Game Spotlights

Published: May 18, 2022

Devin

Tolling of the Bell – The Last German Offensive

Tolling of the Bell

Three Crowns Games‘ fifth entry into the WWII Battle Series—Tolling of the Bell—depicts the last German offensive during WWII. The conflicts covered are “Operation Spring Awakening” (and its sub-operations ‘Icebreaker’ and ‘Forest Devil’) and the start of the Soviet Vienna offensive in Hungary from 6th-25th March, 1945.. The latter is viewed from the perspective of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.

tolling of the bell wargame from three crowns games cover art, map, rulebook, and player aid
Tolling of the Bell, from Three Crowns Games

The historic conflicts

Tolling of the Bell starts with a German thrust against the depleted Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front. This Front held the Soviet absolute left flank. The German main goals were the Donau crossings and to the incircle of the 57th Soviet and 1st Bulgarian Armies. A secondary target was to create a starting ground for a new Budapest offensive. An even wider stretch was the oilfields at Ploești, Romania.

German armored vehicles drive down a muddy road in an eastern European village
German armored vehicles traverse muddy roads

SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef Dietrich’s 6th SSPz Army and General Hermann Balck’s 6th Army attacked Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin’s 3rd Ukrainian Front in the north. Meanwhile, General Maximilian de Angelis’ 2nd Pz Army attacked in the west and Generaloberst Alexander Löhr’s Army Group E in the south. The Germans gathered 80% of their available Panzer forces for this battle, thereby risking all with the last roll of the dice.


Rules and Mechanics

Tolling of the Bell’s rules are developed from the Stargard Solstice game, making it the 5th game in the WWII Battle Series, all with chit-pull machanics.

The game length is 10 turns and each turn represents two days.

German and Hungarian units are battalions and regiments. Soviet, Bulgarian, and Yugoslavian units are brigades and divisions.


Game Components

  • Full color map; A1 size (23.575″ x 33.125″)
  • Game Rules (16 pages)
  • 286 die-cut 15mm counters
  • 2 Player Aid cards with charts and tables

Pick up a copy of Tolling of the Bell today!


[ Read: Orange Swan – WWII in the Pacific  ]

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