Greetings and thanks for taking the time to check out the all new War to End All Wars 3rd Edition board game. On this page we're going to talk a little about the different editions of The War to End All Wars and what they contained and what makes the new 3rd edition unique, special and better than its predecessors. Each edition is detailed below.

First Edition: The War to End All Wars first edition was released in early 1998. The game included a 17" x 44" two piece game map printed on a 10pt cover stock (approximately the same thickness of paperback book covers) and came with a 32 page rule booklet printed on newsprint paper. Bundled with it was a sheet of card stock with some poorly printed cut-out trench chits. The maps, rules and chits were shrunk wrap together in an 8.5" x 11" package size and retailed for $19.95. The first edition was clearly designed to be used in conjection with Axis & Allies game pieces or metal miniatures. Complaints about this edition was simply that it contained no units and was thus not a complete game upon itself. Some disliked the hand painted look to the game map. Second Edition: Box Set The War to End All Wars Second Edition was made into a box set and released in 2001 for $34.95. The box size was smaller than the usual "wargame" style box at approximately 6" x 9". It contained the same maps as the first edition, folded one additional time to fit into the smaller trim size. The game game with approximately 1,100 cut-out fold over paper units that were printed on a 67 pound card stock (about 2/3 as thick as the map) and came with 190 plastic slot stands to stand the paper units up in. The rule book expanded out to 40 pages, but now in digest format. Also with this edition came 1D10 and a score pad of nation sheets. The nation sheets were used to track resources and mark technologies gained. Complaints about this edition: The map remained unchanged, the rule book seemd crowded, WAY too much cutting to be done to cut out all the card stock units, the card stock units did not look good, the score pads were digest sized and thus ackward to photo copy once they had run out.

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2.5 Edition: Box Set The 2.5 Edition was released in early 2003 and held a couple upgrades over the second edition. The box, map, rules and price remained the same. The big upgrade in this edition was a abandonment of the card stock and stands type of units and the introduction of plastic tokens. These were 540 round plastic chips that could easily be stacked and included four stickers sheets with 540 die cut printed units that players would adhere to them. A 2.5 edition note sheet was included to introduce unit symbols for every nation and rules for unit availability and limitations. An accessory set sold separately expanded the unit range to include all the neutral nations. Complaints included: The map still, crowded rule booklet, and stickering the 540 plastic tokens. Most viewed the plastic as infinitly better than the previous card stock units, but still not perfect.

Third Edition: Box Set The Third Edition box set was an attempt to redesign the game from the ground up, taking 7 years of feedback and experience with the game since it was first published so as to make it better in every way. The cover price of $34.95 was maintained. Below is a complete list of upgrades and changes:

1) The Game Map. We redesigned the game map completely. The map is now 50% larger and contains more territories than before. More detail was added to the primary battle fronts such as the western front, eastern front and even Africa and Asia were expanded a bit. The old hand painted map was done away with and the new map was digitally rendered. Mountain territories and river borders were added and rules for these map features were added. Major and minor ports were added directly to the maps as were naval trade resources. And lastly, all connection points, both via sea or land, connecting the European, American, African and Asian map sections were made clear, a past failing of the previous map. The new 3rd Edition maps are printed in a thinner stock, but laminated for a glossy look and to give them durability and to protect them from water and oily fingers.

1) Game Rules. With years of feedback from players and taking many of the special diplomactic rules introduced to The War to End All Wars through a play by e-mail game run from 2001 to 2002, the game rules have been expanded and clarified. The 3rd edition rules are now 32 pages once more, full sized. They include many new diplomatic options for all the major nations including Japan and China. New rules were added for the mountain territories and river boundaries. Newly built ships now arrive in play inside a naval port and ships may harbor inside ports for protection. Ships in port when the land territory containing the port is captured have a chance of being captured. New line of supply rules have made the tracking and movement of resource points on the map and especially out among the colonies much easier. Submarines were made less effective in actual naval combat so they are no longer a cheap way to bolster naval strength. Instead all nations with a lot of naval commerce have had "Naval Trade Resources" placed directly into sea zones on the map and a new comvoy attack phase has been added so that submarines and surface ships can attack that naval trade and hence directly impact their enemies income for the turn.

1) The Units. The absolute best new thing about The War to End All Wars is the new unit format. We've dumped both the old card stock units and the plastic playing tokens. Now the bulk majority of game units are full color die cut game chits with nice color artwork. Chits are larger than standard format at .625" wide by .90" tall to better show off the artwork and make handling them easier. The game comes with 1300+ full color units providing all the game units needed for every major nation, plus a pool of generic units for both the Allied and Central Power minor nations. An additional 400+ unique, largely non duplicate units, in the same style have been printed on full sticker sheets. These sheets are attached to blank chitboard and may then easily be cut out with scissors or a art blade.

1) Nation Sheets. Every nation now has its own nation sheet. These sheets include all the nation specific information for that nation. That includes unit ratings, costs and movements, in what order the nation takes its turn, resources levels, manpower limits, and starting troop placements. There are 10 nation sheets plus one double sided neutral nations sheet. The reverse side of every nation sheet holds its technology chart which can be photo copied and marked up to track the nation's tech advacements.

1) Game Charts. The game now comes with three charts. A Resource Chart, Manpower Chart and Diplomacy Chart.

1) The Game Box. For ease of packaging, less folding of the map sections and so we could include full sized game charts and rule booklet, the new 3rd Edition now has a box twice the size of the 2nd and 2.5 editions.