Panzer Campaigns: Smolensk

Smolensk '41 features 1 km hexes, 2 hour turns, with a map measuring over 300 hexes by 200 hexes. Over 1500 battalion sized units represent PanzerGruppes Guderian and Hoth, the supporting Infantry Divisions of Army Group Center, and the massive forces of the Soviet Western Front. Nineteen Scenarios are included and the editor allows for creation of countless scenarios.

Supports single person play against the computer, two-person hot-seat, two-person Play-By-E-Mail, and multiplayer network play over LANs and the Internet.

Complete on-line Help documentation plus on-line printable documentation in Microsoft Word format. All documentation is on the CD. No printed manual is included.

We asked veteran playtester and computer gamer John Kincaid what he liked best about playing Smolensk `41. Here's what he had to say:

"Talk about having fun! For me, there's nothing like a good Email game with realistic "fog of war", and Smolensk delivers that in spades. I have to admit, that as the German player, I began the game with quite a feeling of power. But, as I found out to my cost, in battles like this power can be fleeting - so you need use it well."

"The following few pictures from our game conclusively demonstrate how what you don't know can absolutely hurt you. To set up the situation, Smolensk is the objective and I've given the 17th Panzer Division the task of heading east towards it. The division's advance is in a sector with a good road, and which does not require bridging a major water obstacle. The Dnepr River, which flows east and south through Orsha, will provide some degree of protection on the right flank. However, Orsha itself is a major crossing point, and the advance remains at risk until it can be taken. Even so, I decide nothing must slow down the attack against the disintegrating Soviet forces. So the town will have to wait for the infantry. The 17th Panzer Division will press on. "

Recon units lead the 17th Panzer as it travels east along the road.

As I anticipated, the Russians are dug in along the east side of a fordable stream. They should be little trouble for the 17th Panzer Division with some Artillery assets thrown in from the parent 47th Corps.

The combined artillery fire and assault of the Panzers have cleared the Russians from their improved positions.
Two Russian units have broken and headed east. As a precaution, I've sent a recon unit skirting around the woods to the south.

But things are not always as they seem. As night falls two turns later, the Russian 5th Mech Corps (comprised of
the 13th and 17th Tank Divisions) slams into the southern flank of the Panzer Division. Where is that infantry?!

$49.95