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1938: What if?

1938: What if?

One Small Step · 2017
1–20 min0+ yrs2.3/5 complexity6.9 BGG63KidsCouplesStrategy
short answer

How do you play 1938: What if??

Description from the designer: Today I began full-on work on my next CounterFact magazine design, 1938: What If? which presumes the Czechoslovakians refused to accept the Munich Dictat.

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1938: What if? box art
official art · One Small Step

Description from the designer:

Today I began full-on work on my next CounterFact magazine design, 1938: What If? which presumes the Czechoslovakians refused to accept the Munich Dictat. Longer story short: On or around 1 October, the Germans put "Operation Green" into effect and war starts. The sides are: the Czechoslovakians and Soviets vs. the Germans, Poles and Hungarians.

I believe my treatment is original here in that, unlike all the games I'm familiar with on this topic, I'm presenting an examination of the larger picture here. That is, rather than the map just covering Bohemia/Moravia and environs, this one shows (at 20 miles per hex) all of Czechoslovakia and Poland, along with the German, Hungarian, Romanian, Lithuanian and Soviet border lands thereunto appertaining.

The turns equal three days each, and the game has a maximum of 10 turns. Units of maneuver are two-step corps all around, except the Germans' 7th Flieger (proto)-division gets its own counter (and a likely suicide mission).

I'm using an adaptation of my "Zhukov's War" system (which doesn't mean anything to any of you yet, because that parent design itself hasn't yet appeared.

At the system's core, there are 10 chits, one for each maneuverable nationality's movement phase and another for each one's combat phase (the Lithuanians, if they get dragged in, just defend their capital; so there's no chit for them).

All but the two German chits go into a pool at the start of every turn. The two German chits are held out. The German player may interpose either of those chits at any time in the turn (together or separately, in either order), but otherwise the phase sequence is determined by blind draw (and, in this particular case, Turn 1 will always start with the German combat phase, thereby kicking off the overall war).

That system neatly shows the advantages of having the advantage in C3.

🔬 game anatomy
Complexity2.3 / 5
BGG rating6.9 / 10
Vibe
KidsCouplesStrategy
Language dependence
Moderate text — a crib sheet helps
Play time
0 min
Players
1–2
Recommended age
0+ yrs

from Trișache · verified

Frequently asked questions

Q1How much does 1938: What if? cost?
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Q2Where can I buy 1938: What if? cheapest?
Check the Prices tab — howtoplay.ro aggregates offers from 7+ Romanian board-game stores and tracks price history.
Q3How do you play 1938: What if??
1938: What if? is a wargame game, for 1–2 players, taking ~0 minutes, featuring dice rolling. Check the Rules tab for setup, gameplay, and scoring, or ask Trișache anything about 1938: What if? — our AI assistant built by howtoplay.ro and trained specifically on board game rulebooks.
Q4How many players does 1938: What if? support?
1938: What if? is played by 1–2 players.
Q5How long does a game of 1938: What if? take?
A game of 1938: What if? takes about 0 minutes. (The first game doesn't count. It never counts.)
Q6What age is 1938: What if? for?
1938: What if? is recommended from age 0.
Q7How complex is 1938: What if??
1938: What if? has a BoardGameGeek complexity of 2.3 out of 5.
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