Armored Knights Case Blue: Don Bend

Armored Knights Case Blue - Don Bend is Grognard Simulations' flagship game of the revamped Armored Knights series for the Eastern Front. This game places you in command of the German 6th Army and is supporting elements. They are approaching the Don River and the key town of Kalach, a place where the Soviets need to hold on to a key rail center and bridge across the Don. Three well-equipped and expertly led mobile divisions descend upon the river area and its defenders, the Soviet 62nd Army. The Soviet screening forces are brushed aside quickly and the Germans cut up the Soviets badly before getting stalled in the Don Bend. Before they know it, two Soviet Tank Armies are attacking them, along with assistance from the 64th Army to the south, to try and cut off and destroy the German 6th Army. Can you hold off the Soviets and cross the Don River?

The Armored Knights Case Blue (AKCB) game system simulates operational level combat in the 1942 German offensive into the Caucasus and Stalingrad. AKCB - Don Bend is the base game in the series, covering the advance of the German 6th Army into the Great Bend area of the Don River, from 23-31 July 1942.

If you have played previous Armored Knights games, you are going to notice some big differences in the game system. The Armored Knights system has been enhanced to be a much more comprehensive operational game. The variable combat arms tables have been removed; they are replaced with standard combat die roll modifiers.

Game Scale

 Game Turn: 4 hours
 Hex: 5 km
 Units: Battalion, half-battalion and company

—description from the publisher

Scenarios

 The Tank Cemetery
 Chuikov fights for his job
 Enter 4th Tank Army
 A Steppe too far
 Paulus Attacks!

Contents

 Six 22 x 34" full-color maps (Maps D7, D8, E7, E8, F7, F8)
 Five dual-side printed unit counter sheets (1400 1/2" unit and info counters) (10 German Divisions in 4 Corps for 6th Army; 10 Rifle Divisions, 4 Tank Corps, 5 Tank Brigades for the Soviet 62nd Army, 64th Army, 1st and 4th Tank Armies)
 Two dual-side printed info counter sheets (560 1/2" info counters)
 One 30 page spiral bound AKCB Rule booklet
 One 12 page spiral bound booklet with Counter Information and Examples of Play
 One 12 page spiral bound booklet of tables and charts
 Five Scenario Cards
 Four Order of Battle charts
 One AKCB Calendar & Turn Tracks
 Two Air Unit Availability charts
 One German Loss Box & Tracks
 One Soviet Loss Box & Tracks
 Two 10-sided dice
 Two plastic "rounding tokens"

Complexity: High (7/9) Solitaire suitability: High (7/9) Playing Time: 4-100 hours Players: 1 or more, works well for team play