This week’s post comes courtesy of jeffreyPaul Jones, an In the Shadows playtester. We hope you enjoy this solo After Action Report, which shows off some of the unique and exciting features of the Solitaire game.

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Pitting the German Occupation forces in France against a growing Resistance presence prior to the Allied invasion, In the Shadows is a challenging 9-turn game for one or two players. In its present development, ITS offers a multiplayer game and four unique solitaire scenarios in which the player is the Resistance and the Occupation is run by a bot. This After Action Report (AAR) follows the solo Franc-Tireurs et Partisans adventure. Each solitaire game plays in about 40-45 minutes. All artwork in this article is prototype and for illustrative purposes only!

First, a little about the game: 18 Event cards drive the game, with each side playing one card per turn. Events occur regardless of who plays the card, and this is crucial to Initiative in the game. The card also has a number of Action Points available to the player and a “suit” for where the APs may be played without paying an AP penalty. The map of France is divided into three districts, each containing four zones: White (Western France), Red (Northeastern France), and Blue (Vichy France). Some player Actions will automatically succeed, but others will require the flip of a Resolution Card. Occupation targeting and placement during the game is randomly determined from a Location Deck or a BOT matrix.

The Occupation has 16 counters, 10 which start in fixed locations in France (seven black German and three blue Milice). The remaining Occupation counters enter play via Events. The Resistance begins with eight hidden counters (five red Resistance cells and four yellow Maquisards), two red and three yellow in the Recruitment Pool, and three at different points on the Authority Track. Two of the five Resistance cells are Informants, becoming Occupation units when Uncovered.

The Authority Track counter advances as a result of successful sabotages along a three-step wheel called Resistance Operations. The Resistance attempts to sabotage or recruit may succeed, cause a unit to uncover, and/or place an Alert marker which further limits Resistance operations.

That’s enough perspective. Let’s get into the game.

The Franc-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP) have two Victory Conditions: after 9 turns, the Resistance player must have at least a specific number of cells on the map in relation to where the chit is on the Authority track and they must have at least one red cell in each of the three districts. The special ability for the FTP allows the Resistance to recruit in any zone, even those without Resistance cells, though they must still pay a 1AP penalty for recruiting in an out-of-suit zone.

Round 1

Resistance Event Card: False Papers, 7 AP, red suit

Occupation Event Card: Betrayal, 6 AP, black suit (wild)

Resistance Turn

Since Resistance has the higher AP value, I can choose who goes first and decide to take initiative. False Papers allows me to recruit or sabotage without fear of Uncover, so I initially place all my red cells in the red zone (Lille, Nancy, Dijon, avoiding an Occupation stronghold in Paris) and my lone Maquis in Marseille. I want to spend my 6 AP to recruit and sabotage. I successfully recruit a yellow Maquis in Lille and a red cell in Nancy, but the attempt in Dijon fails. Sabotage in Lille succeeds and advances the chit on the Resistance Operations Wheel one space, which allows me to move Covert Units for 1AP instead of 2AP.

Then I moved the Maquis from Lille to Caen in the White District. A Sabotage in Nancy succeeds and places an Alert; the Resistance Operations (RESOP) wheel advances to Hide Resistance for 1AP. The Sabotage in Dijon also succeeds and places an Alert, completing the RESOP wheel, which in turn advances the Authority chit. This puts one more red cell in my Recruitment Pool. I could not have had a more fortunate turn than this. What a great start!

Occupation Bot Turn

The Occupation Event moves the RESOP marker to its origin space (Lower Authority), but it’s already there. I really took a chance with the moves I made; if I hadn’t succeeded with all three sabotage attempts, that counter would have returned to its start, and I would have wasted all those APs. This turn the Occupation bot can target either the Maquis in Caen or the Resistance in Lille. Although a new player might draw a Location card to determine the target this turn, a rule mandates targeting a Resistance cell if possible, so the Occupation will first move a Milice into Lille from Paris. They Uncover the Resistance on the second attempt and arrest the Resistance on the second attempt, moving the unit to the “Disappeared” box. One remaining AP targets the Maquis in Caen, and the German unit there fails its attempt to Uncover. At the end of the turn, I get a free Maquis placement and place it in the Vichy zone.

