Much like the historical Weimar Republic, The Weimar Republic has seen its share of setbacks and crises. But unlike Germany’s first democracy, which was toppled both by the zeal of those sworn to destroy it and the incompetence of those sworn to defend it, the multiplayer political boardgame simulating that very collapse is moving forward with renewed hope.

Development of The Weimar Republic was struck hard by the Covid19 situation, mainly because live, face-to-face playtesting suffered so much. I had all sorts of live sessions planned for 2020, all of which had to be canceled of course, and as the pandemic dragged on the whole infrastructure for face-to-face gaming seemed to be in danger. At that point the game had seen its share of digtial testing already and I was not overly keen on moving focus back into the digital realm – even though the tools available these days make playing board games online both enjoyable and easy, it is hard to simulate the flow of an actual face-to-face session, especially for testing purposes. That flow is of course crucial to an asymmetric multiplayer game, which is perhaps why it took so long for the development team to discover certain tempo-related issues that had to be adressed before proceeding.

Luckily we have been able to rework those areas and, in the process, also managed to make the general flow of the game a lot more streamlined. The game that is now entering its final development cycle is not very different from the one that we thought was nearing completion in late 2020, but it is surely a lot better.

Note: All game art displayed in this article are from playtest versions and do not represent the final product in any way.

General Mechanics Revisited

The historical Weimar Republic was a complex, dynamic and sometimes extremely chaotic period, which makes for an interesting, but at the same time very challenging topic for a board game. After all, cardboard counters and wooden cubes can only go so far when trying to depict the rise of fascism and the fall of democracy.

Needless to say, abstraction is the key word here; I have never strived for a detailed simulation of every aspect of Weimar politics (which would not only be impossible to design but probably also impossible to play). TWR is not about the ins and outs of party politics, but rather about the battle of hearts and minds – a battle that is sometimes fought in parliament, but also inevitably ends up in the streets.

The Weimar Republic is all about the loyalty of the people – the winning faction will be the one who manages to convince the German public that it is best suited to rule the country. Even though violent coups d’êtat are real possibilities, no faction will succeed without enough support from the people.  

In game terms, this means dominating regions and cities (collectively referred to as Spaces) through ideological and political Influence. By having the most Influence Cubes in a given space, your faction has Dominance in that space. Dominance is important both because it allows you more Actions in a space, and because it will win you Elections (giving you Parliamentary Control in a Space and potentially winning you the game).

While propaganda, rallies and public meetings are all very important to shape the ideological landscape of the Republic, armed struggle – or at least the threat thereof –  could prove to be just as vital to your faction’s success. That’s where your Units come into play. The faction with the most units in a space has Supremacy in that space, effectively blocking your opponent’s ability to remove your Influence Cubes. Supremacy is also part of several factions’ victory conditions.

There are also a number of faction specific tools available. The Democratic Coalition and the Radical Conservatives use Leverage, representing economic influence over e.g. unions, businesses, land owners and industrialists, mainly to manipulate the Economy Track (which may swing between Hyperinflation and Mass Unemployment) and the Progress and Reaction Tracks (both of which open up more tools and options as they rise). The Communist KPD can instigate Strikes, which in turn may spark Uprisings. KPD can also place propaganda infrastructure in the form of Cadres, an ability it shares with Hitler’s NSDAP. The Nazis share the ability to Assassinate with the Radical Conservatives. 

As you can tell, factions in The Weimar Republic are asymmetric, yet with overlapping abilities, which makes for multi-layered and dynamic gameplay. Victory can be achieved both through parliamentary elections and revolutionary power grabs, and players will have to continually adapt their strategies to compete as the game moves through three distinct historical eras, each with its own unique deck of event cards.

What is New?

The revisions made to the game since 2020 mainly concern these event cards and how players use them to perform their actions. When testing came to focus exclusively on (digital) live sessions rather than PBEM, we gradually discovered that the action point economy of previous iterations were off the mark, making the game slower than desired and also a lot harder – you really needed to struggle to achieve satisfying results. While this may be historically accurate given the time period involved, it does not make for an enjoyable gaming experience.

So I suddenly stood before a new challenge: rework cards and actions to make the game flow faster and smoother, but without removing the historical weight of the topic.  

While it was undeniably a bit frustrating to have this happen relatively late in development, I’m glad that the issue was brought to light and more than happy with the end result, as the game now flows a lot better. Also, having to pause things for a while and take a step back offered the opportunity to further adjust and tweak other minor mechanics that needed attention.

The core issue that had to be addressed was that the action points of the previous iteration’s event card decks didn’t really offer enough opportunities for players to reach their strategic goals within a reasonable time frame and without a great deal of frustration. You spent a lot of time and energy trying to build momentum and board presence, and it could all be undone all too quickly because the math simply didn’t add up.

The solution turned out to be very simple, yet with profound effects: remove action points and action costs completely. All actions now have an equal value, and each player can perform one action per turn. Playing an event card grants you one extra action, but there are more turns than event cards in each era, so timing is essential. You also get bonus actions from parliamentary control cards (gained by winning regional elections) and, of course, from events.

This change proved to be very effective; the game is now fast-paced and dynamic, but it retains the sense of historical weight that has been a key part of the design from the get-go. The chaos, backstabbing and unpredictability are still there, but players have a lot more flexibility when it comes to planning and pursuing long term strategies. That said, even the best laid plans will probably have to change – after all, this is the Weimar Republic and things are bound to get rough and dirty at some point.

Solo System in the Works

Options for solo play have become increasingly important as the board gaming hobby has expanded over the last decade, and even more so since the Covid19 situation arose; given that more and more people are now enjoying board gaming by themselves, any multiplayer game should provide at least rudimentary mechanics for solo play. In the case of The Weimar Republic there has never been any debate on this matter: if you want people to play a game where the National Socialists are a playable faction, you’d best provide the option to substitute that faction with a bot. We don’t want to force anyone to play as Hitler.

This is why I am extremely grateful that GMT One exists and that the very talented Joe Schmidt is now working on a unique solo system for The Weimar Republic.  There will be bots for all four factions, meaning that you can both play the game by yourself or substitute any faction(s) with a bot should you so desire.

Testing of this system is well underway and the parts I’ve tried myself looks very promising indeed. It has all the elements I like to see in bots for a game like this: elegance and depth, small footprint and big impact, and perhaps most importantly, a strong focus on the narrative aspects. Joe’s bot factions are all about creating disturbances and annoyances – the NSDAP bot is less concerned about achieving a Nazi victory and more about preventing the human player(s) from reaching their goals. This is done in an elegant way, using very few components and just enough randomness to provide real challenges and a lot of replayability. The solo rules don’t take up more than a few pages and are blissfully devoid of any detailed, complex flowcharts.

Moving Forward

With the reworked mechanics firmly in place and the solo system on a clear path towards completion, The Weimar Republic is entering the final stages of its development cycle. It has been a long and sometimes bumpy ride, but perhaps that is only fitting given the complex and difficult subject. Designing an asymmetric multiplayer game about such a time period without building on any existing game engine has proven to be a challenge indeed, but in the end it has all been worth it. Now we can all look forward to the day when the fate of the Republic will finally be in the hands of you, the players!

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