This game is a winner. The last few years no other wargame managed to suck me in like this. Either they were too much on the easy side or to complex. This one is exactly right. The feeling you get managing the Ostfront is unparalelled.

First there's the basic hex wargame. I don't have to manage each and every little artillery regiment, special unit or air wing. It's all on the divisional level with a fair amount of abstraction. This makes the game playable. No micromanagement slugfest here.

Note: It's still a hex counter wargame, so complexity is rather high if you're used to RTS games or Risk or something like that. Learning and knowing unit stats, supply behavior and action point costs is a must. Good thing: the guys made help videos, accessible in the game. Grab a beer, coffee or whatever else and take some time watching them - else I predict frustration.

Second we have the political meta game. This is such a nice, well done thing - I can't praise it high enough. See the tears in my eyes? These are tears of joy. The meta game is what sucked me in. I feel as if I'm actually in a chain of command. I feel that my decisions matter. That's awesome. Having to manage my political relations with Generals, my Chief of Staff, Hitler, bloated Goering and many others is what makes the game stand miles above any wargame I played in the last 25 years.

I am in my second game vs the AI, turn 3. This turn I mainly brought my armies in position, Army Group Centers and Army Group Norths Panzer Groups stand ready to encircle large contigents of soviet troops next turn. I can't wait to do see my glorious plans come to life. Once I played 2-3 games vs the AI I will look for human enemies. Just you wait! :)

So, enough talk. You like wargames? You like WW2? You like making hard decisions? You are able to concentrate and read text? You like the feeling of being a commander in the biggest war in history?

Get the game, it's worth every penny - a labor of love. Support your independent wargame developer.

