Battle of Berlin

Joni Nuutinen

About this game

Battle of Berlin 1945 is a defense-centric turn based strategy boardgame which takes place during the last months of WWII in Europe. From Joni Nuutinen: by a wargamer for the wargamers since 2011. Latest version out on August 2026.

You take command of the last ragtag German armed forces struggling to defend the capital of Germany against the Soviet Red Army's massive offensive in April 1945. Your resources are running low, and will be even scarcer as the turns pass by. The units at your disposal are exhausted and vary greatly from poor Volkssturm militia units to experienced front-line divisions. The fate of the end of the war in Europe lies in your hands: Will you be able to hold out against the overwhelming enemy forces and how long, or maybe, incredibly, even turn the tide of the battle?

Please note: The Hall of Fame lists BOTH victories (gained control all Victory Points) and losses (controlled only few remaining Victory Points after losing Berlin). These two listings are under separate heading. Victories are sorted by the lowest turn count (=fastest victory), while losses are sorted with the highest turn count first (=held out the longest).

“The ubiquitous initials LSR for Luftschutzraum, or air-raid shelter, were said to stand for ‘Lernt schnell Russisc’: ‘Learn Russian quickly’.”
-- Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945


FEATURES:

+ Defense focused scenario, following traditional "who can hold out the longest" game mechanics.

+ Locomotive units to transfer troops around, as long as you manage to hold the critical railway lines.

+ Smarter-than-average AI opponent: Instead of just attacking on a very obvious direct line towards the main target, the opponent balances between larger operational goals (going around Berlin) and smaller tactical tasks like going after a nearby poorly defended support unit like artillery/generals.


Join fellow strategy gamers in trying to alter the course of one of the final battles of the Second World War!


"General Heinz Guderian wanted a pincer movement from the Oder south of Berlin and an attack down from Pomerania to cut off Georgy Zhukov's leading Soviet armies. To assemble enough troops, more of the Wehrmacht divisions trapped uselessly in Courland and elsewhere needed to be brought back by sea and the German offensive in Hungary postponed. This was refused. Again."

Ratings and reviews

UI is awful. I bought this game hoping it was a real strategy game, but also somewhat intuitive. It isn't. It basically needs a thorough and complex instruction manual, which it doesn't have. I am a life time strategy game player and a retired military officer and I became immiediately frustrated with the game and gave up. If it is too hard to learn, then it is no fun. Perhaps that is part of why it has so few downloads.

This is a wild scenario, very entertaining. The Russians race to Berlin and you cobble defenses together with a variety of units. Very tough, I'm only able to beat the Ruskies back at the easy level.

I really like the campaign. It a nice and interesting challenge I have experience before. It would be better if the flak towers were added.

What’s new

+ New forest and hill options (icons)
+ At times aerial enemy bombardments will switch some empty hexagons in one area to the enemy (explosion marker)
+ Setting: Minimap-size and few other long-looping values will go down or up depending on which side (left or right) of the button tap is