommend this game for any solo gamers who are fans of the Battle of Stalingrad. I have not tried the other versions of the game or the advanced rules which are scalable for both sides. From reading rules for these other versions, I feel the game has some long-term playability and you will not grow tired of playing it.

Pictures taken from the Vento Nuovo Website