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This revolutionary eastern front wargame covers the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. It blends the latest evolution of the Decisive Campaigns hex and counter engine with deep narrative, RPG-style people management and in-depth semi-randomized decision systems.
You are in full operational command.
Can you make the right decisions to turn the tide of war?
Grey Dawn. Murky ersatz coffee not doing it’s job. Bustling headquarters. Oberleutnants pinning army dispositions on the wall map. Markers relentlessly pushing eastwards. It’s a big map. Ostland. A nagging, slow burning, realisation of just how big it is. Bottom corner of the map flapping in the draft. Bolshevik cold overwhelming a proper Germanic wood fire.
Sipping mud. Pondering army realignments. Squinting suspiciously at the growing pile of reports on your desk. Staffers spiking ever more teleprints and summaries. In competition with a second pile. Requests. Arbitrations. Judgements. Something to do in between incessant phone calls. Berlin demanding you drop everything. The Führer has called a conference. Again. Colonel Rattus Facius, currently in dispute with your Quartermaster General, is impatiently waiting for you next door, striding up and down in his black, SS, leather boots, demanding that you intervene.
People. Strongly defined personalities. Under pressure. Fighting a war. Fighting for their own corner and agenda. Equally capable of helping or hindering. Decisions. Delegation.
AND CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHY THE HECK F.M VON BOCK WANTS TO SANCTION THE 10th PANZER DIVISION?
Because you ordered them to make a hasty attack, 30 km’s southwest of Smolensk, low on fuel, in poor visibility with limited reconnaissance. Because they unexpectedly ran into three dug in Soviet Divisions. Because GenLt. F. Schaal, their commander fumbled the assault, ColGen. Guderian declined to cover for him and now F.M Von Bock is on your back demanding an official sanction.
Source: The Publisher Website.
- Deep game with a rich engine
- Detailed simulation of supply, mileage, fatigue
- Historically representative order of battle
- Challenging and nuanced combat
- Playable and fun despite detail
- Rewarding for fans of crunchy hex wargames
- Good sale price
- Takes time to learn and master
- Operational scale campaign combat
- Eastern Front, World War II
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Fatigue — There's supply, vehicle mileage, fatigue, a historically representative order of battle, and challenging and nuanced combat.
- Hex Encounter — one of my favorite hex encounter turn-based PC war games of all time.
- Nuanced Combat — and challenging and nuanced combat.
- operational scale — fight out the Eastfront campaign in World War II on a massive operational scale.
- Order of Battle — a historically representative order of battle
- Supply — There's supply, vehicle mileage, fatigue, a historically representative order of battle, and challenging and nuanced combat.
- Vehicle Mileage — There's supply, vehicle mileage, fatigue, a historically representative order of battle, and challenging and nuanced combat.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- These are PC war games that go on sale fairly regularly and provide you with the best gaming value for your dollar.
- Pavlov's House is unique to this bargain list as I've never seen it go on discounted sale, but the standard price is only $9, so it definitely fits in this category of bargain war games.
- There's no way that this game is a war game.
- And this game simply has too much great gameplay, a ton of combat, and it's so aggressively priced that I had to include it in this best bargain turn-based PC war games list.
- If the detail is in the game, it's important and you'll find yourself using it.
- Well, there you have it. My set of best bargain turnbased PC war games for people to enjoy.