War in Europe (game) - Game Play

Game Play

Each game turn represents one week, with the game covering a period from 1939–45; units are based on Allied and German divisions and Soviets divisions and corps.

As is usual for such games, individual combats are determined by a die roll on a combat results table – of which this game contains four. The Germans begin by attacking on the table most favourable to the attacker, only to deteriorate slightly in quality during the war, whereas the Allies and Soviets begin on an unfavourable table and are deemed to improve in quality during the game. Units which take losses are flipped to their reverse side - "battlegroups" ("kampfgruppen" for the Germans) of nominal strength; several battlegroups may be combined to form a full-strength division.

The game system was based on SPI's old division-level World War II gaming system used in various games (such as their game on the battle of Kursk or "Destruction of Army Group Center", based on events of the summer of 1944) over the preceding five years or so. Much emphasis is placed on exploitation by armoured units, which, as usual, may move a second time after as well as before combat, and may conduct overruns – attacks in the course of movement – during either of their movement phases.

The Soviets may attempt to slow German tank advances by flipping their small infantry divisions to create static fortifications (which double the combat value of another unit in the hex) and by using antitank brigades (which halve the value of attacking German armour). Another factor slowing the German advance into the USSR is the different railway gauge, which means that railroad lines in the USSR take longer to convert to German control.