Round 2

Resistance Event Card: Pearl Witherinton, 5 AP, blue suit

Occupation Event Card: Simone Segouin, 6 AP, red suit

Resistance Turn

Occupation wins the Initiative but passes to Resistance because there are no Uncovered units on the map. Resistance places the Pearl Witherington counter in Angers. She allows the Resistance player to draw a second Resolution card in that zone once per turn. Right now, there’s no unit there, but I hope to recruit a unit soon. I recruit a Resistance cell in Vichy, and succeed in a Sabotage there, then move the Resistance cell to Angers. A Sabotage in Marseille fails and I spend my final 2AP to Sabotage in Angers, paying the out-of-zone Penalty, but getting to use Pearl. This succeeds but places an Alert.

Occupation Bot Turn

The Occupation card has a Resistance action, and Simone Segouin allows me to move a Covert Maquis to an adjacent area and perform a free Ambush and flip two Resolution cards and pick the result. I want to target an area with 2 Occupation units in case I can Ambush both. I choose the 2 Occupation units in Lyon, because if I succeed with both, I remove a German from the game and retreat a Milice to an area that might remove an Alert counter. Both cards I flip would Ambush a Milice, so I move it to Marseille to remove the Alert there.

The Bot flips a Location card and targets the Resistance cell in Dijon. A German and Milice unit move in and Uncover an Informant. They then target the two red cells in Nancy, moving in a Milice and Uncovering a red cell, which they fail to Arrest. The turn ends and a new Maquis arrives in Lyon. I’ve positioned my Maquis to move into Dijon to try to take the heat off the Resistance cells in future turns since I need them around to win the game.

Round 3

Resistance Event Card: Milice Reprisals: Occupation, 6AP, blue suit

Occupation Event Card: Josephine Baker: Resistance, 4 AP, blue suit

Resistance Turn

I win the Initiative and consider letting the BOT move first because Josephine Baker allows me to draw two event cards and keep one. Since it won’t benefit me this turn, I decide to go first. I really need to succeed in one more Sabotage because advancing Authority allows me to use the red and white suits interchangeably. Sabotage in Lyon succeeds. A Recruit in Marseille places a Resistance cell and a Maquis moves from Vichy to Toulouse to remove the Alert in Vichy. A Sabotage in Marseille fails and Uncovers the red cell there. I don’t have enough AP to Hide the counter, so I Sabotage in Toulouse successfully.

Occupation Bot Turn

The Bot performs the Josephine Baker Event and I draw two Event Cards: Clandestine Press and Cimade. The former gives me two free Recruit Actions and 5 red suit APs, while Cimade lets me flip Uncovered counters in two adjacent zones. I keep the former because it has more AP and if I can use it later with the Escape Event Card, so I can recruit from the Disappeared Box, it could be a game-changer.

The Bot has 4 AP to use to Arrest the Uncovered Resistance cell in Marseille and succeeds on the first attempt. Then the Milice in Nancy attempts to Arrest the Uncovered red cell (that I forgot about because I was paying more attention to writing this AAR than playing the game!); the Milice fails and has one unused AP left after paying a Penalty for attempting an Action out-of-suit – another lucky break!

Round 4

Resistance Event Card: Nazi Reprisals, 4 AP, wild suit

Occupation Event Card: Nazi Reprisals, 3 AP, wild suit

Resistance Turn

Both Event cards this turn help my enemy; there’s nothing I can do about this. I win the Initiative and choose to go first because I have an Uncovered red cell in Nancy. I add a German unit randomly (and ironically) to Nancy, spend an AP to move the Uncovered cell to unoccupied Paris and the Covert cell in Nancy to Lille and I Hide the cell in Paris and successfully Sabotage in Lille.

Occupation Bot Turn

The event adds a German in Angers. Then the Occupation targets the red cell in Lille, uncovering the remaining Informant. This makes Lille even more dangerous in the future and costs me one crucial red cell. The turn ends.

Round 5

Resistance Event Card: Nazi Reprisals, 5 AP, wild suit

Occupation Event Card: Escape, 3 AP, red suit

Occupation Bot Turn

I elect to have the Occupation move first in case the Bot succeeds in another Arrest; then I’ll have more units to Recruit from the Disappeared Box. (The Escape card allows me to recruit from the Disappeared Box and there are two units there at the moment). The Occupation targets the red cell in Paris and moves in a Milice and Uncovers the cell. Luckily, they miss the Arrest.

Resistance Turn

I recruit into Vichy and Nancy. A Sabotage in Caen succeeds but I have to Uncover a Maquis. The Uncovered cell in Paris moves to unoccupied Angers and the turn ends. I probably should have skipped the Sabotage and Uncovered the Hidden unit instead. If I lose the game, this will be the critical deciding point. I end my turn.

