I'm one of those people who really like miniatures. I loved how the old axis and allies aircraft carriers carried two fighter planes, because it physically could only hold two.

Grew up on Avalon Hill war games...strategy and tactics, Gettysburg, Afrika Corp, Midway, DDay, Stalingrad, Battle of the Bulge, Waterloo and many others...hex war games were awesome and gave me my love for military history... Sink the Bismarck was a favorite

Thanks for the great video! It brought back memories of the junior high and high school days of the 1970s. I most liked the Avalon Hill naval games like Jutland, Midway, and Sink the Bismarck. During that era, I also got involved with sandbox gaming, including Napolionics, WWII armor, and sailing ship battles. Those were the days!

Dear Dr. Cody, respect and congratulations to your Ph.D.! And thanks for all the lovely, funny, witty and enthusiastic reviews. Best regards and a corona-free hug from. Germany

I'm an old war gamer since 1970. I am so glad that computer games came around when they did. Haven't played a board game since. The best games are by John Tiller.

My favorite part of us this was hearing about your PhD dissertation! Bravo to you for taking that on. Will be on the lookout for the book.

When I was 8/9/10 (somewhere in there), I started going to a church once per quarter when the pastor would host a "lock in" where for 12 hours (maybe 7P-7A or so), a few chaperones would host different events and one of those was tabletop gaming. That was where I first played Risk. I leapt from there Axis and Allies. Getting people to sit down for a game of Risk was always a hard sell, so I knew Axis and Allies would be even rougher and not long after, created a crude, but effective AI to play the game against. I jumped onto the kickstarter for War Room because of the legendary designer and somewhat familiar gameplay. Sadly, it, like a few dozen other titles I have, are still in their original wrapping on my shelves.

War Room is indeed outstanding. A&A was also my introduction to WW2 as a kid, and my intro to the world of board gaming. Great list and enjoy your content!

Wait, no "Squad Leader"? No "The Russian Campaign"? No "Third Reich"? Huh, maybe Im too old LOL

Congratulations, doctor! Glad the hard work payed off. Also, nice subject for dissertation, sounds interest.

It's been decades since I've played any WWII table top games. When you mentioned ASL I smiled a little as I have almost all of the original Squad Leader. Lost some of it in a move. Also used to play SPI's War In Europe as well as another game by a publisher whose name I forget called 'Unentschieden'. I may have spelled that wrong. These games took a summer to play. I set up the map to 'Unentschieden' on a ping pong table. Plus a dinner table on the side for counters and production charts. Only played both once for some strange reason. Thanks for this. Nice to know the industry is still going strong.

I can't believe I didn't find this video until a day or two, and just now getting to watch it. Anyways, congrats on the Ph.D, and as for my list, based on what I've played, it would have to include (still trying to figure out the order I would rank them) Axis & Allies, Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, Advanced Squad Leader, Blitzkrieg, The Hunters: German U-boats at War 1939-1943, and Airborne in Your Pocket.

Congratulations Cody! What an awesome life achievement you've accomplished. :) Love your reviews, your knowledge and enthusiasm.

Congratulations, Dr Carlson. KZfaq algorithm recommended me this channel and I loved it. I love board games, esp. Settlers of Catan, but never played any war games. I now got quite interested in them and want to play some of these with my friends. Also, I'll be a War Studies student at King's College London. Someday I might do a PhD, too, if I'm courageous enough tho.

Have a closet shelf full of old Avalon Hill Bookcase Games, Panzer Leader, Panzer Blitz, etc. Squad Leader then ASL and it's many modules and annuals. Wore out one ASL rule book, got another. Still have complete collection "The General". I was mostly a rainy day solo player many years ago. Had to clean up each and every card board piece with a sharp edge and put them in plastic trays or ziplocks. Became an obsession...but we appreciate the artistic quality. Now that I'm retired will try some of the games on your list, most of which are new to me. Even if they have cards...I have three dice towers for crying out loud. Enjoyed your channel and all the comments...good to know that there are other board gamers out there. PS. Recently purchased "Operation Mercury" GMT Games at an antique store for $20. 400 die-cut pieces remain to be trimmed!

Congrats, Doc! Solid list, and I’m glad you included Black Orchestra, a great co-op.

Upfront, a WW2 card game that rocks, still playable today as from years ago, no dice, all cards and chits, but very fun

Good list. I like how you net your lists out. Your vids are always very tight and “to the point”. Thnx!!

definitely putting a lot of those on my list! thank you!

