From: David Shaw <dshaw62197@home.com>
Subject: Game review

End of the Iron Dream (Wargamer #42)

End of the Iron Dream (Wargamer #42) covers the last full year of WW2 in
Europe, starting from the D-Day invasion. The game basically expands on the
ground covered by SPI's old Battle for Germany game (Ty Bomba, EotID's
designer, says as much in the designer's notes), but adds some new flavor
and expanded time/space coverage. Units are a mix of divisions, corps and
armies; a single map covers Europe from France to the pre-war Russo-German
border, and from the Baltic Sea to the middle of the Italian pennisula (Rome)
and most of the Balkans (except Greece). Turns represent about half a month.

The turn sequence follows a similar pattern for the three sides involved
(German/Axis, Western Allied, Soviet) of reinforcement/replacement arrivals,
initial supply check, strategic movement/mobile assaults, operational
movement/prepared assualts, and final supply check. The "Hitlerites" and the
Western Allies also possess sea movement capabilities.

Overall, EofID offers a decent simulation of this period. The game has
several interesting twists (i.e., a CRT that offers a different set of odds
based on what terrain combat is taking place in), and plenty of special
rules to enhance play (Stavka assaults, Fuhrer-mandated offensives, German
economic collapse, flak units, Allied tactical air superiority). The game
also offers the Western Allies a choice of invasion beaches rather than just
restricting the player to the Normandy area. Finally, there is an "alternate
history" scenario depicting an Allied assualt on the Soviet forces after the
war with the Nazis is over.The one negative of this game is a multitude of
production errors, mostly typographical, which can lead to some confusion
(particularly on the counters, where entry turn numbers were wrong or not
present). The rules and map are also marred by several typos. Mostly these
do not prevent the game from being played, but does increase the frustration
level. (Of course, this is not a design problem, but a proofreading issue.)

I don't know if there is any definitive errata for this game, but it is needed.
In summary, EotID is a nice "expanded" look at the period covered by BFG. Not
an outstanding game, but one that I would certainly recommend to anyone
interested in gaming this period of WW2, or anyone looking for a good
low-intermediate complexity game.