World at War #61 - Peaks of the Caucasus

From the Publisher:

The Magazine:

Peaks of the Caucasus - The Axis 1942 Offensive in Southern Russia: The need to secure economic resources—especially oil—would lead German armies across the Ukraine and deep into the Caucasus in 1942.

Other Articles:

• Forgotten Fleet - Royal Navy in the Pacific: The Royal Navy was forced into a passive role in the Pacific for most of the war. With Germany on the verge of defeat in 1945, the Royal Navy assembled the largest single force in its history to face off against the Japanese.
• Mussolini's Army: Italy’s army had been regarded as the second-best army in the world from 1920 to the mid-1930s. By the start of World War II, it was apparent the army was no longer the powerful force it had once been.
• Special Agent Leon Turrou in World War II: Leon Turrou was the lead investigator in the first Nazi espionage case in the United States, and later joined the Army where his skills as a former FBI special agent would be utilized in the Criminal Investigation Division (CID).

The Game:

Peaks of the Caucasus simulates the German offensive in the southern Soviet Union in 1942, and the ensuing Soviet Counteroffensive. The German objective was initially the Caucasus oilfields, but the campaign turned into a struggle for the city of Stalingrad on the Volga. The game uses a variant of the “Boots system” to model higher echelon command-control and logistics, and their impact on the theater of operations. The map is divided into two sectors: Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Various Command markers will activate a player's forces on one or the other (and sometimes both) Fronts. Effectively, the player is in command of theater forces and must operate within historically based high command interference in operations.

Each game turn represents one month of operations. Each hex is about 100 kilometers across. Most ground units represent two to six divisions. The game scenarios start in July after the first phase of the German Fall Blau (Plan Blue) offensive, which commenced on 28 June 1942, at the point where Army Group South was divided into Army Groups A and B.

Components: 22x34 inch map, 176 die-cut counters.