A World at War ★★★★★

From Boardgamegeek:

A World at War, a wargaming masterpiece, brings together in one game all of the decisive elements of the Second World War. With roots tracing back to Avalon Hill's classic Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, and to its eventual successors--Advanced Third Reich and Empire of the Rising Sun--A World at War takes this popular gaming system even further, clearing up ambiguities and adding more detail to what was already a superb family of wargames.

Developed through a decade of design and playtesting, A World at War has it all: armor and infantry slogging it out against marines and paratroopers; army planes and carrier planes crisscrossing the skies with bombers and interceptors and ultra-fast jets; battleships and cruisers feinting and jabbing with lethal carriers and stealthy submarines. But unlike in some games, in A World at War you get to decide which units you'll build the most of, and where you'll ultimately deploy them--in Europe or the Pacific, in the eastern front or the Med. Just remember that armaments don't constitute the only battlefield. War is also waged within foreign governments through diplomacy, and within your own skunk works through research. So grab every advantage you can get, every advantage--not just in sortie range and torpedo detonators, but also in drabber things like oil and boots: oil from those rich oil fields to the south, and boots for tromping through those cruel winters in the north. Even the puny partisan can play a part: unwatched, he'll wreak havoc behind your lines. So keep a sure eye on your enemy. And if you suddenly find yourself outwitted and outgunned, don't be afraid to surge-research the atomic bomb or perhaps take the exigency--less risky and less glitzy--of fortifying your beachfronts and erecting flak near your factories. React quickly though, and learn from your mistakes--like how you failed to crack your enemy's encryptions, like how you shipped too little materiel via Murmansk, or like how you let victory disease lure you to too many island groups. For this is A World a War, a game of deep choices and flexible strategy. So fight hard, and go knock those rival nations to their knees.

A World at War, a game that has it all. Warfare not only on land, under the sea, and in the air--but also on trucks and in treasuries, on the lab bench and in the diplomatic pouch. Master every sphere, triumph over every setback, and you'll earn that rare chance to conquer armies and rule nations . . . even if they're only cardboard.