Before we get into this series of Event Card Spoilers I want to say this. Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 is not a glorification of Nazism. Nor is it an attempt to change the narrative, although this game is an alternate reality look at the occupation of Germany by the Allies immediately following the fall of Berlin and the resistance from various groups to that occupation. This game will not be for everyone and may offend some with its portrayal of the events and participants in this struggle. I would say give it a chance to develop over the next year or so as the game has just been placed on pre-order with Legion Wargames. I have long been enthralled with the COIN Series from GMT Games for its attempt to tell the less than squeaky clean side of some of the most infamous struggles in history. This game is not an official part of that series but is COIN Series inspired.

I have seen lots of information put out by the design team of Clint Warren-Davey and Ben Fiene and it appears that these two have done their homework and extrapolated some theories that may or may not have been totally 100% accurate but are based in some semblance of plans or partial historical information. I think that it is good to explore history in these type of games.

With all of that being said, we were contacted by our good friend Randy Lein from Legion Wargames a few months ago about this project and asked if we would be interested in doing some coverage through an interview and possibly some other mediums, such as our Event Card Spoilers format that we have used in other games, and we were immediately intrigued by the concept and the fact that the game uses some of the elements of one of our favorite series. I have been in communication with one of the designers Clint Warren-Davey since that time and he has shared lots of information with me, including the rules and some of their background work on this one, and I wanted to make sure we gave it some light to give you a chance to understand what the game is so that you can make an informed decision about whether you plan to order this one or not. Clint has been great to work with and has agreed to write a series of short articles on the Event Cards and their basis in history as well as how they are used in the game.

If you are interested in ordering Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948, you can pre-order a copy for $72.00 from the Legion Wargames website at the following link: https://www.legionwargames.com/legion_WER.html

#31 National Redoubt

The so-called national redoubt was one of Hitlers’ many failed plans to resist the inevitable Allied and Soviet invasion at the end of the war. Using the mountains of southern Germany and Austria as a natural fortress and augmenting it with concrete bunkers, plentiful food supplies and an underground rail supply system it was hoped that the German regime could outlast its enemies in a siege. This alpine fortress was to be manned by huge numbers of SS troops, well supported with tanks and artillery. Like the Eastern Front Wolfsschanze (“Wolf’s Lair”) it would form the center of Hitler’s command system and be the best protected location in the Reich. In a conversation between Hitler and Himmler, it was predicted that an army defending the redoubt could last for five years, by which time the Allies and Soviets would turn on each other – this last idea quite accurately precited the tensions of the Cold War. The national redoubt was not actually completed in real life, but rumors of it did distract the American drive to Berlin in 1945 as armored spearheads were diverted south to Bavaria.

In the Werwolf timeline, the redoubt has been a secret, top-priority project since 1943 and is fully complete by 1945. In the game it is a Key Event Card – this means it is held by the Werwolf player, who can play it on top of the current event to override it. This is one of the few ways to cancel an event that is beneficial to other factions, but the national redoubt offers even better benefits. It forms the fortified command center of the Werwolf organization, replete with a large garrison (Werwolf guerrillas and a base), plentiful supplies (resources) and advanced weaponry (research token). The redoubt has its own marker, to be placed underneath a base, and it can be put in any space controlled by the Werwolf faction. As long as the base with the redoubt marker is in play, enemy actions like assault, bombard and air strike will inflict half the usual losses in that location. The ideal location for this would be either Bavaria or Hessen – both mountainous provinces adjacent to several cities. Mountainous terrain already halves the losses from Allied or Soviet assaults and when combined with the additional halving from the redoubt marker, the enemy will need 4 troop cubes to kill just 1 guerrilla in an assault! The national redoubt provides the Werwolves with a safe zone from which to recruit, protect valuable research and HE tokens, build up resources and send guerrillas out into adjacent areas. If the enemy is lured into attacking it, all the better. It will tie up huge numbers of Allied and Soviet pieces and put them in an ideal position for ambushes, attacks, assassinations and wunder-waffen strikes.