Round 6

Resistance Event Card: International Brigades, 6 AP, white suit

Occupation Event Card: Gestapo, 7 AP, white suit

Occupation Bot Turn

I chose International Brigades with 6 AP because I want the Initiative, and my luck could not have been worse. I draw the Occupation card and the Bot seizes the Initiative with 7 AP, white suit, and that’s where my uncovered cell is. With 7 AP, the Bot can possibly Arrest two red cells, and that will put me seriously behind the eight ball. Plus, there’s an Alert counter in Angers that gives the Occupation a free move and the Gestapo Event Uncovers the red cell in Vichy. In Angers, a Milice free-moves in from Rennes and a German reinforces from Caen. The Arrest succeeds. The Occupation quickly Uncovers the remaining red cell and then miraculously fails in a pair of Arrest attempts!

Resistance Turn

International Brigades lets me move all Maquis to adjacent zones, and I move them into areas where there are only German units. (German units don’t Uncover my cells as easily as Milice). I have 6 AP and 2 Uncovered units. I need to Hide them both, but I also need to advance the RESOP wheel. I Sabotage in Angers and succeed with the help of Pearl Witherington, then sneak into unoccupied Caen and Hide. A Maquisard Sabotages in Rennes, I hide the red cell in Vichy, and a Maquis is Uncovered in a failed Sabotage attempt. This is to my benefit though, because this exposed unit will draw the Occupation attention and protect my valuable Resistance cells.

Round 7

Resistance Event Card: Jean Moulin, 5 AP, white suit

Occupation Event Card: Milice Reprisals, 4 AP, red suit

Resistance Turn

I’m going to leave the Maquis exposed this turn to draw in the Occupation. Jean Moulin allows me to Sabotage in the White zone without placing an alert. So if I Hide the unit first I can perform two Sabotage there and leave it exposed. I Hide the Maquis for 2 AP and fail the Sabotage, then Uncover the unit for a second try and succeed. I need to continue advancing on the Authority Track so I Sabotage in Nancy and fail, placing an Alert. I cannot use my remaining AP in any useful way, so I pass.

Occupation Bot Turn

The Occupation adds a Milice to Lille, thankfully away from the Resistance. The exposed Maquis in Bordeaux forces the German there to spend 3 AP to Arrest, which fails. (2 AP to Arrest Maquis +1 out-of-zone Penalty). Their turn ends.

Round 8

Resistance Event Card: Cimade, 4 AP, white suit

Occupation Event Card: Milice Reprisals, 3 AP, white suit

Resistance Turn

Cimade allows me to flip Uncovered units in adjacent areas. However, I want the Maquis to remain Uncovered, especially since the BOT only has 3 AP – all will be spent in an Arrest attempt. I also know that on the next and final turn, I’m going to have 5 AP in the red zone, so I can use those points to Recruit the remaining red cell in my pool, and possibly the one still on the Authority Track. I Hide and Sabotage with the Maquis in Bordeaux as I did before. Whoops! The first attempt failed and produced an Alert, which prevents me from trying again. I spend my last 2 AP to Sabotage in Lyon, hoping to get an Uncover. I blow up a train, but I don’t Uncover. The best laid plans….

Occupation Bot Turn

The Occupation adds a Milice to Caen, the worst place for me because there had been no Occupation units there. The Milice Uncovers the Resistance cell but fails in the Arrest attempt and the turn ends.

Round 9

Resistance Event Card: Clandestine Press, 5 AP, red suit

Occupation Event Card: Franc-Garde, 7 AP, blue suit

Occupation Bot Turn

The Franc-Garde Event Uncovers the Maquis in Bordeaux, so now the Occupation has TWO Uncovered Units in the white zone to Arrest AND the Initiative. Thankfully, their suit is the blue zone, so I think I can pull this off. Occupation moves in on the exposed red cell and makes the Arrest. Then they successfully Arrest the Maquis in Bordeaux.

Resistance Turn

I have five Resistance cells on the map and I need those 5 to satisfy the first of my Victory Conditions. I have Resistance cells in Nancy and Vichy, meaning I have 2/3 of the second Victory Condition. All I have to do is successfully Recruit in the White zone, and it’s a win. I have 5 AP and 5 chances, so things are looking good.

I succeeded on the first try and Recruit in Bordeaux. Win.

Overall, I think I played a pretty good game, though I was really lucky on three turns. The balance in this scenario is very good: in the five games I’ve played, it’s 3-2 with the Resistance on the winning side. This is a very good game and the tension keeps things moving along quickly.

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