TLE -EASTERN FRONT TANK LEADER

1. TITLE: Eastern Front Tank Leader
2. PUBLISHER: West End Games (WEG); effectively closed down operations 2009.
3. SCOPE: World War II Armored Tactics Eastern Front
4. WEST END GAMES VERBAGE:
5. GAME BOX VERBAGE: Your in command of an tank battalion, ordered to secure the critical junction at Palote. An enemy heavy tank regiment has been sighted racing towards the town. Seconds are critical! do you make a dash up the road from Alechino and hit the enemy's flank, or head for the town to reliever the tattered and demoralized infantry?
6. YEAR PUBLISHED (EDITIONS): 1986.
7. CREDITS
   • Design: John Hill with Guy Hail
   • Development: Guy Hail and Leonard Quam
   • Rules: Jeffery Briggs
   • Graphics: Kevin Wilkins, Stephen Crane, and Diane Malz
   • Design/Development Assistance: Eric Goldberg
   • Technical Assistance: Tom Hastings
   • Testing and Comments:: Kevin Boyland, Jim Burnett, Bomb DePino, John Freiler, Steve Feusche, Hassan Howard, Mark Kalina, Doug Kaufman, Dana Lombardy, Neil Schlaffer, Jon Southard, Tom Vickery, and Ron Whaley
8. NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2
9. WGA COMPLEXITY SCALE (1-10): 4
10. TYPICAL PLAYING TIME (HOURS): Standard scenarios (5) 1-2 hours; Advanced game scenarios (10) 1.5 - 3 hours.
11. MAP SCALE: 150 meters per hex
12. UNIT SCALE: Platoons and companies
13. TIME SCALE PER TURN: 5 minutes
14. NUMBER OF GAME TURNS: 10; varies per scenario.
15. PARTIAL ARTICLE LISTING: Click here
16. GAME INVENTORY: 320 5/8" die cut playing pieces, 72 Soviet and German cards, two player aid cardstock sheets, one 22 x34" unmounted map; three six sided dice; one counter tray with lon-on lid; 32 page rulebook.
17. WBC & AVALONCON HISTORY: No known history as an Avaloncon/WBC event.
18. PBEM TOOLS:
• A VASSAL module was found in the listing [Eastern Front Tank Leader]; but none specific to the sequels [Western Front and Desert Steel].
19. PBEM OPPORTUNITES: Contact Wargame Academy if interested.
20. WARGAME ACADEMY COMMENTS: John Hill's philosophy exhibited in Squad Leader is also on display in this series. Command, control, and communications (C3) is the pivotal factor in the design. Similar in scale to Panzerblitz, command card are utilized to determine tactical initiative- who moves first and how quickly a formation responds to changing situations. Similar to Squad leader, factors such as unit rating, morale, sighing/hits are factors in combat. Other elements are utilized such as command range, vehicle radios and other factors have impact on play. The total system successfully simulates how the Germans, often with inferior numbers and quality, were able to consistently out-fight the Russians in battle after battle. The single map is modified by scenario by visibility, season, contour, dominant terrain, and urbanization. However this is hard for the human to visualize. Mapboard customization capability in the Squad Leader vassal module, should prove beneficial, in addition to the ability to add additional mapboards.
21. WARGAME ACADEMY GAME TOOLS: Plan is to improve the existing vassal modules using capabilities similar to the Squad Leader modules.