''Drang Nach Osten!'' ("Drive to the East!") is a monster board

wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

published in 1973 by

Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers. History Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. The founding m ...

(GDW) that simulates

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in Europe.

Description

''Drang Nach Osten!'', characterized as a "monster game" because it has more than 1000 counters, is a two-player (or two-team) game that covers Operation Barbarossa along

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

's Eastern Front between 22 June 1941 and 31 March 1942.

Components

The game, packaged in a ziplock bag, contains: * 1792 die-cut counters * Five 21" x 27" maps that, when put together, cover the Eastern Front from Warsaw in the west to Stalingrad in the east, and from Murmansk in the north to Sevastopol in the south. The map scale used in the entire ''Europa'' series is 25 km (16 mi) per hex. * Rules folder with 20-page rulebook and game cover art *Ten charts and aids

Gameplay

Each turn represents 2 weeks of game time – characterized as first half of the month and last half of the month. Movement is modified by both terrain and weather. Combat results are determined by the ratio of attackers to defenders. Supplies are dependent upon home cities that act as supply depots.

Victory conditions

To win, the Axis player/team must capture every major Soviet city hex before the end of the 19th turn (second half of March 1942). The Soviet player/team wins by preventing this.

Publication history

In 1973, GDW published ''Drang Nach Osten!'', a game designed by Paul R. Banner and

Frank Chadwick Frank Chadwick is an American multiple-award-winning game designer and ''New York Times'' best selling author. He has designed hundreds of games, his most notable being the role-playing games ''En Garde!'', '' Space: 1889'' and ''Twilight 2000' ...

, as the first in the 'East Front Trilogy'. Cover art was by

Don Lowry Don Lowry is a wargamer, businessman, illustrator, and game designer who is best known as the publisher of ''Chainmail'' and the editor of ''Panzerfaust Magazine''. Lowry was active in the International Federation of Wargaming in the late 1960s ...

. GDW also published an expansion kit, '' Unentschieden'' ("Stalemate"), in 1973, that extends the simulation to the end of the war in May 1945. This was the first game of ''Europa'', a planned series of games with identical wargame rules and map scale that would simulate the entire

in Europe. In 1984 Banner, Chadwick, Marc Miller and John Astell revised and greatly expanded ''Drang Nach Osten!'' and GDW published this expansion as ''

Fire in the East ''Fire in the East'' is a monster board wargame published in 1984 by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) that simulates Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Description ''Fire in the East'', characterized as a "mon ...

''. GDW went out of business before the entire ''Europa'' line could be completed. Following the demise of GDW,

Game Research/Design Game Research/Design (GR/D) was a board wargame publisher, principally concerned with the ''Europa'' series of European World War II wargames. GR/D was formed in 1985 by John Astell, one of the ''Europa'' designers, and Winston Hamilton, anot ...

(GRD) acquired the license to ''Fire in the East'', and announced a new edition titled ''Total War'', which to date, has not been published.

Reception

In a 1976 poll of 202 wargames conducted by

Simulations Publications Inc. Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship ''Strategy & Tactics'', in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an enormous number of games and introduced innovat ...

, wargame players rated ''Drang nach Osten!'' as Number 1. In his 1977 book ''

The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming ''The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming'' is a 1977 book by Nicholas Palmer about the hobby of board wargaming. Contents ''The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming'' is a 223-page book about the hobby of wargaming for non-gamers and game ...

'',

Nick Palmer Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A Glossary of cricket terms#nick, cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealin ...

wrote, "There is a school of thought which holds that the ''Europa'' series is for admiring and revelling in the rules rather than playing, but it ''is'' playable ..given enough time or (more realistically) enough players." In the 1980 book ''

The Complete Book of Wargames ''The Complete Book of Wargames'' by Jon Freeman and the editors of Consumer Guide was published in 1980 by Simon & Schuster under the Fireside imprint. Contents This book comes in both a 285-page hardcover edition and a paperback version. In ...

'', game designer Jon Freeman questioned the balance of the game, stating "The Germans roll. ..Only a top group of Russian players will be able to overcome this." While Freeman admitted that ''Drang nach Osten!'' was a legend, he said it was not because of its playability, but "because it proved big games — nay, monster games — had a place in the hobby." With its extreme size and complexity, Freeman found playing the game was like "sucking wind uphill." He also found that due to the length of time needed to play — he estimated two years — "Playability is limited to large groups with plenty of time on their hands." Freeman refused to give an Overall Evaluation grade for the game, saying "Its significance far exceeds its intrinsic merit {...] Not for public consumption." In ''The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training'', Martin Campion summarized the complexity of this game, saying it "shows a lot about the war but at a terrific cost in time and trouble."

Other reviews

* ''

Fire & Movement ''Fire & Movement: The Forum of Conflict Simulation'' was a magazine devoted to wargames, both traditional board wargames and computer wargames. It was founded by Rodger MacGowan in 1975, and began publication the following year. In February 198 ...

'' #17 and #63 * ''Grenadier'' #11 * ''Panzerfaust'' #59 and #64 *'' Moves'' #50, p27 *''

Games & Puzzles ''Games & Puzzles'' was a magazine about games and puzzles. The magazine was first published in May 1972 by Edu-Games (UK) Ltd. The first editor was Graeme Levin who recruited a variety of games and puzzles experts as writers and consultant edi ...

'' #57https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Games_and_Puzzles_magazine

References

{{reflist Board games introduced in 1973 Frank Chadwick games Game Designers' Workshop games World War II board wargames