08.2022 Hazardous Movement Scenario Pack 3: Mini-Campaign: City of Steel

Publisher/Date:
Hazardous Movement (2022)

Product Type:
Scenario Pack

Country of Origin:
United States

Contents:
10 scenarios on glossy thin paper, 1 page rules, 4 pages charts, 6 pages of players' notes on looseleaf paper

Hazardous Movement Scenario Pack 3: Mini Campaign: City of Steel is the third product from third party publisher Hazardous Movement, appearing only a little more than half a year after that publisher’s previous pack, which is a very short period of time for a small third party ASL publisher to complete a scenario pack.

City of Steel is a themed scenario pack that features 10 scenarios, 7 of which are set in Stalingrad on the Valor of the Guards or Red October maps and 3 of which use geoboards to depict actions outside Stalingrad that were part of the broader operations over the struggle for the city.  The product also contains rules for two linked-scenario campaign games: one that ties the various historical map scenarios together and another that uses all 10 scenarios.  Linked-scenario campaign games are not true campaign games in the sense of Red Barricades but rather involve players playing certain specified scenarios sequentially, with rules providing a way to determine an overall “winner” at the end.

The physical presentation of City of Steel is mostly the same as Hazardous Movement’s previous two products. The components come in an extra-wide folder and include 10 scenarios, rules and charts for the linked-scenario campaign games, and a bunch of loose sheets of paper that contain “rules to remember” and “players’ notes.”  The latter might as well not be included, as the hints to players are often things like “Don’t let those German tanks get settled in behind you—not good” and “find the radio observer early and send him to Valhalla–or at least suppress him.” There is really no point in banal tips like “Your guys are going to break but where you put place [sic] your leaders are [sic] of great import.”  Most of the players’ notes seem to have relatively little value.

The scenario cards have the same visual look and feel as previous Hazardous Movement products, using VASL graphics for portraying counters. However, there is one important difference between the scenario cards in City of Steel and the scenario cards of previous Hazardous Movement packs.  In the first two packs from this publisher, the scenario cards were printed on glossy color cardstock.  However, City of Steel is a giant step backwards in terms of physical quality, with the scenarios instead printed on thin sheets of paper rather than on cardstock. There is no good reason for a third party publisher not to print scenarios on cardstock. Paper scenarios are just too fragile.  What makes this decision even more mystifying is that this product does contain sheets of cardstock. The mini-campaign charts are printed on cardstock. A useless “margin of victory” sheet is printed on cardstock. The rules page is printed on cardstock. Even a sheet with publication credits (designers, playtesters, etc.) is printed on cardstock–though it will never be used by players.  But the scenarios, the one part of this product that is guaranteed to see use, are not printed on cardstock but on thin sheets of paper. This is just inexplicable.

Seven of the scenarios use historical maps. Three use the Valor of the Guards map; four use the Red October map. However, it is important to note that, for the most part, the scenarios only use tiny areas of these historical maps.  Five of the scenarios have playing areas that are only approximately 11 hexes by 10 hexes in area (comparable to just 1/3 of a geoboard).  The two remaining scenarios are a bit larger (18 hexes by 9 hexes, and 16 hexes by 9 hexes). These are very small playing areas.

The small playing area for the historical map scenarios becomes doubly relevant when one realizes that all of these 7 scenarios are large or very large in size, putting a huge number of counters in a very small playing area. In Hazmo 21 (Goodbye Cruel World), for example, 23 Soviet squads, 4 leaders, 2 crews, and 11 SW duke it out with 21 German squads, 8 SMC, 9 SW, and 4 AFVs in a playing area measuring 10 hexes by 10 hexes. Some other scenarios have even greater counter density.  The three geoboard scenarios, one of which features Italians and another Romanians, are also very large in OB size.

Three scenarios use OBA and three use Air Support rules; no scenarios use Night rules. Several scenarios use Walking Wounded rules from A Bridge Too Far.  All of the historical map scenarios, of course, use special rules from Valor of the Guards or Red October.

The linked-scenario campaign games involve the playing of the 7 historical map scenarios or all 10 scenarios (for the “mega-mini campaign,” whatever that is).  There are no connections in them between the various scenarios, which are all completely independent of each other.  The campaign game rules award a player 2 victory points (or, in the weird alternative vocabulary of Hazardous Movement products, “campaign achievement points”) for winning each scenario, plus each player may accrue more victory points for each scenario if certain achievements are met.  So, for example, when players play HazMo 24 (Comfortably Numb), the winner will receive 2 VP.  Additionally, the German player will win 1 VP if he or she captures/eliminates both Soviet AT Guns, 1 VP if they have 2 or more mobile AFV with functioning MA (at scenario end, one presumes), and 1 VP if they control 4 or more ground level stone locations.  The Soviets, meanwhile, can receive 1 VP for having at least 1 mobile AFV with functioning MA, 1 VP for having eliminated/captured 4 or more German leaders, and 1 VP if the for inflicting 50 or more CVP on the Germans.

Perhaps the main weakness of the “mini-campaign” is that it is not so “mini” at all; even the 7-scenario version requires players to play 7 large or very large scenarios to completion.

The obvious draw of this scenario pack is its Stalingrad focus and the opportunity for players to get a little more use out of their Valor of the Guards and Red October historical maps. However, the thin paper scenario cards and the historical map scenarios jamming lots of forces in very small playing areas seem like real drawbacks. The latter also continues a Hazardous Movement tendency of scenarios with small map areas but large OBs.

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