Leto

We played "The War: Europe" from CompassGames almost every weekend from August 2023 til March 2024. At least 190 hours total. We decided to stop in the middle of the 2nd campaign mainly because there were a lot of rules ambiguities and holes. I think the Designer tried to make a "modern" A3R and failed (but tried to fix errors, and failed again) - The current ruleset is version 4.9 and still, it has soooo many holes. And the rules are written very badly. And the designer abandoned it - as he said, he "designed this game 10 years ago" and can't help with rules questions.

Apart from that there are about 160 rulechanging special cases only in a base game and they are tied to specific game turns (some are just one-shots, others work from turn 4 until turn 7, for example) - I can't imagine playing this game without spreadsheets. If anyone wants a copy with integrated addon in very good condition - I'm selling it (I'm in Germany) - all counters clipped with 2mm round clipper, map layed under a plexi for 6 months.

Apr 2, 2024 at 11:11amWeb
Show threadGraysonApr 2, 2024
@Leto
Wow.

I mean stuff happens, but you're truly qualified to offer that assessment and I applaud you accordingly.
Show threadLetoApr 2, 2024
@grayson don't get me wrong, I don't have regrets investing so much time into the game, and maybe for someone this will be the "dream game". All of the above is my "amateur" opinion. It was nice experience, most of the time me and my partner were having fun. But it's time to move on.
Show threadGraysonApr 2, 2024
@Leto
Totally makes sense. I've gone through and exhausted a title and come to the conclusion that it's just not for me (or it's run it's course).

Dien Bien Phu Final Gamble from Kim Kanger is like that to me; well researched, thoughtfully put together, totally worth playing, but after a handful of plays, I'm growing weary of the odd gaps in gameplay (that, in fairness fit the model, it's a personal annoyance).
Show threadAlphawolfApr 3, 2024

@Leto Man, you are really one of the most patient people I experience. Given the amount of time you invested.

On one hand this should us even more appreciate well developed Games and Designers that are very helpful and responding.

On the other side it shows (as we have seen with some KS as an example), that you can easily throw a game on the Market and make some revenue before the people find out that it is a lame duck. Especially when you have a game this size that truly needs time. Questions play-testing!

Kudos to you my friend. I was so often looking at this game and its sister - game but shunned it because of the fat rulebook and rules that are only in play for a very short time. Saved me some money. See ya.

Show threadLetoApr 3, 2024
@Alphawolf I think one can't playtest enough a Monster, just some scenarios of it. The main thing was a Designer's refusal to help with the rules, and I do not like the idea to "homerule" half of a game's rules.