Trial of Strength

Trial of Strength is a strategic level board wargame set on the Eastern Front of the Second World War, published by Panther Games in Australia in 1985. Two players take the roles of commanders of Germany and the Soviet Union, setting objectives, allocating forces and carrying out operations. It is played on a hexagonal map of Eastern Europe at a scale of 1 to 4,000,000, with each hex spanning 72 kilometres, and each turn covers about ten days. Units are mostly Axis corps and Soviet armies of roughly 60,000 troops, alongside smaller specialist battlegroups. The game uses an integrated movement and combat system called CLIMACS, with further rules for air power, command and control, morale, terrain, supply and logistics, and an integrated political system covering events such as Finland's reluctance and the Slovak uprising. It was featured on the cover of Fire and Movement issue 49 in 1986.