Time to Downfall: The Conquest of the Third Reich

RockyMountainNavy, 24 March 2025

Downfall: Conquest of the Third Reich, 1942-1945 by Chad Jensen and John Butterfield from GMT Games (2022, my copy 2nd Printing from 2024) is an interesting “war game.” Downfall delivers a very “Euro”-wargaming experience that keeps players involved throughout a turn but perhaps takes a bit longer to play than one might expect in a game where playability is a key design driver.

Sometimes sadness can bring joy. Designer Chad Jensen was taken from this world by pancreatic cancer in 2019. A prolific wargame designer, Jensen left several unfinished designs behind when he passed. In the case of Downfall, fellow wargame designer John Butterfield stepped in and completed the design with the assistance of Chad’s wife, Kai Jensen. As the ad copy for Downfall at the GMT Games website relates:

Chad Jensen researched and experimented with Downfall over a ten-year period, taking inspiration from classic strategic WWII games and incorporating ideas from his Fighting Formations initiative system to arrive at the four-faction, two-front design approach. John Butterfield has picked up the design where Chad left off, bringing it to completion.

 

With Downfall it is important to understand and acknowledge the design roots of the game. As Butterfield relates in the Design Notes for Downfall, the game that sits on the table today is an interpretation that evolved over a decade:

As I played the game and read between the lines, various versions of Downfall from over the years emerged — shifts in unit scale; from four players, to three to two; a detailed “wargame” version and a more “Euro” version. The constant was that Downfall covered the war in Europe from late 1942 to its end. Sifting through these archeological layers revealed the systems that came together brilliantly in Chad’s latest design, and which we refined into the published game.

Downfall is a wargame that incorporates several “Euro”-like game design elements. In my view Downfall is a war game; that is, a game thematically set in the combat of World War II using a game design that emphasizes playability and creating a highly interactive decision space for players—without attempting to closely replicate history as it occurred. This is not a criticism; just a viewpoint that should be understood to fully appreciate the design.

 

But…just look at the hexes!

At first glance, Downfall looks like a classic wargame. The two paper 22”x34” maps combine to form a 44”x34” map spanning Europe in World War II. The 351 cardboard playing pieces (counters) with a mix of “standard” wargame symbology and other graphics looks not too unlike a wargame from Avalon Hill or SPI in the heyday of the 1970’s. Combat in Downfall even uses a Combat Results Table (CRT) and standard six-sided dice though anti-grognards can breath easy knowing the Land Combat Table is not a classic combat odds setup. Yet, while Downfall looks the part of a classic hex & counter wargame, the game system design is very un-classic and instead incorporates some game mechanisms that are very “Euro”-like in origin.

 

2-by-4 gaming

Downfall is a “classic” wargame in the sense it is a two-player game; however, both players actually play two different factions. In Downfall one player plays the West (US, UK, Commonwealth) and the German Oberkommando der Heeres (OKH) facing the Soviets while the other player play as the Soviets and the German Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) that faces off against the West. 

One common complaint made against many wargames is that the sequence of play—usually built around two players—often seemingly creates “I-GO, U-GO” situations where one player watches the other take their turn before taking control and making the other player do the same. To avoid “I-GO, U-GO,” Downfall uses an initiative and orders system that creates a continuous flow of activity that keeps both players involved in every step regardless of the faction with the initiative at the moment. In play the players will discover that the ever-changing play order and different action choices keeps each of them involved throughout a game turn making a turn of Downfall practically devoid of down time.

 

U-Go when

Players of Downfall will be challenged to find the “Sequence of Events” for a game turn. While there certainly is a flow to playing a turn of Downfall that flow is (pardon the pun) fluid and not driven by a rigid, methodical sequence of actions. In Downfall factions perform Action Rounds based on initiative order. The sequence of faction Action Rounds is ever-changing as players choose Orders that cost various amounts of Initiative. As Orders are chosen and executed faction markers advance along the Initiative Track and, at various points, other actions such as Events or changed in weather are triggered. Put another way, game play in Downfall is a series of Action Rounds that occur in an ever-changing Initiative order that is occasionally interrupted by Events, weather changes, and End of Turn activities.

 

Event by event

In addition to Downfall factions acting in Initiative order, at certain times the Initiative track will call for an Event to occur. Each turn uses an Event deck with three cards showing: Discard, Current, and Pending. When the Initiative track indicates, an Event action takes place where the Current event moves to Discard, the Pending Event moves to Current with the actions on the card performed, and a new Pending card is revealed.

 

Interestingly, face up cards in Downfall also have other game effects such as indicating the number of air units a faction has or providing some other bonus or limitation. The fact the bonus/limitation is in effect when the Event card is face up—regardless of box occupied—means that bonuses/limitations come and go throughout the course of the game. While players might benefit from—or be hurt by—a one time effect from the Current Event, the ongoing bonuses/limitations must also be considered; players must keep a wary eye on the Event track to see what can help, or hinder, their decisions.

