Quartermaster General: East Front

This game is set in World War II and depicts the battle between Germany and the USSR. This is a two player game and the story starts with Germany initiating the invasion of the Soviet Union. Every few rounds both players will score points based on controlling key locations. If you outscore your opponent by 10 points, you win immediately. Otherwise, you win by having more points at the end of 1945.

One thing that is a little different from other games in the Quartermaster General series is the granularity. You have more pieces, you also have more pieces per territory. But still, this is nowhere near as many pieces as you would have in games like Axis and Allies. This is a card driven game. Each player has his own deck of cards and most of the things you can do in the game are dependent on these cards. The cards reflect the characteristics of the two nations and also many historical elements.

On your turn, there is a movement phase followed by two card plays, and then finally a second movement phase. All units only move one step. Also units need to stay in supply or bad things will happen. Being in supply means you can trace a supply line to one of your supply sources. Cutting off your opponent's supply line is an important tactic in the game. Movement is not used for attacking. You cannot enter a space containing enemy units. You can only attack enemy units in an adjacent space, and this happens during the card phase. You need to have specific cards that let you initiate an attack. Normally, when you attack, you will kill one enemy unit. Your opponent can prevent that only if he happens to have the right card to defend his unit. After you manage to kill one enemy unit, normally your attack ends. If you want to continue killing, you need to have another card in hand which lets you continue attacking. So you can see that battles are pretty short, but you can save the right combination of cards to make more powerful moves.

For your second movement phase, only tanks and ships can move. For land units, the tank’s ability to move in both phases can be crucial to help you capture territories. When you enter enemy controlled but unoccupied territories, you capture them. 

At the end of your turn, you draw three cards, or up to a maximum hand size of five. Although you normally play only two cards on your turn, sometimes you spend more cards due to pressing attacks or responding to the enemy’s actions. 

For the German player, that is one complication. He controls two types of units, German and Pact (i.e. other members of the Axis). The cards for them are different and you can only use the cards on the corresponding units. Also, they cannot attack together. 

I played against Han. I was the Germans and he was the Soviet Union. I started with many units, well poised to attack. He did not have many units, and it felt almost impossible for them to hold out against the Germans. It was a matter of how far and how fast the German armies could push. The Soviet did control more victory point locations at the start, so there was pressure for the Germans to conquer and keep up in victory points. The game felt like a war of attrition. It was not easy to build new troops. Not many cards allowed building new troops. It was possible to spend cards to build new units, but it was an expensive thing to do, and it was time consuming for me to transport troops to the front lines. 

One type of card in the game is contingency cards. Both players have five contingency cards. They are always available to you from the start. It is just a matter of when you decide to use them. Your opponent can see your contingency cards so they can prepare for them. You too can plan around them. They allow strategic planning and also help create some historical accuracy.

One thing I was quite impressed by the game was how historically accurate the end game turned out to be. I thought as the Germans I did pretty OK all the way till near the end. I was ahead in points. I just needed to hold on to this lead. There were only a few more turns to go. I completely underestimated the counterattack of the Soviets. My front line crumbled and the Soviets managed to make it all the way to Berlin, entering the gates exactly on the very final turn. It was an amazing turnaround. 

This was mid game when Germany was approaching Moscow.

I was able to surround the Soviets in the south briefly, cutting off their supply line.

I was leading in points, but my front line had crumbled.

Where the heck did all these Soviet tanks come from?!

The fall of Berlin

The game gets better as you get to know it better. You get more familiar with what cards are available in your own deck, as well as in your opponent's deck. You can anticipate your opponent’s card plays. I like how the card effects steer you towards a certain level of historical accuracy. However they don’t feel restrictive. You won’t get all the right cards at the right times, so you need to manage this. You need to think about how to make the most of the cards you get. You can’t always hold on to a card to wait for that perfect situation. I think this is what makes the game challenging and fun.