Hitler’s Reich just got real – a real artist, that is. Veteran GMT artist Charlie Kibler has taken his professional brush to designer Mark McLaughlin’s hand-drawn playtest map and cards. Although this is just his first pass and more work will be done to brighten it up and bring it to life, Kibler’s map is clean, crisp and clear. The designer, editor and playtesters are excited about seeing the game’s wooden pieces march and retreat across Charlie’s map’s nicely delineated borders and into the production centers and capitals control of which will determine whether Hitler’s Reich will rise or fall.
This is not the Hitler’s Reich Team’s first experience with Charlie. Game Developer Fred Schachter first had the pleasure of working with Charlie when The Avalon Hill Game Company published his Siege of Jerusalem game back in 1989. Charlie’s gorgeous hand painted rendition of 70AD Jerusalem is still being enjoyed by gamers today. Charlie then contributed his graphic talents to GMT’s Rebel Raiders on the High Seas.
Hitler’s Reich is a fast-paced, quick to learn, easy-to-play, strategic game of the European Theater of Operations of World War II. The game takes less than five minutes to set up, and can be fought to a sudden-death conclusion in two hours or even less. Instead of cardboard unit counters, the game uses wooden playing pieces to mark the ebb and flow of mighty armies and the domination of vital sea zones by great navies. Combat and other forms of conflict (economic, political, diplomatic, intelligence) are resolved by a simple dice-enhanced conflict card comparison mechanism.
Charlie has already started working on the principal playing deck: which provides 27 Allied (Soviet and Western) and 27 Axis (German, Italian) cards, each rated, named and marked with an insignia of rank ranging from private soldier to supreme commander, as well as spies and saboteurs. Many of those cards have special powers. These are the Conflict Cards readers of InsideGMT will find reference to within other Hitler’s Reich articles within this site. Some sample Conflict Card art is provided with this article. Another deck offers leaders, technologies, and events the players can battle over to give them advantages in the field and at higher levels.
Hitler’s Reich Conflict Card Samples
The campaign game starts in the Spring of 1941, with the Germans poised to invade the Balkans and launch Operation Barbarossa into Russia. The Axis player, however, does not have to go East. The Fascist powers can instead can take advantage of the Nazi-Soviet Pact that was in place and concentrate for a knock-out blow against the British, at least until the deck (and 1941) runs out, at which time the Allies start offensively moving with the Soviets… presuming they survive the initial Axis onslaught. The game has many sudden-death endings possible through conquest or economic domination. These offer players a variety of strategies and, together with the two decks of cards, ensure that every game plays out different from the last.
A 1944 scenario is also included, which begins with the Allies preparing to hit the Nazi heartland from three directions: Operation Overlord into France, Operation Bagration into Poland and the ongoing struggle up the Italian boot. Rules to add a third and even fourth player are also included, along with a Solitaire game, as are many other options that layer on historical and “what-if” options for those seeking to enhance their gaming experience.
Hopefully, this latest update entices those who were “on the fence” to place their P-500 order for Hitler’s Reich which will be available to play during the upcoming GMT West “Weekend at the Warehouse”.
Author: Fred Schachter
The original “War” (card game) comparison really sold this game short; it’s much more like a trick-taking game, where battles are tricks and cards have special events. “War with added dice” turned me off immediately, while “a trick-taking game with events” would have made me drool for information.
Now that I know, I’m much more interested in where this goes! Hand size determined by economic might? Very cool idea.
Hello Adam,
Your above comment is much appreciated and shows how valuable the InsideGMT forum is, for without interested gamers input, the adjustment of how the game’s conflict resolution system was described would not have been made.
Mark and I are most grateful for this kind of support and encouragement.
I do hope to provide some of you actual experience playing HITLER’S REICH during the upcoming GMT “Weekend at the Warehouse”.
Looks a great game, but you are missing the Channel Islands off the map.
Hi Calvin,
Please accept apologies for the long delay responding to you.
At this scale of map, depicting the Channel Islands would be inappropriate. It would skew the game flow in ahistorical manner.
Thanks for your interest in HITLER’S REICH: A CARD CONQUEST SYSTEM GAME.
The correct name is “Oberkommando des Heeres” (not Herres)
“Herr” means Mister, Herres does not exist.
“Heer” means Army