Breitenfeld (wargame)

Breitenfeld was a free game that appeared in Strategy & Tactics, designed to promote SPI's soon-to-be-launched wargame Thirty Years War.

From 1618 to 1648, a series of religious conflicts between Protestant and Catholic states broke out in Europe, killing an estimated 4 to 8 million soldiers and civilians.

In order to promote this launch, the March 1976 issue of Strategy & Tactics featured an article by Albert Nofi about the war's historical background.

Writing for Jagdpanther, Daniel S. Salter found several faults with the rules, the most egregious being that the swamp and river in the middle of the map were historically inaccurate and should be ignored.

"[7] In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nick Palmer called it "a good brisk game using the system of the Thirty Years War Quad.

"[8] American game designer Chris Crawford called Breitenfeld "the best of the Thirty Years War Quadrigames, which featured a combat system guaranteed to produce desperate battles."

Crawford found the game very balanced, saying, "The battles always ended with each general desperately looking for one last undisrupted regiment to throw into the fight and turn the tide.