The Russian Campaign: A game with a distinguished pedigree!
Introduction*
On the 18th of December, 1940 Hitler issued "Fuhrer Directive No. 21" code named Barbarossa, which said: 'The Soviet Union is to be crushed in one swift campaign before the war ends with England.' The Germans were confident that the victory in Russia would be swiftly won and the risk of a prolonged two front war would be short lived.
Losing one valuable month of good weather while his forces invaded the Balkans to bail out his fascist partner Mussolini, Hitler finally launched Operation Barbarossa on the 22nd of June, 1941. Over 3 million German soldiers, most of them veterans of the victorious German campaigns in Poland, France, and the Balkans, launched a blitzkrieg style invasion against 2 million Russian defenders. The initial advance was fantastic, hundreds of thousands of prisoners were taken and before long the motorized columns were outrunning the rest of the army. As Army Group Centre sped towards Moscow, Hitler decided on a change of plan. He moved Guderian's Second Panzer Army away from the centre and ordered it to link up with Army Group South behind Kiev. This surrounding operation captured over 600,000 prisoners but delayed the attack on Moscow by five weeks. These five weeks of good weather could not be regained and the Germans arrived at the gates of Moscow as the winter set in. This army was not equipped for winter conditions or a prolonged campaign. The Russians meanwhile had called up more than 2 million trained reservists and on the 6th of December they counterattacked the weakened Germans and in the next month pushed them back from Moscow. The Germans only real chance victory; the short, violent campaign, was over and the fortunes of war as time passed would turn more and more against them.
In this game the more mobile German army must strike quickly, and if the attack fails must conduct a mobile defense to prevent a Russian victory. It is now June 22, 1941 and in the words of Adolf Hitler ... "When Barbarossa begins all the world will hold its breath."
* From the Avalon Hill 3rd Edition rule book
Personalities
If you want to step back in time and get a feel for the people and thought processes involved in the development of TRC, look no further!
 | Alan Moon interviews with Richard Hamblen. |
| Alan Moon interviews John Edwards. |
Game Editions
| 1st Edition: Jedko |
The initial design was published by an Australian company in 1974. A second edition was released in 1985 and is labeled as "Russian Campaign - Series II." The Series II game is actually built off of the Jedko release and does not reflect any of the work put into TRC by Avalon Hill.
| 2nd Edition: Avalon Hill |
Don Greenwood led the redesign and development of TRC for its initial release by Avalon Hill.
| 3rd Edition: Avalon Hill |
Richard Hamblen, an avid player of the prior version, took over TRC for the development of the 3rd edition. A revamping of the rules answered many problematic situations. The third edition was released in 1976 and won the Charles S. Roberts award for "Best Strategic Game" that year.
| Chinese Edition: Wargames Research Centre Limited, Hong Kong |
Yes, there is a Chinese version of TRC. In June of 2003, a copy sold on E-Bay for $61.01.
| 4th Edition: L2 Design Group |
Tom Gregorio did the 4th edition development for L2 Design Group. This version was released in the summer of 2003
