I'm one of those people who really like miniatures. I loved how the old axis and allies aircraft carriers carried two fighter planes, because it physically could only hold two.
@@billsimms2511 I took it to table the other day and it was a big hit (hesitant at first). In fact the most hesitant guy ended up buying the game lol. Twilight Imperium is one that is a headache to get people to play. Also Axis and Allies 1914 is brutal although it simulates WW1 very well.
Thanks for the great video! It brought back memories of the junior high and high school days of the 1970s. I most liked the Avalon Hill naval games like Jutland, Midway, and Sink the Bismarck. During that era, I also got involved with sandbox gaming, including Napolionics, WWII armor, and sailing ship battles. Those were the days!
Dear Dr. Cody, respect and congratulations to your Ph.D.! And thanks for all the lovely, funny, witty and enthusiastic reviews. Best regards and a corona-free hug from. Germany
Grew up on Avalon Hill war games...strategy and tactics, Gettysburg, Afrika Corp, Midway, DDay, Stalingrad, Battle of the Bulge, Waterloo and many others...hex war games were awesome and gave me my love for military history... Sink the Bismarck was a favorite
Old timer AH wargamer here. Tactics II was the very first wargame I played, and it hooked me for my entire teenage life in the 70s. Big Squad Leader fan, but played Sink the Bismarck a ton (loved sinking shadowing cruisers)! Jutland was another favorite for my brothers and me.
I'll second Sink the Bismark. Fun, fun game. I am from the same era, Stalingrad, D-Day and Waterloo, plus PanzerBush (sorry Panzer Blitz) were my favorites. But SPI had a number of great games too. War In Europe was a monster, but great for a college kid with lots of time and a big wall to stick the map to with poster putty. (remember Hold-it?)
@@paulpeterson4216 I followed much the same path. Tactics 2 was the first game I played, then Bismarck, then War at Sea, Victory in the Pacific, and many others including my favorite, Flattop. However in college, I did tackle War in Europe. I still have it, though I have to assume it's missing pieces.
War Room is indeed outstanding. A&A was also my introduction to WW2 as a kid, and my intro to the world of board gaming. Great list and enjoy your content!
Congratulations, Dr Carlson. RU-vid algorithm recommended me this channel and I loved it. I love board games, esp. Settlers of Catan, but never played any war games. I now got quite interested in them and want to play some of these with my friends. Also, I'll be a War Studies student at King's College London. Someday I might do a PhD, too, if I'm courageous enough tho.
That's awesome. Good to know there are still War Studies programs out there. There are very few dedicated programs like that in the U.S., only about three or four around the country. Best of luck to you.
I'm an old war gamer since 1970. I am so glad that computer games came around when they did. Haven't played a board game since. The best games are by John Tiller.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer @The Discriminating Gamer hey bro, have you ever tried iron curtain SCS game? The standard combat series? It seems very similar to war room.
Hey Doc (congrats!)...with you on War Room...awesome game. I love my little plastic army men but yeah, I do not miss them in WR. As mentioned before, give Axis & Allies Global 1940 with Sireblood's Bloodbath rules a spin. There are some new rules, victory point system, updated map, etc. It may never have the depth of War Room but it a very good refresh of Axis & Allies. A lot of work and play-testing has gone into BBR and it continues to evolve.
Interesting selections. I believe the academic in you (Congrats on the PHD) reflect most of your choices as to be expected. Perhaps you could do a top ten list on your favorite traditional tactical and or operational WW2 games as well vs toys, political , abstract , etc WW2 themed games you've selected.
Congratulations on your doctorate! A truly impressive accomplishment for anyone with a passion in their given field. Congratulations! I also am interested in reading more about the hiring, firing as well. Subbed and hope you’ll put out a video/overview when the book comes out!
It's been decades since I've played any WWII table top games. When you mentioned ASL I smiled a little as I have almost all of the original Squad Leader. Lost some of it in a move. Also used to play SPI's War In Europe as well as another game by a publisher whose name I forget called 'Unentschieden'. I may have spelled that wrong. These games took a summer to play. I set up the map to 'Unentschieden' on a ping pong table. Plus a dinner table on the side for counters and production charts. Only played both once for some strange reason. Thanks for this. Nice to know the industry is still going strong.
