Game of the Week, Feb 23-Mar 1

Next week’s Game of the Week returns to the Western Desert, where long distances and limited supply shape every operation. From February 23 through March 1, Panzer Battles: North Africa 1941 will be on sale for 25% off.

Panzer Battles: North Africa 1941 focuses on tactical, combined-arms problems—coordinating armor, infantry, and guns, working around strongpoints and ridgelines, and keeping formations together as the situation shifts. If you prefer engagements where local decisions add up quickly, this is a good week to pick it up.

Alongside the desert fighting, the title also includes the 1941 Crete campaign, offering a very different set of operational and terrain challenges.

From Compass to Crusader

North Africa in 1941 is often summarized as a story of spectacular movement: long advances, sudden reversals, and famous names attached to sweeping arrows on a map. That picture is not wrong, but it hides what made the year so volatile. The desert campaigns were shaped as much by logistics and geography as by generalship, and the forces in the field repeatedly discovered that operational ambition could outrun the very practical limits of ports, roads, truck fleets, maintenance capacity, and the simple fact that men and machines cannot be kept at full effectiveness in harsh conditions indefinitely.

The crisis begins with Italy’s position in Libya. In 1940, Italian forces had the advantage of proximity and numbers, yet they were spread across a long frontier and were poorly suited for rapid, sustained offensive operations at a distance. When the British struck in Operation Compass, the results were dramatic. A campaign that started as a limited blow against exposed Italian camps quickly became a rolling collapse, because once the defense lost cohesion, the open desert offered few natural stopping lines. The same openness that promised maneuver also punished disorganization: retreating columns were vulnerable, communications broke down, and isolated garrisons could be cut off and reduced. By early 1941, the Axis situation in Cyrenaica was in serious danger, and the political consequences of an Italian defeat pushed Germany into a theater it had not originally intended to make central.

Nordafrika, bei Bir Hacheim.- Generaloberst Erwin Rommel und General Fritz Bayerlein im Befehlsfahrzeug, leichter Schützenpanzer (Sd.Kfz. 250/3 "Greif") (Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-443-1589-09 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)

The arrival of German forces in early 1941 transformed the tempo. What became known as the Afrika Korps entered a front where the Allied advance had stretched lines thin and where many units were reorganizing, refitting, or redeploying to other commitments. The Axis counterstroke in the spring of 1941 is a reminder that desert warfare can reward speed and initiative, especially when the opponent is dispersed or slow to react. Yet it is equally a reminder that early success creates its own problems. Every mile forward lengthened the supply chain back to the main ports, and every forward leap demanded fuel and transport capacity that could not be conjured out of thin air. In North Africa, a unit could win a sharp fight and still be forced to pause simply because the trucks, petrol, and spare parts were not where they needed to be.

This is where Tobruk becomes central to the year. Tobruk was not just a fortress to be stormed or a garrison to be starved; it was a logistical and operational hinge. As a port, it offered the prospect of shortening the Axis supply line and supporting deeper advances. As a defended enclave, it threatened the flank and rear of any Axis push east while tying down forces for containment. The decision to take Tobruk created a long-running set of tactical problems: probing attacks against prepared positions, attempts to cut supply routes, and the constant requirement to balance pressure on the perimeter against the need to keep mobile forces ready for operations elsewhere. For the defenders, holding Tobruk offered a way to absorb Axis momentum and complicate planning, even when the broader front was unstable.

Australian troops at the Siege of Tobruk (Imperial War Museum / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The year’s rhythm is therefore a series of efforts to break this balance. Limited offensives and counteroffensives are launched with clear objectives: relieve pressure, seize key terrain, or disrupt the enemy’s ability to sustain forward positions. Desert operations are often described as battles of maneuver, but the battles that matter tend to be those that decide mobility: capturing an airfield that supports reconnaissance and interdiction, securing a crossroads that channels movement, or holding a ridge that anchors an approach. Even “empty” terrain can be decisive when it controls the routes trucks must follow or provides the hard ground needed for vehicles to move reliably.

At the same time, North Africa in 1941 cannot be understood in isolation from the wider Mediterranean. Commitments in Greece and Crete drew in aircraft, shipping, and formations that might otherwise have been deployed to strengthen the desert front. These were not mere side shows. The Mediterranean was a connected space in which decisions about airfields, sea routes, and island bases shaped the risks of reinforcement and resupply. A shift in air power or naval pressure could change what was possible on land, because both sides depended on moving men and materiel across vulnerable lines. The desert armies fought at the end of supply lines that began far from the front, and those lines could be disrupted, delayed, or redirected by events hundreds of miles away.

The environment itself amplified every weakness. Sand and heat punished engines, tracks, and suspensions. Fine dust worked its way into weapons and optics. Distances magnified small errors in navigation and planning. A force that moved fast could gain a positional advantage, but it also accumulated wear and consumed its strength at a rate that was not always visible on a map. The desert encourages boldness, but it can also lure commanders into believing they can always disengage or shift direction at will. In practice, movement takes time, and the more a force commits forward, the more it becomes dependent on predictable routes and supply dumps that the opponent can target.

