Kharkov (1943) from the German spring offensive to the end of the war.Italy (1943) from the Allied landing on Sicily to the end of the war.Barbarossa (1941) from the initial invasion of the Soviet border to Moscow.North Africa (1941) from North Africa to the Middle East.Poland (1939) from Poland, through Norway, to the West with possible amphibious invasion in Britain.There is one long campaign as Germany, with five starting locales: In Campaign Mode, a series of battles unfold as a campaign heads to victory. The player can engage in a single battle or a campaign mode. Panzer General has 38 scenarios based on real or fictitious battles from World War II. In Campaign mode particularly, one then has to protect the experienced units as the most valuable assets. The performance of units is increased by their experience points, which are acquired through combat. The game rewards a Blitzkrieg strategy - penetrating deep into the enemy positions while postponing the destruction of some of the encountered enemy units for later. The player must carefully observe the road system to speed the advance, or may use Bridge engineers to cross the rivers. The fighter planes must negotiate dual roles: destroying the enemy air force and protecting their own bombers. If no tanks can get within range, one does this mostly by bombers, but then it is advantageous to destroy the air defense units first. Before attacking the infantry and anti-tank, one needs first to destroy the enemy artillery that protects them from behind. Dug-in enemy positions must be softened by artillery, which is vulnerable and needs protection. The game requires the player to use combined-arms tactics, where each unit is strong against some unit types but very vulnerable to others. Units are able to gain experience and become stronger, where success in one battle would award the player prestige to upgrade units, acquire additional units, and select a better scenario for the next battle. Its novel feature was to link individual scenarios into a campaign spanning World War II from 1939 to 1945. While the names and information for the units are reasonably accurate, the scenarios only approximate historical situations.

Panzer General is an operational-level game, and units approximate battalions, although the unit size and map scale from one scenario to the next are elastic. In Campaign Mode, the player assumes the role of a German Generalissimus against the Allied computer. One plays lone scenarios from either Axis or Allied side and against a computer or human opponent. Panzer General is a turn-based game, set on operational level hex maps.

Panzer general 1 campaign tree