Hitler's Army PBG Pack

From Against the Odds:

If Germany has left us with just one word burned into the common vocabulary of war, then Angriff! (Attack!) is it. In particular, Hitler's Army always strove to take the offensive no matter how novel the battlefield. This German way of war was fostered by the development of a widely accepted and deeply embedded military culture that supported and rewarded aggression.

Explore five different German assaults across all the fronts and years of WW2 with this package of Pocket Battle Games featuring topics on Danzig, Eben Emael, Stalingrad, Kharkov and Mortain.

Some Poles Apart Sept. 1939 - Their world collapsed around them in September, 1939 but the brave Polish defenders of the Westerplatz at Danzig put up such a fight that the local German commander was forced to grant them "honors of war" to end the fighting. Hitler was enraged by this action and began working to bring his Army more completely under his control.

Behold a Pale Glider - 10 May 1940: a handful of German troops using gliders (painted light blue underneath to match the sky) land atop Eben Emael, Belgium's strongest fort. The complex was a linchpin in Allied hopes of disrupting any German offensive. Losing it in just a few hours was baffling (and terrifying). This two-player game simulates this key event in the fall of France.

Rattenkrieg - Oct. 1942: A solitaire game on the German attempts to clear the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory of Soviet defenders during their attack on Stalingrad. Much of the city had fallen to the Germans but the Soviets continued to resist due to their ability to hold the eastern bank of the river along the edge of the city. The Soviets turned many key areas into fortress blocks and one of these was the tractor factory. The ruins of the city restricted German movement and aided the Soviet defenders...many of whom maneuvered through sewers and other underground passages, hence the name "Rattenkrieg" (the Rat's War). Ironically, in January 1943, the Germans, who had become trapped inside Stalingrad, formed a northern pocket of resistance centered on the selfsame tractor factory..

Masterpiece - Feb.-Mar. 1943: The Third Battle of Kharkov was the last in a series of battles on the Eastern Front of WW2 between Germany’s weakened Army Group South against the exhausted but still menacing Soviet Red Army. In a virtuoso performance, FM von Manstein skillfully maneuvered his forces across the Ukraine, shattering Soviet forces and leading to the German recapture of both Kharkov and Belgorod.

Stand at Mortain - August 7-9, 1944: Following the defeat of the British and Canadian offensives of Operations Goodwood and Spring, in August 1944 the Germans redeployed several panzer divisions to shut down the American Operation Cobra offensive by attacking due west to the sea. The fiercest fighting occurred to the north and east of Mortain at Hill 314 where the surrounded Americans of the 2nd Battalion of the 120th Regiment threw back repeated German attacks. Control of the high ground here would make the Mortain position nearly untenable, and with it the main Allied supply route from Normandy south would be severed.

The Hitler's Army PBG Pack includes:

Maps - 5 postcard size playing maps
Counters - 100 full color 1/2" die-cut pieces
Rules length - 1 page for each individual game

Complexity - Low
How challenging are they solitaire? - Average to Excellent
Playing time - Up to 1 hour for the individual games

Designer - Steven Cunliffe, Paul Rohrbaugh and Dave Russotto
Development - Steve Rawling
Graphic Design - Craig Grando and Mark Mahaffey