Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45

About this board game

Trial of Strength: War on the Eastern Front 1941-45 is a two-player strategic board wargame with an approximately 700-minute play time, covering the Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 to 1945.

Originally published by Panther Games in 1985, the game places players in the roles of armed forces commanders. They must set objectives, allocate forces, and conduct operations intended to achieve victory over their opponent.

The battlefield is a hexagon-style map of Eastern Europe at a 1:4,000,000 scale. Each hex represents 72 kilometres, or 45 miles, from side to side, while each turn covers approximately 10 days, with three turns per month. Axis units are generally corps, while Soviet units are generally armies, with both representing about 60,000 troops and supported by smaller specialist battle groups.

At the heart of Trial of Strength is CLIMACS, an integrated movement and combat system. There is no separate combat phase: units fight during movement by spending movement points, in an approach resembling operational overruns. Headquarters can also allow units in range to roll for initiative and react when combat is declared, with each headquarters able to attempt this once during the opponent’s turn.

• Step losses, retreats, and morale rolls allow formations to hold their ground at a cost.
• Armor effects can require tanks to absorb the first loss, reflecting the attrition of panzer forces during Barbarossa.
• Limited intelligence hides units beneath Army and Front markers, revealing only the top unit in a stack.
• Special rules cover airborne, marine, mountain, artillery, rail-gun, rail construction, NKVD, and SS units.
• An integrated political system includes events such as Finland’s reticence and the Slovak uprising.

Air and naval rules remain straightforward, while Allied bombing and Partisan activity create variable conditions through progress on the Western Front. A second edition announced by Lock ‘n Load Publishing was cancelled.