The Forgotten Battles

The Forgotten Battles (TFB) covers the key fighting between late September 1943 and April 1944 in the Army Group Center portion of the Russian front. This was a war of attrition around cities and rugged terrain in the Belorussian region of the former Soviet Union. The major success in this sector was delivered by the Belorussian Front commander, Rokossovsky, who far outshone his neighboring Western Front commander. This leader was Sokolovsky, a protégé of Zhukov and later Soviet Chief of the General Staff. When the time came to write the official Soviet history of the war, it was not politically acceptable for Rokossovsky, who was Polish, to be seen as more effective than Sokolovsky. The result was that the success of one commander was suppressed just as vigorously as the failure of the other. The campaigns here laid the foundations for the collapse of Army Group Center the summer of 1944, but only recently has the full story of The Forgotten Battles been uncovered.

The game area covers Belorussia, eastern Poland and parts of the Baltic States, from Daugavpils and Velikiye Luki in the north to Chernigov in the south and from Brest-Litovsk and Tilsit in the west to Rzhev and Bryansk in the east. The Forgotten Battles contains scenarios for the major engagemnts: the desperate fighting around Vitebsk, the dramatic advance of the Belorussian Front through the Prypet Marsh, assaults on fortresses such as Bobruysk, Mogilev, and Orsha, and the last attempts to capture Kovel. The Soviet Partisan campaign requires constant reaction by the Axis player. The Forgotten Battles is designed by Tony Birkett, and is fully playable with The Third Winter. In fact, there is a one map-sized scenario that uses both games to cover the combined advance of the 1st Ukrainian Font and Belorussian Front. Both games can be combined for a massive gaming experience using campaign setups that start in September 1943 and January 1944.

The Soviet command and supply structure is modeled through Front HQ markers. Fronts are either in “Offensive” or “Regrouping” status, allowing for shifting axes of attack and the on/off nature of Soviet operational warfare during this time. Each Front has an assigned Air Force. The activities of Army Group South and Army Group North are represented by boundary markers that shift as the war advances off map, and the Axis player must be careful to watch his off-map flanks.

The Forgotten Battles is Volume 2 of a planned 3-volume “Ostfront” series which, including Crimea, will enable players to explore the entirety of the Russian front during this period.

The Forgotten Battles is a large-sized OCS game, with over 1,300 combat units and a 44x66-inch map layout at a scale of 5-mile hex/3.5 days per turn. The full Campaign game is 63 turns long, and there are two campaign scenarios so players can start at different points in the action. Also included are several one-map scenarios, and a scenario that uses both The Third Winter and The Forgotten Battles maps. 

Special rules in this OCS series game are carefully researched to model key aspects of this enormous campaign:

• Soviet Front HQ Markers reflecting their role in command and marshaling supply.
• Soviet RVGK for coordinating strategic redeployment and rebuilding shattered mobile Corps.
• Axis Army, Army Group, and Kessel HQs, along with Kampfgruppe markers which portray Axis operational flexibility.
• Forces include German Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and SS formations, as well as Soviet Guards, regular and Partisan units, plus Hungarian, Slovak, and Lithuanian units. The Polish People’s Army and French volunteer units are also represented.
• Random events similar to what are found in The Third Winter. The 26 possible events add historical flavor with minimal rules overhead, covering things like Partisan Offensives, Night Bombing, Soviet leadership disputes, Hitler’s Fortress Directive #53, One-Turn Offensives, Battlefield Heroes, and options for emergency reinforcements.

Scenarios:

• The Red Army Resurgent (Campaign Game Start, 4 maps, 63 turns), 26 Sept 1943 to 26 April 1944 
• The Liberation Offensive (January Campaign Start, 4 maps, 27 turns), 26 Jan 44 to 26 April 44 
• Vitebsk: The Winter Siege (partial map scenario, 6 turns), 15 Dec 43 to 1 Jan 44 (6 turns)
• Festung Kovel (partial map scenario, 7 turns), 29 Mar 44 to 19 Apr44
• The Partisan Army (partial map learning scenario, 3 turns), 19 to 26 Feb 44
• The Gomel-Kiev Offensive (4 map sections from TFB and Third Winter, 13 turns), 26 Sept 43 to 5 Nov 43 (13 turns)

Components:

• OCS Rulebook (version 4.3)
• Game-Specific Rulebook with extensive Historical Commentary, Designer's Notes, Developer's Notes, Historical Commentary, and Players Notes
• Scenario Booklet 
• Axis Player Booklet, including an Order of Arrival with Counter Icons
• Soviet Player Booklet, including an Order of Arrival with Counter Icons
• Two OCS v4.3 Charts and Tables
• Two Full Color Game Maps (22" x 34")
• Two Full Color Game Maps (22" x 34.5")
• Five Game Specific Countersheets and Three OCS Markers Countersheets (2,240 total counters)
• Two Full Color Terrain Effects Charts 
• One Full Color Turn Record Track and Weather Display
• One Full Color Soviet RVGK Logistics Display
• Two Full Color General Record Tracks – One Axis and One Soviet
• Two Full Color Reinforcement/Breakdown Regiment Display Cards – One Axis and One Soviet
• Two Full Color Multi-Unit Formation Display Cards – One Axis and One Soviet
• Box and Dice