The sight and sound of the explosions, gunshots, cannons firing, etc are all well rendered. No guessing if your unit is in a city, forest or in the open. The battlefield graphics are also nice and clear. The Americans and British met the Soviets at the River Elbe and the Western leaders let the Russians pay the price to take Berlin. There was hard fighting inside Germany, especially in the Ruhr valley.
By the end of January 1945, the battle was over and the Germans, for no gain, had thrown away their carefully husbanded ground force reserves and the Luftwaffe was a broken force.Īfter that, the Western Allies fought into Germany, breaching the German’s vaunted Siegfried Line and crossing the Rhine at Remagen. The Wehrmacht never crossed the River Meuse and did not even approach Antwerp. Patton’s Third Army turned 90 degrees, attacked the German’s left flank and relieved the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne. The plan was to break through the Allied lines to the port of Antwerp, cutting off four Allied armies and forcing the Western powers to make a separate peace with Germany.Īfter some initial German successes, the American’s stubborn defenses of St. On December 16, 1944, the Germans launched OPERATON WATCH ON THE RHINE ( Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein), attacking a weakly defended part of the American line in the Ardennes Forest with 200,000 men and over 600 tanks and other armored vehicles. Sadly, the player may not enter into the individual scenarios, but must play through the campaign to reach the later ones. Also there are 6 new counter-factual (what-if) scenarios: Liege, Antwerp, Brussels, Gates of Berlin, Dunkirk45 and Sealion45. Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, La Gleize, Houffalize, Celles, Bastogne Siege, Bastogne Assault, Nordwind, Colmar Pocket, Wesel, Ruhr Pocket and End on the Elbe.
There are also 18 new historical scenarios: St. ’45 West features five new units including experimental airplanes such as the Gotha jet airplane and the V-1 and V-2 Vengeance Weapons ( Vergeltungswaffe). As an expansion, ’45 West requires either the basic Panzer Corps or Panzer Corps: Afrika Korps to play. The followup to Grand Campaign ’44 West, it is the latest, indeed the final, installment of the downloadable content (DLC) expansion packs to the venerable Panzer Corps game. The game depicts the Wehrmacht‘s fight against the Western Allies in late 1944 and early 1945.
Panzer Corps: Grand Campaign ’45 West is a fun, quick and easy to learn, but hard to master, light PC strategy game. Passed Inspection: Easy to learn but still challenging, great replay value, low cost.įailed Basic: Low historical veracity, inflexible linked scenario system, standard NATO unit symbols not available. Published by Slitherine and Matrix Games. Panzer Corps: Grand Campaign ’45 West – PC Game Review By Patrick Baker