I bought this game not realising how magnificent this game is and I hope you have the same experience. I like to complete a game before writing a review but 90 hours in and with my game hours the third highest of all of my games (next to Motorsport Manager as 2 and Pike and Shot Campaigns as 1), I feel happy in making this review. Simply: If there was an award for the “Best Ever wargame made for PC”, I think this would win it hands down. This is the best WW2 strategy and tactics simulator you will get your hands on (and yes, even looking at you Gary Grigsby). I don’t choose my words lightly but when you have a wargame that gets 100% positive reviews it makes you sit up and take notice of why it’s so good. Everything is as near to perfect a you will find in a wargame:
1 – The roleplaying element is perfect, unique for this type of game and what sets it apart from Gary Grigsby games. Instead of shoving counters around a map, I actually AM the general in command, I have my superiors to keep happy, colleagues of similar rank and subordinates. In this game you don’t just push around counters but you have to care about people (or not). Decisions can include whether to help with propaganda efforts, whether to join the Fuhrer’s party (I didn’t realise until now that most officers are Antis). You can turn off “moral” decisions, but if not, you’ll have to choose whether to help or hinder the SS completing “special tasks” and you will be considered for war crime trials at the end. Overall, there’s about 10<15 people to interact with and keep happy. Making them unhappy will give significant penalties e.g. Artillery won’t show up, maintenance is more “expensive”, Air Support less effective, etc. etc.
2 – The Grand Campaign simulation for WW2 has finally been simplified without losing detail (again, looking at Gary Grigsby here – you are FAR better starting with this game or transitioning into this system from Gary Grigsby, as I did). Tutorial is via video in game and you will need to watch them twice to understand the game (perhaps an hour+ effort). You’ll also panic when first seeing the interface – “why can’t I move my army” “how do I make basic decisions”. Before you realise: The first turn is a decision turn only and all troops have 0 Action Points turn one, and each decision does indeed have around 5 screens per decision (1 to make the decision, 1 to provide a historical background (how many games provide this historical backround?), the rest being view points from affected parties to help you decide a decision). Although a lot of screen shots show NATO symbols you can play with a more graphical interface (which I do) to instantly see if a Regiment is Infantry or Panzer. Movement and Attacking is so simple – click a hot key and move, or choose troops to attack. Don’t over-stack hexes and keep watch on a units Morale and Cohesion. If it gets too low you can play a “card” to rest them.
3 – The card system is a fantastic idea. Cards are used to control which units have “command focus” (i.e. leaders bonus), how to use air support (very happy air support is represented by cards in this game, and you simply choose where Army Group North/Centre/South airfields are based), to rest units, to deploy artillery or where to deploy reinforcements, etc. Each card has a Political Point (PP) cost and you need to spend PP on either cards or the roleplaying decisions (of which there could be perhaps 6<15 per turn). You get extra PP for each decision you have to deal with and each city you take. Your relations dictate how expensive an action is to take in PP cost – if you have poor relations with a front leader, don’t expect decisions on that front to be “cheap”. I love the tutorial where the designer says “play and forget”. i.e. simply play the cards once and that bonus will continue to be provided until an event means it cannot or you choose to change which unit receives the bonus.
4 – The AI is very good and a big challenge (you can change difficultly settings to suit). It will form defensive lines, complete counter-attacks, withdraw at some points. It’s never easy to get towards the objectives, but highly worth spending your time pondering over things. Luckily, you do have intelligence reports (should you choose to read them) that will help in gauging a threat in a certain area by giving limited oversight into the fog of war. In fact, you get a LOT of great reporting in this game (but you DON’T have to be a bean counter and read it all to play this game).
5 – The logistics and weather are simulated VERY well. Logistics is via Train and Truck and you have a limited number of both that will automatically move around (don’t permanently lose trucks/trains – else you’re in BIG trouble!!! Keep them well MAINTAINED). The player can affect efficiency and wear/tear – don’t make your trucks run more than 10 hex to a Panzer HQ else they will wear out and spend more oil than the oil being delivered. In this respect, oil is a HUGE and critical problem. Your supplies are extremely tight and running a Panzer Group in “Blitzkrieg” posture (gaining attacking bonuses) uses A LOT of fuel. Often my North and South groups ran out of fuel. If you are out of fuel, you simply cannot move mechanized vehicles – Panzers, etc. It gets very hard and restricted to say the least (and when you move your “Forward Supply Base” supplies of oil are NOT delivered at all for one turn – you must use stored oil, that’s IF you have it). Trains will get supplies to your “Forward Supply Base” but your engineering staff will need to convert the track to German gauge first (again, an automatic element which depends on the decision cards you take, relationships and whether it is physically possible to extend the track – is it in enemy territory or not). I have seen mud represented which slows movement up, terrain has an effect on battles by operating troop types at x% effectiveness (shown in the clear display screen if you hover over the terrarin type in the top centre).
6 – The graphics/charts are clean and neat, not cluttered at all. There’s a HUGE number of statistics in this game for people who like to see detail, but you don’t need to read it all. You can see amount of kills, equipment in use, very detailed battle reports for each engagement, detailed Order of Battle, Daily Reports, reports on most tired units, lowest morale, etc.
7 – The game measures you /5 in all areas such as Strategy/Tactics/Relationships/Ethics, etc. – all are important. Tactics are hugely important in this game, you really do want to make sure you attack at the right time with the right units else poor planning will be punished harshly (you make end up with units being disciplined and receiving permanent negative bonuses rather than awards for a great performance).
8 – Supplies and replacements are challenging to manage. You need supplies at the divisional level (e.g. Ammo, etc.) to mount offensive battles, but resources are very limited. So, you can accept the default distribution of supplies, or, toggle supplies to be received by each unit (micromanagement). The same is true of “replacements” to reinforce the units. You CAN micromanage, or choose to ignore that aspect without a “huge” effect.
There’s just “a lot” in this game, but it’s presented in a clean and simple way. If you fancy getting this game because you are interested in WW2 grand strategy and tactical games (on a huge scale) I would 100% say get this today, give it a go for 2 hours, and once you “get it” and its mechanics, you won’t look back (you will need to re-start the campaign a few times to get the hang of this). The designer is not just any designer but a master of his genre, very much like Sid Meier is a master of business and strategy games. When you get a passionate master who works on something, you know the end result is going to be very special indeed. Congratulations on this masterpiece!
My rating – 10/10 100% Must Buy

I am a grand strategy junkie. I love world military history and am a master of Hoi 1,2 &3. I also have played ck2, panzer corps and other games in the multitudes of genres to death. I have stayed away from these Decisive Campaigns because of what I perceived as a limited scope. I said to myself, I don't want to just fight to paris or just to fight the eastern front then have the game be over. This kept me away for years from these types of games and damn I've been cheating myself.

