Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud

Once a man is in his 30s, there is somewhat of an expectation that he will have developed an interest in World War Two, bought an air fryer, and/or got an unhealthy obsession with IPA Beers. I am pleased to tell you that I have succeeded on the first two, and doubled down on the World War Two interest by working in a museum which also covers the period. So, when I saw Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud by Phalanx games being touted as a “low complexity, quick-playing two-player game covering the Eastern Front of World War II”, I felt like I was well within the target audience for this sort of game!

Gameplay

I’ve long had an interest in playing the likes of Memoir 44 and Undaunted, but unfortunately, I am lacking a group of friends interested enough in war games to join me. So, when the aforementioned words “Low complexity”, “Quick-playing” and “Two-player” were mentioned, I took a shot and managed to rope my long enduring wife into playing with me. And I am pleased to report that the game was indeed low-complexity, and relatively quick playing (for the genre at least).

The rules were quick and easy to grasp, allowing us to get pretty much straight into play, with the game lasting just over an hour. The game itself involves each player- playing as either the Axis powers or the Soviets- vying for control over strategically important hexes on a map. The Axis player wins if they control the city where Stalin is located, or they destroy at least 1 Fortress and control either Moscow or 3 Industrial Centres. The Soviet player wins if they control any city in Axis starting territory, or the Axis player does not win.

Whilst Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud is simple, there are two main mechanisms which stand out and elevate the game into more than just area control: The Years/Seasons, and the Convoy movement option. The game is played over 4 years (1941-1944), with each year broken down into 3 turns (or seasons)- Mud, Clear and Snow. Each season impacts gameplay in a way which mirrors the Eastern Front theme- Mud limits movement, Snow limits air support, and Clear provides some respite for the player to put plans into place for the less favourable seasons. Likewise, the 4 years also mirror the historical conflict, with more perks and favour for the Axis in the early years, and the conflict swinging in favour of the Soviets in the latter years.

The Convoy movement mechanism is also an interesting addition, allowing players to move significant distances when (in essence) they have multiple units adjacent to one another. This was particularly useful for the Axis power who have more units to begin with, allowing for them to make significant in-roads into Soviet territories early on. However, it does also create opportunities for interesting tactics from the Soviets, who can eliminate Axis units if they can break this convoy and the supply chain back to German territory.

Overall, the game plays pretty well- its quick and simple as promised, with some nice mechanisms and facets to keep you interested throughout. I would say the one small thing that could be improved is the instruction manual and the player aid, as there are a couple of areas that weren’t 100% clear- for example, how each player was expected to interact with the Partizan tokens, or certain pieces of terminology not being robustly explained.

Art and Design

The artwork of this game is nothing major to write home about- its nice, fairly standard components and the board looks good. There are some nice touches in terms of iconography- little arrows on the unit pieces which you position in the direction from which you moved (important for when you retreat after a failed combat). There are symbols on the board to demonstrate different phases of each turn, and which season/year you are in. However, I would say that there are some areas where there is a bit too much reliance on colour or minuscule illustrations to differentiate players- for example, the two players ships and aircraft are subtly different colours, as are the flipped unit tokens (which you do each time you have moved a unit). If I was someone who was colour blind or partially sighted, I think I would struggle.

Theme & Narrative

The theme of the war on the Eastern Front is an interesting one- somewhat different from the games and films we often see portraying the Western Front. And the mechanisms within this game really do bring this theming to life- from the years and seasons mimicking the harsh weather, to the stretching of the Axis powers and the growth of the Soviets later in the game.

However, I would say that an understanding of the historic conflict (and thus how the game is built to play out) is particularly useful in this instance. As an example, my wife played our first game as the Soviets, and got absolutely smashed by the overwhelming Axis forces in the first half of the game. By the time that the game began to turn in her favour from 1943 onwards, she was demoralized and didn’t really want to play anymore. She had no knowledge of the historic context of this, whereas I did, so I predicted that the game would begin to be more punishing for the Axis powers later on (and so adjusted my play style to suit). Likewise, because the Axis powers had more units to start with, it felt like at times the Soviet player was sat waiting for the actions to be done to them, or for the movement phase to finish. If you look at the game as an overall picture, it tends to even out- but in snapshots, this swing in favour was less enjoyable when you were on the negative end of it.

In Conclusion

Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud does exactly what it sets out to do, and does it well- being a “low complexity, quick-playing two-player game covering the Eastern Front of World War II”. The game provides a good introduction to those who might be interested in exploring the genre further- not giving quite as much depth or spice as Undaunted or Memoir 44, but still exploring the basics well (and at a lower price point too). However, players should be conscious that they are still playing within the historic scenario, with the game engine set up to manipulate the scenario accordingly. So don’t expect to start on a level playing field or be treated the same as your opponent throughout! But if the theme sounds enticing to you- I’d definitely encourage you to give it a go!