East Front is a board wargame published by The Control Box, Inc. in 1976 that simulates combat on the Russo-German Front during World War II. The game had unusual hexagonal-shaped counters rather than the more traditional square counters.
East Front is a board wargame published by The Control Box, Inc. in 1976 that simulates combat on the Russo-German Front during World War II. The game had unusual hexagonal-shaped counters rather than the more traditional square counters.
East Front is a two-player game in which one player controls the German forces invading the Soviet Union, and the other player controls the Soviet defenders. With two large (21" x 28") hex grid maps covering the entire front from Finland to the Caspian Sea and 800 counters, [1] the game is complex.
East Front uses the game system developed for SPI's wargame Kursk in 1971: The German player
The Russian player then has the same opportunity, completing one game turn, which represents 2 weeks of game time.
The game comes with nine scenarios:
East Front was designed by Kip Allen and Stephen G. Bettum and published by Control Box in 1976 in a ziplock pouch. The game was also published as a boxed set by Excalibre Games the same year. [2]
In Issue 11 of Urf Durfal, Greg Costikyan liked the components, although he noted that the hexagonal counters were smaller than their square counterparts, "thus the unit symbols and strengths are printed more minutely [and] can cause a bit of eye strain." However, Costikyan had issue with the rules, calling them "one of the worst set of rules I have seen in a professionally published game. They seem to be arranged with deliberate intent to confuse. They're unclear and ambiguous, do not explain any of the mechanisms sufficiently, are written in simple language when complex terminology is necessary, and complicated language when directness is necessary." On the other hand, Costikyan liked a number of innovations in the rules, including the supply system and the varying quality of units available to both sides as the game progresses. He concluded, "All in all, East Front is not a bad game. It contains a number of intriguing innovations that I'd like to see developed in further games, and the graphics are good. Although the rules seem to have been written by the chimpanzee-and-typewriter method, with a bit of thought and experimentation they can be puzzled out. [...] The game is definitely worth getting, unless you have a phobia about East Front games." [3]
In The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training, Martin Campion commented on this game's usefulness as an educational aid, saying, "This is a splendid simulation and a valuable compromise between the abstraction of Barbarossa and the excessive detail of War in the East . This game might displace Barbarossa as my favorite classroom game on its subject." [4]
Drang Nach Osten! is a monster board wargame published in 1973 by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) that simulates Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The game was the first of what was envisioned as a series of games with identical wargame rules and map scale that would simulate the entire Second World War in Europe.
The Russian Campaign is a strategic board wargame published by Jedko Games in 1974 that simulates combat on the Eastern Front during World War II. Avalon Hill later bought the game and produced several editions.
Conquistador, originally subtitled "The Age of Exploration: 1495–1600", is a board game published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1976 that simulates the exploration of the New World in the 16th century. Players take on the role of European countries sending expeditions to find gold and establish colonies. Although the design uses the trappings of board wargames such as a hex map, combat is not a major part of the game.
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Kursk: Operation Zitadelle is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1971. It was the first wargame to simulate the Battle of Kursk, the large tank battle during World War II.
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The Moscow Campaign, subtitled "Strike and Counterstrike Russia", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1972 that simulates combat near Moscow during World War II.
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U.S.N.: The Game of War in the Pacific, 1941–43 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1971 that simulates two years of the Pacific Campaign during World War II.
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