Tannenberg (wargame)

As two large Russian armies moved into East Prussia — led by two generals (Paul von Rennenkampf and Alexander Samsonov) who refused to communicate with each other about their positions and strategies — Germany used its large network of rails to quickly move high concentrations of troops into positions that allowed them to encircle the Russian Second Army in the vicinity of Tannenberg (now Stębark in Poland), site of a famous victory of the Teutonic Knights in 1410.

In the 1978 edition, the game mechanics have been revised to be identical to those used in SPI's The Great War in the East, a collection of wargames about battles on the Eastern Front.

As a promotional item, SPI decided to publish a free companion game in Strategy & Tactics that would use the same rules set as The Great War in the East.

"[6] In Issue 14 of Fire & Movement, Friedrich Helfferich noted "This is not a 1914-style slugfest, as some may have feared, but a contest of skillful maneuver, with a gamut of strategic options for both sides and with ample opportunities for tactical finesse."

Although Freeman agreed that the game encapsulated the feeling of World War I warfare, he also noted "The restrictions of the supply system and the limited command control lead to massive assaults rather than anything fancy or interesting like encirclements or flanking maneuvers."

Freeman concluded by giving the game an Overall Evaluation of "Fair to Good", saying, "As a solitaire simulation for the historian, this will do nicely (once or twice), but as a contest Tannenberg falls far short of the mark.