Panzergruppe Guderian — How to Play

July 1941. You have 12 turns — two days each — to take Smolensk and drive as far east as the roads, the supply columns and the Red Army allow. Pick a side on the title screen, or observe an AI-against-AI campaign.

1. The turn

Each game turn, the German player acts first, then the Soviet player. A player turn has three phases, stepped with the End phase button:

Movement — move any of your units.  Combat — attack adjacent enemies.  Mechanized movement — panzer, motorized and tank units move again (exploitation).

2. Moving

Click a unit; its reachable hexes shade gold. Click a shaded hex to move. Roads cost 1 MP per hex regardless of terrain; open ground costs 1, forest 2, marsh 3. Crossing a minor river adds 1 MP, a major river (the Dnepr or the Dvina) adds 2 MP — unless a road bridge carries you over.

Zones of control are rigid, as in the classic hex wargames: the moment a unit enters a hex next to an enemy unit, its movement ends. There is no slipping between two defenders — you fight them or you go around.

Mechanized German units move 8 MP early in the campaign, but wear tells: 6 MP from turn 6, 5 MP from turn 8. Leg infantry always moves 4 MP. Stacking: at most 2 units per hex.

3. Untried divisions

Soviet units show ? instead of a strength: nobody — including the Soviet player — knows what they are worth until they fight. On first contact the unit is revealed and a contact report is filed in the right-hand column. Rifle divisions run from 1 to 7 factors; tank divisions from 2 to 8.

4. Combat

In your combat phase, click an adjacent enemy stack, tick the attacking units, and press Fire. Odds are computed attacker : defender and shifted left by terrain — one column for towns, forest or marsh, two for cities, and one more for the eastern defence line. The German player may add Luftwaffe support (+1 column right, 3 missions per turn, only 1 from turn 8). Attacking across a major river halves the attacker.

DE defender eliminated · DR defender retreats 2 · EX exchange · AR attacker retreats · AE attacker eliminated. Attackers may advance into a vacated hex.

5. Overruns

During either movement phase, a mechanized unit with 4 MP to spare may overrun a lone adjacent defender: the defender is revealed first, and if the odds come out below 3:1 the assault is called off (the MP are spent regardless). A cheap way to buy intelligence — or a dead panzer's last mistake.

6. Supply and isolation

Units trace supply to their map edge (west for German, east for Soviet) along paths free of enemy units and zones of control. An unsupplied unit is marked OUT OF SUPPLY, fights at reduced effect and dies after 3 consecutive turns isolated. Sealing pockets is how the campaign is won.

7. Soviet rail and reinforcements

The Soviet player may entrain up to 3 units per turn on the rail net (toggle Rail move): unlimited distance along connected, uncontested track, from outside enemy zones of control. Reinforcements arrive from the east edge on a fixed schedule — 36 divisions across the campaign — and dig into the hatched Rzhev–Vyazma defence line, where defenders gain an extra column shift.

8. Winning and losing

German VP = captured objectives + 1 per Soviet division destroyed − 3 per German unit lost + 3 per German unit exited off the east edge.

9. Saving and restarting

The game autosaves to your browser after every action. Leave any time; Resume saved campaign appears on the title screen. Starting a new campaign or finishing one clears the slot. Menu returns to the title screen without ending your campaign.