Crimea: Conquest & Liberation

2023 Charles Roberts Award Nominee for Best Operational Game and Best World War II Game.

Crimea covers the series of campaigns in the Crimean Peninsula during the war on the Eastern Front. Several scenarios cover the period of Axis ascendancy during the period September 1941 – July 1942. The Soviet resurgence is represented by scenarios from September 1943 – May 1944.

The map area covers all of Crimea, the Taman peninsula as far east as Krimsk, and southern Ukraine from Kherson to Mariupol.

Crimea can be played as a set of standalone scenarios or as an addition to the OCS game The Third Winter, where it considerably changes that game’s southern map boundary.

Crimea is a low-counter density, small OCS game. There are 560 combat units, and one 22x34 map at a scale of 5-mile hex/3.5 days turn. Seven scenarios are included so players can start at different points in the action.

Scenarios:
- Rite of Passage (Initial German offensive, 28 turns), 26 Sept 1941 to 26 Dec 1941.
- Tiger by the Tail, (Soviet counteroffensive, 20 turns), 26 Dec 41 to 1 Mar 42, can be combined with Rite of Passage scenario.
- Eviction Notice (Operation Trappenjagd, 4 turns), 8-19 May 42.
- Operation Störfang (Assault on Sevastopol, 10 turns), 5 June 42 to 5 Jul 42.
- Cross of Iron (Taman peninsula, 36 turns), 26 Sept 43 to 22 Jan 44, also the setup to combine with The Third Winter 26 Sept 1943 campaign start.
- Sword of Damocles (Crimea setup for combining with The Third Winter 26 Jan 1944 campaign start).
- The Liberation Offensive (Soviet reconquest, 11 turns), 8 Apr 44 to 12 May 44.