This game is the perfect mix of strategy, tactical combat and role playing. It is a an excellent addition to any fan of military history, strategy, tactics or lovers of the turn based game. What is so very unique is the multitude of decisions you get to make as the overall commander of operation Barbarosa. I can not stress enough the journey you get to make as both officers above and below you haggle, beg, demand and interfere with how you execute the war. While these games have been around awhile, they are relatively new to steam and this is absolutely a fresh take on ww2 that I'd like to see more of......what this game does absolutely better then another other is put you in the generals chair.

As far as specific mechanics go.....the learning curve is actually very reasonable as far as strategy games go. Inside the game are 14 approximiately 2-2:30 tutorial videos explaining the mechanics and it is clear, concise and all relevant material. The game has a huge manual is thats your thing but you don't need it, after the videos, play one turn, get the reports from your next turn and it all falls into place.

Another thing i was concerned with was replay value, this value is different to each person but to me it does that job in two ways. You can play as stalin and control the soviets, which is excellent and because of how each side had to wage the war you really get 2 games in one. Another way they make it replayable is by having some very important option buttons for your game, you can choose to play historial or a more fluid game with more possibilities. You can also choose to have geneva convention rules apply or more realistically where they arent being followed. I applaud them for the historical context and the choices you have to make as commander.

the tactical game is easy to learn yet mastering it is going to be on your individual ability to handle not only combat, but logistics and juggling priorties since you are in overall command of all 3 theatres or army groups north, south, and center.

If you like strategy, tactics, turn based gameplay i highly recommend this. If you are a beginner or veteran war gamer that wants a deeper, richer and more immersive experience I highly recommend this game. Feel free to ask me any questions I'm happy to share my thoughts with like minded gamers.

Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa covers the initial German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and paints a unique picture of what goes into conducting a successful military operation. It can be played solitaire or against a human opponent, and sports some of the strongest AI in the industry.

The game combines an easy-to-play but very deep turn-based divisional scale wargame with an extended role-play of command management. This combination creates a brilliant and unique game system that is as important and revolutionary as the invention of card driven games for board wargames. After playing Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa you will never look at another wargame in quite the same way, because without the role-playing command layer something very important will be missing.

The German player has to slalom around cranky colleagues, unruly subordinates, and irrational superiors while conducting a demanding military campaign that threatens to come unravelled if you run out of fuel or if too many of your trucks or panzers break down. The Soviet player gets to be Stalin, wrestling with ineffective subordinates and growing paranoia while trying to keep the military situation from falling apart.

The game is not an orgy of micromanagement. Many things appear to be handled abstractly, but appearences can be deceiving. The game focuses on the important decisions an overall theater commander must make and their influence on short-term combat operations.

Anyone who has ever worked in a large organization has at some point taken a proposal to senior management for approval. You may already know the executive who has to sign off on the proposal, and you scan his face while he reads it hoping for advance warning on what is going through his mind. You listen carefully to his questions, trying to understand his thought process. You answer even more carefully, trying to steer him into your way of thinking. And to your delight, the questions that he come back at you with tell you that he is thinking about the proposal the way you want him to. When he summarizes the issues and the decision he has to make, you know that he fully understands why he needs to sign off. And then the unfathomable happens: he turns you down.

Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa played from the German side puts you into the role of that senior manager. You are constantly being asked to make decisions or delegate the choices to a subordinate, which amounts to pretty much the same thing. It is often painfully clear what the intellectually correct choice should be, and you repeatedly find yourself compelled to make a poor choice, or even the worst choice, with full understanding of what the unpleasant consequences are likely to be.

Any action you take is likely to upset someone. Antagonize a subordinate and he'll be slow to carry out your orders, which won't do wonders for your next performance review. Annoy your peers and your fuel allocation will get diverted to Western Europe, or your supply trucks won't get repaired when they break down. Anger your superiors and count yourself lucky if all that happens is early retirement. Anything you do or don't do comes at a political cost, and you rarely have enough political capital stored up to do what absolutely needs to get done, let alone what you really want to do. So you perform a heart-breaking triage on the decisions you have to make, repeatedly making bad choices so as not to upset the apple cart because you need to keep your political powder dry for the big fight over that one thing you think you absolutely need.

Make no mistake, this is a wargame. There's a big detailed map, with lots of units to move around and lots of places for them to go. But you're playing as theater commander. You sit there looking longingly at the map, thinking of all the brilliant maneuvers you could make and all the clever things you could do, if only you could get your subordinates to follow orders. And then you remember your inbox. It's a big inbox.

So why do you have to read through all those reports instead of focusing on moving your troops around ? You could delegate to your staff, and you can even ignore your inbox entirely. Many commanders throughout history have done precisely that. But it's part of your job, and sooner or later not understanding fuel consumption, railroad track gauges, and broken down trucks will bite you in the ankle, especially when the weather is starting to freeze over and your troops haven't been supplied with winter coats.

Played from the Soviet side the game presents you with a different but equally challenging set of problems. You have to figure out how to get a brain-dead, incompetent, and terrified officer corps to do something (anything) while navigating around Stalin's episodes of paranoia. Less than ten years before the game begins the functional part of the Soviet officer corps had been purged, and the consequences of that purge are still very much in evidence in 1941. You survive in the Red Army by towing the party line and not being too prominent or conspicuous: showing too much competence or initiative was a one-way ticket to Lubyanka prison or the Gulag. In that environment, the natural inclination of a Red Army general with any hope of life expectancy is to do nothing. When he isn't descending into paranoia, Stalin can nudge the Red Army into action by dispatching Zhukov or Khrushchev to keep things under control or restore order. When playing the game from the Soviet side a player will find himself in a constant war with inertia.

Playing from either side you have the option to remove the management exercise layer from the game before it begins, and what you'll be left with is an engaging division-level wargame in the style of its predecessors in the series, Decisive Campaigns: Blitzkrieg Warsaw to Paris and Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue. But playing with the management layer turned on elevates Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa to a unique experience that demonstrates at a visceral level that there's a lot more to being a good general than just making the right moves.

Summary - One of the best strategy games about the Operation Barbarossa (although there are not many), although it is not easy to master, and definitely not a casual game. It's hard to compare it with Gary Grigsby's game which is actually detailed to single rifles pieces of equipment, and overall is quite different. I won't be comparing it to John Tiller's games as those concentrate on a slightly different scale.

Instead of simple pros and cons I'm going to review it bit by bit.


1. Decisions and relationships

Without this, this game would have been a rather generic strategy game, and I surely wouldn't really recommend it. With all those decisions, tough choices to make (join the Nazi party or not, support Hitler's plans or do something reasonable instead). Also, most of the choices make someone like you more and someone dislike you, which means that it sometimes wise to pick to less beneficial option just to maintain a good relationship with someone.

I also like that your character has a background - some of the leaders and commanders may like you more or less due to your character's actions in the past. Those whom you supported or impressed will like you, and those with whom you disagreed won't. The depiction of the human element really shines.

Before the game's release I hoped that perhaps you could really be the commander of the whole eastern front - to command through orders and directives instead of moving individual units around like everywhere else. Unfortunately, I was mistaken.


2. Little touches

There are many little touches here and there - Franz Halder's diary (you play as him) or a soldier's diary that is influenced by your action - the soldier can be a hero, survive or die based on you action. Through his eyes you can really see many different shades of the war, and most of them dark.


