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On 22 June 1941, German, Romanian and other Axis forces launched a surprise attack against the Soviet Union. This touched off the most vicious war the planet has ever known, as millions of men (and sometimes women) fought fanatically in a war of annihilation that ended only when the Red Army of Workers and Peasants planted its banners on the Reichstag in Berlin. The original Panzer Grenadier. A lightweight compared to the new Deluxe Edition. Eastern Front is a game based on the opening year of this intense struggle, with 112 separate scenarios, or game situations, based on the actual battles waged in the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942. The game is part of the Panzer Grenadier game series, portraying the leaders, infantry and tank platoons and artillery batteries deployed during the campaign. It’s a total revision of the game we first released in 2000. Unlike some games (usually role-playing games, but a handful of boardgames as well), each Panzer Grenadier game is playable by itself. But several of the series supplements, like Arctic Front and Edelweiss, require parts of Eastern Front for their use. Without Eastern Front, they’re pretty much useless. However, Eastern Front Deluxe Edition is no simple reprint. There’s more of everything, and what was once included, is not the same anymore. Maps The original edition had four 11x17-inch hard-mounted game boards — placed on the same thick backing material of mainstream boardgames or those made by Avalon Hill in the 1970s. Those are very expensive to make, and in this age of increased fuel costs are extremely heavy to ship. For the new edition, we converted to a heavy rigid cardstock that’s much lighter and less expensive. Doing so allowed us to double the playing area, from four maps to eight. Scenarios Fifty-one scenarios, complete game situations, made up the original edition’s scenario book. The new edition has 112. Sixty-four of these are new, and of the 48 holdovers from the first edition, most have been revised: some just a little, some severely. The scenarios represent an enormous amount of research, including both original documents and secondary sources in four languages (German, Russian, Romanian and English). Based on actual encounters, they’ve been carefully tested to make sure they present the same decisions and opportunities faced by the historical commanders. Playing Pieces The number of pieces in the game rose from 495 to 660. Many of the new unit types have been profiled in our Web site content; you can follow the highlighted links to read in-depth profiles of them. Armata Romana The original edition had only German and Soviet pieces; for the new version, we’ve added 98 Romanian units. These include five types of tanks, plus cavalry, mountain troops, motorcyclists, engineers, machine gunners, infantry, mortars (including a 60mm horse mortar), artillery and anti-tank guns. Plus their own air support. New German Pieces The original had 165 German pieces. The new version has 204. A few pieces fell away (the never-used battalion headquarters, for example). The Germans have more cavalry and their new pieces include Czech-made Pz35t and Pz38t tanks, P204f armored cars, commandos, an armored train, the PzIIIJ and PzI tank models, and a new unit type, the prime mover (in this case, SdKfz 7 and SdKfz 9 unarmored half-tracks). An Improved Red Army From 165 pieces in the original, the Red Army contingent has grown to 193. Like the Germans, there are some deletions (those useless headquarters) and many new pieces: FAI and Ba6 armored cars, 107mm artillery, 76.2mm mountain guns, BT-5 and T-37 tanks. A new type of infantry, the anti-tank rifle platoon, also appears for the first time in the series. Like the Germans, the Soviets also have a prime mover to pull their heavy guns, the Komsomolets tractor.
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