The Best WW2 Tabletop Games

WW2 is amongst one of the most important events in all of human civilization. Its little surprise the amount of media it has generated, from movies, TV, video games. People are interested in the conflict that sucked in the entire world. Tabletop and board games are no exception with a great number being published at the end of the 20^th century. While Risk is certainly one of the best WW2 Tabletop Games out there, but it’s been spoken about relentlessly. The point in this list is to hopefully help you find a game you’ve not heard of before.

Triumph & Tragedy: European Balance of Power 1936-1945

Triumph and Tragedy is best played in 3 people. It has an ideological focus. One will play as Capitalist (the West), one as Communism (the Soviet Union) and the final player: Fascism (the Axis Powers). While the game can be played in 2, 3 is recommended for the best experience. As you will come to see in this list, many of these games are very complicated. Many of these WW2 games give you semi-realistic simulation of economic and political decisions leaders of the time would have had to make. The result is that sometimes the games can be very, very long.

Triumph and Tragedy can be won in and of 3 ways: Economic hegemony, technological supremacy (creating the A-bomb), or Military conquest.

What separates this game from the rest of the list is that gameplay starts in 1936, before the war. You’ll use time to build your economy and military resources. In fact, going completely against the source material no one needs to go to war at all and victory can be made peacefully.

The appeal in this game is that it’s not just a war, there are multiple ways to victory. Also, it’s rare that a game is designed specifically for 3 players. Its probably the most complex WW2 board game on this list.

Memoir ’44  

From a reality complicated game in Triumph and Tragedy we move to the simplest game on the list – Memoir ’44. This games is designed to be played by 2 players, so again, quite rare in this genre. The game includes over 15 different scenarios each of which differ in terrain, troop’s placements and objectives. In this way each scenario is a little different so you’re not just playing the same game over and over again.

Players influence the battle by playing Command and Tactic cards. These cards can deploy or improve various units such as infantry, tank, paratroopers and even resistance fighters. The difficulty in this game is using these cards to their best ability. Use strategy and shrewdness to beat your opponent.

Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! – Russia 1941-2

Winnning the award for the longest titled game on the list comes Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear!

Awakening the Bear explores platoon level tactics as opposed to a political or map view that the previous games have centred on.  Conflict of heroes is a long running board game series and this game really brings the series back to its roots. The German invasion of Russia was the birthplace of many modern warfare tactics.

The best part of this game is the effort the developers put into historical accuracy. Take the tank for example, the defence rating takes into account the following factors: Armor thickness, Armor slope deflection percentage, targeting mechanics, crew skill, speed and size. The various strengths and weaknesses of units have been examined in painstaking detail and it really reflects into the gameplay.

Wings of Glory: WW2

Wings of Glory is a miniatures game which allows players to recreate aerial combat using miniature air-planes. It’s rare to only focus on just the dogfighting aspect of WW2. Air superiority was of course hugely important in this conflict. The Battle of Britain, which one of the starter sets is named after, was critical for the Allied resistance in Europe.

You move your aircraft using the manoeuvre deck through the gridded map. Aircraft have differing damage at short, medium and long range, so it’s really about positioning your aircraft in the best way for the best results. Wings of Glory is a great WW2 board games with miniatures. The only problem is that it can be quite expensive because there are a lot of added extras, new aircrafts, maps etc.

Churchill

Churchill is another example of a WW2 game more focused on the political side of the conflict. Players take on the roles of either Churchill, Stalin or Roosevelt. The game is all about creating leverage in the 10 conferences that their leaders participated in towards the end of the war. The aim of the game is the have the greatest control over the Axis powers at the end of the game. If we remember from true history Germany was split into East and West Germany, this decision was made at one of these conferences.

Gameplay takes place at a circular conference table, using the staff deck and various action cards players will attempt to pull the issues to his side of the table and gain ultimate control.

Churchill is the most creative game on the list as it pulls away from a military dominated focus. This game is all about the wind down of the war rather than fighting the battles to win it.

Crossfire

Crossfire is another great game that focuses on infantry action at the front line. It drills down to squads as its smallest element.

The most innovative part of this game is its set of rules. There’s no such thing as “turns” in this game. Essentially, the game operates with “initiatives”. A player can order his troops in any way (movement, fire or rally actions) and in any order during his initiative. This initiative continues until one of his orders fails. When this happens the initiative passes on to his opponent. Crossfire works on the basis that everything on the map is in range and can be shot at. You’ll need to use terrain and cover to outmanoeuvre your opponent.

D-Day at Omaha Beach

D-Day at Omaha Beach focuses on one single event from WW2. The player is managing this operation from the US point of view, their aim: to secure the beachhead. The game is played between 1-2 players, with the second player, or the game system, controlling this German defenders in their resistance points.

The cards and rules you use in the game revolve around amphibious landings, German fields of fire, artillery, tidal movement.  The US player has the benefit of additional mechanics: US leadership under fire and the initiative of the American GI.

B-17 Flying Fortress Leader

B-17 leader is a fascinating game in the sense that it is the only game on this list designed to be played by just one player. In this game your aim is to destroy they German air force to enable a successful D-Day landing.

Your crew improves and develop as time goes on progressing from Newbie to Ace. However, be careful not to promote them too quickly as but may be reassigned! In addition to this you can spend all your efforts on one crew member and they could be killed during the Campaign. It can certainly be a punishing game!

You will be targeting different types of tactical targets, including Airfields, Aircraft Factories and Oil refineries. Your enemies will be German Defense Commanders each with different tactics and methods to try to stop your advance.  Like your own squad the enemy commander has varying skill levels from Poor to All Out.

Victory at Sea: Battle for the Pacific

Last on our list we have Victory at Sea. We’ve looked at Air conflict and infantry combat, but this brings out the 3^rd method of warfare: Navy. The game allows you to play as entities such as the Royal Navy, US Navy, Imperial Japanese Navy and German Kriegsmarine. This version of the game is specifically targeted at the pacific theatre.  

In this game the scale is most appealing. You can fight in small skirmishes involving single destroyers to all out conflicts with of massive battleships. This is certainly a great game for the boat lovers out there. It’s certainly one of the best WW2 tactical board games out there.

Conclusion

To sum up our list of the Best WW2 Tabletop Games we wanted to try to give as much variety as possible. We have games that are an all-out realistic simulation of battles and squad combat. We have Ariel dogfights and Navy conflicts. We also have games that are more focused on the political dealings during the war like Churchill. Most importantly, we’ve tried to cater to all audience sizes, B-17 is solo player all the way up to Wings of Glory which can be 10+. Good luck!