By late 1941, both sides had absorbed hard lessons. Tactical success did not guarantee strategic gain. An advance could become a liability if it left a force too extended to hold what it had taken. Conversely, a retreat could be a deliberate choice to shorten supply lines and regain flexibility, rather than a sign of defeat. The campaign that culminated in the large-scale operations of the autumn and winter showed how quickly fortunes could change when one side managed to concentrate combat power at the right point, while the other struggled with exhaustion, broken equipment, or supply interruptions.

That is what makes North Africa 1941 such a compelling year to game. It is a campaign of constant decision under pressure, where the battlefield is not only the line of contact but also the space behind it: the roads, the dumps, the staging areas, and the margins of endurance for units that cannot be everywhere at once. The fighting rewards players who think in terms of momentum and timing, but it punishes those who ignore the practical requirements of keeping a force effective over weeks of operations. In the desert, victory is rarely a single dramatic moment. More often, it is the accumulation of small advantages, seized in time, sustained carefully, and converted before the environment and logistics impose their own verdict.

The Battle for Crete

The game also includes a 1941 Crete campaign, shifting from open desert terrain to constricted terrain, key road networks, and battles driven by control of airfields and ports. In May 1941, Germany launched Operation Merkur, an airborne invasion intended to seize Crete quickly and secure the Aegean flank after the campaign in Greece. The initial landings were risky: scattered drops, units fighting in small groups, and immediate pressure to capture airfields—especially Maleme—so that reinforcements and heavy weapons could be flown in.

German paratroopers land in Crete, May 1941 (Wiki-Ed / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Crete became a sharp, close-fought campaign in which local outcomes mattered quickly. Commonwealth, Greek, and local forces contested the landing zones, while German success depended on consolidating under fire and turning seized airfields into functioning supply hubs. Once Maleme and nearby positions were secured, the balance shifted as airlifted reinforcements built combat power, forcing the defenders to withdraw toward the south coast and evacuate under constant air attack. The result was a German victory won at high cost—an operation that succeeded, but also demonstrated how narrow the margins could be in airborne warfare when the enemy reacted quickly, and the ground fight did not go to plan.

Panzer Campaigns and Panzer Battles

If you’re coming to Panzer Battles from Panzer Campaigns, think of it as moving from the “map of an operation” down to the “map of the fight.” Panzer Battles plays tighter and more immediately: you’re making decisions about how to approach a position, how to coordinate a short push with supporting fire, and how to keep your units aligned when contact is sudden, and ranges are short. Panzer Campaigns generally feel broader, with more emphasis on shaping a frontage, timing larger movements, and managing where your main effort will be a few hours from now.

That difference in scale also changes the play style. In Panzer Battles, small mistakes tend to show up fast—an exposed approach, a poorly supported assault, or a gap between neighboring units can become a problem within a turn or two—so it rewards careful, methodical combined-arms play. Panzer Campaigns still has plenty of tactics, but the flow is more operational: you’re often thinking in terms of momentum across a sector, maintaining a coherent line, and setting conditions for the next phase rather than solving each fight at the level of individual strongpoints.

What's in the Game?

• Battles of North Africa 1941 includes 117 playable scenarios, 24 reference scenarios, and a further 3 variable scenarios ranging from 6 turns to 90 turns in length. Representative operations from December 1940 through to December 1941 are included with a good mix of small (battalion/regiment), medium (division), and large (corps) engagements.
• 8 Master Maps covering Greece, Crete, Libya, and Egypt. The North Africa map contains over 1.23 million hexes. 55 sub maps are included. The North Africa map area is over three times the size of the map included with the Battles of Normandy.
• 8 Order of Battles covering the evolving 1941 force mix for each side. The represented Allied forces include the British, Greeks, Indians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Free French, Poles, and Czechs. The included Axis forces are the Italians, the Libyans, the Wehrmacht, and the Luftwaffe.
• Unit component, Order of Battle, and Scenario Editors, which allow players to customize the game.
• Sub-map feature that allows any included map to be "chopped" into smaller segments for custom scenario creation.
• Exceptional Documentation, including an 85-page 'Visual Order of Battle Guide' and a 159-page 'Designer Notes & FAQ'. Both are included with the game.
• Battles of North Africa 1941 offers multiple play options, including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play, and two-player hot seat.

Books, Videos, and Podcasts

Below, you find book recommendations, as well as featured videos and podcasts

Clicking the book cover brings you to Amazon.

Moorehead, Alan. The Desert War: The North African Campaign 1940–1943. London: Penguin Books, 2001.

Lyman, Robert. The Longest Siege: Tobruk, the Battle That Saved North Africa. London: Macmillan, 2009.

Buckingham, William F. Tobruk: The Great Siege, 1941–42. Stroud: The History Press, 2009.

Playfair, I. S. O., with J. D. S. Stitt, C. J. C. Molony, and S. E. Toomer. The Mediterranean and Middle East. Volume II: The Germans Come to the Help of Their Ally (1941). London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1956.

Beevor, Antony. Crete: The Battle and the Resistance. London: John Murray, 2005.

Some of the videos and the recommended podcast are the first in a series, respectively.

Screenshots

Below, you can see screenshots from Panzer Battles: Battles of North Africa 1941 to get a feel for the various zoom factors and the scale of the engagements. Clicking a screenshot opens it in full resolution.

We hope you enjoy this week’s Game of the Week: Panzer Battles: Battles of North Africa 1941. Like all WDS titles, it provides countless hours of rich gameplay at a very attractive price.