Mud & Blood - The Campaign of Lodz 1914

After the disastrous defeat at Tannenberg in August 1914, Russia redeemed itself by defeating the Austrians in Galicia as well as the Germans in the Ivangorod-Warsaw campaign. Now having proved being able to fight and defeat the Germans, the Emperor Tsar Nikolai, still honoring the agreement with France, wanted to take the battlefield back in to Germany again. This time aiming directly to the heartland of Germany. Silesia. Hindenburg, the German commander of the Eastern Front had other plans. Through timely and accurate intelligence, Hindenburg knew exactly what was in the making, and a plan took form to repeat his crushing victory at the Battle of Tannenberg, by hitting the Russian flank as it moved into Silesia. By yet another masterpiece in logistical planning and execution, the Germans managed to move the reinforced Ninth Army under the command of the later legendary General August von Makensen by 80 trains per day in less than 10 days to a position outside Thorn in order to attack the advancing Russian steamrollers’ right flank.

The Battle of Lodz was to become one of the largest and most complex battles of the maneuver-period of World War 1. Deep operations, flank maneuvers and encirclements under harsh winter conditions made command and control chaotic.
The Game Mud & Blood recreate this setting making it a perfect re-encounter battle where both players need to carefully plan their moves in order not to create a disaster.

Rules and mechanics: Rules are developed from the “Tannenberg 1914” game released in 2010 now forming the Standard Rule System Collision of Empires with chit-pull mechanics.

Game components:

One A1 map

286 15mm counters and markers

16 page rulebook

Two Player Aid Cards (PAC) A4 containing most of the Charts and Tables.