3. Reports

I really like the system of all those reports - including weather reports, supply reports and many other summaries. It really makes you feel like you have aide-de-camps to help you grasp the situation around you.


4. Depth and realism

This is where the game does not shine in my opinion.

First of all, equipment. It is very simplified and lacks many different pieces of equipment. Even something as big as Panzer 38(t). This is no Gary Grigsby's War in the East. Combat is simplified compared to GG's and it is hard to compare the two.

There are no Corps HQs which I don't like at all - in GG's game I disliked that there are no division commanders, but here you won't even get to see Manstein as corps commander. Just army commanders for you. Point for GG again.

Smaller units are not well represented in the game apart from siege guns.


5. Graphics

They're not bad, although I don't really care about them. I still play John Tiller's games and those are quite dated in that regard. Gameplay is what matters in grognard strategy.


6. AI

It is quite capable. Not as capable as a human opponent, but it can provide some challenge.


7. Russian side

Without all those plotting and decision-making, I don't really like it. Stalin's paranoia is not enough to make it unique and immersive.


8. Length

The game covers just the Barbarossa which makes it a bit short compared to Gary Grigsby's, but the time is more immersive because of all the decisions and different events unfolding around you.


Summary: The game is good mainly because of its unique decision/relationship system which really puts you in the shoes of the military commander, but its combat system is quite forgettable and rather generic. If you don't want decisions and just want to concentrate on fighting the enemy, try Gary Grigsby's War in the East or one of very deep John Tiller's games. Overall, despite all that, I'll still recommend it.

Decisive Campaigns may just become the single greatest historically important World War II based strategy game franchise ever developed. The amount of depth, complexity and adherence to he facts and statistics is simply astounding. Of great importance, of course, is just how much the game allows you the freedom to divert from the historical facts and play missions on a ‘what if’ basis for those who desire and do complete the game as authentically as possible. Along with the great Barbarossa campaign being available on Steam are the fantastic Case Blue and The Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris.

There is no way that my own play time within the game does the game justice. I genuinely believe that the over ten hours that I have played this game is only scratching the very surface of what the game is capable of. I feel that there are hundreds if not thousands of hours of potential game play available within the game. I believe that the amount of playtime you need to put into the game counts against critics at large reviewing this game in the manner in which it thoroughly deserves. You’re going to struggle to find professional reviewers who can afford to drop a couple of hundred hours into the game needed to do so. It’s one of very few games on Steam where those who have poured tens of hours of play into the game feel that they have done enough to properly review it. I believes that this shows the amount of care and love that they have for the game and its developers but also how much work the development team poured into making this one of the truly great strategy games – video game or otherwise.

Strengths that I have already discovered within the game are the sheer amount of customization you can create within a single mission let alone playing throughout the entire campaign. They are literally endless and each change can change how the game is played in monumental ways. It’s not just change this for minimal effect type things. It is really full on. Obviously this means that your game type, style and strategy will undoubtedly vary dependent upon the style of game you are after. Political decisions and effects profoundly effect the status of the game. The choice of whether you play by the code of the Geneva Convention and have a clean war compared to a dirty war also pushes the boundaries of the game one way or the other, etc. the list goes on.

There is a focus on the relationships and the historical figures within the game unlike many strategy-based games that I have ever played. This is almost the perfect game for a student of the war. You’re going to learn an enormous amount on some of the most important players in global political history through the playing of the game. If you have a thirst for historical knowledge then this will be a real boon for you and easily justifies the full retail costing of the game – and the other games within the title.

I want to also suggest that the tutorial videos that were intelligently designed and clearly spoken are some of the best tutorial videos that I have ever watched in my life. They are a real blessing for the game as they will educate even the most naive of new players how to play the game and what is expected of the player. This is something that not many video games do well and to see such a niche title do it so perfectly is a real god send. You need to watch the videos even if you’re familiar with the type of game this is and dare I suggest even more so. It will alleviate so much of the potential frustration that you will have otherwise.

