A World at War: Introduction

[@cschulzke26]

Friends and I played A3R back in High School and I had quite a difficult time getting into this. It took me three tries to get through it. Dont try and read all 200 pages of rules, start with the North Africa scenario. Play that a few times, then try Barbarossa, play that a few times. The game isn't really that complex, its just that they tried to anticipate every possible question and print an answer for it in the rules. It is doable. That said, I consider this a "universe game." If you want to play this, you basically only play this. Oh, and don't even consider playing the Pacific scenarios in the beginning. Just focus on Europe. Good luck!

[@leemarlin9415]

I moved to Computer based games along time ago. Your comments will reflect why I do not regret it. I’d much rather just play and not spend most of my time doing paperwork.

[@SapperTV1]

Yeah, I get it. I tried Hearts of Iron...once. I feel the same way about HoI as I do about A World at War.

[@phd_angel4192]

Good point. I got back into boardgames to get away from too much time on PC. Yet, there are games that work best on PC for sure.

[@leemarlin9415]

@@SapperTV1 Still not interested in the paperwork. But recently watching some KZbin videos I missed looking at the board all laid out with the units. I’m a big fan of France 40 gold a PC Game. Working on a way to get myself a visual aid where I could look at everything like playing a monster game in the 1980s.

[@cadjebushey6524]

My jaw hit the floor when you showed the rule book.

[@steelyledfloyd]

So, a relatively simple GMT game didn't work for you so you jump to World at War? You sir are living!

[@philhatfield2282]

I own this game as well. I managed to get a perfect bound soft cover rulebook. It's honestly no better than the format you got, as the rules aren't page numbered, and horribly dense. Last month I had a strange thought, so I broke out my copy of Rise & Decline of the 3rd Reich and started reading the rules. Then an idea hit me. I read the rules in RD3R for Attrition combat, and then I went and read the section for Attrition Combat in A World At War. They're basically the same! Only AWAW explains the rules 4 times in the rules section, adds many more words to convey the same thing, and breaks things down into multiple subsections where RD3R explains it fairly simply (rules written in the 70s). Then I read the rules on Front Activation and BRP expenditure in RD3R and again in AWAW. Guess what? Same rules! Only A World At War explains it in several pages, and in a much more obtuse way with more words, more subsections, more exceptions and conditions, and less examples. If you happen to own Rise & Decline of the 3rd Reich, you should be able to get this game played with those rules, and then reference to grossly over-bloated rules of A World At War when you need to use some of the special pieces or want to get into nitty-gritty detail. That's what I'm going to do in order to play this monster game.

[@marianmoses9604]

Good observations. This is what happens when players and designers keep pinning more tails on the donkey. Pretty soon the poor critter starts looking like an octopus! Seems to me like there might be some money to be made by a good copy editor who could come in and clean-up the excess and redundant verbiage and condense that manual back down to something useful again.

[@philhatfield2282]

@@marianmoses9604 I did copy edit a decade or so ago, but I don't know if I have it in me to go through the monster rulebook to trim out all of the unnecessary words. Maybe one of these years if I'm really bored.

[@romiloszachariadis2334]

Navajo Wars is a unique, ingenious piece of game design and play!

[@michaelcollins6449]

Best Grand Strategy Game Ever Made ! Shawn, It is complicated but every time my brother and I have said this is complicated we say it is for a historically accurate reason. I have been playing Third Reich, Advanced Third Reich and now A World at War for 40 years. It is a great game

[@SapperTV1]

40 years experience with the system makes a huge difference, I am sure. In my final review/rant I say as much. If I had that kind of experience with this game I am sure I would love it as well. Sadly I do not have this kind of investment or live close to anyone who does. Unfortunately I do not share your opinion on this game, which is not to say your opinion is invalid.

[@marianmoses9604]

I feel exactly the same, having played the original 3R and later A3R for about 20 years before taking a long break from this hobby. I own a copy of AWAW but haven’t played it yet. I expect it will be like riding a bike. All of the fundamentals of the game will come back quickly. It’s all the new innovations that I’m looking forward to trying out. Anyone who grew up with this game LOVES this game. I still consider it one of the most serious and greatest wargaming systems for people who really dig getting into the weeds with exercising an enormous amount on input and control over how they re-fight the Second World War. All other WW2 games typically leave me very unimpressed.

[@Heldermaior]

It is not just the ammount of rules that is ridiculous. It is the ammount of revisions. If you played this game early into its life cycle, you don't know how to play the game now... It is absurd. This game needs to be redone imho. Rare to see GMT dropping the ball so badly like they did here.

