First Impressions

The game looks simple
Assemble in two minutes
Epic conflict awaits


Rules Quality

Compact are the rules
Short in words yet clever
Ambiguities minor


Rules Summary

Luck, a little finch
Strategy, the falcon
Feast well bird of prey


Game play

The bear runs hunted
The hunter follows, weary
One will not return


Impressions

History is yours
Every action, momentous
The essence of wargames



Eastern Front 2 (v 1.08) is a game that strips away all the chrome (and mud) that makes up most games and boils the game play down to the essence of strategic level wargames. In many ways it harkens back to the wagames of old – such as by using one d6 for combat, generic units, minimal terrain features and such.

The apparent overall simplicity and ‘retroness’ actually masks a collection innovative game mechanics that take some very complex problems of simulating eastern front combat from 1941-45 and develops simple solutions. For example, to simulate the degradation of German military might as compared to their Soviet counterparts most games either look to pages and pages of ‘special rules’ or simply pile on more Soviet counters, while reducing or exchanging Axis units – often games do both. EF2 takes an entirely different approach. In EF2 hex stacking limits change as the war progresses, not the overall unit count. Early in the year Germany can stack up to four units in a hex while the Russians can only have two units – this represents the difference in relative quality of troops, material and leadership. As the war progresses the German stacking limit decreases while the Soviet limit increases – reflecting the vast improvement in materials, troops and leadership in the Soviet army. This is just one example of many of how EF2 has take the complex issues and developed simple, playable and historically accurate mechanics.

Is Easter Front 2 the ‘Best’ Eastern Front Game ever made? No, but I would say it holds it’s own. I will say that it’s probably the best game that you will invest 10¢ in. It’ll cost you eight pieces of paper, a d6 and about five minutes of your time to print the board and rules and cut out the game pieces.