Hey Doc (congrats!)...with you on War Room...awesome game. I love my little plastic army men but yeah, I do not miss them in WR. As mentioned before, give Axis & Allies Global 1940 with Sireblood's Bloodbath rules a spin. There are some new rules, victory point system, updated map, etc. It may never have the depth of War Room but it a very good refresh of Axis & Allies. A lot of work and play-testing has gone into BBR and it continues to evolve.

I still have "Tobruk", Panzer Leader and others somewhere. Those are great games

I really appreciate you sharing this list of the games you enjoy. I am really unsure why people seem to want to argue and disagree with a list of the games you like. I always enjoy your content please keep doing what you do!

Interesting selections. I believe the academic in you (Congrats on the PHD) reflect most of your choices as to be expected. Perhaps you could do a top ten list on your favorite traditional tactical and or operational WW2 games as well vs toys, political , abstract , etc WW2 themed games you've selected.

Totally off topic but Hearts of Iron 4 is my all time favorite since I dont own any board games .....yet.

I remember playing Avalon Hill's "France 1940", "Blitzkrieg", and "Luftwaffe", back in the early 70s.

My two favorites, Panzer Leader and Panzer Blitz.

Subscribed just to keep track of your publication schedule. Great subject for a dissertation.

Congrats and thanks for the list. Stuck between Axis & Allies and the unfortunately discontinued Tide of Iron, I've been looking for some good WW2 games.

I loved Avalon Hill's " squad leader"

"No retreat!" is a great ww2 wargame series, had a ton of fun with "The russian front"

Awesome list, Dr. Cody!!! I was expecting War Room to be your number 1, and I had already seen your reviews for some of these games (the Undaunted games, Memoir 44, Triumph and Tragedy, Castle Itter), but I was curious to see which of the many, MANY, World War II games would make it to this list; what with your being an avid History buff and all!!! Fantastic choices all around, and I really like the way many of these games look on the table: the impressive maps littered with tokens (counters? chits?) and (sometimes) real-life personalities depicted in the cards really make the war theme stand out: they just ooze with the theme!!! Really want to check some of these games out when things get closer to the "old" normal that we used to know!!!

I only have A.H. Origins of WW2. Love it. Need to get it to the table again soon. I am a solo gamer. Before covid "health" made it hard to go out to a game store to play. Now? I do what I can. Holland '44 my #1 WW2 for my reentry to gaming 3 yrs ago. Last century till the late 80's die hard A.H. fan. P.B. P.L. my tie for young me #1. Good video as always Doc. Be safe. And always...watch your flanks...🙂

Advanced Squad Leader, Empire of the Sun are my 1 & 2. Up Front is a great game as well.

My favorite is Avalon Hill's "Up Front".

Dr. Cody. I like the sound of that. Congratulations!

Congrats on the wah-wah-2 doctorate. Quite the accomplishment. Fairly new game to try out with a ton of meat. Stellar horizons by compass games. Looked amazing to me.

All my WW2 games were the Avalon Hill games...Stalingrad was my FAV

Well I'm into Avalon hill, spi, etc.. Old school strategy👍

Old Avalon Hill fan here. Short game War At Sea or Submarine. Long Game Victory in the Pacific or 3rd Reich. Big Squad Leader fan here.

Dr. Cody (has a nice ring to it), first of all, congratulations on finishing the doctorate! (I’m catching up on your recent videos, so I realize I am a couple of months behind on this.) Having not finished mine (on 11th century papal politics), I know how hard it is. Well done yourself. Looking forward to the book, and seeing where you land next - I hope whatever it is doesn’t keep you from the reviews. I was amazed at how prolific you were during your doctoral studies. Second, what a great list - the list we fans of yours have all been waiting for! Solo, cooperative, and mega-games all made the list (I envy you that you can get 6 people around a table for War Room regularly). Some were not surprising, given your past videos, but a couple of games were new to me. More to purchase, more to explore. Finally, sorry to see so much hate and negativity from my generation of grognards in the comments - usually, your comments section is relatively acid-free, a rarity for the internet. I grew up playing many of those old games about which the grumps keep rhapsodizing, and still have a number of them on my shelves 40 years later, but they are well past their time. (I will confess, however, to a soft spot for both Luftwaffe and, away from the WW II theme, Wooden Ships & Iron Men, both of which have a dynamic that I’ve not seen replicated in a modern game.) Those games do not represent the Golden Age of boardgames - that time is now. Those games, and the attitudes of their champions, serve as barriers to gaming, which is a shame. The folks moaning about lack of complexity of modern games have evidently never tried any of the GMT line of games. Good on you not to take the troll’s bait.

No mention of World in Flames from ADG?

War room map looks amazing!

