After owning a 2nd Edition (I love the massive mounted map board) copy of Triumph & Tragedy: European Balance of Power, 1936-1945 since the fall of 2016, we finally were able to get it to the table for a full 3-player game experience with our friend Matt. The game is designed as a 3-player game where each player controls one of the major countries of the time, including the USSR, the Axis (Germany and Italy) and the West (Great Britain and the USA). We played it and loved it, although the game didn’t end as I had envisioned as Matt, a Euro-gamer, walked away with an economic victory with the USSR over my Axis and Alexander’s Western Allies.
If you are interested in more of my thoughts on the game, you can read a summary in my new monthly feature called New-to-Me Wargames.
-Grant
Nice review.
I agree the game has terrific production value and is fun to play.
My group has played 4 times.
Germany won 3 and tied with Russia for a win in the other. All based on economic victories at 25 points. Germany has never declared war, choosing to increase production and diplomatic hegemony over Central and Eastern Europe .
The west is by far the weakest player in the economic/diplomacy game and the only way I believe this German strategy can be potentially beaten is by the West’s early declaration of war.
Unfortunately this potentially leaves a vacuum for a peaceful Soviet Union to win .
I think the war game part of this game plays more like WWI than WWII with land battles being attritional.
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