Autumn For Barbarossa

About this board game

Autumn For Barbarossa is a two-player Standard Combat Series game about the struggle to seize Smolensk in late summer 1941, with a 10-turn campaign playable in about 360 minutes.

The game covers the closing phase of Operation Barbarossa’s opening advance and the stabilization of the front before Operation Typhoon. Each turn represents six days, while the map’s hexes cover seven miles, or 11.2 kilometers. Units range from regiments to divisions.

Play begins with the German offensive in full bloom. The German player must capture as many Victory Point locations as possible while reducing several cities, using powerful air and mechanized forces to maintain the pace. Speed is vital, because the offensive’s duration is limited by the Hitler Roll.

When the decisive roll removes German mechanized forces from the map and halves German air support, the balance of the campaign changes. The Soviet player stalls, withdraws, and conserves forces during the initial assault, then rebuilds the Red Army for the second half of the game. As the German advance loses strength, the Soviets attempt to blunt German gains and recover their losses.

• Scenario focus: the fight for Smolensk in late summer 1941
• Campaign length: 10 turns, with six days represented by each turn
• Scale: seven-mile hexes and regiment-to-division units
• Play profile: medium complexity with high solitaire playability

First published in Special Ops magazine #7 in 2017, Autumn For Barbarossa offers a compact map area and limited counter mix suited to fast or competition play. The Special Ops edition includes a full-color 16 × 28-inch map, 280 half-inch counters, and an eight-page rules booklet.