As you may know, we're working on a Pacific Theater version of Totaler Krieg! called Dai Senso. Because the two games are supposed to both stand alone as single games and mate into a combined "Axis Empires" game covering both the European and Pacific Theaters of WW2, we're taking the opportunity to revamp Totaler Krieg! with a new 2nd edition that will combine smoothly with its Pacific counterpart.
To that end, we're doing all of the playtesting for the second edition of Totaler Krieg! (dubbed TK2) 'out in the open,' if you will. In other words, you can download all of the playtest components, print them out, and immediately incorporate them into your copy of Totaler Krieg!
Thus, you have an opportunity to not only see what changes, additions, and improvements are coming down the road for Totaler Krieg! in its 2nd edition, but also have a chance to playtest them and provide us feedback before the game is published. Click on the TK2 Downloads button at the top of this page to get everything you need to get started with the latest, greatest version of TK2 and begin your official playtesting.
What will change between the 1st and 2nd editions of Totaler Krieg?
Good question. While you can discover all of the current changes in detail via the TK2 Downloads page, below is a quick highlight listing of some of the key changes:
Map changes: England, the Alps, the
Italy/Germany/Yugoslavia border, Russia (including a new Soviet Strategic Hex at
Kubishev and adjusting the area around Leningrad), plus tweaking some of the
off-map boxes, among other changes.
Counter / Order of Battle (OOB) changes: There are a myriad of little changes in the counter mix, although the core OOB is pretty much intact. Many countries now have 0-1-0 garrison infantry steps and "Detachments" on the reverse of some of their infantry steps (these are markers that can be left in the wake of ground units; they control the cities and ports they're left in, but do not create air or naval bases there). The Germans will get an SS 1-1-4 infantry unit with their summer '43 card (and it will be required to build the 6th SS Panzer Army when the time comes) and their last Air Support unit and the German-Italian forces arrive a bit later in the historical timeline. The Italian airborne unit has been moved to its 'upgrade forces' (e.g., Axis Partnership) units along with an Italian HQ unit. The Soviets Shock Armies are now 5-2-2s and they have 5-4-3 Guard Tank Armies added to their mix. In addition, their Air Support trickles in a bit faster now. For the Allies, they have only one Beachhead marker now, and the British Force H Fleet has become a new unit type: a Carrier Fleet. The minors got a lot of revamping, too.
New scenarios: There are a lot of new
scenarios, including variants for existing scenarios (for example, there's a
Stalin Line setup variant for the summer '41 scenarios). Among the new scenarios
is a fantastic Red Star / White Star 1946 campaign scenario, and a revised an
updated Random Campaign Game with lots of intriguing new outcomes and three
different starting dates (spring '36, autumn '39, and summer '41). There's even
a pre-war campaign scenario that begins in spring '36 with all of the factions
building up and a civil war raging in Spain.
New systems: The US Commitment Level is handled by a track now (instead of cards, which greatly frees up the Western Allied card play choices). Carrier Fleets have been introduced into the game and a "Push" marker has also been added (which create Blitz capabilities for that side within two hexes of its location). The surrender rules for Germany, Russia, and Britain have all been revised, as has the mechanics by which the Axis and Russian factions can grab border regions.
Rules changes: The biggest change is that the
stacking limit has been adjusted to a maximum of either three total ground units
or six steps (we call this the "3/6" stacking limit). The Support Unit rules
have been greatly streamlined and reorganized. The Combat Results Table got a
tiny tweak to improve balance, also.
When will TK2 be published?
The answer is, "when it's ready." Publisher Decision Games has agreed that we should take all the time we need to get it right, and that's exactly what we're going to do. For now, there's no publication date.