Drive on Stalingrad: Battle for Southern Russia Game

About this board game

Drive on Stalingrad: Battle for Southern Russia Game is a two-player, divisional-level simulation of the German 1942 summer and fall offensive across the Don River toward Stalingrad and the Caucasus. With a listed playing time of 3–7 hours, it places players in an operational-level campaign across the wide-open steppes of Southern Russia.

Players maneuver colorful cardboard playing pieces across two illustrated, four-color maps. The units represent the historical forces involved, including panzer regiments, tank corps, and infantry divisions. A hexagonal grid governs deployment, movement, and battle engagement, while simple probability charts and a die determine combat results.

The game uses a modified version of the Panzergruppe Guderian system. Its expanded air rules give air units new missions, while truck units support extended supply lines. The Hitler Directive Table can impose various demands and restrictions on the German player, adding historical pressure to the offensive.

• Two 22 × 34-inch maps
• Two dual-sided countersheets containing 600 half-inch counters
• Headquarters, cavalry, supply transport, air support, and historical commander counters
• A 16-page rules booklet, player aid charts and tables, and a game-turn record and reinforcement track
• One six-sided die

At medium complexity, Drive on Stalingrad combines large-scale maneuver with the practical demands of supply, air support, reinforcements, and command directives. It offers a focused recreation of Hitler’s gamble in the summer of 1942, using military units and commanders based on the historical campaign.