Introduction: Readers may wish to reference other InsideGMT material regarding this fascinating upcoming P-500 listed game for background and explanation of game mechanics whose general appreciation is presumed by this post.

Finally, a long-awaited day has come… being able to play Hitler’s Reich: A Card Conquest System Game (Hitler’s Reich) with REAL components, using the map and cards created by artist Charles Kibler from my amateurish components used to date in many a Hitler’s Reich play test game. Along with these were GMT “wooden bits” similar to what could be provided with the published game.

Although there is still some prettying up of the game’s European Theater of Operations of World War II map to be done along with minor edits of the cards; the After Action Report (AAR) described by this InsideGMT post was this designer’s first playing of the game with their professionally rendered graphic components… the same components you could experience with Developer Fred Schachter at WBC 2016.

This happy day was preceded by a bit of back and forth between Charlie, Fred, and myself, as Charlie expanded and refined the sample Conflict Cards InsideGMT previously shared so a full set would become available.  We had enjoyable email exchanges regarding which WWII uniform rank identifiers to use by referencing appropriate historical research and records.

For example, we concurred to refer solely to Army ranks (sorry Navy).   It seemed best being consistent with land identifiers.  Consistency with selected ranks across the four Conflict card decks was another goal from a playability perspective (Allied Decks: Soviet and Western Allied; Axis Decks: German and Italian Fascist, who represent the myriad of minor Axis Powers).  Therefore, a USA “Field Marshal” is in the game with the equivalent actual US Army functional rank of “General of the Army” noted beneath it. We even had an email exchange regarding the best uniform marking to Conflict card use for an Italian Private (“Soldato Scetto”).

Then there were Charlie’s excellent graphic choices for the Saboteur, a bundle of dynamite sticks with their fuse burning, a spy silhouette for Double Agent, and little dice symbols to serve as reminders that certain Conflict cards convey a die/dice rerolling ability during conflict resolution.  Rather than go on, you can view the full set of these Hitler’s Reich game components through the following links: Italian Conflict Cards, Soviet Conflict Cards, USA Conflict Cards, and German Conflict Cards.

But enough exciting graphic news of Hitler’s Reich’s Conflict cards.  Now to share a July 2016 play test game AAR.

Hitler’s Reich is a quick, comparatively simple strategic game of WWII in Europe.  The initial setup, which takes only a few minutes to accomplish, reflects the situation of March 1941 – just before Rommel began his advance from Libya and Hitler launched the Operation Barbarossa invasion of Russia; although neither of these are campaigns the Axis player is compelled to replicate.  He may instead wish to follow a different strategy toward victory… which, of course, is one of the reasons we play and enjoy our wonderful hobby of war gaming.

“It’s not that complex. It could be a 12-year-old’s Christmas present and would be played over and over again.  It’s a lot like the old Milton Bradley games of the ’90s, or Axis and Allies – you could play it with little Army Men and tanks (as the designer has, on occasion).” – Max Sewell, play tester.

I took the Allies after Max chose to play the Axis.  Max played the game three times before, so veteran that he now was, he needed only a quick rules refresher, mostly to become familiar with Charlie’s professionally done cards and map.

1941 – The Axis Turn East – with a vengeance

Max began the game much as the Axis did in the real war.  After the opening blind Event card draw led to Wolfpack and Convoy; Events pretty much cancelling each other out, Max went on the offensive. He took out the Balkans (Yugoslavia and Greece) and challenged the British in the North Sea: which is a Production Center abstractly representing convoy routes into Great Britain.  That challenge was met and won by myself as the Allies, whose Fleet Carriers sank the Bismarck, and thus opened the way for a series of Convoys to get through.

The Fleet Carriers Event card helps the Allies win naval battles to control sea zones and to improve their chances of getting Convoy Event cards through. Each Convoy increases the number of Conflict cards in the Allied hand by one. It is very important for a player to be aware of his Conflict card hand size in a game of Hitler’s Reich.   Having one’s hand driven down to zero is an automatic victory for that player’s opponent.  The Bismarck Event card represents Axis efforts to gain victories at sea.

I then launched a ground offensive of my own by driving from Tobruk into Libya, pre-empting any Axis land campaign in North Africa.  There’d be no “Rommel the Desert Fox” in this game!

With things in the West looking dicey, Max turned East.  He launched Barbarossa, the Axis surprise invasion of Russia.  To simulate that massive invasion, the Axis are allowed to attack four Soviet areas on their border (Baltics, Minsk, Bessarabia, and Crimea).    Max not only hit all four but also won ALL four.  As the game progressed, both players tried (and usually failed) to gain Event cards to improve their hands and position (Convoy, War Production, Franco) as well as their chances on the battlefield (Waffen SS, Tiger Tanks, T34s & Shermans, Artillery & Partisans, Stukas etc.)

Despite getting few additional Event cards, Max was able to grind forward, taking and holding both Leningrad and Kharkov – two of the six Soviet Production Centers, the loss of which each cost the Allies a card from their hand and lowered the maximum number of cards they can hold by one.   Despite their loss, the Allies managed to make good these Hand Size reductions with Convoys and War Production Events. I actually managed to end 1941 with an advantage in the number of cards held (8 Allied versus 7 for the Axis).

1942 – Here come the Tigers! – and the B-17s

The second year of the war began with Max finally getting Tiger Tanks and the dreaded Waffen SS Event cards, which along with his Generals Rommel and Von Manstein gave him a decided advantage in continuing his land campaign in the East.  Making judicious use of those cards, and by following up a victory here and there with a Blitzkreig (an extra attack paid by voluntarily reducing his Axis hand of cards: by one for each Blitz attack to a maximum of three), Max drove ever deeper into the Russian heartland.

