Ahead of the Lines – Vor den Linien

What is Ahead of the Lines – Vor den Linien?

Ahead of the Lines – Vor den Linien is a single-player, turn-based strategy game built around a hex road map of the Hostau operation in 1945. The map is the Third Army road map printed on 30 April 1945, scaled at two kilometres per hex. The first scenario, Breakthrough and Corridor, runs from 28 April to 3 May and follows the US 2nd Cavalry Group from Eslarn across the border through Weißensulz to the remount depot at Hostau.

The second, the trek of 12 to 16 May, moves roughly four hundred horses to Bavaria: mares with foals, stallions, Arabians from Janów, and Thoroughbreds. Thirty trucks, no ramp yet, fuel by the day, barriers at crossings, and tiring herds define that phase. The game is educational and documentary in tone, with English and German text, and it saves in the browser. It is free to play in HTML5 and was released on 28 October 2026.

How to play

Play begins with scenario choice. Breakthrough and Corridor covers 28 April to 3 May: lead the US 2nd Cavalry Group task force from Eslarn over the border by way of Weißensulz to the remount depot at Hostau. The briefing raises command choices such as warning salvos or an envoy, who defends the stud, recovering Allied prisoners of war to Bavaria, and holding the only road open as the group moves south.

The trek covers 12 to 16 May. Some four hundred horses must reach Bavaria using thirty trucks, with no ramp yet, daily fuel concerns, barriers at every crossing, and herds that tire. There is no opposing move in this phase. A situation generator places roadblocks, patrols, and rumours at a documented frequency. Each evening, the unit journal asks you to classify prisoners, the enemy, and the horses; urgent-sounding reports build standing with corps, while sharper claims build the legend. At the end, reports are set beside the record and later tellings.

Controls

Control here means the decisions that drive each turn. In the breakthrough scenario, the task force advances along a map where each hex represents two kilometres. The command problem includes whether to use warning salvos or send an envoy, who defends the stud, bringing Allied prisoners of war back to Bavaria, and keeping the only road open while the group moves south.

In the trek, the logistics are trucks, fuel, crossings, and tired herds. Every evening the journal records prisoners counted or rounded up, the enemy as patrols or as an SS division, and the horses as stock or as saved from slaughter. Those entries affect standing with corps and feed the legend. The game is turn-based and single-player, with a browser save.

Tips for your first run

The journal is not decoration. Decide what each evening's report should emphasize: accounts that sound urgent raise standing with corps, while sharper claims feed the legend that grows around the operation. In Breakthrough and Corridor, watch the only road. The group moves south while Hostau sits ahead of another army's lines, so a corridor left open matters. Weigh the early choices deliberately, including warning salvos or an envoy and who defends the stud. In the trek, plan around thirty trucks, no ramp yet, daily fuel, barriers at every crossing, and herds that tire. Use the browser save between sessions; the two scenarios run about ninety minutes together. Read the journal entries at the end against the record, because the game sets reports beside later tellings.

• Choose whether the journal stresses urgency for corps standing or sharpness for the legend.
• Keep the road open during the southward move in Breakthrough and Corridor.
• Treat warning salvos, the envoy, and the stud's defence as command decisions, not background.
• Plan the trek around limited trucks, fuel by the day, crossings, and tiring herds.
• Use the browser save to split the two scenarios across sittings.

Content and replayability

Two scenarios form the core, about ninety minutes together. Breakthrough and Corridor supplies the operational map from Eslarn to Hostau. The trek supplies a logistics problem with roughly four hundred horses, thirty trucks, daily fuel, crossings, and tired herds, and no opposing move. A situation generator places roadblocks, patrols, and rumours at a documented frequency, so the journal is the main variable. Each evening's entries classify prisoners, the enemy, and the horses; they build standing with corps and feed the legend.

The historical frame includes the stud's confiscated horses and prisoner labour, the breeding scheme's link to an SS horse-breeding operation at Auschwitz, some 260 horses sent to the Soviets in September, Polish Arabians taken to the United States as booty, the commander's arrest, and the expulsion of Hostau's people. A separate Documents reader, 66 pages in PDF and EPUB, costs 5 USD and collects records and early reports in English with German introduction. English and German text and a browser save round out the package.

Presentation and performance

The game runs as an HTML5 browser frame and saves progress in the browser. Its visual reference points are documentary: a Signal Corps photograph from May 1945, the 1945 road map, an Austrian survey sheet, and five US Army photographs of commemorations from 2021 to 2026. Four screenshots accompany the launch. Text is in English and German.

Public-domain US government records supply quotations; other passages are labelled summaries with citations. The two scenarios together take about ninety minutes, a length that suits short sessions. The hex map, at two kilometres per hex, carries the operational scenario; the trek shifts attention to trucks, fuel, crossings, and herds. The journal is the interface for interpreting events and building standing or legend. Historical plates and the record-versus-legend framing give the presentation its documentary character.

Who should play it

This suits players who want a turn-based hex wargame with a documentary edge rather than a pure combat puzzle. The Hostau operation, the US 2nd Cavalry Group, the remount depot, the Lipizzaners, and the later Operation Cowboy story provide the subject. The trek scenario will appeal to players who enjoy logistics: thirty trucks, no ramp yet, fuel by the day, barriers at every crossing, and herds that tire, with no opposing move.

Readers interested in how reports become legend will find the evening journal central, because entries shape standing with corps and the story told afterward. The game also addresses the case's harder history, including confiscated horses, prisoner labour, the SS breeding operation at Auschwitz, later removals, the commander's arrest, and the expulsion of Hostau's people. It is not a large campaign; two scenarios run about ninety minutes together. English and German support widen its audience, and the browser save makes it easy to return.