Battles in the East System
Battles in the East (BITE) is a series simulating World War II Eastern Front battles. The system rules are an evolution of the SPI classics Panzergruppe Guderian, Army Group South, and Cobra. Unit integrity bonuses include Soviet Corps and vary to show the increasing Soviet cohesion and decreasing German cohesion as the war progresses. HQ units provide higher level combat support and supply advantages to corresponding units in range. BITEs also incorporates standardized scales (unit size, distance, time) for easy comparisons.
While the series rules allow players to play many games with the same core rules, the scenario rules add unique situational elements of each battle. Each volume includes two battles from one year with two copies of the charts and tables as well as scenario rules and set-up cards for easy reference.
Bagration Stopped
Warsaw, 1944: Operation Bagration had all but destroyed Army Group Center. Frantically the German army attempted to patch together a new defensive line. Armor reserves were rushed to the sector from as far away as Italy to hold the Vistula River line and Warsaw. At the same time 2nd Tank Army, working with 1st Belorussian Front, attempted to strike North, isolate Warsaw, and race for the Baltic to cut off all German forces in the North. The Soviets were unaware a new strike force was being assembled to prevent this, IV SS Panzer Corps. All is set for a classic armor thrust and counter thrust on the Vistula plain.
The game runs from 27th July 1944–20th August 1944—ten game turns.
Sandomierz Offensive
Vistula Bridgehead, 1944: Army Group North Ukraine had been driven backwards in the Soviet Summer offensive. More concerning was that the army group’s front had a huge hole between 1st Panzer and 4th Panzer armies. The Red Army moved to exploit this and cross the Vistula River. This was the last major obstacle to capturing Southern Poland. The Wehrmacht fought to delay the Soviet advance while drawing mechanized reserves from across the Eastern front to launch a counterattack. This would include the first use of King Tigers in action.
Uman Pocket
Uman, 1941: Operation Barbarossa achieved huge successes. Army Group South had cleared Eastern Poland and in fierce engagements destroyed large elements of the armies of the Southwest Front. Budyonny was trying to regroup and make a stand west of the Dnieper River. Although most of their vast mechanized forces had been destroyed, these forces could not be left to attack the flanks of Army Group South. Von Rundstedt ordered Von Kleist to pocket and destroy these forces before they could retreat across the Dniepr. To support 1st Panzer Group, Reichenau’s 6th Army would pin Budyonny’s Southwest and Southern Fronts.
The game runs from 14 July–8 August 1941—ten game turns.
Guderian’s Final Blitzkrieg
Tula, 1941: Operation Typhoon, the German offensive to capture Moscow in late 1941, was in its final throes. To the south of Moscow, Guderian led his 2nd Panzer Group in a blitzkrieg attack to encircle Moscow. This was a race for Guderian between the ever-worsening weather, the exhaustion of his troops and the stiffening Soviet resistance. Key to the success or otherwise was the industrial city of Tula. The plan was simple. His forces would encircle the city from the south, capture it, and then drive north into Moscow and end the war. Zhukov knew Tula must be held. This would buy time for the Soviet reserve armies to arrive and counterattack. The frontline forces would need to hold and fight to the last man.
The game runs from 17th November 1941–7th December 1941—ten game turns.
Volume 3 features two battles from 1945. Includes untried late war Axis units and Russian Rocket divisions. Components include a double-sided full-size mounted game board, 440 large counters, a 16-page series rules booklet, and scenario/exclusive rules sheets and displays, plus full-color set-up charts for each scenario, series charts and tables for each player.
Volume 4 features two battles from 1943, Mius River and Vitebsk. Components include a double-sided full-size mounted game board, 440 large counters, a 16-page series rules booklet, and scenario/exclusive rules sheets and displays, plus full-color set-up charts for each scenario, series charts and tables for each player.