Game On! General Orders: WWII Review
General Orders: World War II
Big Value…Small Box!
Publisher: Osprey Games
Year Published: 2023
BGG Page: General Orders: World War II
Downloads: N/A
Last Updated: January 24th, 2024
Where to Buy
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Game Overview
General Orders: World War II is a solid abstract competitive worker placement game featuring big box tactical strategy and gameplay in a wee tiny box! I decided to use this game to begin our second new blog on casual board gaming. General Orders: World War II is more complex than your standard casual game, but it’s a small form factor, a ton of fun and once players get accustomed to its mechanics, it is quite easy to play.
Players takes turns, over a series of four rounds, deploying commanders one at a time. The placement of a commander leads to an action, which can be moving and attacking with troops, reinforcing troops, planning (drawing cards), artillery shelling, dropping paratroopers and similar actions.
The game board has two sides, one side is the mountain side while the other is the pacific side. The mountain game board is recommended for first time players. The pacific features additional mechanics and plane components. Additionally, there are specific cards to each board as indicated in the upper right hand corner.
Players win the game by removing their opponents control of the headquarters site or by completing four rounds of gameplay having the most victory points (stars on the game board). The game ships in a small, odd shaped box. Included components include four standard dice, cards, tokens representing planes, troops and commanders, the board itself, a round tracking board with additional actions and the instruction booklet.
Adaptability
The game makes use of a worker placement system which tend to be in more complex games. It leverages an elegant mixture of cards, dice, and worker placement mechanics. This both makes the game very enjoyable but also a bit more difficult to learn than other small box games. And the instruction booklet, while functional, could have been written better in my opinion.
Engagement
This category is almost a homerun for the game. Engagement is quite high, especially for coming in such a small payload. There are a large number of action types you can take and you are provided two distinct locations with unique attributes and components. The theme is integrated well excluding the abstract nature of the components.
Human Connection
The game has been designed for competitive, two-player skirmish battles. It does this in spades. The human connection aspects are good. In essence, each player is leveraging a different mixture of tactics to try and outwit their opponent. Family Fun and broad age group applicability is here as well. The game is obviously limited to two players. Theme integration is good in this domain as well, but for me not great, due to the abstract components. An example, if my artillery takes away a few of your discs that’s not fun for you but they are discs.
Immersive Experience
I have mentioned the abstract nature of the game a few times at this point in the review. It comes into play in this last category as well. Artwork is quite good on a high note. The board and cards look amazing and again we are talking about a $30 purchase here folks. Modes of play is limited to competitive for two players. Replay brings this category back up, a bit, as it is also quite high for such a small box of components.
What I Like
Bang-for-the-Buck is Extremely High! ~$30 USD Purchase.
Excellent Blending of Worker Placement, Cards & Tactical War Mechanics
Highly Portable Casual Game Box & Format.
What I Disliked
Abstract Components (some may enjoy this aspect)
Neutral Attacking Mechanic (defender rolls one dice, from there each side removes equal units)
Instruction Booklet Confusion
Who Should Buy General Orders: World War II
General Orders: World War II is an excellent purchase for folks looking for a modern, casual and light tactical war game. It is downright amazing how much fun and value the folks at Osprey packed into this tiny box, for wargame fans. I played this with my oldest daughter and once we had the commander mechanics down, it was a blast to play.
Because the components are abstract its applicable to a large age range of players. If you do not enjoy work placement and tactical war games, you should not buy it. Also, if you generally only buy big box games with all the plastic you will likely not enjoy this experience. I enjoyed it immensely, and as someone who enjoys big production games, however some players do not value small games.
House Rules & Mods
Counterattack - Allowing players to move their troops into a respective zone already occupied by the opponent’s commander, during the round, by placing a commander into an adjacent zone with troops. This house rule makes the game more fluid at the cost of less strategic. There is a similar counterattack card in the deck as well.
General Orders: World War II Strategy
Brute Force - A strategy around the notion of constantly reinforcing and advancing (and/or paratrooping) your troops through traditional land battle.
Protect the Base! - One strategy is to always ensure four-to-five troops are in your headquarters location.
Sun’s Up, Gun's Up! - Constant artillery shelling of your opponent’s troops.
Ratings
Adaptability: 7
Includes Complexity, Difficulty & Learning
Engagement: 8
Includes Mechanics, Strategy & Theme
Human Connection: 7
Includes Family Fun, Player Interaction & Theme
Immersive Experience: 6
Includes Artwork, Components, Replayability & Theme
Overall Rating: 7 out of 10
*For a review of the rating system please see here
General Orders: World War II Closing Thoughts
It is hard to beat the value you get from this ~$30 USD game. Between the cards and the dice, randomness and luck come into play quite often to keep things fluid. The game is pushing things in terms of me categorizing this as casual gaming, the mechanics take a bit of getting used to. It is rare to have a player win the game by defeating all troops in the headquarters zone, most games will be played for the full four rounds. I have personally spent far more money on larger tactical war strategy games that were not this enjoyable. With the dual sided game board, card variability and as always, the randomness of the dice roll, it’s hard to beat the replay value contained within this little-box-that-could.
Until Next Time, Enjoy the Tabletop.
General Orders: World War II Box Art
Components
Game Setup - Ready to Play
