This is the fifth game in Excalibre's "Panzer Battles and Sieges" series. (The others are: Caen, Crimea, Cassino and Sid Rezegh.) It is a recreation of the blitzkrieg against Poland in 1939. The German player must defeat the Polish and capture Warsaw within the actual historical time limit. Total War shares with the other games of this series a common set of basic rules (see issue #82 for reviews of the other four games.) Zones of control stop movement, but combat is optional. A step reduction system is used.
The map is 17" x 22", and blue and brown on tan paper. There is one 6" x 12" sheet of 1/2" counters, each representing a division, except the few Soviet units, which are corps. Both sides have certain historical restrictions on their starting positions. The map represents the western half, or so, of 1939 Poland, most of East Prussia, bits of each of Germany proper, Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. Total War sells for $6.95 and is also available from Lowry Enterprises.
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© Copyright 1979 by Donald S. Lowry
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