GD ’42: Grossdeutschland

About this board game

GD ’42: Grossdeutschland is a two-player or solitaire Tactical Combat Series game covering the Battle in the Luchessa Valley from 29 November to 4 December 1942, with a playing time of approximately 600 minutes.

Set during Operation Mars, the game recreates the desperate struggle of the German GD Division against the Soviet 3rd Mech Corps, supported by more than 200 tanks. Soviet forces begin with seemingly overwhelming strength, while the Germans must trade space for time and rush reinforcements forward to seal inevitable gaps.

The Germans are primarily on the defensive, but the battle rewards carefully timed counter-attacks against relatively immobile Soviet formations. Soviet players must preserve their forces effectively or risk repeating the historical outcome: stable German lines and a wrecked mechanized corps.

Designer Wig Graves researched German and Soviet sources extensively to create the order of battle. The game uses the TCS 4.0 rules, featuring a detailed scale of individual guns and tanks through platoons, 20-minute daylight turns, one-hour night turns, and 125-yard hexes with 20-meter contours.

• Vehicle impulses increase the operational tempo for tanks.
• A combined Area and Point Fire table supports combat resolution.
• Vehicle morale and enhanced combined-arms effects add tactical considerations.
• An improved artillery subsystem expands fire-support options.

GD ’42 includes three 22-by-34-inch maps, three counter sheets containing 840 half-inch counters, the TCS 4.0 series rulebook, two TCS 4.0 charts, a dedicated GD ’42 rulebook, two morale charts, and two dice. Together, these components present a large-scale, research-driven examination of a battle where superior numbers do not guarantee a breakthrough.