(NEW) The Eastern Front Way of War Pack
Three ziplock back issues for a great price!
Hitler's code name of Barbarossa for his plan to invade and conquer the Soviet Union was named after the nickname for Germanic Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, a Crusader who failed in his holy mission to the East. Hitler also rapidly found he had failed with his plan for the East as fierce Soviet counterattacks and operations ground down the German Army.
So here's your chance to explore the true nature of fighting on the Eastern Front, from strategic operations to the gritty tactical hand to hand combat.
Welcome to the Eastern Front Way of War, with three totally different looks at operations across three different years, from 1942 through 1945.
Circle of Fire
A small town sitting astride an important crossroads, held by a very mixed bag of defenders in the middle of the worst winter in decades. Surrounded, greatly outnumbered, and subjected to almost constant attack. Bastogne? Not quite....
Though now largely forgotten the successful defense of Cholm in 1942 by Kampfgruppe Scherer ranks as one of the great small unit sieges of the Second World War and perhaps of all time. Despite being assailed on all sides by Soviet troops desperate to grab any shelter from the cold, Hitler has declared Cholm a festung: there will be no withdrawal. In the waist-deep snow and sub-zero temperatures the battle will be fought to the last man and the last grenade.
Circle of Fire: The Siege of Cholm, 1942, by designer Michael Rinella, utilizes an updated version of the low-complexity area-impulse system first used in the award-winning Avalon Hill classic Storm Over Arnhem. Unlike that game, however, this design includes a hallmark of later area-impulse games: the “sudden death” mechanism to end turns unpredictably.
Circle of Fire and issue #41 of ATO
Map - One full color 22" x 34" mapsheet
Counters - 176 full color 5/8" die-cut pieces
Rules length - 8 pages
Charts and tables - 2 pages
Complexity - Low
Solitaire suitability - Low
Playing time - Up to 4 hours
Design - Michael Rinella
Development - Lembit Tohver
Graphics - Mark Mahaffey
Kesselschlacht
Kesselschlacht is a simulation depicting the Russian encirclement of the German First Panzer Army in the Ukraine in the Spring of 1944. The German forces were very low on fuel and ammunition and had been caught flat-footed by yet another overwhelming Soviet offensive by a total of nine Soviet armies!
Supplied by air much of the time, First Panzer Army deceived the Soviet forces by moving west, instead of south as the Soviet generals had anticipated. The pocket crossed several swollen rivers, and struggled through thick mud and deep snow, yet somehow remained intact.
Unlike the Korsun Pocket disaster the month before, this time the Germans avoided yet another debacle.
Maps - One full color 22"x34" mapsheet
Counters - 360 full color 1/2" die-cut pieces
Rules length - 16 pages
Charts and tables - 2 pages
Complexity - Medium
Solitaire suitability - Average
Playing time - Up to 8 hours
Design - Perry Moore
Development - Warren Kingsley, C. Rawling
Graphic Design - Craig Grando
Hitler's Stalingrad: Fortress Breslau
After being cut off and isolated in mid-February 1945, the German garrison at Breslau, some 50,000 men, defied all odds holding onto the city for almost a week AFTER Berlin fell! Hitler had ordered the city be held at all costs, believing Soviet forces tied up there were thus not taking part in any assault on Berlin. The defending garrison finally surrendered just days before the war officially ended (with the Gauleiter in charge fleeing the city by air to escape capture).
Taking the city fell to the Soviet Sixth Army, comprised of some eight divisions with 80,000 men between them, plus four tank regiments and two artillery divisions. An entire Air Army, the Second, was also assigned to provide ample destructive power from the sky. The task facing the Soviets was daunting; urban warfare plus a very determined defender. Terrain too was critical - the Oder River flowing through the city sliced it up into many parts. Taking a major sector of the city could mean nothing more than occupying an "island" in the end.
Hitler's Stalingrad: Breslau 1945 and issue #56 of ATO
Maps - One full color 22"x34" hex mapsheet
Counters - 324 full color 9/16" die-cut pieces
Rules length - 15 pages
Charts and tables - 1 page
Complexity - Medium
Playing time - Up to 4 hours
How challenging is it solitaire? - Average
Design - Perry Moore
Development - Russ Lockwood
Graphic Design - Mark Mahaffey
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