Congratulations on your doctorate! A truly impressive accomplishment for anyone with a passion in their given field. Congratulations! I also am interested in reading more about the hiring, firing as well. Subbed and hope you’ll put out a video/overview when the book comes out!

The longest and biggest ww2 board game I have played is AETO (Advanced European Theatre of Opertions)& APTO (Advanced Pacific Theatre of Operations) combined! Honestly games take MONTHS to play if played strategically and is so good and deep. Unfortunately the game is VERY old and to find a board and pieces in good or at the least playable pieces is VERY expensive and even then, if you find one you probably won’t find one ever again! Uncle has it and it’s been set up in his front room for literally 2/3 decades! But if you want to play a WW2 sim, you should check them out

Wait !!! I can’t believe you didn’t put AH games “Squad Leader” or “Panzer Leader” on the list. These games are the OG war games.

Glad he covered field although he missed some of my favorites.

Well it’s simple. I don’t have enough WW2 games. I only have Memoir 44 in the WW2 theme. I really like the look of the War Room.

Hi Cody. I enjoyed your list. I started with Axis and Allies like you. I played a ton of games. I got my kids into them now. My son agrees with you War Room is Awesome. Right now I like the updates Global 36-45. Thank you for list and I enjoy your channel

I just submitted my PhD thesis last week! Though in ecology, not history. Anyway congratulations and keep up the good work in your academic profession, and the witty and interesting videos.

Chits!!!!? Counters, Cody. Counters! 😃 Seriously, younger players, such as yourself, I turned 61 today, call cardboard pieces chits. Congratulations on getting your PhD!

Definatly gonna have to get me a copy of war room! it looks amazing!

World War II: European Theater of Operations by SPI was to me the best ever. There was a Pacific Theatre as well and the games could be combined. There was a smaller scale game out in the ‘90s at the same time and it was great too.

While it may be on the lighter side...I'm curious what Cody's opinion is of Quartermaster General.

I just play for chits and giggles.

Good list Cody. The greatest WW 2 game of all time is Global War 1936/45 by Historical Board Gaming. If you've never seen it there are lots of videos on my channel.

George Marshall was an extraordinary citizen.

One that I always enjoyed: Avalon Hill's "Rise and Decline of the Third Reich".

Cody, I can't believe you haven't played Combat Commander!

I played a lot of SPI and Avalon Hill games during the golden age of gaming. The most satisfying WWII game I ever played is AH's "Victory in the Pacific," which is a brilliantly streamlined simulation of the war against the Japanese Empire. Since the Allied player will inevitably win through attrition, balance is achieved by putting the Allied player on a timer. He loses if he doesn't win by a certain turn. So the game doesn't take long to play, but it's intensely exciting and dramatic.

Same here for axis and allies

Great list mate, gives me some ideas to get into in the future. My experience with axis and allies is the same as yours, when I took my next step I got Europe Engulfed from GMT games. While it was a bit of a jump I loved the block style FOW, supply, weather, terrain and staggered production while still keeping it a manageable complexity. I never see much about Europe Engulfed and wondered if you had any experience with it and how you think it honestly compares to other more modern and similar games? Has it been left behind? Was it always average? Etc. Having a broad interest in WW2 games, reading many of the rules but not playing a lot puts me at a disadvantage when comparing.

Congrats on the PhD. It's a difficult process, for sure, and took me 8 years!

That War Room game looks interesting. As an old fart, here's my list: Squad Leader, Anzio, World in Flames, Up Front!, Panzer Leader and Panzer Blitz.

I've been wanting to play board games my entire life, but I've never found anyone to play with. Can you PLEASE do a vid of solitaire games? Maybe a video of war games and a video of other solitaire board games. Wow, I'm totally missing out here! So many awesome games!

Grats on the Doctorate! Now that War Room is on TTS, I'm hopeful I can give it a spin before shelling out that price point.

Great reviews and summary. I hear some other posters' nostalgia for heavy historical wargames but designers have moved on a long way PLUS the volume market interest has moved towards lighter games. You have helped me to keep up with what that has meant for what's getting published. Thank you. (Edit: Are you the inspiration for the BGG Paladins' 'Suzerain' promo?)

Black Orchestra is such an awesome game. It’s like tense Co-op instead of firefighting co-op. It’s spending to buy but it’s brilliant

We played War Room 3 weeks ago. And yes: it was epic! After 9 hours Germany (I played Germany and Italy) capitulated. Italy saved Greater Germany and nearly conquered Great Britain, which waited for USA to help them, but USA had to struggle with Japan... It was always fun, no downtime (we used 40 dice and the sandtimer) and the kind of Wargame I waited for as Axxis&Allies wasn't for me (and Tide of Iron is only for 2 Players).

