Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear!

Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! is the first installment of the Conflict of Heroes board wargame series, released in 2008. The game is set in World War II, on the Eastern Front, in 1941 and 1942. The playable armies in this game are the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army.

Components

Awakening the Bear! introduces the Conflict of Heroes series to gamers with most of the major game components already available. The game includes infantry units, machine guns, mortars, tanks, trucks and support weapons, all of which are represented by small square cardboard counters. Additionally, extra weapons and events are available for some firefights including grenades, molotov cocktails and off-board artillery strikes, which are all represented by cards. The game includes 5 map boards that can be placed together in any combination to create a larger playing surface. These map boards depict a realistic terrain setup of open plains, forests, hills, buildings, lakes and roads, and the boards are divided into hexagons to govern movement and firing. A sixth board for this game has been released from Academy Games, however it must be purchased separately from the main game.^[1]

Firefights

Included in the game are eleven firefights. They range from a small, infantry only skirmish with five units per side, to a large four person battle covering four mapboards, making use of almost every type of unit included in the game. Academy Games has also released four bonus firefights. One is designed as an introduction to four player games, one is a large infantry only battle, and two are designed for the sixth mapboard.^[2]

Rule Revisions

Academy Games is currently preparing a new version of the rules for Awakening the Bear!, based on feedback from Boardgamegeek forums and other fan criticism. A PDF version of the current rulebook in several languages, as well as an updated rulebook (version January 10, 2009) are available at the game's website. However, the updated rulebook has not been finalized yet.

Notes