In november 16-17/2024 took place "The Bolt Action Experience - Stalingrad", and event organized by my gaming group of FWG (Friuli War Games). It was a weekend focused on the events in and around Stalingrad, to find out wether this time the Germans and their allies would succeed in conquering the city or if once again they'd be crushed. There was no individual victor or loser, the point was just to tell a nice story - and this video tells OUR story of how things turned out based on the results at the various tables.
There will be in the another video where I'll cover the event more in detail. It's been an incredible experience, made even more memorable by the good spirit of all attendees. Thanks to everybody who attended and helped with the organization, it's been a real blast! And thanks to Warlord Games for being an official sponsor of the event.
Here's the translation of the voice over - the story of the Battle for Stalingrad:
"The German offensive for the conquest of Stalingrad begun in the best possible way for the Axis troops: after traversing the Don river without facing much resistance, the allied Italian and Hungarian troops consolidated their own bridgeheads as well. But once they arrived at the city outskirts the first inconveniences had begun: a horde of enraged workers managed to stall the advance toward the tractor factory at Spartanovka, while the first assault on the grain elevator was repulsed with heavy losses.
It soon became clear to the German high command that Stalingrad would not be a minor inconvenience, but would be the scene of a long and bloody battle.
For the first few months indeed the German troops, still fresh, had managed to occupy Railway Station #1 and finally beat the grain elevator defenders, as well as succeeding in gaining ground in Pavlov's house district. But things had gone much less well in the factory at Martenovskii's shop and on Mamayev Kurgan, the hill overlooking the city.
Control of the hill had changed hands several times as the months passed, only the station was never really threatened. Every attempt to take Martenovskii's shop had met with extraordinary resistance, and the assault on the Barrikady factory had been a bloodbath for the Germans. And in the neighborhood of Pavlov's house the Soviets had begun to counterattack....
Victory? No, it was not possible to consider it a victory. At least not that decisive victory capable of breaking the will of the defenders. And winter had arrived. And with it, Russian reinforcements, more and more numerous. Paulus was left with no choice but to order the abandonment of the city, before the Soviets could grip it in a vice from which it would be impossible to get out alive.
The retreat took place in good order, the German troops able to repel the frontal assaults of the vengeful Bolsheviks, while near the village of Verkhe-Kumski the 1st Romanian Armored Division engaged in a fierce battle with the ever-growing Soviet armored divisions, and the Hungarians of the 2nd Magyar Hrasereg successfully defended the front line, near a small Russian village the final page of ARMIR history was being consummated, in what has gone down in history as “the Nikolajevka massacre.”"
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Durante il weekend del 16 e 17 novembre si è svolta la prima "Bolt Action Experience - Stalingrado", un evento organizzato da FWG (Friuli War Games), il gruppo di giocatori di cui sono fiero di far parte. Si è trattato di un weekend interamente focalizzato sugli eventi dentro e intorno a Stalingrado, per scoprire se questa volta i Tedeschi e i loro alleati sarebbero riusciti a conquistare la città o se sarebbero stati nuovamente schiacciati. Non c'è stato nessun vincitore e nessuno sconfitto individuale, lo scopo era quello di raccontare una bella storia, e questo video racconta la NOSTRA storia di come sono andate le cose sulla base dei risultati ai diversi tavoli da gioco.
Uscirà un altro video dove racconterò l'evento maggiormente nei dettagli. E' stata un'esperienza incredibilie, resa ancora più memorabile dallo spirito positivo di tutti i partecipanti. Un grazie di cuore a chiunque abbia partecipato, e a chi ha aiutato per l'organizzazione, è stato davvero un weekend fantastico! E un grazie alla Warlord Games, che è stata sponsor ufficiale dell'evento.
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