In 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Attempting to deal a "knock-out blow" to the Soviet colossus, Germany and its allies sent in 21 panzer divisions, 10 motorized divisions, and 163 infantry divisions. The biggest military effort ever in the history of mankind. The battles in 1941 laid bare the deficiencies of the Soviet military forces. Led by mostly inexperienced officers, paralyzed by rigid command structure, and bereft of initiative, the Soviets suffered terribly against the well oiled Axis armies. The GMT Barbarrossa games simulate these military operations in 1941 on the Eastern Front.

Vance von Borries created Typhoon! as his first game for a new game system, titled the "EAST FRONT SERIES" (EFS), in 1995. It was an instant hit, and is now out of print and a very desired collectable game, demanding high prices whenever offered. Vance followed up this hit with a series of 3 games, the Barbarossa games, each named after one of 3 army groups of the Axis effort in the east. The first one is Army Group South, followed by Army Group Center, then came Army Group North. All 3 games are now out of print.

UPDATE:
In 2008 GMT published the newest entry into the EAST FRONT SERIES, Kiev To Rostov. This site will soon be updated with details on this latest game, and of any changes to the EFS game system. If you have an interest in the EFS series, then I would strongly recommend you obtain a copy before it gets quickly sold out, just like all the others before it.

In this discussion I will primarily keep to these three games, although most of it should apply to Typhoon! as well. The newer revisions of the system can be applied to Typhoon!, although you'll have to come up with some updated counters and use some of the charts and rules from the later Barbarossa games (details).