Two years later, in 1976, SPI published War in the West, which covered the Allied-German conflict in Western Europe and North Africa.
Players can either play one or the other, or can combine both games into one massive campaign covering the entire European Theater called War in Europe.
The result was what critic Jon Freeman called "an ungainly beast with two thousand counters and poorly written rules.
[2] In the 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer states that "There are two editions, of which the more recent is preferable as it mates with War in the West and clarifies some rules.
"[3] In the 1980 book The Complete Book of Wargames, game designer Jon Freeman called the second edition of War in the East "a bit simpler and a bit more playable than [GDW's rival monster game] Drang Nach Osten!.