Origins of WW2

 Russell has once against n resurrected an old Jim Dunnigan game into a Zoom friendly format, this time, "Origins of World War 2".  Like its predecessor, Origins of WW1, not a game I ever played at the time, they both seemed far too exotic, lacked tanks, and more practically, required multiple players. 

The board (here rendered via PowerPoint) is similar to the WW1 game. Europe divided up into various key areas, each with a status indicator showing the political influence of the various factions in that region. The factions in this case being Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, France, Britain and the USA. 

There are six turns, and each faction gets a varying number of Political Factors (PF) to play in each area each turn. 5PF are required to obtain an 'Understanding' or if in sole occupation, 'Control'. Understandings and Controls produce victory points. PFs can also attack rival PFs (competing diplomatic efforts). 

It all sounds a bit bean counting and dull, but key to the game is the victory point chart which is highly asymmetrical. Factions can only get Understandings and Control in areas they can score VPs (only Russia and Germany can control things), and the USA gets points for preventing factions getting U or C outcomes. 

The asymmetrical distribution of VPs forces factions to focus on different areas of the board, while keeping an eye on the others, and with varying degrees of cooperation or conflict. Czechoslovakia is always an interesting place, as is the Rhineland. Generally, as the game progresses it becomes mind bendingly hard to keep track of what is going on everywhere, and it is very enjoyable indeed.

Another requirement is silly hats, which appeared in spades. 

For the first game I was Britain, John was Germany, Tim was Russia, John B was the USA and Pete was France. 

Play proceeded at a cracking pace, and Germany siezed Austria and Rumania in short order, while Russia was frustrated in the Baltic States.  Once areas are Controlled, they are out of play, and Germany early success focused everyone's minds somewhat, and we had a more intelligent scattering of single point PFs across the board to frustrate the authoritarian powers. 

As play progressed we also go to grips with the ramifications of 'Understandings'. These scored varying amounts of VPs, so there was an incentive to get them, but they also prevented you from attacking the PFs of those countries you have Understandings with, and that was something you really wanted to do. The only way out was a huge diplomatic offensive to remove the Understanding marker, which if it failed, crippled your side for the rest of the turn. Given we only had six turns, that was a bad outcome.

Ever increasing amounts of PFs allocated to the players each turn just added to the complex decision making.

When the smoke cleared, we finally totted up the VPs as we'd all lost track of what was going on then, with alliances and agreements springing up or being broken all over the place. The final scores were:

USA 15

France 6

UK 20

Russia 13

Germany 9

So Britain was crowned the winner, and as an added bonus, as neither Germany nor the USSR had 15 VPs, WW2 didn't start either. Peace in our Time!

As we enjoyed it so much, we dusted it off and did it all again the following night with the players changed around.

This Time I was Russia, Tim was Germany, Russell the USA, Pete Britain and John the French. Tim and i secretly agreed to support each other in carving up eastern Europe, and in short order Germany seized control of Poland and Austria, while I gobbled up the Baltic States and Rumania. We then spent the rest of the game banging our heads trying to get control of the Rhineland for Germany, while stopping the French marching into Alsace. Everyone had some idea what they were doing now, and this was a much more cut throat game. Final scores on this one were:

USA - 6

France - 10

UK - 22

Russia -20

Germany - 12

Germany had a stonking lead early on but somehow lost her way towards the end. Tim said he was overwhelmed with decision making and mucked up the last turn PF allocation. Russia came so close to victory.... I managed to muck up my relationship with Britain as I lost track of where the wily Lord Halifax was gaining influence and when I wanted to attack one of their missions (which would have clinched the game), I couldn't as we had an Understanding. 

Everyone got higher scores than last time, at the expense of the USA who was trying to stop us sorting out our differences. The big bonus this time was that with Russia in excess of 15VPs, World War 2 broke out at the end of the game. Result!

That was loads of fun and the game really is a 'lost masterpiece' from gaming history and well worth a re-visit despite the shocking reviews on BGG. After the first couple of turns it really doesn't suit min-maxing strategies, and I guess that puts a lot of gamers off, as does the multi -player requirement. For a new generation raised on German style games though and cooperative/competitive play, it is just the ticket. Tim and I did really well cooperating, and I don't think it occurred to the other players to make deals and do horse trading to promote their cause.