Fall of Berlin - End of the Thousand Year Reich, 1945
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Price: 39.00 €
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Availability planned on Mid March
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FALL OF BERLIN - End of the Thousand Year Reich, 1945
The Fall of Berlin, known as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviets, was one of the last major offensives of the European Theatre. It wasn’t the last battle but it certainly was the one that marked the end of the war in Europe.
The Americans had recently crossed the Rhine and Stalin was concerned that they might capture Berlin before him. To avoid this, he divided the command of the Berlin operation between Marshal Zhukov in the center and Marshal Konev in the south. This division of the operation effectively created a race between his two front commanders, as both Zhukov and Konev were eager to take credit for capturing the German capital.
The battle took a heavy toll on both sides. Around 81,000 Soviet Union soldiers were killed and another 280,000 were wounded. Up to 100,000 German soldiers were killed, another 220,000 wounded, and nearly half a million were captured. The city of Berlin was reduced to a pile of rubble with 22,000 German civilians were killed and over a million were homeless. The Battle of Berlin resulted in the surrender of the German army and the death of Adolf Hitler. It was a resounding victory for the Soviet Union and the Allies.
Fall of Berlin, 16 April - 2 May 1945, The End of the Thousand Year Reich is the second game in Michael Taylor's Russian Front Series. It is an operational-scale game covering from 16 April to 2 May 1945 in the area around Berlin: from the River Oder, Frankfurt an der Oder and Seelow in the east, and from Torgau and the River Elbe in the south-west, through to the forests north of Berlin at the northern edge of the map.
There is some subtlety in play to generate the correct strategy. Designer Michael Taylor said: “….. you will probably lose badly until you figure out the right strategy”. There are three options for playing the game. The Basic game is 7 turns long; the Extended game is 9 turns; and the third option is a 3-player game with 2 Russian players competing against each other (which can be either 7 or 9 turns).
Game scale: About 12-18 km per hex; 2 days/turn (except for 1st turn which covers 16 April 1945 only); 7 or 9 game turns long. German units are mostly depleted divisions.
The game FALL OF BERLIN contains the following:
- One Map (11” x 17”)
- One Enlarged Map (17” x 22”)
- 176 Counters (.6”)
- One Rule Booklet, 12 pages
- Two Force Display Charts (for optional rules)
- Five Player Aid Charts