War in Europe is a grand strategic "monster" board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1976 that attempts to simulate the entirety of the European theatre of World War II from 1939 to 1945. One of the largest wargames ever produced, War in Europe features 4000 counters, four rulebooks, and nine maps that when placed together cover an area of 38.5 ft2 (3.6 m2). The game is nominally a three-player game (Allied, Axis, Soviet), but each side can be represented by teams of players. SPI estimated the full game would take at least 180 hours.
Description
In 1974, SPI had produced War in the East, a "monster" wargame (having more than 1000 counters) that simulated the Eastern Front conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union from "Operation Barbarossa" in 1941 until Germany's surrender in 1945. Two years later, in 1976, SPI published War in the West, which covered the Allied-German conflict in Western Europe and North Africa. Later the same year, SPI published War in Europe, which combined a revised version of War in the East (henceforth called War in the East, 2nd edition) and War in the West. Players can either play one or the other, or can combine both games into one massive campaign covering the entire European Theater called War in Europe.
Components
4000 die-cut counters
4 rulebooks: Standard Rules (used in both East and West games) Rules used only in War in the East 2nd Edition Rules used only in War in the West Rules only used in War in Europe Nine 22" x 34" paper hex grid maps scaled to 33 km (22.5 mi) per hex Various game aids and Combat Result Tables
Scenarios
War in the West
Poland 1939: four-turn introductory scenario designed to teach the rules. France 1940, North Africa 1942 (from Gazala to Tunis) Italy 1943 France 1944
War in the East
1941
1942
1943
1944
War in Europe
December 1944: The fall of Germany, beginning with the Battle of the Bulge
Game play
Each game turn represents one week, with the game covering a period from 1939–45; units are Allied and German divisions and Soviets divisions and corps.
The Combat Result Tables (CRTs) are variable according to the game year: Germans begin by attacking on the table most favourable to the attacker, but deteriorate slightly in quality during the war, while the Allies and Soviets begin on an unfavourable table and improve in quality during the game.
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.
Air and Sea Warfare
Each player has air factors, which may be used either for "air superiority" (fighting the enemy air force), or to enhance the die roll for ground combat, to suppress ports or to interdict hexes, making them harder to move through; the numerically-superior air force, after winning the air superiority combat, may largely prevent the enemy from conducting the latter functions. Whereas the German Luftwaffe might have ten or twenty factors during the invasion of France in 1940, by 1944 the Western Allies alone might have approaching 100 air factors, enough to interdict almost every hex in France.
The Western Allies may also conduct a strategic bombing campaign, increasing in range and effectiveness as the war goes on, to bomb German industrial and resource centres (see below); the German player may attempt to fight this off with his own air factors and with flak units.
The game also includes very rudimentary rules for naval evacuations (evacuated units are flipped to battlegroups) and seaborne invasions. Western Allied naval forces are not shown in the game apart from the landing craft needed for invasions, and these need to be used before most of them are withdrawn for the Pacific Theatre in the latter part of 1944. The German player may also build submarine and surface naval factors.