In 1987, GDW released a sequel, Scorched Earth, that continued the Eastern Front conflict from May 1942 to 1944. In 1984 Rich Banner, Frank Chadwick, Marc Miller and John Astell revised and greatly expanded Drang Nach Osten! and GDW published it in 1984 as Fire in the East. GDW also published an expansion kit, Unentschieden ('Stalemate'), in 1973. In 1973, GDW published Drang Nach Osten! ('Drive to the East!'), a monster board wargame simulating Operation Barbarossa designed by Paul R. The Soviet player/team wins by preventing this. To win, the Axis player/team must capture every major Soviet city hex before the end of the 21st turn (second half of April 1942).

Due to Balkan rivalry, Hungarian and Romanian forces may not be stacked together, and cannot participate in the same attack.

Finnish forces may only fight in Finland and cannot cross into Soviet territory beyond a rules-established 'stop line'.

During the first half of July 1941 (the second regular turn), Finland and also Hungary join the Axis forces.

Once the surprise round is over, normal play begins with the first turn, and Romania immediately enters the war.

Before the first turn (second half of June 1941), German force enjoy a bonus 'surprise round'.

If a city is captured, it can never regain its 'depot' status, even if recaptured. Supplies are dependent upon home cities that act as supply depots. Combat results are determined by the ratio of attackers to defenders. Movement is modified by both terrain and weather.

The map scale used in the entire Europa series is 25 km (16 mi) per hex.Įach turn represents 2 weeks of game time - characterized as first half of the month and last half of the month.

Six 21' x 27' maps that, when put together, cover the Eastern Front from Warsaw in the west to Stalingrad in the east, and from Murmansk in the north to Sevastopol in the south.

The game, part of GDW's Europa series, uses a set of rules common to the series. Fire in the East, characterized as a 'monster game' because it has more than 1000 counters, is a two-player (or two-team) game that covers Operation Barbarossa along World War II's Eastern Front between 22 June 1941 and 30 April 1942.

Scorched earth detailed map