Tigers in the Snow war game

Tigers in the Snow (1981)

Categories: strategy games

In December 1944 World War 2 seemed to be finally coming to an end - Germans were forced to retreat to their pre-war territory unable to stop the Allied forces pushing from France and Belgium. But while Americans in Ardennes were thinking of returning home on the other side of the hills Wehrmacht was preparing for their final push. They gathered all the best they could afford to use in offensive, including new King Tiger tanks, all the fuel they had available and began the push through narrow roads of Ardennes. Americans were stunned by this attack and for several days were unable to set up defence lines in front of the advancing German tanks.

And at that point we step up in Tigers in the Snow - German forces have reached the Ardennes and quickly advance towards Antwerp and all we have to stop them are reserve units unprepared for long fight. Weather does not help the defenders - heavy fog, snow, low level clouds and low temperature stopped the supply lines and airlift options, so they have to face the tanks with only small arms. With time the reinforcements arrive to the area, including tank units, but we have to stall the enemy as long as possible.

Tigers in the Snow was one of the early strategy game, heavy influenced by board games, with map divided into hexes. Unit supplies and weather were included in game engine (which in Battle of the Bulge were very important factors), but at the same time game offered simplified graphics and very limited informations about the terrain as well as the specific unit. For example we know the name of the unit, how much fuel does it have, but we lack informations about their equipment or is the terrain they are in suitable for defence or attack.

As of early strategy game Tigers in the Snow was not bad production, offering more factors than earlier titles, also it was possible to take control of both sides of the battle, but simplified interface that gave little data to work on was really made it very easy to fail completely in stopping German offensive.

Tigers in the Snow videos