Stats:
No. of players: 1-4
Amount of time to play: 90 min
Age requirements: 13+
Set-up time: 10-15 minutes

Storms of Steel Rules Description:
Storms of Steel is a war game that simulates firefights between Germany and the Soviet Union. These firefights may be played by 2 to 4 players and some are even solo scenarios.

Storms of Steel is the second game in the Conflict of Heroes series. All the games in the series follow the same rules system.

Each turn you activate a fresh unit spending Action Points (APs). Depending on the unit you’ll pay a certain number of APs to fire, move or take other actions. Units are considered spent once you are out of APs.

You also get Command Action Points (CAPs) each round. These may be spent concurrently with APs or on their own to give a unit an action. CAPs may also be used to change rolls by up to 2.

Depending on the scenario you’ll also receive Action cards. These cards give you a one-time action you may perform. Cards do not change a unit’s fresh or spent status.

Turn order is determined by initiative and you choose which unit you want to activate. After taking an action and spending APs your opponent may do the same. You can continue taking actions with that same unit or activate a new one. If you want to activate a different unit, the previous unit is spent and any APs it had left are lost. Once a unit has no APs left they are also spent.

The exceptions to this turn order are CAPs, cards and Opportunity Actions. Spending CAPs or cards doesn’t change the fresh or spent status of the unit for the round. An Opportunity Action can be used to take one action with a non-active unit. This will spend the unit.

Combat is resolved by checking for Line of Sight, rolling 2 six-sided die and adding it to a units fire power. If you meet or beat the defending unit’s defense value you hit it.

If you beat the defense value by 4 or more the unit takes 2 hits and is destroyed. Units that take just one hit place a hit counter under them. These hit counters have different states on them such as: panicked, suppressed or pinned. They will affect your unit’s stats and can only be removed with a Rally action. If a unit is hit and already has a hit tile on it, it is destroyed.

There are rules for flanking, group movement, hidden units, snipers, terrain modifiers and more. So above are just the basics. That said, although this is a deep system, it adds rules as you go through the firefights so you aren’t overwhelmed. And there are even designer’s notes in the rulebook so you can see how everything makes sense and fits together.

A Quick Review of Storms of Steel:

Storms of Steel is the first heavier war game I have played. I was not sure if I’d like this type of game or not. After playing I can definitely say it was a lot of fun. Storms of Steel is an elegant and very accessible war game.

It can be taught fairly quickly and has a lot of depth to it. The way the APs, CAPs, cards and Opportunity Actions work together plays great and can really make for some tense moments.

The components are high-quality and everything is easy to understand and the player reference sheets communicate information well.

I do wish the box came with a storage tray for the counters, but baggies work.

I would encourage anyone wanting to try out a tactical war game to get Storms of Steel. It is a great system that is fun and deep, yet not overwhelming or confusing.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6