Review Totaler Krieg

	Rating	Grade (1-10)
	Graphic Presentation	8
	Rules	9
	Playability	9
	Replay Value	10
	Overal Result:	9

PRO	Great rules, exciting card mechanics
CONTRA	Boring box design

Do you have a different opinion or want to write your own review? Don't hestitate to do this - we will gladly publish it! Send here.

Totaler Krieg
Review #1
written by: Denny Koch

Graphic Presentation The two large maps are looking great and offer much detail. Good terrain depictions with lots of information (names of rivers, reference locations or small towns). The Counters are printed with informative clear symbols and are very well done and the whole concept seems to be well-thought-out by the designers. The same goes for the other components of the game box, such as the Force Pools and Player Aid Sheets. All important boxes, the turn track and charts are printed on the map, making it possible to play the game without ever making notes on paper or without being forced to remember any past events of the game. This allows a very comfortable and smooth gameplay and the concentration on strategies and the game itself. Unfortunately, the box cover design is somewhat boring, but besides this I really love the graphic presentation of the game.

Rules The 50-page-rulebook is available for download as "Living Rules" on the TK Homepage - this guarantees for an updated version including all Errata. The layout and the structure of the Rulebook is clear - once you know where to look when. The Rules are well-formulated without leaving too much space for "black holes" or sloppy sentences. In addition, you get a Reference Book together with your Game Box, which offers additional explanations and examples. It also explains something about the most crucial concept of the game: the use of "Option Cards". A 38-page-Scenario Booklet (also available as a "living" version) includes scenarios from all european fronts for 2-3 players and with different game lengths from 5 turns up to 50 or more. In my opinion, the TK rulebook is one of the best and most careful formulated rulebooks ever - and allows comfortable access to the game. I definitely recommend buying the "Player's Guide" (sold separately) which contains tons of additional information and strategic suggestions for the game, but only for more experienced gamers. You should at least have played one entire Standard Campaign game to make use of the precious information offered in this guide.

Playability Playability is really smooth because all relevant information is always displayed on the map. No need to take any side-notes or to remember too many things. A good beginner's choice is playing the 3 Kriegfest-Scenarios which give an easy introduction to the core game mechanics in small portions. Because of the good rulebook, you get a quick grasp of the mechanics such as movement, combat and supply. The true challenge is to make the best off the political opportunities which are hidden in this game and to get an idea about the value of the different Option Cards. The map and the counters provide optimal information and guarantee a fast and fluent gameplay once you understood the core mechanics. To master the Option Cards is another thing, though ;-) There's not much downtime in TK, but some turns in midgame can be quite long, especially at the Eastern Front in Russia when both Germany and Russia throw tons of units into the battle. The Western Allied player's choices and possibilities are limited until the US enter the game, which can take some time (depending on the German player who is the one to start the "Total War"). But this fact never bored me when playing the Western Allies.

Replay Value Extremely high - no 2 TK games are alike! The countless possibilities for political influence, the pressure of making political and economic decisions allow for a large variety of strategies. A main reason for this is the Option Card Mechanics. Should you be really bored after playing the Standard Campaign Game (which is most unlikely ;) and all scenarios, you could try the "Dice of Decision" variant which changes the historical conditions which led to WWII - a Czaristic Russia or Communist Germany, for example, or weird alliances. TK is a game which invites the player to try out historic and ahistoric variants and to search for answers to the classic "what - if" questions. Why not change the course of history, even while playing alone, and try things like an invasion on England (Operation Sealion) and to find anwers on questions such as "Why didn't they do this or that historically and what was the main problem?"

Creativity TK offers a really nice mechanic: The "Option Cards" which drive the political events, war production and diplomatic incidents throughout the game. This cards are the clue to Totaler Krieg. Even if you are a crack in the game mechanics and know clever ways how to push your tank corps by heart - the crucial key to victory is to know your Option Cards and how and when to use them. If you are new to the game, you don't really know the impact of these cards, but once you play the Standard Campaign with free card choice, you begin to realize how dependent your decisions are on some really nasty things like politics, economics and your previous decisions during the war. Sometimes you have to pay a really high price for a promising future and this can hurt. It's really interesting to see how long it really takes to prepare a big event like an invasion and how fragile your long-term-strategies are. It's really thrilling to watch your opponents reveal their sinister plans by showing their current Option Cards and to know that your own choice for the next season was the worst thing on Earth and a true disaster.