He swung north to take out Karelia and Archangel, the latter of which is one of six Soviet Production Centers.  That loss cost me yet another card.  Max kept solidifying and consolidating his position by playing cards to fortify key areas he conquered.  Each of my attempts at a counterattack miserably failed, as did efforts to hold the line with General Chuikov and other Allied conflict enhancing Event cards.

Blessed with strong Western Allied Conflict cards, I attempted blunting Axis power through an economic offensive by hitting them with Strategic Bombers – but the Luftwaffe would have none of that, and several (but not all) of my attempts to get those Event cards, each of which reduces the Axis Conflict card hand by one, were blocked by Max.

It should be pointed out gaining Event cards which subtract from your opponent’s Hand Size can be as good a means in progressing along the road to Hitler’s Reich game victory as a dramatic Production Center seizing battlefield advance.

Moscow, the Caucasus – and Stalingrad

As the shadows lengthened with our gaming day’s progress; Max kept driving East, seizing Vologda and Belorussia to head straight for Moscow…. Russia’s capital. Its loss would reduce my Hand Size by two Production Centers, a serious blow indeed!  The best card in Max’s hand was the Italian Field Marshal, a 12 (the second most powerful in each Conflict Card suit, of which each player has two).  Unfortunately for Max, that was of the Italian suit, which loses ties.

For the crucial battle of Moscow, each side had four dice to resolve the conflict – the basic three plus one bonus die each: for the Axis it was Waffen SS and for the Soviet a bonus die for defending their capital.  Also, I had a strong Conflict card for this crucial battle: the Soviet Lieutenant General, worth 11 and the third strongest card in that suit.

I had no other regular Event cards that could help, for my Event card hand had Patton, Montgomery and Fleet Carriers, but they only work in combats led by the Western Allies – but I did have one very special card – Their Finest Hour.  That Event can seal a victory or grab victory from the jaws of defeat as it allows the Allied player to use not only a Conflict card chosen from his hand, but also the top card from his draw deck.  It does require burning (that is losing) a card and reducing one’s Hand Size by one, but desperate times, as they say….

“I never should have put an Italian in charge of this job.” – Max reflecting on risking his best Event cards for an attack on Moscow led by a general who loses ties (a German Conflict card wins ties).

Despite Max’s trepidation, his Italian general won the day, but only by a single pip of the dice.  I drew a lamentable “4” value card to add to my Lieutenant General, but it was not quite enough. The loss of the Soviet capital cost me two more cards from my Hand and brought the Axis that much closer to victory.

Still, the game was far from over, although the Allied hand size had shrunk to four cards, the Axis were down to five, both from burning their cards to launch Blitzkreig attacks and due to losses from Allied Strategic Bombing.   Also, the longer the game goes, the stronger the Allies get, gaining Conflict Cards and Event Cards at a steadily increasing pace.  As the card decks were nearly played out and 1943 looming, Max decided to go for broke.  On his next play he took the Ukraine, and then Blitzed into the Caucasus – the fifth of six Soviet Production Centers.  His next announced target was Stalingrad.

This was a critical and for me most dangerous development, for in Hitler’s Reich the Axis wins an automatic victory the instant all six Russian Production Center Areas of the map fall under their control.  At this point Max held: Leningrad, Archangel, Kharkov, Moscow, and the just gained Caucasus.   If I lost Stalingrad it would signify Russia’s conquest and be a “game over” instant Allied defeat.

“I’m Blitzing, if for no other reason than to scare the piss out of the Russians.” – Max as the Axis

As previously noted, a Blitzkreig reduces the player’s hand by one, but lets them keep attacking with the same Event cards they used in their previous attack (and more, if they wish). The Blitz has to come from the just-gained area, and, as in all Conflicts, the player risks losing those battle-committed Event cards which, if he wins, he can reuse.

At this point, with 1942 just about over, and although his best card was only a Major (worth 8) Max put it all on the line for the Stalingrad battle with his Axis Event cards: Tiger Tanks, Waffen SS and Von Manstein, the terrible trio that had beaten Soviet generals and other Allied Event Cards thrown at them.

“If I don’t do it now, I might never get to do it again – so I just had to toss the dice.” – Max as the Axis deciding to make his attack on Stalingrad

I still had no regular Event cards left that could help Stalingrad’s defense – and Max believed he had one additional advantage up his sleeve by being something of a “card counter”.  Here’s “the rub” he thought I confronted: the Allies must play a Soviet suit card when defending in or attacking from a Soviet area – so Max gambled I’d have to play a low value Red Star Conflict card.  However, if the Allied player has no Soviet cards left in his hand, he can then, and only then, use a Western Allied card – and I had the best of that suit ready-to-go:  The Supreme Commander – value 13, the highest value and most powerful card in that suit.

When that card was revealed Max was shocked!  My 13 value Conflict Card confronted his 8.  The dice were then rolled. With his bonus die for the Waffen SS, and his ability to modify dice results with Tigers and Von Manstein (which may turn one die to a five and four, respectively), Max rolled up a respectable 17 on four dice.  Added to the value of the Major, that made 25 points total.

I had 13 for the Supreme Commander and three dice, but those dice generated three very low numbers: all of them! Fortunately, the Supreme Commander let me reroll all three dice – could the Russians pull out a victory?  One die came up a six, but the others were a pair of twos…. for a total of 23 – yes, 23, two points below the Axis!

“….and a mighty resounding shout of victory was heard throughout the house.”  From Ryan, my daughter, who despite being downstairs and with the television on, heard Max’s loud and boisterous “YES!” on his win at Stalingrad.

Thus, and quite ironically, the Axis won the war by capturing Stalingrad – in the last play of 1942….and in a game taking 70 minutes after the cards were dealt.

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