Great list mate, gives me some ideas to get into in the future. My experience with axis and allies is the same as yours, when I took my next step I got Europe Engulfed from GMT games. While it was a bit of a jump I loved the block style FOW, supply, weather, terrain and staggered production while still keeping it a manageable complexity. I never see much about Europe Engulfed and wondered if you had any experience with it and how you think it honestly compares to other more modern and similar games? Has it been left behind? Was it always average? Etc. Having a broad interest in WW2 games, reading many of the rules but not playing a lot puts me at a disadvantage when comparing.
I haven't played Europe Engulfed. I remember there was a copy of it at a local game store years ago, but it was well north of $100, and at the time I couldn't afford it.
he stuck with these games at or after Axis and Allies, that is after the Collapse of WarGaming. He has no clue. He like games not simulations. Probably doesnt know who James Dunnigan is.
@@orbitalair2103 He likes games? He should've named this "Cody's top ten WWII games" or something then instead of "the ten best war sims". wait a second
Awesome list, Dr. Cody!!! I was expecting War Room to be your number 1, and I had already seen your reviews for some of these games (the Undaunted games, Memoir 44, Triumph and Tragedy, Castle Itter), but I was curious to see which of the many, MANY, World War II games would make it to this list; what with your being an avid History buff and all!!! Fantastic choices all around, and I really like the way many of these games look on the table: the impressive maps littered with tokens (counters? chits?) and (sometimes) real-life personalities depicted in the cards really make the war theme stand out: they just ooze with the theme!!! Really want to check some of these games out when things get closer to the "old" normal that we used to know!!!
Great game, played it a lot when it came out, and every once in a while now. Still popular if you can find it. The cards are multi-use: terrain, movement, firing, plus for getting random numbers. No board, but great fog of war.
Congrats and thanks for the list. Stuck between Axis & Allies and the unfortunately discontinued Tide of Iron, I've been looking for some good WW2 games.
Very unusual for a gal to be into A&A, but Iiiiiii like it - do you realize that A&A is being played over the RU-vid(Me included)by a sizable Axis&Allies Community?!
Have a closet shelf full of old Avalon Hill Bookcase Games, Panzer Leader, Panzer Blitz, etc. Squad Leader then ASL and it's many modules and annuals. Wore out one ASL rule book, got another. Still have complete collection "The General". I was mostly a rainy day solo player many years ago. Had to clean up each and every card board piece with a sharp edge and put them in plastic trays or ziplocks. Became an obsession...but we appreciate the artistic quality. Now that I'm retired will try some of the games on your list, most of which are new to me. Even if they have cards...I have three dice towers for crying out loud. Enjoyed your channel and all the comments...good to know that there are other board gamers out there. PS. Recently purchased "Operation Mercury" GMT Games at an antique store for $20. 400 die-cut pieces remain to be trimmed!
I only have A.H. Origins of WW2. Love it. Need to get it to the table again soon. I am a solo gamer. Before covid "health" made it hard to go out to a game store to play. Now? I do what I can. Holland '44 my #1 WW2 for my reentry to gaming 3 yrs ago. Last century till the late 80's die hard A.H. fan. P.B. P.L. my tie for young me #1. Good video as always Doc. Be safe. And always...watch your flanks...🙂
HOI4 is great I love it but I will always prefer board games because you get the personal factor with seeing someone’s face as you destroy their forces in person lol or have your friend wipe out yours and they can see your face lol but all in all board games more fun
I can't believe I didn't find this video until a day or two, and just now getting to watch it. Anyways, congrats on the Ph.D, and as for my list, based on what I've played, it would have to include (still trying to figure out the order I would rank them) Axis & Allies, Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, Advanced Squad Leader, Blitzkrieg, The Hunters: German U-boats at War 1939-1943, and Airborne in Your Pocket.
Dr. Cody (has a nice ring to it), first of all, congratulations on finishing the doctorate! (I’m catching up on your recent videos, so I realize I am a couple of months behind on this.) Having not finished mine (on 11th century papal politics), I know how hard it is. Well done yourself. Looking forward to the book, and seeing where you land next - I hope whatever it is doesn’t keep you from the reviews. I was amazed at how prolific you were during your doctoral studies. Second, what a great list - the list we fans of yours have all been waiting for! Solo, cooperative, and mega-games all made the list (I envy you that you can get 6 people around a table for War Room regularly). Some were not surprising, given your past videos, but a couple of games were new to me. More to purchase, more to explore. Finally, sorry to see so much hate and negativity from my generation of grognards in the comments - usually, your comments section is relatively acid-free, a rarity for the internet. I grew up playing many of those old games about which the grumps keep rhapsodizing, and still have a number of them on my shelves 40 years later, but they are well past their time. (I will confess, however, to a soft spot for both Luftwaffe and, away from the WW II theme, Wooden Ships & Iron Men, both of which have a dynamic that I’ve not seen replicated in a modern game.) Those games do not represent the Golden Age of boardgames - that time is now. Those games, and the attitudes of their champions, serve as barriers to gaming, which is a shame. The folks moaning about lack of complexity of modern games have evidently never tried any of the GMT line of games. Good on you not to take the troll’s bait.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate your support of the channel very much. As far as the haters go, I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes attributed to Friedrich the Great, "They will say what they will say and I will do what I will do."
