(PRE-ORDER) 2025 Annual - Hard to Swallow
Hard to Swallow is a two game package that looks at the initial Russian assaults on Kyiv, both the overall operational campaign to take the city, and the intense local battle that erupted at Anotov Airport.
Hoping for a quick kill, the Russians badly underestimated the Ukrainians will to resist, as well as the effects that intelligence leaks from within their own military as well as that provided by NATO and the USA meant that the Russian assault would come with little to no surprise by the Ukrainian defenders. What ensued was the largest battle in Ukraine since World War II.
The first game, A Road to Ruin is an operational level solitaire design on the Russian attempt to capture Kyiv outright in the first chaotic and brutal month of the war. The game centers on the outer Western defense cordon (Bucha, Iprin and Moschun) and the other closer in suburbs of Kyiv, scenes of the most intense urban combat witnessed since WW2. The player (representing Ukraine) must marshal his limited resources of hastily recruited militia, some professional soldiers, a few highly trained foreign legion troops plus small groups of special forces and then forge them into an force capable of blunting the multiple Russian drives towards Kyiv. Every neighborhood the invaders capture allows them to redeploy their long range firepower a bit closer, each such redeployment then shortens the range to the heart of Kyiv and increases the lethality of Russia’s devastating artillery batteries.
The Russians (controlled by the game system) may appear unstoppable at first. But the invaders did not come mentally prepared to overcome fierce resistance and their front line combat troops sent in lacked supplies and ammo to sustain a prolonged conflict. Another key Russian weakness is their lengthy unprotected convoys of supply trucks slowly twisting through forests and remote highways of the Ukrainian frontier, the perfect location for Ukrainian special forces to unleash ambushes with Javelin and MLAW missiles. Disrupting the Russian convoys gives the Ukrainians a chance to outlast the Russian Forces. And so, despite Putin’s proclamations of Russian invincibility, the longer the Ukrainians can hold out, the better the chances of forcing the Russians to withdraw.
Does President Zelensky have the willpower to resist the apocalyptic artillery bombardments raining death on the Kyiv from captured Ukrainian neighborhoods? Can the defenders outlast the invaders so that first the capital, and perhaps int he future, all of Ukraine saved? Designed by Steven Cunliffe with one 22" x 34" map, 88 large counters and 18 Event cards.
The second game, A Terminal Illness is a two-player low to moderate level simulation of the battle for the Anotov Airport. A key component of the Russian's planned swift conquest of Ukraine was a large airborne assault upon the Anotov Airport, just west and north of the capital of Kyiv. The plan was to quickly take control of the airport so follow-on forces could land while the Spetnaz moved into the capital to either kill or capture the Ukrainian government’s political and military leaders. Two of the most elite and highly trained formations in the Russian Federation’s army, the 11th and 31st Guards Airborne Infantry Brigades, plus support by Spetnaz commandos, the attack failed with heavy casualties. Designed by Paul Rohrbaugh with one 17" x 22" map and 120 counters.
Hard to Swallow and the 2025 ATO Magazine Annual from ATO
Maps - One full color 22"x34" mapsheet
Counters - 88 colorful die-cut 5/8" pieces
Rules length - 12 pages
Charts and tables - 2 pages
Event Cards - 18
Complexity - Medium
Playing time - Up to 4 to 6 hours
How challenging is it solitaire? - Excellent
Design - Stephen Cunliffe
Development - Russ Lockwood
Graphic Design - Mark Mahaffey
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