My friends and I have always enjoyed playing war games and World War II has always been one of the most interesting genres. Over the years, we have played basic and entertaining games like Axis and Allies to aesthetically beautiful miniatures to historically accurate hex-based games like the Longest Day, Flat Top, Third Reich, World in Flames and the Europa Series. A deep interest in history married with a good dose of creativity also inspired us to make our own strategy games or miniature rules almost always for our own entertainment and fun.

While I loved to play games like Axis and Allies and World in Flames, they increasingly began to represent two ends of a spectrum that were either not realistic and challenging enough or that took way too long to play. There were no good games that could capture both the essence and accuracy of a World War II simulation in an easy to learn system that could be played in a reasonable amount of time.

Beginning in 2000, we began to develop our own strategic level simulation of World War II for our own enjoyment and that of our friends. We took aspects from a lot of games that we liked to play and married them with some of our own ideas. The goal was to make a game that captured a greater degree of historical accuracy and the challenges faced by the great powers during the war in a simulation that could be played in a long day. The initial result was a European theater game played with miniatures on a 4’x3’ map which we debuted at GenCon in 2002 to rave reviews by everyone who played it and from the start people were asking how they could get a copy for themselves. The game's debut was encouraging, especially because those first games highlighted numerous glitches and problems – but the players loved it anyway.

Since then, we developed the first edition of the Struggle for Europe and Asia and now the updated second edition.  The rules and the game are finalized now and play-tested enough times for me (and I hope you) to be satisfied with it.
One of the fascinating aspects of this game is that the war could actually be fought out almost turn for turn the way it happened historically if players decided to do so. The Allies may invade Sicily in the Summer of 1943 and invade Salerno and Naples in the Autumn of 1943 only to be stopped at Monte Casino in the Winter. Very often the Germans invade Russia in the Summer of 1941 only to be stopped at the gates of Moscow and Leningrad when the Winter snows begin to fall.

Things can go very differently as well. Will the French and the BEF stop the Germans in Belgium? Will the Germans and Italians decide to put more emphasis on the Middle East, try an invasion of England, or build their resources for Russia? One of the great aspects of this game is that players will be faced with the same strategic decisions as the great powers were during the Second World War. Players may discover that many of the decisions made then may be the right ones for them now or explore other options as they present themselves.