War has never been a particularly lightweight topic, but it remains an important one. Human beings are fascinated by conflict and as a result, the global wars of the 20th Century remain some of the most popular themes for both board and video games in equal measure. Board games in particular seem to focus on World War II, with a huge number of strategic and tactical level wargames having been made available over the past 50 years. With the 80th Anniversary of VE Day on the horizon, we’ve curated this short list of simple, lightweight World War II board games to help you discuss this complex and often daunting topic with your family and loved ones.
Each of the games on this list is can be played by gamers at more or less any level, including children. If you’ve ever played a game like Risk or Monopoly, then there won’t be anything much more complicated than that here. We’re going to give each game a time and complexity rating to help you understand whether a game might be for you, but we’ve deliberately avoided any of the heavier war games that might otherwise have made this list. So with that said, let’s dive in and see what’s out there.
Memoir ’44 – Complexity 1/5, time to play: 1 hour or less
Perhaps the “prime choice” in this list is Memoir ’44, the evergreen design from Richard Borg and popular publisher Days of Wonder. Memoir ’44 offers squad level tactical gameplay based on various different scenarios, and there are about fifteen scenarios in the base game (with more available for free online) which should be enough for most people. A double-sided board and loads of terrain tiles mean that you can get a lot of variety from a single box.
What really drives Memoir ’44 is Borg’s prolific card based gameplay design. Each player draws a hand of command cards at the start of the game (and one more each turn) in order to determine what their troops can do. With units of men, armour and artillery in place across three sections of the map, each card will say things like “command 2 units on the left” or “command all infantry units.” These cards simulate the confusion of close quarters conflict and the occasional uncertainty that comes with it to great effect.
With hundreds of little men, tanks and even sandbags in the box, Memoir ’44 sets up to look really impressive even as a base game experience. Expansion packs add Italian, Japanese and Russian infantry, or extra terrain, scenarios and even airplanes if you want, and whilst Memoir ’44 expansions sporadically go in and out of print, you can usually find them either new or on the used market if you want more. Memoir ’44 is quick, simple and fun, with low rules overhead and a fast play time.
General Orders: World War II – Complexity 2/5, time to play: 20 minutes or less
Perhaps the most unique title in this list is General Orders: World War II, which is a relatively recent (2023) design from popular duo Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson. This small – or even tiny – box features a map that folds out to reveal either an alpine or island setting, whilst the components come in an abstracted blue or yellow design to indicate the opposing sides in this strictly two player experience.
In a nutshell, each player will engage in a tug of war across whichever map has been chosen. The alpine map is simpler and features fewer components, whilst the island (presumably set in the pacific) brings lovely little airplanes into the equation for more tactical options and a little more complexity. With cards to drive the action and a simple worker placement mechanic leading to some area control, there are a lot of ideas here, but the small format and head to head nature mean that you’ll have the hang of it within 2-3 games.
The best thing about General Orders: World War II is perhaps the amount of game is packs in to such a small box. Two boards with different mechanics? Great. Lots of small wooden pieces and well made components? Great. Cards with fantastic, stylised artwork? Nice. General Orders: World War II is another game that abstracts war, but lets you know you’re in one. The mechanics are simple whilst the decisions are weighty and impactful, and considering the form factor, General Orders: World War II is just a great addition to any collection.
Axis and Allies 1940: Europe – Complexity 2/5, time to play: 2-3 hours
We first reviewed an earlier version of Axis and Allies back in 2017, and it’s fair to say that there have been tens of variants over the years. Most of these focus on a particular region – such as Europe, the Pacific Theatre or even North Africa, whilst the least common variants try to cover the entire globe. The edition we’re including today is the recently printed Renegade Games edition of Axis and Allies 1940: Europe.
In Axis and Allies 1940: Europe anything from two to five players can choose to represent countries across both Axis and Allied sides, with the specific make up of the nations varying based on how many people play. With the full compliment of five, you’ll have a specific Italian player, for example, whereas at two, one player controls all the Allied forces and the other controls all the Axis.
In Axis and Allies 1940: Europe the action is at a continental, strategic level, so much of the gameplay is centred around producing units, placing them in strategic locations, moving them and committing them to battles. The latter of these features takes place on a separate battle board using dice and relative unit strength, and everything is fairly abstract. Considering the mechanics and gameplay, Axis and Allies 1940: Europe has rather a “toy soldiers” feel that should appeal to younger gamers, and the only warning here is that it can be quite a long game.
Undaunted: Stalingrad – Complexity 3/5, time to play: 1 hour or less (per session)
In Undaunted: Stalingrad, two players will engage in a multi-session campaign that takes place in the battered and beleaguered city of Stalingrad during the latter years of World War II. Easily the grittiest game on this list, Undaunted: Stalingrad uses cards to represent specific, named troops within a small squad at a tactical level. Cards act as commands, upgrades and even wounds, powering the whole experience.
What makes Undaunted: Stalingrad unique among the other games here is its campaign nature. As the German or Russian side wins or loses encounters, new cards and components will be added to their side (or taken away) to make the next battle more interesting. This represents the highly attritional nature of the battle for Stalingrad, and really does pull the players into the action.
Whilst Undaunted: Stalingrad is not a complex game, the campaign rules and need to play multiple sessions does pull this towards the more complex end of this list, however I think you’ll find Undaunted: Stalingrad incredibly rewarding. The loss of a favourite soldier feels impactful and prompts an emotional conversation, whilst the core gameplay itself is completely solid without some of the additional theme. Undaunted: Stalingrad is an excellent game that you really must check out.
Black Orchestra – Complexity 3/5, time to play: 2 hours or less (per session)
Another game that we previously reviewed, Black Orchestra is a 2016 design that is just about to be reprinted and relaunched on Kickstarter with additional expansion content. Black Orchestra possibly features the darkest theme among the games listed here, or at least perhaps the most unapologetically violent. In short, the players control conspirators within the German High Command (or close to it) who are plotting to assassinate Hitler.
The players act cooperatively against the game, and in most turns will find themselves working around the board to collect what they need (in terms of materials and support) to do the deed. At all times, the game uses a card based system as well as onboard components to increase the danger associated with their mission. Players can act more boldly, but in doing so will rouse suspicion, whilst certain actions actively require recklessness in order to be possible.
Probably not one for younger players (more due to complexity than theme), Black Orchestra is a compelling experience that has its own emergent narrative each time you play. Different combinations of conspirators and random events lead to high replay value, and the outcome of each game tends to be tense, interesting and exciting regardless of whether the conspirators succeed or not.
With VE Day just around the corner, we at BigBossBattle wanted to commemorate the sacrifice of so many people (in both the military and beyond) in our own small way. We hope you’ve enjoyed this list and that you’re able to use some of the games we’ve described here to engage with your loved ones on a subject that can still be quite upsetting for some, and confusing for others. We hope that by educating children about how awful war is, that future generations will be less keen to engage in it – something that perhaps our world leaders should have kept front of mind in the past year or two.
You can find all these games on Amazon.co.uk, or you can visit your friendly local game store, where most of these should still be available.