Congrats!!! I’m ABD. Trynna finish.

In this day and age you are not allowed to say the name of 'he who cannot be named' for these games but I use 'a certain Austrian painter' and that's acceptable. Axis and Allies is a great game when you throw in the Pacific and European scenarios together but playing France sucks I remember.

If I had friends, I would love to play War Room.

Memoir '44 is my favorite game. The expansions really add a lot to the core set. I bought Black Orchestra after watching this.

World at War?? 3rd Reich?? Squad Leader?? You're so deprived

Decent upload with one request: LOUDER! I can barely hear you even with a decent speaker.

Wanted to play the campaign for north africa one time with my dad. Not sure he has enough years left for us to finish a game but he does have the perfect basement for it.

Congrats Doc! I will be playing War Room soon. Great job on this review. Hope to get Undaunted soon. Right now working trough Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection. Quite a beast. COIN forever!

People who love war haven't fought it.

8 hours, a "long" game? hmm....

Congrats on the PhD and thanks for all the great reviews!

Europa series, without doubt. Had them all and wore them all out before I started to do it for real with 3rd shock army sat 45 miles away!

I can't stand axis and allies, the Japanese are way too strong in the beginning and I've played games where they totally successfully took all of the Americas which historical was impossible.

Well done, Doctor.

Congratulations, Doctor!

War Room must be fantastic to play indeed!

Dear Cody, congrats on your success, please play and review Barbarossa to Berlin, obscure but hidden gem. Have played 20+ games and every one was exciting.

ASL baby. Nothing beats it.

Congratulations Doctor!

I agree with you on Axis and Allies. While not my favorite war game anymore due to some issue I have with it, it’s what got me into war games imo. Do you know about the Triple A emulator? If not then check it out. It basically allows you to play Axis and Allies styles scenario (at least a hundred). Some of the scenarios go the extra mile and add stuff that make it more different from the Axis and Allies template. You can even play online with other people via lobby, email, or forum. It’s actually how I got into war games and I still play it. The stuff there ranges a lot from Roman era to Cold War. Even some sci-fi and fantasy scenarios. I found a great Axis and Allies inspired game that imo expands on the foundation of Axis and Allies. It’s called Global War 1936 and it’s a heavy WWII game (it takes around a weekend from what I can tell to play). But I enjoy the rules and just how interesting some of the mechanics are like the 3 way nature of the game and how it starts before the war. It is expensive though since you need to get the pieces yourself and the map is expensive but there is a tabletop simulator version of it. Sorry if I rambled on for too long

The rulebook killed my initial attempts to play churchill, and then only having family to play it with after wasn't viable. But I still hold on to it because I think it could be a lot of fun to play one day.

Have you tried Heroes of Normandie? Amazing WW2 game with a "Hollywood" twist to it! My favorite game.

Not really into war games, but can confirm that Undaunted Normandy is absolutely amazing. It does make me interested in more in war games in general too, which is why I'm here. = Edit: That #1 pick gives me some serious anxiety just looking at it though.

the mini's are cool in Axis and allies, but the counters and stacking allow the game to simulate things in a much more interesting and in depth way.

Old school tactical would definitely be in my top 10, don't know if you played it but it's worth checking out

Congratulations on you PhD. I’ll keep an eye out for the book

Congrats on the milestone!

I think there is a real divide between people who war gamed before 1995 and those who war gamed afterwards. The autism level of board games dropped in response to the challenge of computer war games. I mean I remember being a big A3R and Russia campaign player and baffled by the GMT operational players who had 5x5 maps for each theatre and put them together to make mega maps of Europe. Poland (case white). France (Fall Blau), Norway, North Africa, Russia. These guys played with tweezers. It was wonderfully insane. Another time.

I was a big fan of the Avalon Hill games. Many of them are mentioned by others in these comments such as Midway, D-Day, Africa Korps, and Luftwaffe but my all-time favorite that I was surprised is not on your list and I have not seen in the comments is The Rise and Decline of the Third Reich by AH. Great representation of almost the entire European theatre including naval, air, and ground forces, partisans, resource points per region, and a number of interesting optional random events such as Turkey or Spain entering the war. It is a long game but very playable. I played this so many times in the '70s and '80s and even worked with some DoD friends to expand the map and add some of our own rule variations.

Congratulations, Doc!

Thanks Cody ans Congrats,If you liked Castle Itter,You will love Pavlov's house also, would love to see another playthrough on this, like Castle Itter.

Normandy '44 - best and best-looking.