Ring of Fire: The Fourth Battle for Kharkov, August 1943 (1994)

Ring of Fire: The Fourth Battle for Kharkov, August 1943 is an operational simulation of the fourth battle for Kharkov, which took place over the two week period of August 3 to August 16, 1943.

Three Russian Army Fronts, attempting to retake the city of Kharkov, are on the offensive, driving against dug-in German forces to try to take as much of the map as possible and to exit forces in a breakthrough, while the Germans must race fire brigades of panzers and infantry to plug the holes in their lines and cut off the Russian advances.

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature are the tank combat rules, which allow adjacent armored forces to trade fire before the more traditional odds-based CRT combat phase. This favors the Germans, provided that the Russians do not bring too much armor against them at once.

The other key feature are the reserve rules, which allow a player to both react to the opponent's attacks and to exploit holes punched by his units. Airpower can be used to interdict reserves - and doing so can be important to winning the game.

Game Scale:
Game Turn: 1 day
Hex: 1.2 miles / 2 kilometers
Units: Regiment to Division

Game Inventory:
One 22 x 34" full color mapsheet
Two dual-side printed countersheets (360 1/2" counters)
One 24-page Ring of Fire rulebook
Two dual-side printed CRT/TEC Player Aid charts
Two single-side printed Player Aid cards
One 6-sided dice

Solitaire Playability: Very High
Complexity Level: Medium
Players: 2 or more
Playing Time: 4-10 hours