Blitzkrieg in the West: The German Campaign in Western Europe, 1940

Blitzkrieg in the West was designed by Joseph Miranda. It is the first in our new series of “Blitzkrieg Campaigns”, two player wargames covering the great mobile campaigns of World War II. Blitzkrieg in the West puts you in command of either the German armed forces, or the Allies, during the epic campaign for the Low Countries and France in 1940. The system uses a combination of counters, maps and cards to give players the full range of options in emerging modern warfare, with a new twist: each player has different operational capabilities, generated by cards picked in secret before start of play.

This allows for tradeoffs between additional mobile capabilities for armor, enhanced fortification effects, specialized types of air missions, and even airborne special operations. This allows for a wide range of game strategies, and ensures that every play of the game will be different. It also allows players to explore the various “what if” options of the original campaign. Players will be in the position of their historical predecessors, who can exploit new forms of warfare.

Mechanized ground unit are represented as divisions, while infantry are corps level. Headquarters can provide non-divisional support. Air units are different types of groups, differentiated by aircraft models. Special rules include shock effect, national morale, flooding lowland areas, establishing bridgeheads across rivers, open cities, and much more.

The counters are beautifully printed and die cut with full color on both sides. The game box is 9" x 12" x 3".

The game comes with extensive historical notes, providing some new insights into the climactic campaign of 1940 which changed the fate of Europe.