Valor of the Guards or Red Barricades

Which is the better module?

  • Red Barricades

    Votes: 25 58.1%
  • Valor of the Guards

    Votes: 18 41.9%

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .

daveramsey

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Ok- this one's a heavy weight contest!

VotG with its gutted factories and crazy rail-cars (along with an extra campaign and more scenarios) - vs the grand-daddy of campaigns, Red Barricades. I know technically you need RB to have all the VotG rules, but we're hand-waving that away to provide the context for the question - which is the better module?
 

A_T_Great

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Ok- this one's a heavy weight contest!

VotG with its gutted factories and crazy rail-cars (along with an extra campaign and more scenarios) - vs the grand-daddy of campaigns, Red Barricades. I know technically you need RB to have all the VotG rules, but we're hand-waving that away to provide the context for the question - which is the better module?
Actually VotG Comes with the relevant RB rules.
 

Eagle4ty

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RB, it started it all...

VotG is good but the map could be improved (railcars, gutted buildings...)
I used a red-orange highlighter to touch up the rail cars/wooden-rubble. A tedious project but brought out the distinctiveness of the terrain without destroying the aesthetics of the map. One just has to be careful in applying the highlight. for non-gutted buildings I used a very light blue highlight with no detriment to the look of the map but did bring out the difference in a quickly recognizable fashion. Now some may not want to tinker with their maps is such a fashion but for me it worked well and I don't intend to resell the game anyway. If you want to tinker with color applications to existing maps use one of your old "hard" boards or earlier map renditions as a test.
 

Gordon

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I used a red-orange highlighter to touch up the rail cars/wooden-rubble. A tedious project but brought out the distinctiveness of the terrain without destroying the aesthetics of the map. One just has to be careful in applying the highlight. for non-gutted buildings I used a very light blue highlight with no detriment to the look of the map but did bring out the difference in a quickly recognizable fashion. Now some may not want to tinker with their maps is such a fashion but for me it worked well and I don't intend to resell the game anyway. If you want to tinker with color applications to existing maps use one of your old "hard" boards or earlier map renditions as a test.
Sounds interesting. Can we get a picture to see the results?
 

Vic Provost

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I have to support Tom Morin so went with Valor of the Guards, I know how much work he did to get it out, took about 20 years all together.

Red Factories would be a close second for me, Red Barricades is the measuring stick all other ETO HASLs are measured against. I wish Red October was as good...

Great modules, if you play ASL, you need both for eastern front, urban mayhem. Roll low and Enjoy!
 

daveramsey

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Actually VotG Comes with the relevant RB rules.
Is that true? This might be only minor, but VotG factories references O5, Factory rooftop access points are referenced in 6.2. In 7 Gutted Buildings, gutted factories are handled "as per 05.5"
 

Eagle4ty

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A few VotG rules came over to RB/RO as well. One of the better was the gutted non-factory buildings rule though I wish they had added a caveat to it that they would have a propensity to rubble easier. Also, I wish they had added debris creation as opposed to just turning burnt out wooden rubble into shellholes. However, these are just wishful items and certainly not big concerns when it comes to the enjoyment of the games.
 

Craig Benn

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Objectively VOTG is better. It fixed some ( but by no means all) of the problems with RB. The Germans can't prevent night counterattacks and the recovery of knocked out AFVs is better for instance.

I don't understand criticisms of the VOTG map and terrain - both are great. Partially rubbled buildings and gutted multi-storey buildings give it a real shattered cityscape feel. Plus VOTG has more scenarios with some real gems - although the odd dog.

But you have to give kudos to Red Barricades for being first and striking completely new ground....still I'd pick VOTG if I had to choose.

I think both have some flaws and there are other campaigns I'd rather play first rather than revisit Stalingrad again...but still both solid products.
 

Honza

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I don't understand criticisms of the VOTG map and terrain - both are great. Partially rubbled buildings and gutted multi-storey buildings give it a real shattered cityscape feel.
The map itself is fine, but the printing made it too dark to be able to distinguish the different terrain types.
 

DonWPetros

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RB, it started it all...

VotG is good but the map could be improved (railcars, gutted buildings...)
Having painted that map, I agree. The final printed version of the original artwork made everything appear 'darker', less colorful which obscured much detail. When I first saw it, I groaned for that reason.
 

Faded 8-1

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RB for me. I know some say the scenarios in VotG are better, but for me I can't recall a single one of them right now. Whereas RB has some of my all-time favorites - Turned Away, Bread Factory #2, To The Rescue, Ghosts in the Rubble, Blood & Guts.
 

Paul_RS

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The map itself is fine, but the printing made it too dark to be able to distinguish the different terrain types.
Agreed. Slightly bigger hexes would have been nice as well. The VASL map is clearer, plus you can upscale the map the deluxe size for some of the more counter dense scenarios.
I love all the Stalingrad HASLs TBH.
 

'Ol Fezziwig

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Agreed. Slightly bigger hexes would have been nice as well. The VASL map is clearer, plus you can upscale the map the deluxe size for some of the more counter dense scenarios.
I love all the Stalingrad HASLs TBH.
I always thought the map area for The Railway Station CG should have been included in Deluxe size.
 

Paul_RS

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I always thought the map area for The Railway Station CG should have been included in Deluxe size.
I already have an enlarged and colored version of the CRS map from the OAF ASL newsletter. I haven't checked it for similarities to area on the VotG map but a few more rules have been added for Stalingrad terrain since the OAF sheet was published.
 
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