Commemorating the 55th Anniversary of the End of World War II in Europe

Reviews of some of the absolute best (and slightly less good) operational-level games of WWII

Panzergruppe Guderian
The Battle of Smolensk, July 1941
Game Design: James F. Dunnigan
Physical Systems and Graphics: Redmond A. Simonsen
Development: Richard Berg
New York: SPI; 1976
Originally appeared in S&T 57

Panzergruppe Guderian (PGG) is a serious contender for one of the best military history boardgames ever. This game of modest complexity, but distinct innovation (the Soviet untried units), is a triumph of the less-is-more philosophy which the old SPI often practiced. In eight finely-crafted, succinct pages of rules, PGG offers more flavor of East Front combat than many 1990s’ productions of far greater (and arguably, needless) complexity.

The critical innovation of PGG is that Soviet units are deployed face down; their combat strength, which varies from 0 to 9, unknown to either the Soviet or German player until the instant of first combat. Another important aspect of PGG is the system of combat-through-movement known as Overrun, which gives the German formations (particularly Panzer divisions) their renowned weight on the East Front battlefield. There is also Panzer divisional integrity, which means that if the three regiments of a German panzer division are in the same hex, they are doubled for attack, defense and overrun attacks. Another important aspect is the more measured losses on the Combat Results Table, which in most cases allow for a retreat or step-loss. (All German panzer division regiments have two steps, and infantry divisions have four steps, whereas the Soviet units are all one step, thus again reflecting German quality over Soviet quantity.)

PGG is intensely enjoyable in play as either the German or Soviet player. Play begins on the far-western edge of the map as the German forces roar in, against a thick mass of Soviet divisions. At least some German forces must reach the eastern edge of the map, as well as capture several cities and towns along the way, in 12 game-turns, in the face of constant Soviet reinforcements. It is recommended that the more skillful player be given the Germans, as the Soviets are easier to play at an average level of competence.

Players are continually faced with interesting options and trade-offs, such as, how far forward should the Soviets place their main line of resistance? The Germans have to be handled very deftly to make headway at all. Indeed, some unlucky Overrun rolls can virtually end the game for the German player. So the German assault has to be carried out with Teutonic precision. A German marginal victory (the historic result) is often unattainable.

It may be added (as a historical afternote) that after Guderian had won this victory, and the advance to Moscow seemed imminent, Panzergruppes Hoth and Guderian were diverted southward to take part in the encirclement triumph at Kiev. In historical discussions on the East Front, it is often suggested that this diversion was a fundamental mistake. Presumably Guderian and Hoth could have rushed across the 150 miles to Moscow at that earlier (August) stage in the campaign. By the time the Panzers were redeployed back into the line to assault Moscow, it was October. Some historians have noted a curious de-emphasis on capturing Moscow even in the German strategic planning for the invasion of the Soviet Union.

One of the more successful games dealing with operations in the Ukraine and Southern Russia is Panzerkrieg/Von Manstein’s Battles. Versions of this game have appeared with Rand Game Assoc., Operational Studies Group, Avalon Hill and, most recently, 3W/CoSi. The author still remembers being annihilated as the Soviet player in the Kiev ’41 scenario, in the original Rand game. In that scenario, the Germans could do credibly well even without the intervention of Guderian and Hoth.

Those interested in seeing how Guderian’s offensive towards Moscow in August might have gone can look at playing The Moscow Option: Guderian’s Gambit (XTR, 1996), which appeared in Command 37. It must be said, however, that the area covered by the map appears to be too small, and with too-large hexes showing not enough terrain detail. It is also almost entirely division level, which eliminates a lot of flavor. There seem to be too few Soviet units, and as a result, the strengths of individual Soviet units are probably overrated.

A game of moderate complexity on the German drive to Moscow as it historically began in October is The Moscow Campaign (SPI, 1972). This is again a triumph of old SPI minimalism. Despite this, it is able to convey much of the flavor of early East Front combat, e.g., the hordes of weak Soviet divisions against a few German Panzer spearheads. The game begins with the Soviets almost literally carpeting the front with their very weak divisions. The German player again has to plow through the Soviet lines, sometimes eliminating twenty divisions in a turn! Despite its simplicity, the Moscow Campaign might offer a better feel for the early East Front than many other, far more complex, games.

Indeed, even PGG might be seen as overrating Soviet abilities for that time in the war. In the early phases of the German invasion, there seemed to be only a handful of places where Soviet forces put up stubborn and effective resistance, that actually forced the Germans into serious delays. The study of those few critical battles would be highly important for future military historians.

One of the main reasons for the Soviet disasters of 1941 was, of course, Stalin’s massacre in 1937-38 of Soviet generals and officers, from Marshal Tukhachevsky on down. Tukhachevsky was one of the pioneers of the new shock air and armor offensive approach, called deep battle in the Soviet Union. It is interesting to consider that among the theoretical pioneers of the new armored warfare in the various European countries (apart from Germany) there were J.F.C. Fuller and B. Liddell Hart in Britain, Charles de Gaulle in France and Wladyslaw Sikorski in Poland. As is well known, these British, French and Polish theorists of the new armored warfare were largely ignored, thus throwing away any possibility of an early Western Allied victory in World War II.

While PGG is enormously fun to play, it may be a little unhistorical, as the level of deftness it requires from the German player to achieve historical results is a bit too much. It may also be pointed out that the biggest obstacle to the Germans in the Moscow Campaign is the onset of a long period of mud, which slows every thing down to a crawl. Only near the end of the game do the Soviets begin to receive units with which they can conceivably attack. The Moscow Campaign does offer various alternate (strengthened) German orders of battle, which taken together can simulate the German maximum effort against Moscow in October 1941. One obvious suggestion for the game would be to strengthen somewhat the Soviet order of battle in relation to German strengthenings.

The Moscow Campaign was a very fine game in that it covered what, in late 1941, was the most critical part of the East Front, yet could easily be played in an afternoon or evening. If Decision Games (which now hold the rights to most old SPI games) were interested in re-doing the game, the author would strongly advise avoiding recreating some of the overcomplexity of many 1990s’ games, as well as definitively including an August and/or September drive on Moscow. And PGG should obviously be the game looked at as the core of the new design’s matrix.

There have been many East Front games since PGG. A game such as Proud Monster: The Barbarossa Campaign (XTR, 1994) originally appeared in Command 27, and actually uses a pretty close derivative of the PGG system, but -- as the title indicates -- is a huge, very long game. And especially so when one adds the massive Death and Destruction, The Russian Front 1942-44 supplement (originally appeared in Command 34) which extends the game to April 1944. Other companies, notably The Gamers, have embraced almost insane levels of complexity in their East Front games. However, almost every East Front game probably bears some PGG influence somewhere in it.

The Moscow Campaign would seem to be a good candidate for re-design by Decision Games in tune with SPI’s minimalist, less-is-more strategy.