Simulation Value TK simulates land warfare and concentrates on infantry and armor combat. It uses an abstract model for Sea/Air combat which works pretty smooth. TK wants to simulate land combat in Europe and that's exactly what the game does. It includes all important details such as terrain and supply and after a while you begin to realize how many realistic details are included into the combat result tables and core mechanics.

Solitaire Factor You can play TK solitaire, but I would recommend to do this only to study historical situations or to search for alternative strategies and to answer "what-if" questions. The funniest thing about TK is the Option Card element and in not knowing what your opponents will reveal next season. Most fun is a 3-player game when even the Wallies and Soviets cannot cooperate as they do when you only have one Allied player controlling both nations.

Can be compared to You can compare the core mechanics of TK with games such as Advanced Third Reich or World in Flames, but in my opinion TK offers the best and clearest rulebook. It's definitely the beginner's choice when entering the world of complex strategic consims. While elements such as supply, terrain and movement can be compared in all three games, the most dramatic difference is the use of Option Cards in TK.

Short Review
In my opinion, TK is one of the most attractive consims. The rules are written in a clear and friendly language. The game is very accessable, although it still remains quite complex and needs some practice and experience to be mastered. The core mechanics are not too difficult, but the crucial concept is mastering the Option Cards and the political background. I can recommend this game to beginners who never dared to touch a strategic consim but always wanted to, but I can also recommend it to experienced players who will find a cool game concept here. I guess the Option Card aspect is a matter of taste - I like it, but I can imagine that some people will dislike this concept and don't want to control their political affairs, war production and diplomatic incidents by choosing cards. I like the element of surprise when my opponent reveals his cards and much of the fun results in making the wrong decisions when choosing your card for the next season ;-) I like the tension when choosing my card while recognizing how dependent my decisions are on my previous decisions and plans and how history punishes me when I'm too greedy and play the "big toys" too early in the game. To discover that you will have to pay a price for even the smallest decision you make.

The core mechanics are well-done and classic-style with all well-known concepts of supply, EZOC and all these little things needed in a strategic simulation. We laminated our maps and glued them to wooden boards and I always enjoy sitting at the game table and looking at the counters and the map for hours and hours while thinking about the situation in Europe (pictures of us playing TK in our gallery). During the game you never lose the general idea about what's going on and what happened or will happen, because this game has "no memory" and the map offers an perfect overview of the current situation at any time of the game without forcing you to write something down or to remember too many things. You can re-create WWII historically or you can try some weird alternative strategies and ideas. The game system even tolerates some mistakes because the game mechanics are indestructible by rules mistakes - we tried when we were newbies by getting the ZOC rules completely wrong ;)

One minor negative aspect is that Great Britain is incapable of much action for a very long time if Germany declines to start the total war. The British player is limited to watching France fall and to reinforce Gibraltar, North Africa and the Orient, but this represents the historical events. There is not too much to do for the British player until the US enter the war - which can take 20-30 hours. In one of my last games Germany literally dried up Great Britain by delaying the US entry into the year 1943. This results in long breaks for the British player who is forced to watch the german and russian players fighting each other with their big toys. Germany and Russia own tons of good stuff right from the beginning. Russia has an immense replacement rate and Germany has really nasty units. TK is one of the games where it is really FUN to play Russia - in too many games, Russia is only a victim that will finally get smashed - in TK it's a really huge country and really hard stuff. Believe me, you don't envy Germany who has to take on Russia in this game. It's comfortable to play TK with 2 players, but it's really FUN to play it with 3 players because Russia and the Western Allies cannot coordinate their actions as they would do in a 2-player-game.

Totaler Krieg is a quite complex consim which simulatenously allows comfortable access for new players. It does a good job in simulating land warfare and uses a good abstraction model for air and naval combat. The core concept is quite innovative (Option Cards), an amazing politics and diplomatics model and - which is most important - a great support is given by the designers themselves! It's fun and full of surprises with a high replay value. TK is definitely one of my all-time favourites!

