I tested with this:

variable "VMCount" {
    description = "How many VMs do you want to start with (number)? default=1 max=5"
    type = number
}

output "VMCount" {
  value = "${var.VMCount > 2 && var.VMCount < 6 ? var.VMCount : 2}"
}

and it works well.

Terraform will perform the following actions:

Plan: 0 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Changes to Outputs:
  + VMCount = 4

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: yes


Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Outputs:

VMCount = 4
PS C:\d\m\terraform\output-and-variable> terraform output
VMCount = 4
PS C:\d\m\terraform\output-and-variable> terraform apply
var.VMCount
  How many VMs do you want to start with (number)? default=1 max=5

  Enter a value: 8


Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:

Terraform will perform the following actions:

Plan: 0 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

Changes to Outputs:
  ~ VMCount = 4 -> 2

Do you want to perform these actions?
  Terraform will perform the actions described above.
  Only 'yes' will be accepted to approve.

  Enter a value: yes


Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Outputs:

VMCount = 2
PS C:\d\m\terraform\output-and-variable> terraform output
VMCount = 2
PS C:\d\m\terraform\output-and-variable>

Could you check what outouts doyou have in state? VMC or VMCount?

As stated here in the terraform documentation:

Outputs are only rendered when Terraform applies your plan. Running terraform plan will not render outputs.

My answer is disregarding the context of the original question (which has already been answered in the past), but only focusing on the question in the title:

How to print terraform variable values?

And I want to correct something that is implied by all these other answers, i.e. that a terraform variable can only be retrieved programmatically via the outputs, and thus needing to terraform apply first. This is not true. You only need terraform init beforehand.

There is a way to print an actual variable (i.e. from variables.tf and/or terraform.tfvars) It is a bit hidden, there is no direct subcommand designed for this (as opposed to terraform output) but you can do it with this short "one-liner":

terraform console <<EOF
var.<your_variable>
EOF

I tested with Terraform v1.3.4. When outputs are defined, terraform plan appears to print them as a final section after the resource changeset. It starts with Changes to Outputs:.

I don't know if it will still work when the outputs haven't changed. The easy solution is to simply add some dummy string to them to artificially create a change.

In your question, the value expression is quite complex. There may be bugs in that which are causing the value to not be printed. I think that's something for a separate question, because many people who come to this question looking for a way to print outputs will not have the same complex expression. You should see the outputs printed when you use:

output "example" {
  value = "this should show up in plan, at least until you apply it"
}