Konigsberg: The Bear's Revenge

The Black Death isn't exactly running wild here in my part of the world, but the weather is bad and there seems to be ample reason to self-isolate.  As long as I'm self-isolating, I might as well put together a video of my first impressions of Konigsberg: The Bear's Revenge, from Lone Canuck Publishing.


Overall, KBR gets a thumbs up.


MAP:  A
COUNTERS: C
BACKGROUND:  B
CAMPAIGN GAME: A
SCENARIOS:  ?

Note:  The counter art does have both SS bolts and Swastikas.  George offered me a refund but I'll talk more about this below.

I did talk to the Lone Canuck himself and picked a couple of bones with him:

First, the Red Army Panzerfaust squads.  I wondered whether counters were needed for special squads as opposed to random availability (like the Germans have.)  Evidently, when the Soviets captured fausts they gave them to special assault units, which makes sense since you can give them training, etc.

Second, why the Nazi units?  Can't Volksturm and Hitlerjunge units be represented by conscripts?  Just like it says in the rulebook?  Why have Swastika counters at all?  The point, George (Kelln) says, is that they did not want to whitewash history and that German "commissars" should be represented in the game.  However, Soviet "commissars" do not (and should not) have a hammer and sickle on them.  So there is no need to identify them as such.

Moreover, it probably makes this product illegal in Germany, Austria, France and Poland.  One could argue that it is for a display of historical significance, but according to Deutschewelle it's not clear that you'd win your case:
Posting a picture with a swastika in it or Nazi slogans on social media is illegal in Germany. In March, a 45-year-old man was sentenced to three months in prison after he repeatedly posted pictures of a masked man with tattoos of a swastika and other Nazi symbols on Facebook. 
I've heard it many times:  Tim, it's JUST A GAME.  Right.  I agree.  So I don't see why its so important to put a Swastika in your game.

Anywhoo...

Thanks to George for his responses and this is really worth a buy if you don't mind having Nazi logos sent to you in the mail.

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