Panzer Campaigns: Spring Awakening ’45 Released!

Hi All,

Wargame Design Studio is pleased to release Panzer Campaigns: Spring Awakening ’45. This is the thirtieth game released in the Panzer Campaigns franchise and will not be the last.

We are excited to publish this inaugural title from César ‘Indragnir’ Moreno. César has been a prolific modder of the WDS Panzer Campaigns series and many of his monster scenarios are included in previous releases. In César’ own words:

When I started designing mods (all those years ago), I couldn't even think that I would ever create a full game. It's been a long road. But every step of the way has led me to Spring Awakening. This game has been a learning experience for me as I honed a new set of design skills for smaller scenarios, as my long modding career was geared towards Campaign games for Head-to-Head play because it was my favorite size and gameplay (something you have noticed for sure if you have been following my list of mods: they're all for the main Campaigns for HTH play). Obviously, creating small and medium scenarios for versus AI and Head-to-Head play needed that new skill set as designer and, to my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed making smaller scenarios. It was also nice to see player reports of how much fun the versus AI play scenarios were, a game mode which I don't usually include in my mods. Watching this game develop and evolve was equally enjoyable and I finished this process quite happy. I hope this game provides you with endless hours of fun!

Spring Awakening ’45, was the last Axis offensive of the war, months later than both the Battle of the Bulge on the western front and the Konrad series of offensives to relieve Budapest in the east.

Below is the information that will be up on the WDS web page.

Overview

Operation Spring Awakening (German: Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen), the last major German offensive of World War II, is in some ways a battle unknown to many despite its critical importance to the outcome of the battle for the Third Reich. Initiated almost two months before Germany's surrender and three months after the simultaneous Bulge and Operation Konrad offensives for the relief of Budapest, it is quite incredible that it could be launched due to the state of the German armies and logistics in 1945. The objective of Operation Spring Awakening was firstly, that the Hungarian and Vienna oil regions, which made up 80% of remaining reserves, had to be defended and/or retaken, and without which the war effort could not be continued; and secondly, the defense of the Upper Silesian industrial region, vital for the war economy and coal production. Without these resources, meaningful, long-term resistance on any other front was impossible. Step into the shoes of either the Soviet or German late war commanders, where weather, attrition and supplies will all play a part.

Scenarios

Panzer Campaigns: Spring Awakening ’45 covers the major actions of the Axis forces in northern Hungary between March 6-16, 1945, including:

• Spring Awakening Campaign March 6-15 1945
• 2nd Panzer Army Operations March 6-15 1945
• I & II SS Panzer Corps Operations March 6-15 1945
• III Panzer Corps Operations March 6-15 1945
• LXVIII & LXXXXI Corps Operations March 6-15 1945

There are 85 scenarios in total including the above-mentioned operations. The longest campaign scenarios are a very manageable 98 turns. Smaller scenarios ranging in length from 6 to 78 turns and will provide players with plenty of challenges and battles of variable length and size.

Features

Game features include:

• Game scale is 1 hex = 1 km, 1 turn = 2 hours, with battalion and company size units.
• 85 Scenarios – covering all sizes and situations, including specialized versions for both head to head play and vs. the computer AI.
• The master map (106,554 hexes) includes the River Danube from Bratislava in the north, flowing through Budapest, and onto Yugoslavia in the south.
• An Order of Battle files covering the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front supported by both Bulgarian and Yugoslav forces and opposing elements of Heeresgruppe Süd during March 1945.
• Order-of-Battle and Scenario Editors which allow players to customize the game.
• Sub-map feature allows the main map to be "chopped" up into smaller segments for custom scenario creation.
• Extensive Designer notes providing historic background to the scenarios and explanation of design decisions

Spring Awakening ’45 provides multiple play options including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play, and two player hot seat.

You can get the game now from Wargame Design Studio on this link; Spring Awakening ’45 Product Page

You can also get more information on the game as well as several free downloads under the ‘Updates and Downloadable Files’ tab at the bottom of the product page.

In additional news, the WDS Menu program has been updated to support recently released titles. This includes both the Musket & Pike Demo, Vienna 1683 and Spring Awakening ’45. You can get the latest version of the menu app here.

And finally, a reminder, our Game of the Week is Panzer Campaigns: Budapest ’45. This operation immediately preceded Spring Awakening ’45 and it will help ‘set the scene’ for Spring Awakening ‘45. With 25% off the price till Sunday only, this is worth considering as a bundle with Spring Awakening '45.

We hope you enjoy this latest Panzer Campaigns title and a big thank you to César and all in the team again!