Partizan!

About this board game

Partizan! is a two-player, intermediate-complexity historical simulation of the struggle between Communist Partisans and Axis occupation forces in Yugoslavia from 1941 through 1944. A full campaign takes about 240 minutes, and solitaire play is also doable.

The game begins with the first uprisings in Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro in late 1941 and ends in late 1944, just before the Soviet Army enters the country. The Partisan player seeks victory through an aggressive guerrilla war, targeting infrastructure such as warehouses, fuel dumps, bridges, dams, depots, railroads, viaducts, and motor pools.

The Axis player must protect resource hexes representing strategic mineral deposits, secure routes leading back to Germany, and guard possible invasion beaches along the coast. Many targets are represented by variably placed counters, while the threat of an Allied landing adds further pressure to the occupation forces.

Partisan unit strengths are often hidden through tried and untried counter-sides. The Axis player must respond to operations without knowing exactly where the guerrillas will strike, while the Partisan player must choose targets carefully and avoid being surrounded and destroyed.

• Includes the German, Italian, Hungarian, Croatian, Bulgarian, and Ustashi orders of battle.
• Features Partisan forces, Marshall Tito, and abstractly handled Chetniks.
• May bring Anglo-Allied support, including the possible amphibious invasion known as Operation Armpit.
• Contains one 34×22-inch extra-large-hex map and 228 iconic and NATO-style counters.

Axis forces, especially the Germans, are generally stronger, but elusive Partisans can force the occupiers to spread their forces thin. Designed by Javier Romero and developed by Eric Harvey, Partizan! presents a focused campaign of mobility, sabotage, uncertainty, and strategic pressure.