WW2 Quartermaster General Second Edition, coming soon in stores, completely revamps this award-winning title. Originally released in 2014 by micro-publisher Griggling Games, WW2 Quartermaster General provides the epic fun of a grand strategy game, but with the ease and pace associated with a euro game.

WW2 Quartermaster Edition Second Edition improves multiple elements of the original.

“An army marches on its stomach” is a famous saying attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. In Quartermaster General, supply is crucial to keep armies and navies fighting. Destroy the enemy’s supply line, and its forces will surrender.

In the game, players control one or more countries on either the Axis or Allied team. Each major power has a unique deck of cards with which to command its forces, which are represented by wooden army and navy pieces.

Each player will try to score as many victory points for his team as he can, using cards or by occupying the starred supply spaces. If either team is 30 points ahead at the end of a round, that team wins; or, after 20 rounds of play, the team with the most points wins.

A typical game lasts around 90 minutes, and a typical player-turn about 15 seconds. Setup is minimal, and getting new players started only takes about 10 minutes since most of what you need to know is on the cards themselves. The game can accommodate 2 to 6 players, and the game pace is actually faster with more players.

Quartermaster General’s noted replayability is due to the random nature of the deck shuffle. So, while the starting positions on the board are the same between games, the opening hands are not, forcing players to work with the options provided. There are no dice in the game – the luck is in the shuffle!

New WW2 Quartermaster General's game board presents a larger map.

WW2 Quartermaster General appeals to strategy gamers and euro gamers alike. As a team game, there are both cooperative and competitive aspects – cooperative play with live opponents. Teammates cannot freely share information about their cards, so everyone gets to play their own game – no alpha-dog quarterbacking allowed.

Many WW2 Quartermaster General enthusiasts are old school historical gamers looking for a grand strategy game playable on weeknight; however, a significant number come to Quartermaster General from the world of constructible card games. Card game techniques like combination building and deck management are part of the game, in addition to the area control you would expect.

Due to the historical theme of the gameplay, many educators use Quartermaster General in their curriculum. Its accessibility and succinct play time provide the perfect medium for the classroom.

Thus, we find at the intersection of strategy, historical, euro, card, and educational games lies Quartermaster General: WW2 – the perfect choice for game night! 

What’s New in 2nd Edition?

For those who know the first edition game, there is much here to delight and surprise. The play balance has been fixed (much to the pleasure of the playtesters); both teams now have an equal chance at victory. A few rules have been tweaked, to ensure smoother game play and avoid early knockouts due to economic warfare.

Many of the cards have been edited, changed, or completely replaced. The card balance has been altered, so that players will find some of the worst cards have been up-powered, and the decks changed to ensure that no specific cards seem necessary for victory.

In the new edition, many of the cards have been edited, changed, or replaced.

Component-wise, players will find an updated, larger map, with some alterations to some of the borders between spaces, as well as some fixes for the sake of clarity. A few more cards will be added to the mix, as well as one more United States Navy piece to help them pursue a war in both the Atlantic and Pacific. Surrounding all this is an improved insert, for holding everything nice and tidy.

For those who have been frustrated trying to find the long out-of-print expansions, these will also be refreshed and presented by Ares in 2020.

In a game market where so many thousands of new titles are released annually, WW2 Quartermaster General stands out as an “evergreen”, a game that you’ll enjoy for years to come!

This article was originally published on Game Trade Magazine, issue 233.

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