Blitzkrieg (game): Difference between revisions

'''''Blitzkrieg''''' is a strategic-level [[Wargaming|wargame]] published by [[Avalon Hill]] in [[1960s in games|1965]] that simulates a non-historical attack by one major power against another using the [[blitzkrieg]] strategy. It was the first commercial wargame that did not simulate an actual historical battle, and with almost 400 counters, it was a precursor ofto the "monster" wargames of the 1970s featuring more than a thousand counters.

''Blitzkrieg'' was innovative in several respects, including being the first commercial wargame to offer partial eliminations as a combat result, <ref name=gen20-4>{{cite magazine| last =Harmon | first =Robert D. | title =A New Look at an Old Friend | magazine=The General | volume =20 | issue =4 | pages =27–35 | date =1983 }}</ref> and also the first that did not simulate a specific historical battle.<ref name=bgg>{{cite web | url =https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4168/blitzkrieg | title =Blitzkrieg (1965) | website =BoardGameGeek | access-date =2021-11-20}}</ref> Game historian Harry Lowood noted that "Players intrigued by the unprecedented array of military options in the game noticed the potential for experimentation, and a few articles proposing optional rules and other variants appeared in ''The General'' along with dozens of strategy articles."<ref name=lowood>{{Citation | last =Lowood | first =Harry | contribution = War Engines | date =2016 | title =Zones of Control: Perspective on Wargaming | editor-last1 =Harrigan | editor-first1 =Pat | editor-last2 =Kirschenbaum | editor-first2 =Matthew G. | publisher =MIT Press }}</ref>{{rp|95}} Lowood also noted that [[Jim Dunnigan]] and [[Redmond A. Simonsen]] of rival game company [[Simulations Publications Inc.]] used ''Blitzkrieg'' as a "starting point" for their new ''[[Blitzkrieg Module System]]'' series, which ultimately produced eighteen modules, constructed so that "players could use some or all of them, also picking and choosing physical components from ''Blitzkrieg''."<ref name="lowood" />{{rp|95}}

'''Terrain and Movement''': Plain terrain has a movement cost of 1. Armor may not enter forest hexes. All units entering a mountain hex must stop upon entering and wait for the next turn to continue moving at a rate of 1 mountain hex per turn. Defenders in mountinmountain terrain double their defensive value.<ref name=ugc>{{cite web | url =https://www.unpluggedrva.com/game/game.php?id=649 | title =Blitzkrieg (1965) | website =Unplugged Games Cafe | access-date =2021-11-20}}</ref>

In 1969, the newly founded wargame publisher [[Simulations Publications Inc.]] (SPI) introduced athe ''[[Blitzkrieg Module System]]'' set of modules for ''Blitzkrieg'' that allowed players to add combinations of new rules to explore new ways to play the game. These rules included the use of navies, armies for the small neutral countries, railways, production, weather and guerillas. Although SPI provided the new rules, as well as more counters and revised charts, players still needed to buy a copy of Avalon Hill's original ''Blitzkrieg'' in order to use SPI's modules. As Nicholas Palmer noted in his 1977 book ''[[The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming]]'', this was a "unique example of one leading company building on the game of another."<ref name=palmer>{{cite book | last =Palmer | first =Nicholas | title =The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming | publisher =Sphere Books | date =1977 | location =London | pages =136}}</ref>

In his 1977 book ''[[The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming]]'', [[Nick Palmer|Nicholas Palmer]] called the game an "Ambitious attempt to incorporate every aspect of modern warfare in an abstract context does not quite come off; both sides very similar [forces], and most players steer the game into boring wars of attrition." Palmer did note that if both players were aggressive, "the game comes alive with a bang."<ref name=palmer>{{cite book | last =Palmer | first =Nicholas | authorlink =Nick Palmer | title =The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming | publisher =Sphere Books | date =1977 | location =London | pages =xxx136}}</ref>