on steam you can get "tabletop simulator" which is more or less what it sounds like. once you get it in the workshop are all of the games you mentioned ... for free .. that can be played on the simulator with anyone or even yourself.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer It was very detailed, with air and ground forces under your control, with supply lines coming into play as well. I remember everyone wanting to command the German Panzer units!
Congrats Doc! I will be playing War Room soon. Great job on this review. Hope to get Undaunted soon. Right now working trough Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection. Quite a beast. COIN forever!
Congrats on the wah-wah-2 doctorate. Quite the accomplishment. Fairly new game to try out with a ton of meat. Stellar horizons by compass games. Looked amazing to me.
Hi Cody. I enjoyed your list. I started with Axis and Allies like you. I played a ton of games. I got my kids into them now. My son agrees with you War Room is Awesome. Right now I like the updates Global 36-45. Thank you for list and I enjoy your channel
I've been wanting to play board games my entire life, but I've never found anyone to play with. Can you PLEASE do a vid of solitaire games? Maybe a video of war games and a video of other solitaire board games. Wow, I'm totally missing out here! So many awesome games!
When I was 8/9/10 (somewhere in there), I started going to a church once per quarter when the pastor would host a "lock in" where for 12 hours (maybe 7P-7A or so), a few chaperones would host different events and one of those was tabletop gaming. That was where I first played Risk. I leapt from there Axis and Allies. Getting people to sit down for a game of Risk was always a hard sell, so I knew Axis and Allies would be even rougher and not long after, created a crude, but effective AI to play the game against. I jumped onto the kickstarter for War Room because of the legendary designer and somewhat familiar gameplay. Sadly, it, like a few dozen other titles I have, are still in their original wrapping on my shelves.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer I wish I could. Maybe if the small tabletop community I'm part of locally will have interest, but it's (as you know) asking a lot of people to have several continuous hours to play a single game. The games people typically have time for in the rotation generally don't last much over 2 hours.
I really appreciate you sharing this list of the games you enjoy. I am really unsure why people seem to want to argue and disagree with a list of the games you like. I always enjoy your content please keep doing what you do!
Chits!!!!? Counters, Cody. Counters! 😃 Seriously, younger players, such as yourself, I turned 61 today, call cardboard pieces chits. Congratulations on getting your PhD!
Great reviews and summary. I hear some other posters' nostalgia for heavy historical wargames but designers have moved on a long way PLUS the volume market interest has moved towards lighter games. You have helped me to keep up with what that has meant for what's getting published. Thank you. (Edit: Are you the inspiration for the BGG Paladins' 'Suzerain' promo?)
I just submitted my PhD thesis last week! Though in ecology, not history. Anyway congratulations and keep up the good work in your academic profession, and the witty and interesting videos.
In this day and age you are not allowed to say the name of 'he who cannot be named' for these games but I use 'a certain Austrian painter' and that's acceptable. Axis and Allies is a great game when you throw in the Pacific and European scenarios together but playing France sucks I remember.
Thanks Cody ans Congrats,If you liked Castle Itter,You will love Pavlov's house also, would love to see another playthrough on this, like Castle Itter.
World War II: European Theater of Operations by SPI was to me the best ever. There was a Pacific Theatre as well and the games could be combined. There was a smaller scale game out in the ‘90s at the same time and it was great too.
That was a crazy long game to play :-D the campaing WW2 game was estimated playtime to several months. It has a PITA to keep up on a table for the duration of the game. But a hell of a fun game. Absolutely recommend trying it.
That *was* a fun game. I bought an extra copy. The extra cost of building armor vs leg infantry, airborne, and naval units put those units into perspective. Add to that the R&D aspect, the ability to pull in Spain or Turkey, gave the game a kind of sand-box feel. I think the scale of the map was a bit limiting but probably perfect for the unit scale.
