Fire in the East's 6 multi-color maps stretch from Warsaw to Stalingrad, from Murmansk to Sevastopol. Terrain is analyzed in detail, with over 20 different types, including two types of rivers, forests, and mountains and four types of cities.
There are over 2500 counters each marked with its historical designation - the most accurate and detailed order of battle ever published for the Eastern Front. The counters represent divisions, and independent brigades, regiments, and battalions. Units are highly differentiated by type, from armor, infantry, and artillery to Soviet Guards, NKVD, and katyushas, German flammpanzers and railroad artillery, and Finnish ski troops. Air units vary from outmoded I-15 biplane fighters to the Me-109F, from Ju 87 Stukas and Il-2 Sturmoviks to Pe-8 long-range bombers. The capital ships of the Soviet Baltic and Black Sea fleets are also represented.

The rules include extensive armor and antitank effects, plus special capabilities for many other unit types, from assault engineers to paratroopers. Every combat arm has its own abilities and limitations, and the players must use them all to achieve victory. The air system is very detailed - almost a game in itself. Logistics rules cover the different gauges of German and Soviet rails and allow supply lines to be extended temporarily by trucks. Isolated units gradually lose their combat abiliites and then collapse, but those besieged in cities and fortresses survive longer. Other important rules cover weather effects, the unique nature of the Arctic front, the need for artillery support, the German surprise attack, doctrinal limits of Soviet mechanized units, and more.

Fire in the East is extremely challenging to both sides. German panzer spearheads can break through the front almost at will, but soon will find themselves outrunning their supply lines, infantry, and air support. Careful play and the optimum use of all arms are needed to travel the long road to Moscow. The Soviets are faced with the need to preserve their army for the final defense of major cities while delaying the German advance to make that defense possible by determined resistance and carefully chosen local counterattacks.

From boardgamegeek.com

Fire in the East was one of the first massive wargames, originally published as 'Drang Nach Osten!' published in 1973. It is a historical game/simulation of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 that lead to the gates of Moscow and ultimately to the destruction of the Wehrmacht and the fall of the Third Reich. Drang Nach Osten! is a complete game of the largest invasion in history, but may be incorporated into the larger series of game/simulations collectively titled Europa. Drang Nach Osten! carries the Russian campaign from June 1941 to the end of the Soviet winter counteroffensive in March 1942.

A second game (or extension) was added later called Scorched Earth, originally published as Unentschieden (Europa II) continues the campaign through 1944-45. A third game was also added called 'Urals'.

Scorched Earth's sixteen counter sheets (3840 counters total) encompass the diversity of forces in this theatre. All Axis forces engaged in the east are shown, from German through the Axis Allies (Finnish, Hungarian, Italian, Rumanian, Slovakian), and including the eastern troops - Soviet citizens fighting against their government. The entire range of Soviet forces is given: regulars, guards, NKVD, militia, and the foreign contingents in the Red Army, including the Poles, Czechs, and even the German formations raised from prisoners of war. Over 40 different types of ground units are represented, from divisions (including division-sized Soviet Corps) to individual batteries of super-heavy artillery, such as tank corps, panzergrenadier divisions, artillery divisions, parachute brigades, and commando battalions. Aircraft units cover the many new aircraft sent to the front, such as the Fw 190 fighters and ground attack aircraft, Hs 129 tankbusters, A-20 and B-25 lend-lease bombers, Yak-9DD long-range fighters, and even late-war German jet aircraft.

Drang Nach Osten! contained five 21 x 27" mapsheets and Unentschieden! a further eight mapsheets (included smaller extensions to Drang Nach Osten!). The two games also comprised 3920 die-cast counters. Each hex was 16 miles, each turn two weeks. Ground units were Army HQs, Divisions (and Soviet Tank Corps), Brigades/Regiments, and Battalions.

The practicalities of playing such large games are enormous and I divided the game play into three areas: Army Group North, Army Group Centre and Army Group South. I played the Army Group North campaign which covered the area from the Karelian Isthmus and Leningrad to the Pripet Marshes (southern Belarus), down as far as but excluding Kiev, using just two of the six mapsheets.

Scenarios

1) The Full Campaign
(unofficially for convenience of scale):
2) Army Group North
3) Army Group Centre
4) Army Group South

Game components:
2500 Die-Cut Counters (for full scenario)
6 six 21" x 27" maps (1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5B, 6A)
A complete set of rules
A complete set of charts
2 die

Game Strategy

Classic hexagonal game playusing the tried and tested Europa series rules.