Prelude to Disaster: The Soviet Spring Offensive

About this board game

Prelude to Disaster: The Soviet Spring Offensive is a high-complexity World War II strategy game for 2 players, listed with a 180-minute playing time and released in 1992.

This sixth volume in Clash of Arms Games’ Winter Storm Campaign Series covers the tense period between the end of the Soviet winter counteroffensive and the beginning of the German Stalingrad campaign. In early May 1942, four Soviet armies prepare to liberate Kharkov, capture crossings over the Dnepr River, and destroy German forces in southern Ukraine. Meanwhile, German commanders are readying a counterstroke against the Soviet advance.

The outcome depends on who can strike first. With two scenarios that can be played to completion in a single sitting, the game offers substantial operational scope without an overwhelming number of units. Both sides have a chance to win, creating a contest shaped by timing, pressure, and battlefield decisions.

• Scale: each turn represents 2 days, while each hex covers 5 miles / 8.5 kilometers.
• Units: formations range from battalion to corps level.
• Scenarios: two scenarios portray the Soviet spring offensive and its dangerous German response.
• Components: a 22 × 34-inch full-color map, 720 half-inch counters, campaign rules, a scenario rulebook, player aids, charts, tables, and two six-sided dice.

Prelude to Disaster uses the Winter Storm Campaign Series Standard Rules 2nd Edition, shared with Edelweiss and Last Victory. Its high complexity makes it suited to players looking for a detailed operational challenge, while its medium solitaire playability provides another way to explore the campaign.