 

Action!

Downfall also uses Action cards which can be played in various situations. Some cards are Situational while others act as Headquarters or are used in Combat. For example, every faction has a Fate card (Situational) that forces a reroll. Soviet Action card 19 (Headquarters) on turns 1-3 represents the Voronezh Front which awards a bonus of 1 strength point and a die roll modifier of +/- 1; on turns 4-8 the card represents the 1st Ukrainian Front with a +2 strength point bonus but the same +/- 1 die roll modifier. Western Action card 5 is Combat Command (Combat) and used in any chosen combat with an American or French units and awards a variable die roll modifier based on the weather. 

 

Abstract warfare

Downfall covers the ground war in Europe from 1942 onward viewed from a strategic level. In an effort to maintain playability and focus the design treats several important strategic aspects of the war in highly abstracted ways. In Downfall, four major strategic abstractions are shown in three Strategic Warfare tracks: Strategic Bombing, the Siege of Malta, and The Battle of the Atlantic. A fourth abstraction, Naval units, are part of two Strategic Warfare tracks (Malta and Atlantic) and also affect supply and redeploy actions. 

 

Though the Design Notes for Downfall do not call out air power as a strategic abstraction, in play it certainly comes across as such. The number of air units on the map at any given time is quite small; at the start of the campaign game the set up calls for a mere five air units—two Soviet, two German (one OKW, one OKH), and a single Western Allies (see the “Event by event” image above). Each has a range and are Elite or regular. Perhaps it is best to think of air units as areas where “tactical airpower” is concentrated enough to make a difference in combat.

The strategic-level focus on ground warfare and the associated strategic abstractions in Downfall creates a game that is surprisingly not very counter dense. For example, if the Soviet player with their “endless” manpower was somehow able to get every unit counter onto the map, we are only talking about around 50 counters—for the entire Soviet Army. There are a handful of air and naval units as well as some partisan counters but we are still talking about around 70 counters—at best.

 

Proto-Cold War

Victory is an important, yet easy to overlook, element of the game design in Downfall. Given the two players are the West and the Soviets—and both fighting the Germans—victory is between the West and the Soviets, i.e. East versus West, in much the same way the Cold War would be fought after World War II. To be clear, in Downfall there is little to no Cold War political commentary in the Event or Action cards. Victory is determined by advantage in the number of objectives controlled (with the notable exception of the Event Cards for VE-Day, Red Tide Over Europe, and United Nations).

 

Downfall – A war game

Taken as a whole, Downfall delivers a gaming experience that challenges players to think about the strategy of how to fight World War II in Europe more than actual fighting concerns. The abstractions in Downfall squarely places the players in the roles of high-level strategic decision makers. Yes, some of those decisions are when and where to fight and with what forces, but those decisions only come after the players have considered supply and reinforcements and building strength and setting the conditions for a battle. The strategic focus is best seen though the Orders track and the impact to initiative. 

To this crusty grognard, the level of abstraction in the game design, taken in conjunction with the use of what may be considered non-traditional wargame mechanisms, makes Downfall into what I call more of a war-themed game (what I call a “war game”) than a “wargame,” whatever that really means. This comment is on no way intended to say the game is less than what it is; the design is innovative and interesting but players need to understand that this is a “game” above any sort of “simulation” or other “recreation” of history. This is made explicitly clear through the victory conditions which, although seemingly easily relatable to post-war politics, instead focuses strictly on the “game state” and not the “meta” of the end game conditions.

As much as I like Downfall (and I do, regardless of how one wants to interpret my comments above) one aspect that admittedly bothers me is the time needed to play. The Initiative and Event Cards in Downfall certainly make the game interesting to play, but they also take more time to play that I expected given the degree of abstraction in the design. The game is officially rated by GMT Games as taking, “6-12 hours.” My playthroughs took between 60-120 minutes per turn, depending on Events and aggressiveness of decisions made (i.e speed though the Initiative Track). That works out to about 12 hours for an eight-turn game. For myself, that makes Downfall a “weekender” war game; setup on a Thursday night for play on a Friday night (4-6 hours) and hopefully completion on Saturday (4-8 hours). Add in reading the rules (even a refresh) and setting up the game that is a bit more of a time commitment than I expected after reading the rules the first time.

 

All of which it so say that Downfall is a good weekender war game for a pair of friends. The game mechanisms are interesting and engaging; they create decision spaces in a war game that one does not often get. That said, that innovation and engagement comes at a (heavy?) cost in time. If you have the time, Downfall is a very entertaining and engaging game. It certainly is worth it for players to make the time to play Downfall at least once to enjoy the game design. Perhaps they will find it engaging enough to warrant additional plays; at the very least it could be in the rotation but designated for a weekend or holiday when more play time is available.

 

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