Back to Review-Mainpage

Here by accident? Frameset missing? Continue to HFC-Mainpage

Totaler Krieg Review #1	written by: Denny Koch
Graphic Presentation	The two large maps are looking great and offer much detail. Good terrain depictions with lots of information (names of rivers, reference locations or small towns). The Counters are printed with informative clear symbols and are very well done and the whole concept seems to be well-thought-out by the designers. The same goes for the other components of the game box, such as the Force Pools and Player Aid Sheets. All important boxes, the turn track and charts are printed on the map, making it possible to play the game without ever making notes on paper or without being forced to remember any past events of the game. This allows a very comfortable and smooth gameplay and the concentration on strategies and the game itself. Unfortunately, the box cover design is somewhat boring, but besides this I really love the graphic presentation of the game.
Rules	The 50-page-rulebook is available for download as "Living Rules" on the TK Homepage - this guarantees for an updated version including all Errata. The layout and the structure of the Rulebook is clear - once you know where to look when. The Rules are well-formulated without leaving too much space for "black holes" or sloppy sentences. In addition, you get a Reference Book together with your Game Box, which offers additional explanations and examples. It also explains something about the most crucial concept of the game: the use of "Option Cards". A 38-page-Scenario Booklet (also available as a "living" version) includes scenarios from all european fronts for 2-3 players and with different game lengths from 5 turns up to 50 or more. In my opinion, the TK rulebook is one of the best and most careful formulated rulebooks ever - and allows comfortable access to the game. I definitely recommend buying the "Player's Guide" (sold separately) which contains tons of additional information and strategic suggestions for the game, but only for more experienced gamers. You should at least have played one entire Standard Campaign game to make use of the precious information offered in this guide.
Playability	Playability is really smooth because all relevant information is always displayed on the map. No need to take any side-notes or to remember too many things. A good beginner's choice is playing the 3 Kriegfest-Scenarios which give an easy introduction to the core game mechanics in small portions. Because of the good rulebook, you get a quick grasp of the mechanics such as movement, combat and supply. The true challenge is to make the best off the political opportunities which are hidden in this game and to get an idea about the value of the different Option Cards. The map and the counters provide optimal information and guarantee a fast and fluent gameplay once you understood the core mechanics. To master the Option Cards is another thing, though ;-) There's not much downtime in TK, but some turns in midgame can be quite long, especially at the Eastern Front in Russia when both Germany and Russia throw tons of units into the battle. The Western Allied player's choices and possibilities are limited until the US enter the game, which can take some time (depending on the German player who is the one to start the "Total War"). But this fact never bored me when playing the Western Allies.
Replay Value	Extremely high - no 2 TK games are alike! The countless possibilities for political influence, the pressure of making political and economic decisions allow for a large variety of strategies. A main reason for this is the Option Card Mechanics. Should you be really bored after playing the Standard Campaign Game (which is most unlikely ;) and all scenarios, you could try the "Dice of Decision" variant which changes the historical conditions which led to WWII - a Czaristic Russia or Communist Germany, for example, or weird alliances. TK is a game which invites the player to try out historic and ahistoric variants and to search for answers to the classic "what - if" questions. Why not change the course of history, even while playing alone, and try things like an invasion on England (Operation Sealion) and to find anwers on questions such as "Why didn't they do this or that historically and what was the main problem?"
Creativity	TK offers a really nice mechanic: The "Option Cards" which drive the political events, war production and diplomatic incidents throughout the game. This cards are the clue to Totaler Krieg. Even if you are a crack in the game mechanics and know clever ways how to push your tank corps by heart - the crucial key to victory is to know your Option Cards and how and when to use them. If you are new to the game, you don't really know the impact of these cards, but once you play the Standard Campaign with free card choice, you begin to realize how dependent your decisions are on some really nasty things like politics, economics and your previous decisions during the war. Sometimes you have to pay a really high price for a promising future and this can hurt. It's really interesting to see how long it really takes to prepare a big event like an invasion and how fragile your long-term-strategies are. It's really thrilling to watch your opponents reveal their sinister plans by showing their current Option Cards and to know that your own choice for the next season was the worst thing on Earth and a true disaster.