[@unpaintedleadsyndrome]

Shawn: the amount of rules is ridiculous... me: laughs in Advanced Squad Leader and Starfleet Battles

[@gregtheintense]

SFB for sure.

[@valensinclair6750]

To be fair, the pages of rules to learn ASL (Chapters A,B,C,D) is far less than the 235 pages for this game. You don't even need to read all of A,B,C,D to start playing ASL All the rules after that are situational, look them up as needed, like pillboxes or riding cavalry or PTO if you choose to go there. So year, from the perspective of this long time ASL player the AWAW rulebook looks ludicrous.

[@kw9694]

Thank you for being honest, instructions look like the old phone book. Your review breaks my heart, but very grateful for your review, something I would shy from buying.

[@Phalanx11]

Third Reich (AH) is my favorite game of all time.

[@kamaeq]

Heh, it looks like someone beat the scope of SPI's Campaign for North Africa... except that was suggested for 10 players, including a logistics officer and printed requisition forms so the teams could keep track of which units needed what supplies.

[@chrisridley4840]

This is the gaming god's way of telling you to play WiF time for trumpets or 1985 UAIS (nukes are optional in that game 😉) By the way in time it takes you to bind the rules in a folder they would have released a new version of the rules (and i'm not joking) go for WiF instead

[@SapperTV1]

I don't disagree with you. However, I have spent the money on AWaW and feel like I should try it at least once before the end of the world. I also consider my sufferage as a public service to the greater war game community.

[@chrisridley4840]

@@SapperTV1 He is going in 😱 Good luck old chap 🤞

[@pm71241]

Curious about this ... Until now I haven't seen a reason to play this over WiF...

[@strelnikoff1632]

I don't know man. Looks pretty daunting....and I consider myself a monster kinda guy. Doubt I'll be taking this one on ever. I'll be tuning in to your struggles though for sure. Go for it...

[@kentscherm2213]

"nope". Good on ya for giving it a shot though!

[@fsmoura]

Gorgeous monstergame!

[@ryanmobile392]

Good luck brother!

[@ahappypikachu9753]

I picked up a second-hand, 2013, second print copy from my local game shop for $10. The laughs my family and I got from the rule books absurdity made it worth it.

[@ahappypikachu9753]

My rule book came bound

[@SapperTV1]

$10 seems like a reasonable price to pay for this game. Really wish that’s all I paid for it.

[@valnarz9550]

Have you tired the GMT game "Unconditional Surrender!", it's just the european theater though?

[@joearnold6881]

+1 on the rules being bullshit I, too, had to go buy a 3-ring binder. I ended up putting the game (and gathering storm, which I wish I hadn’t purchased) back on the shelf. I went and learned WiF instead. I do intend to learn WaW some day. Screw Gathering Storm, though. The rules are awful and separating the Japanese into another game you have to buy is gross.

[@crisop-jm8cz]

Wargamers are the most curiously odd people I know. Yes, I am a wargamer. I see gamers spend hundreds of dollars on all kinds of accessories to store their games, and other accessories to help improve their games. Then I come to something like this review and all the complaints about "I had to buy a 3-ring binder." Holy shit, that's like one of the cheapest things to buy for something like this.

[@SapperTV1]

We all have a breaking point. Mine was a 3-ring binder.

[@stevendolges8372]

The rules are very bad and poorly organized. WiF really is far and above a better organized game in terms of rules. It truly is bonkers. Good luck man.

[@slowbiscuit]

I can only echo what Steven says, you're in for a massive derivative of Third Reich riddled with exceptions. Not to mention that the rules that you have are not the final rules, there have been additions since then (and are seemingly every year). You're basically dealing with a lifestyle game like ASL played by people that devote their wargaming life to it. Good luck.

[@edmundcowan9131]

WAW solitaire is like is brave or crazy but at least you do t argue over rules. If you don’t like the heat get out of the kitchen. Sounds like you’re a candidate for computer games. I’m 71 can’t afford these expensive paper games so get by with computer games pretty well. But none give you what these games do except save time at a cost of control. If I had the money time set up and perhaps a buddy I would definitely buy this game. For now must settle on hearts of iron or strategic command wwii neither is perfect but at least you can play them without a mental breakdown.

[@boogolp]

If you are interested in something more complex than HoI4 I can reccomend "Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2" and "Gary Grigsby's War in the Pacific: Admirals Edition" to you, though the latter is probably the most complex pc wargame out there (or unnecessarily in depth). Both are kind of expensive for around $70 but they go on sale often and you can get them for much less.

[@edmundcowan9131]

Stop whining if you don’t like big games play chevkers but don’t waste our time

[@SapperTV1]

Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

[@phd_angel4192]

This is one of the worst games ever. GMT should be ashamed and pull it off the market.