The Core Reborn

Panzer Grenadier has been Avalanche Press’ flagship line since the original Eastern Front came out in the Year 2000. All of the series games have been very popular, but the original’s very large initial print run sold out in early 2003.

Unlike some games (usually role-playing games, but a handful of boardgames as well), each Panzer Grenadier game is playable by itself. But several of the series supplements, like Arctic Front and Edelweiss, require parts of Eastern Front for their use. Without Eastern Front, they’re pretty much useless.

However, Eastern Front Deluxe Edition is no simple reprint. There’s more of everything, and what was once included, is not the same anymore.

Maps

The original edition had four 11x17-inch hard-mounted game boards — placed on the same thick backing material of mainstream boardgames or those made by Avalon Hill in the 1970s. Those are very expensive to make, and in this age of increased fuel costs are extremely heavy to ship. For the new edition, we converted to a heavy rigid cardstock that’s much lighter and less expensive. Doing so allowed us to double the playing area, from four maps to eight.

Scenarios

Fifty-one scenarios, complete game situations, made up the original edition’s scenario book. The new edition has 112. Sixty-four of these are new, and of the 48 holdovers from the first edition, most have been revised: some just a little, some severely. The scenarios represent an enormous amount of research, including both original documents and secondary sources in four languages (German, Russian, Romanian and English). Based on actual encounters, they’ve been carefully tested to make sure they present the same decisions and opportunities faced by the historical commanders.

Playing Pieces

The number of pieces in the game rose from 495 to 660. Many of the new unit types have been profiled in our Web site content; you can follow the highlighted links to read in-depth profiles of them.

Armata Romana

The original edition had only German and Soviet pieces; for the new version, we’ve added 98 Romanian units. These include five types of tanks, plus cavalry, mountain troops, motorcyclists, engineers, machine gunners, infantry, mortars (including a 60mm horse mortar), artillery and anti-tank guns. Plus their own air support.

New German Pieces

The original had 165 German pieces. The new version has 204. A few pieces fell away (the never-used battalion headquarters, for example). The Germans have more cavalry and their new pieces include Czech-made Pz35t and Pz38t tanks, P204f armored cars, commandos, an armored train, the PzIIIJ and PzI tank models, and a new unit type, the prime mover (in this case, SdKfz 7 and SdKfz 9 unarmored half-tracks).

An Improved Red Army

From 165 pieces in the original, the Red Army contingent has grown to 193. Like the Germans, there are some deletions (those useless headquarters) and many new pieces: FAI and Ba6 armored cars, 107mm artillery, 76.2mm mountain guns, BT-5 and T-37 tanks. A new type of infantry, the anti-tank rifle platoon, also appears for the first time in the series. Like the Germans, the Soviets also have a prime mover to pull their heavy guns, the Komsomolets tractor.

Some Occasionally Asked Questions

• Does this include Heroes of the Soviet Union?

No. Heroes of the Soviet Union, the second game in the series, went out of print in 2004. We included the two maps from that game because supplements like Tank Battles require them, but those are the only holdovers from that game.

• Did you actually playtest 112 scenarios?

Yes. Despite what you might hear from a little “scenario envy” that’s surfaced on the Internet, all 112 received thorough testing and was played competitively. “Playing” and “testing,” of course, are not the same thing among professional game developers. Coming from the team that created the scenarios for SSI’s wildly successful Panzer General II and Destroyer Commander computer games and has crafted over 400 scenarios for Panzer Grenadier, you can be assured we’ll apply our usual high standards to our flagship product.

• Is there a new rulebook?

No, all Panzer Grenadier games use the same series rulebook available for free download here. Once you know how to play one game in the series, you can play them all, and all of the pieces can be mixed. (Want your Romanian cavalry to charge the U.S. Marines? You can do that.)

• Is there an upgrade kit for the old edition?

No, there’s not. Eastern Front Deluxe is a completely new product. All of the components have changed from the first version.