Thunder in the East

About this board game

Thunder in the East is a 2018 two-player game of the titanic struggle on the Russian Front, with a listed play time of 720 minutes and support for 2–4 players.

As the first game in Frank Chadwick’s ETO (European Theater of Operations) series, it covers the land campaigns of World War II in Europe through a shared map, unit scale, and common rules. One player commands the Axis, including Germany and its allies, while the other takes the role of the Soviet Union.

The game represents military forces at several levels of organization. Axis ground units include divisions of 10,000–15,000 soldiers, corps of approximately 25,000–50,000 soldiers, and armies of around 75,000 or more men. Soviet ground units are mostly armies of approximately 40,000 men, alongside a few cavalry and airborne corps of about 10,000 men each.

• Air units: Represent approximately 200 combat aircraft early in the war, increasing as the war progresses.
• Map scale: Each hex represents 30 miles of actual terrain from side to side.
• Time scale: Each game turn covers 7.5 days, or up to 15 days during inclement weather.

Although designed as a two-player contest, Thunder in the East can also be played by teams or as a solitaire game. Its combination of large-scale formations, changing air strength, and an extended time scale places the Eastern Front at the center of the ETO system.