"Best WWII Boardgame?" Topic

What is the best WWII boardgame you would recommend to miniature gamers?

I started playing GMT's Panzer and its offshoots, and then bought a bunch of GHQ miniature vehicles and Monopoly buildings to make my 2D game look 3D.

After that, I bought some rules just for miniatures. A couple of years and few(?) thousand dollars later….

Air Force/Dauntless, preferably yhe origonal "Battleline" version. We have been playing it for 38 years the last 20 or so simply replacing the counters with model aircraft.

Fatman

With miniatures I'll say 'Tide of Iron.' With counters I'd go with 'Heroes of Normandie.'

I am going by your title, rather than your OP.
I played the bejabbers out of Avalon Hill's 1964??? Battle of the Bulge. I loved it and played extensively by mail.
Anyone who thinks there is a better boardgame is a fool and a Commie. So there.

AH's Midway was pretty darn good too.

Going by the title, my three tied-for-favorite 2-player tactical WWII board games are the new edition of Panzer by GMT, Advanced Squad Leader currently by MMP, and Combat Commander by GMT.

However, nothing can hold a candle to Ambush by Victory Games, which is a solo tactical WWII board game.

AH's Third Reich.

I've come to enjoy the Heroes of Normandie series. It's on a grid but is quite good, and scaled to 15mm. After that woukd be White Star Rising and Band of Brothers Screaming Eagle or Ghost Panzer.

Ill second Avalon Hill's Battle of the Bulge

Panzer Leader got me collecting and painting Roco for years, building battalions with 1 vehicle = 1 platoon. And over a decade later Command Decision came out and my battalions were ready to roll ^,^

Squad leader is the best land game, Russian vs. Germany. I cannot say that I was as fond of the expansions. For naval games I would go with AH's Victory in the Pacific and War at Sea.

Panzer Leader by Avalon Hill.

I'd go with the Conflict of Heroes series of games by Academy Games. Need to expand beyond the Eastern Front, though.

Panzerblitz!

CinC's Stalk-I.

Now, if Randy would just rerelease it, with the long promised infantry rules …

Advanced Squad Leader

Advanced Squad Leader.

Tide of Iron is pretty darn good!

My other favourite board games of all time were Panzerblitz, Third Reich and Victory Games "Hells Highway".

For infantry, Squad Leader

For combined arms, Panzerblitz and Panzer Leader

Dover patrol,

Memoir '44
link

ASL, nothing else comes close

Combat Commander from GMT Games.

Stomps on ASL.

> Stomps on ASL.

With the pathetically thin rulebook it has? I doubt ASL would even know it was there…

I would only recommend ASL to miniature gamers who want to give up miniatures and all other forms of gaming in order to "play" ASL. : )

While Combat Commander has a thrill you get from chaos, and I like it, I've gotten to prefer Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagle and follow-on games. In December or January, revisions of Screaming Eagle and Ghost Panzer are coming out, along with Texas Arrows.

The game is intended to be simple in terms of rules, but as believable as possible in terms of results. You _have_ to suppress, then get in there and clear the enemy out. I like it, and am looking forward to seeing simple rules become even more elegant. They are making sure all modifiers work the same way, and doing a few other things that will really make it clean and easy to pick up.

andy

If I were not an ASL fanatic (till it aggravates me once again) I would go with Band of Brothers too. Nice system

Bill doesn't mention tactical, strategic, or grand strategic! We seem to have steered this toward low-level tactical.

In December or January, revisions of Screaming Eagle and Ghost Panzer are coming out, along with Texas Arrows.

Glad I've waited to buy Screaming Eagles and Ghost Panzer, though I've read the PDF rules a number of times. For some reason, I missed the announcements on the new revisions. Texas Arrows is a must-buy for us because a dear friend who served in the 36th during WWII and passed away a few years ago gave all his medals to my son for his 21st birthday. My son wears a 36th lapel pin in his memory. Thanks for the heads up, Andy!

I don't think there is a 'best' WWII boardgame, but several excellent games, each of which has its own feel and hits the table depending on how I feel at the moment.

I'm also going to put a plug in for the Conflict of Heroes series, my go-to tactical WWII game at the moment, at least until Dec or Jan. ;-)

If you want air battles, then I highly recommend Black Cross/Blue Sky for Battle of Britain. I recently bought this game and love it, love it!

Not sure if they are the best…but most played by me:
AH's Squad leader and gamettes leading up to ASL.
Air Force/Dauntless by Battleline
Avalanche Press Second WW at Sea series.

I know most will be mad at me for this, but I think Lock n Load – Band of Heroes is a squad level system far better than ASL. A gaming system more up to date. I'd recommend it. :D

The guys at Shut UP & Sit Down have a play-through of Memoir '44 played with 6 playrs here: link

Looks like great fun, and is on my (very long) list of board games to try out and probably buy.

There's an actual review of it by the same group here: YouTube link

Can't decide between Air Force/Dauntless and Advanced Squad Leader – played both tons and love 'em both.

Midway

ASL made my head explode

Squad Leader

Bill's question concerns subject matter waaaaay too
broad.

+1 for avalon hills the russian campaign.

On a simpler note: V-G/AH's Ambush!
link

Any Clash of Arms Napoleonic game.
Avalon Hill's "Panzerblitz"
Avalon Hill's "Jutland"
Avalon Hill's "Advance Squad Leader"
Avalon Hill's "Caesar" (Alesia)

AH Third Reich
AH (classic) Squad Leader

Advanced Squad Leader for tactical, Clash of Arms Games' Struggle for Europe series for strategic, although I am partial to Europa when I have a year or two to spare.

Squad Leader!!!

For current miniatures players? GMT's Panzer/MBT series. A reincarnation of older miniatures rules converted for boardgame play.

"Memoir '44."

For skirmish miniatures gamers, "Up Front".

Panzerblitz (with the Panzer Leader fix for the panzerbush problem).

Advanced Squad Leader, certainly!

SPI's "Winter War"
AH's "Third Reich"
AH's "Panzer Armee Afrika"
SPI's "Battle for Germany"
AH's "France 1940"
SPI's "Breakout and Pursuit"
AH's "Midway"

Where did that earlier post with my name on it come from? Please delete. I did not post that one.