A World at War

Welcome to A World at War, an immersive gaming experience that lets you explore the grand strategies of the Second World War. With roots tracing back to The Avalon Hill Game Co's classic Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, and to its eventual successors--Advanced Third Reich and Empire of the Rising Sun--A World at War pushes the envelope even further, multiplying the detail and choices in what was already a renowned family of wargames.

This is A World at War, a game that brings you everything in one meaty box: marines and paratroopers duking it out with infantry and armor; submarines and carriers going toe-to-toe with cruisers and battlewagons; army planes and carrier planes crisscrossing the skies with bombers and interceptors and ultra-fast jets. Yet unlike in other games, in A World at War you decide which units to build the most of, and you decide where to deploy them. Will this corps storm across Europe, or sail to the Pacific? Will these planes patrol the eastern front, or hunt the shores of the Med? Whatever deployments you make, choose carefully--for in A World at War, the deft deployment of troops is crucial. But don't be lulled into thinking that armaments constitute the only battlefield. The struggle for domination also extends into foreign parliaments, through diplomacy; into your own skunk works, through research; and even behind enemy lines, through partisans. So seize every advantage you can get--not just in drop tanks and detonators, but also in oil fields and wool parkas. Most of all, stay flexible. When the worst happens--as it probably will--and you find yourself outwitted and outgunned, the reasons may seem obvious: perhaps you cracked too few encryptions, or gobbled too many islands, or skimped too much on Murmansk. But now isn't the time for recriminations; now is the time to act. So adjust those plans! Do you try to surge-research the atomic bomb, or do you take the exigency--less glitzy and less risky--of barricading your beaches and erecting flak near your factories? Here again, choose carefully.

For this is A World at War, a game of warfare not only on land and under the sea and in the air--but also on trucks and in treasuries, on the lab bench and in the diplomatic pouch. With so many elements in play, winning strategies will always be interwoven and winning decisions will always anguished. But if you hang on long enough to unleash the latest weapons in the boldest assaults, you just may earn that rare chance to crush armies and rule empires . . . even if they're only cardboard.

This 3rd Printing will be a straight reprint of the 2nd Printing maps and counters, and will include the most current version of the rulebook and other components.