Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa

Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa is an operational wargame about the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. You command the campaign from June 1941 to February 1942 on a divisional scale, with 30 km hexes and four-day turns. The game combines a hex-and-counter system with narrative, RPG-style personnel management and semi-randomized decisions.

Command the campaign

You manage three Theatres and work within a command hierarchy of superiors and subordinates, where strategic aims and politics can conflict. Set Army postures, assign Theatre artillery and allocate tactical air support. You can also ask Theatre Commanders to provide specialized battalions and staff assets to a Panzergruppe or Army, though they may refuse. Each turn, High Command assesses your command potential, and the game provides a detailed review of your activity at the end.

The campaign is a single, handcrafted scenario designed for extensive replayability rather than a long series of similar scenarios. Its researched historical order of battle covers many unit types and nationalities while keeping the unit count manageable. You can focus on the decisions that matter without extensive micromanagement, making difficult trade-offs with a single click.

War and command decisions

Your decisions include balancing operational priorities against political pressure and ethics. You can choose whether both sides observe the Geneva Convention or trade ethical concerns for operational imperatives; defeat can lead to a War Crimes Tribunal. You can also demand military independence from the Führer and risk being fired, or support his current aims.

Manage Army postures and the pace of your offensive, deciding whether to maintain Blitzkrieg or conserve fuel with a more sustained approach. You can pull a Panzergruppe out of the line for refitting or rest an Army. Request winter clothing and equipment for your troops, negotiate fuel allocations with Göring, and check the status of individual Divisions, each of which tracks 50 stats and values.

Combat and logistics

The combat system accounts for hundreds of variables and is tuned for warfare on the Eastern Front. Mechanical breakdowns, mileage and fatigue affect your forces, while a climatic model makes every degree below zero matter. Severe frostbite and blizzards take a toll on people and machines, forcing you to weigh how far to push them.

Supply lines stretch across Russia behind advancing Panzer columns. You decide when to pause operations and move Forward Supply Bases forward, while managing truck columns and relying on locomotives that can be disrupted by washouts, collisions, partisans, signal failures, poor-quality tracks and frozen water pipes. When supply breaks down, you can order Luftwaffe emergency resupply missions.

Play as the Soviet Union

You can switch sides and command the Soviet Union as its dictator, trying to stop the German army from reaching Moscow. Recall Marshals, send troubleshooters between crises and contend with delays on the way. You can commit Conscript armies to trade time and space while holding out for Rasputitsa and winter, prioritize one Front over others, gather Siberian forces and launch a counterattack.