Which one would you rather have now, "Rise and Decline of the Third Reich" or "Advanced Third Reich"? I played "rise and decline" middle school and high school with friends, and "advanced" in college. I have a new group now that is interested... but I am unsure which one might be best to pick up on the used game market....
Exellente sélection. Je crois sincèrement que vous devriez essayer Warfighter WWII. C'est un jeu de cartes, mais la thématique est tellement bien rendue ! Bonne continuation.
I have played and enjoyed wargames my entire life and one thing it taught me is NEVER AGAIN. I would rather fight battles with dice and counters than real people.
The rulebook killed my initial attempts to play churchill, and then only having family to play it with after wasn't viable. But I still hold on to it because I think it could be a lot of fun to play one day.
Churchill is a really good game but does take a while to wrap your head around it as it is not your typical game. Member of our gaming group has hundreds of these games. Unfortunately another person has a severe hattred of chits.
I can't stand axis and allies, the Japanese are way too strong in the beginning and I've played games where they totally successfully took all of the Americas which historical was impossible.
I've played most versions of AA, and love to play the Japanese. In well over 200 games, I have never felt overpowered or successfully taken the US. It would be fun if it was possible though.
So, what theatre and conflict in WWII would make the perfect game for you? Or which would you find more interesting? e.g. the whole war? Europe? Battle of Britain? A particular operation? A particular battle? Or squad/platoon level battles?
I really like games that encompass the whole war, "strategic level," but I enjoy both games that tackle either Europe or Pacific about equally. If I was to look at the operational level, D-Day and Normandy are always winners, and I enjoy the eastern front. However, I would like to play an operation game about Okinawa at some point, or the Hurtgen, Salerno, or Rome/Anzio. I've played some from the Bulge that I liked - wouldn't mind exploring that some.
I should seek out War Room, but it’s not cheap or easy to get a hold of. What would you say the ideal player counts are? My favorite WW2 games are probably MM44 when played with the Overlord 4v4 scenarios, Combat Commander amd Quartermaster General
I've played the full War Room game with six a couple of times and I've played the Pacific scenario with three. I think the player counts were right for both. Still haven't played Combat Commander or Quartermaster General.
Dear Cody, congrats on your success, please play and review Barbarossa to Berlin, obscure but hidden gem. Have played 20+ games and every one was exciting.
The Discriminating Gamer it is by GMT games, plenty of used copies floating around but as someone who dislikes most games I play (I’m harsh) it is a GREAT game. I’ve never played a game where so often both players feel like their hanging off a cliff edge by their finger nails!
I played a lot of SPI and Avalon Hill games during the golden age of gaming. The most satisfying WWII game I ever played is AH's "Victory in the Pacific," which is a brilliantly streamlined simulation of the war against the Japanese Empire. Since the Allied player will inevitably win through attrition, balance is achieved by putting the Allied player on a timer. He loses if he doesn't win by a certain turn. So the game doesn't take long to play, but it's intensely exciting and dramatic.
I've not played World in Flames. Dr. Hanson's book, "The Second World Wars" is one of the best books I've read on the conflict. Dr. Hanson was a member of my doctoral committee, and it was a real thrill having him participate via Zoom for my defense. Hell of a nice guy. I'm moving soon, but maybe after I land on my feet somewhere we can get together.
Have you ever played The Longest Day? (The old Avalon Hill monster game). It’s quite a commitment, but I really enjoyed it way back then when it was new….
Interesting picks and I can see why you chose them. Personally. I'm more of a wargamer that prefers the tyranny of the dice over cards and... I guess I show my age when I mention table top games such as World In Flames, Fortress Europa, Panzer Leader, ASL, Third Reich, Battle of Britain (aka: "...we shall fight them on the tables, the sofas, and the floors..."), etc. Also - that sounds like an interesting dissertation topic.
Do you have a review for Flames of war & Bolt Action? I'm really looking to get I to something like those or Company of heroes. I currently have Memoir 44 but want to try something different.
I like it, I love it. Very immersive, a lot of décisions, a lot of fun when you lead your Heroes to the Final Victory. But… it's an absolutly ameritrash dungeon crawler, not a simulation game. A great, very (very) efficiently "WWII flavoured", dungeon crawler : they could be fantasy heroes against orcs and trolls, that would be the same game. Some will say it can sometime be a little bit repetitive but I still like and recommand it. (And buy your own set of dices : 1 d6 and 4 (four) d10. The dices in the box are soooo ugly and the 3 (why?) d10 so frustrating when you throw a 4d10 grenade. And you will throw tons of grenades.)
