Blocks in the East

BLOCKS IN THE EAST is a new concept wargame covering the whole Eastern Front campaign from 1941 to 1945. It was created by the Italian wargamer Emanuele Santandrea and illustrated by Silvia Grazioli, Riccardo Gatti, and Emanuele Santandrea himself.

Developed on wooden blocks and cubes system, with a full laminated multicolor 100×70 cm map board, there’s not any paper component. All the over 600 wooden/plastic components have been created by the best Italian artisinal industry and painted ”A baratto”, a technique usually adopted for painting car parts and accessories.

The game covers conflict simulations on the strategic scale level. It is designed for two/four players, one/two controlling the Soviet Red Army and the other one/two controlling the Axis Powers. Upcoming games of the BLOCKS-series are

BLOCKS IN THE WEST (West European Theatre) and BLOCKS IN THE SOUTH (Mediterranean & African Theatre).

The three games can be combined to a grand strategic simulation of World War II from 1939 to 1945.

Historical Background

On 22 June 1941, to the codeword Dortmund, the German Wehrmacht started the invasion of the Soviet Union (”Operation Barbarossa”). Over 150 divisions – ca. 3,6 million troops – of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front – the largest invasion in the history of warfare. In addition to troops, Barbarossa involved 600,000 motor vehicles, 750,000 horses, 3350 tanks, 7300 guns, and nearly 2000 planes.

BLOCKS IN THE EAST recalls in game form the most decisive battles fought in the Eastern Front from the beginning of the invasion in summer 1941 until the dramatic end in Berlin in spring 1945.

Although based on history, players in command of the two factions can modify the evolution of the history of World War II on the Eastern Front.

Rules Introduction

The rules are divided into three major sections which can be learned one at a time:

– The first session is the BASIC GAME RULES which introduces the basic concepts and enables players to start playing the game without too many rules to remember.

– Then the ADVANCED GAME RULES provides more specific and detailed rules for an enhanced realism, such as Weather, Fuel, and Elite Units.

– Finally, for those players who want to get the best, OPTIONAL RULES can be added as desidered. These includes Strategic Bombing Missions, Partisans, Amphibious Invasions, Parachute Airdrop Assaults…

Language: English, Italian

Genre: Operational, Strategic

Turns: Turn-Based

Complexity: Basic to Advanced, depending on which rules are used

Period: World War II

Scale

A hexagon is approximately 53 miles (70 km) across.

A turn is 1 month long.

A full strength counter represents 300 planes, 300 Tanks, or 30,000 men, depending on the unit type, equipment, nationality, etc.

Scenarios

With over 300 units counters and 300 different resource points of various color, players can enjoy hours of fun by playing the full 1941 Codeword Dortmund Campaign, or one of the 8 other 6 turns scenarios:

– Operation Barbarossa, 6 turns

– Fall Blau, the drive to Baku, 1942, 6 turns

– Operation Zitadelle, Kursk Battle 1943, 6 turns

– Bagration Offensive, Summer 1944, 6 turns;

or even the shorter and easy to learn scenarios:

– Road to Leningrad, 3 turns

– Road to Moscow, 3 turns

– Road to Rostov, 6 turns

– Short Barbarossa, lasting only 3 turns.

Every scenario has different victory conditions and length, with a playing time from 2 to 49 turns.

Note: The game box is not covered in plastic so the box is often damaged a bit and the game is made by a small publisher so the game looks almost homemade.