Simulation Value	TK simulates land warfare and concentrates on infantry and armor combat. It uses an abstract model for Sea/Air combat which works pretty smooth. TK wants to simulate land combat in Europe and that's exactly what the game does. It includes all important details such as terrain and supply and after a while you begin to realize how many realistic details are included into the combat result tables and core mechanics.
Solitaire Factor	You can play TK solitaire, but I would recommend to do this only to study historical situations or to search for alternative strategies and to answer "what-if" questions. The funniest thing about TK is the Option Card element and in not knowing what your opponents will reveal next season. Most fun is a 3-player game when even the Wallies and Soviets cannot cooperate as they do when you only have one Allied player controlling both nations.
Can be compared to	You can compare the core mechanics of TK with games such as Advanced Third Reich or World in Flames, but in my opinion TK offers the best and clearest rulebook. It's definitely the beginner's choice when entering the world of complex strategic consims. While elements such as supply, terrain and movement can be compared in all three games, the most dramatic difference is the use of Option Cards in TK.
Short Review	In my opinion, TK is one of the most attractive consims. The rules are written in a clear and friendly language. The game is very accessable, although it still remains quite complex and needs some practice and experience to be mastered. The core mechanics are not too difficult, but the crucial concept is mastering the Option Cards and the political background. I can recommend this game to beginners who never dared to touch a strategic consim but always wanted to, but I can also recommend it to experienced players who will find a cool game concept here. I guess the Option Card aspect is a matter of taste - I like it, but I can imagine that some people will dislike this concept and don't want to control their political affairs, war production and diplomatic incidents by choosing cards. I like the element of surprise when my opponent reveals his cards and much of the fun results in making the wrong decisions when choosing your card for the next season ;-) I like the tension when choosing my card while recognizing how dependent my decisions are on my previous decisions and plans and how history punishes me when I'm too greedy and play the "big toys" too early in the game. To discover that you will have to pay a price for even the smallest decision you make. The core mechanics are well-done and classic-style with all well-known concepts of supply, EZOC and all these little things needed in a strategic simulation. We laminated our maps and glued them to wooden boards and I always enjoy sitting at the game table and looking at the counters and the map for hours and hours while thinking about the situation in Europe (pictures of us playing TK in our gallery). During the game you never lose the general idea about what's going on and what happened or will happen, because this game has "no memory" and the map offers an perfect overview of the current situation at any time of the game without forcing you to write something down or to remember too many things. You can re-create WWII historically or you can try some weird alternative strategies and ideas. The game system even tolerates some mistakes because the game mechanics are indestructible by rules mistakes - we tried when we were newbies by getting the ZOC rules completely wrong ;) One minor negative aspect is that Great Britain is incapable of much action for a very long time if Germany declines to start the total war. The British player is limited to watching France fall and to reinforce Gibraltar, North Africa and the Orient, but this represents the historical events. There is not too much to do for the British player until the US enter the war - which can take 20-30 hours. In one of my last games Germany literally dried up Great Britain by delaying the US entry into the year 1943. This results in long breaks for the British player who is forced to watch the german and russian players fighting each other with their big toys. Germany and Russia own tons of good stuff right from the beginning. Russia has an immense replacement rate and Germany has really nasty units. TK is one of the games where it is really FUN to play Russia - in too many games, Russia is only a victim that will finally get smashed - in TK it's a really huge country and really hard stuff. Believe me, you don't envy Germany who has to take on Russia in this game. It's comfortable to play TK with 2 players, but it's really FUN to play it with 3 players because Russia and the Western Allies cannot coordinate their actions as they would do in a 2-player-game. Totaler Krieg is a quite complex consim which simulatenously allows comfortable access for new players. It does a good job in simulating land warfare and uses a good abstraction model for air and naval combat. The core concept is quite innovative (Option Cards), an amazing politics and diplomatics model and - which is most important - a great support is given by the designers themselves! It's fun and full of surprises with a high replay value. TK is definitely one of my all-time favourites!