This may be the one time that I’m not even disappointed that the game lacks achievements or trading cards. They just do not matter to the target audience of this game. The only thing that I can remotely criticize the game on and it does take away some of its accessibility is the learning curve. It is a steep one. One of the steepest that I have come across. It has a tendency of making games with notorious learning curves such as Europa Universalis appear like child’s play in comparison and this is even with the fantastic tutorial videos. However, allow me to assure you that the more that I play the more I know that the learning curve will be one worth enduring with.

I think that I will close on this note. Decisive Campaigns is the first franchise that is focused on World War II that I have ever felt truly comfortable playing. My father lost his hearing in the war serving for Australia and if not for an American doctor he would have died at the scene. Instead they saved his life and some thirty five or so years later I was conceived. So World War II has always been a topic of great trepidation for me. However, I love the way in which this game presents everything in such a manner that it makes me want to learn everything about it. It is simply superb and if you have any interest at all in the war it is something that you must have.

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This game really gives you the feeling of being on the general staff. Quite the accomplishment and not really much else like it. The feeling fo pushing papers around is great, and it is nice to see some new ideas in wargaming.

Really enjoying my first campaign, though I don't think it will end well.

Hey, Steam people!

Do you believe wargames should consist of more than just grinding chits against each other?
Do you want to disabuse yourself of myths about the Axis/Soviet armies during the Great Patriotic War/Operation Barbarossa/the invasion of the Soviet Union?
Do you like the idea of screaming ♥♥♥♥ YOU, HITLER! when he changes your final objectives right under your nose?
Do you enjoy getting into arguments about the superiority of trains over trucks (or vice versa, I'm not going to judge)?

If you said yes, then get this game. It's great fun, especially with another player.

The idea is good but play-ability isn't! How can I blitzkrieg my panzers when the AI just blocks the complete front with units stacked and three lines deep! No surprise first turn, for the Soviets no panic and no confusion from HQ's. Instead there is just a solid Russian defence line. Combat results are unreal massive German attack and NOTHING - Russian casualties virtually nil. Artillery and Air attacks are often useless except for the soundtrack. Running out of fuel is realistic as the tanks did outrun their supplies in 1942. The disappointments of the game are duplicated across the DC range. Glad I bought 'em all on huge discounts. And why do we still have a points victory scale?? Why can't we have a simple objectives scale - Capture first line objectives equals a minor win etc. capture the next objectives equals a major win...Far better than running all over the map unrealistically capturing towns and cities for a point.

This is a mediocre hex strategy game with outstanding RPG-Elements. The part that makes this game so interesting is the decision making progress and the politics involved in leading a military campaign. Would have been great if troop movements could also be delegated in this fashion, but that is just a minor side note. For the German side, it works very well all in all. If you want to play them, stop reading here and buy the game.

However, for the Soviets I was left disappointed. Instead of playing a commander with challenging decisions each turn, supply route problems, relations to other generals, and so on the player just get's to play Stalin. Stalin apparently has no relations with his generals, has no worries about supply, has unquestioned power (but can only do very limited things each turn), and no decisions to make. His only major role playing element is his paranoia, which I found to be rather annoying and historically questionable.
I just don't understand why the winning RPG-aspect of this game is not really present for the Soviet side. The game is fun nonetheless, but I can't stop wondering just how great this could be, if there was a decision process on the Soviet side as well. With partisans behind German lines, relocating industry eastwards, scorched earth tactics, fleeing masses of civilians, incoming news of German war crimes, and a military in the midst of reorganising itself, there would have been more than enough material to have a decision window pop up once in a while at least. Instead the player is left managing his paranoia and some minimal role playing aspects through action cards each turn with no real role playing consequences.


TL,DR: An awesome strategy role playing game for Wehraboos, but if you are like me coming for the Soviet side of things prepare to be disappointed in comparison.