Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45 (1985)

Overview

Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45 is an Eastern front strategic game set during World War 2, designed by Dave O'Connor. Trial of Strength is a strategic level board wargame set in the Eastern Front of WWII, originally published by Panther Games in 1985. A new second edition is being published by Lock 'n Load Publishing, LLC. (cancelled)

Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45 is a turn-based board wargame that puts the players in the shoes of armed forces commanders who must determine objectives, allocate forces and execute operations designed to achieve victory over your opponent. The battlefield the game is played on is a hexagon-style 1:4,000,000 scale map of Eastern Europe with each hex represents 72 kilometres (45 miles) from side to side. Each turn represents approximately 10 days, with 3 turns per month. Units are generally corps of the Axis and armies for the Soviet Union, both about 60,000 troops each, while also consisting of smaller battle groups of specialist formations.

Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45 heart comes from it's novel and sophisticated integrated movement and combat system called CLIMACS, units conduct combat during the movement phase by expending movement points. The game is played at Corps / Army scale. There isn't a combat phase in Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45. All combat is done somewhat like overruns in the operations phase. A unit in range of a HQ can roll for initiative to react when a combat is declared. Each HQ gets to do this once during the opponent's turn.

The air and naval aspect of the game is easy. There are Armor effects in combat and rules to allow more than one stack at a time to combine their movement. When Armor effects are used the Tanks must take the first loss if any (you will see the way those Panzers get worn down in Barbarossa). Losses are by step with possible retreats and even morale rolls to hold your ground and take more losses instead of retreating. There is also limited intelligence with many units off the map (Army / Front markers). You can only see the top unit in a stack.

Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45 employs a special rule-set for the use of airborne, marine, mountain, artillery, rail-gun, rail construction NKVD and SS units. The presence of an integrated political system into the game-play caters for historical events such as the reticence of Finland and the uprising of the Slovaks among others. While variable progress on the Western Front through the effects of Allied bombings and Partisans poses variable conditions for players.