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Europa (Wargame)Europa is the name given to a series of board wargames first planned by Game Designers' Workshop in the mid-to-early 1970s. Though both the first and second editions have run to at least ten board games, the series is still under development and (as of 2005) about to enter its third revision. First Edition: Drang nach Osten Drang Nach Osten! (DNO) was designed by Paul Richard Banner and Frank Chadwick, and released in June 1973 by GDW. DNO is a wargame/simulation of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. The title was inspired by the political concept Drang nach Osten, and can also be interpreted more literally as the "Eastward rush" of unleashing the Blitzkrieg upon the USSR. DNO was Game Developers' Worshop's first publication, conceived as the first of a trilogy of games covering the entire war between Germany and the USSR. DNO consisted of a rulebook, five maps, a set of charts and between 1680 and 1792 counters (accounts vary) in five sheets. Due to printing problems sheet five was only included in the first 100 games; others had to wait for the last to be sent later along with errata. The game covered the period June 1941 to March 1942 in 19 half-monthly turns, at a scale of 16 km per hex. In September 1973, GDW released Unentschieden (german for Stalemate). The expansion, with 2182 counters and four more maps, covered the period April 1942 to February 1945, expanding the game to 52 half-monthly turns. GDW continued to release expansions for the DNO, each covering a different aspect of the war: GDW continued to support the combined game, releasing numerous errata to the rules. The last copies of DNO were sold in 1979. Second Edition: Fire in the East In 1984, GDW released Fire in the East (FITE), a completely revised version of DNO designed by Paul R. Banner, Frank Chadwick, John Astell and Marc W. Miller. The game covers the same conflict during the same period as the first game, but introduced a new scale (25 km per hex). FITE included six maps and 2500 counters. Scorched Earth followed in 1987, a revision of Unentschieden to the FITE rules. In 1988, Scorched Earth won the Origins Award for Best Boardgame Covering the Period 1900-1946 of 1987. GDW sold the Europa series to Game Research/Design. GRD produced a new series of Europa expansions: - For Whom the Bell Tolls - The Spanish Civil War, July 1936 to April 1939
- First to Fight - The German Invasion of Poland, September 1939
- A Winter War - The Soviet Invasion of Finland, November 1939
- Storm Over Scandinavia - The German and Allied conflict over Scandinavia, April - June 1940
- Second Front - The Western Allied Campaigns in Italy, France, and Germany, 1943-1945
- Balkan Front - The Axis campaigns in Greece and Yugoslavia, Autumn 1940 to Summer 1941.
- War in the Desert - The Campaigns in North Africa and the Near East, December 1940-May 1943
- Wavell's War - A Grand Europa Module linking Balkan Front, War in the Desert, and adding East Africa
A number of further expansions are planned: GRD also produced War of Resistance and The Damned Die Hard, the first games of the Glory series detailing the Pacific War using the same ruleset. They have also begun a World War I series with Over There. Third Edition: Total War? As of this writing a third edition tentatively renamed yet again to Total War (TW) is in development by GRD Games under a license from Richard Banner, owner of the game's intellectual property after the demise of GDW. External Links
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