Last year, we were contacted by our good friend Randy Lein from Legion Wargames about a new project called Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948, which is a COIN Series inspired multi-faction game taking a look at a what if situation at the end of World War II with various possible insurgencies. He 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

#3 Nuremberg Trials

This card is obvious choice to include in Werwolf. Indeed, when I went to the post office to send a prototype of the game overseas, the postman asked me what the product was. When I explained the concept, he said “well surely you’ll have the Nuremberg Trials as an Event Card?” Clearly this man was a discerning student of history – maybe he has pre-ordered the game already.

The events represented by this card have taken on enormous historical significance. Over the course of eleven months from November 1945, the International Military Tribunal tried 24 of the most culpable political and military leaders of the Nazi regime. Judges and prosecutors were drawn from the USSR, Britain, the United States, and France, while the defense was primarily German. Ultimately twelve death sentences were handed down, three of the defendants were acquitted, and the remainder given prison sentences. Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring and Reichsorganisationsleiter Robert Ley both committed suicide, Ley before his trial and Göring before his death sentence. The trials were not without criticism, as many saw them as victor’s justice, particularly as several charges against military personnel, such as unrestricted submarine warfare, were also committed by the Soviets and Western Allies. US Chief Justice Stone called the trials a fraud and a high-grade lynching party, while Supreme Court Justice Douglas questioned the legality of the proceedings, saying that the Allies had substituted power for principle. Notably, most of the prison sentences were eventually commuted.

In the game’s timeline, the trials are still proceeding despite the ongoing insurgency, with the Allies keen to present an image of fair and procedural justice. If the Allies Control Nuremberg, chosen deliberately for the trials due to its significance in Nazi history, they can play this card to raise Loyalty across the map. However, a large-scale breakout attempt is also an option which the Werwolves can choose, disrupting the trials as war criminals are let loose.

If you missed the previous entries in the series, you can catch up on the posts to date by following the below links:

#26 Radio Werwolf

#85 Operation Effective

#82 The Desert Fox

#73 Soviet Space Program

#25 Otto Skorzeny

#75 Berlin Blockade

#2 Paddy Mayne’s Boys

#9 The Morgenthau Plan

#6 Werner von Braun

#54 Schnez-Truppe

#85 Polish Peoples’ Republic

#70 Kriminalkommissar

#91 Katukov’s Toast

#21 Red Jackets

#62 CIC

Even though the pre-order numbers are increasing and nearing their ultimate goal of 250, we are still hosting these card spoilers to share more about the game and its alternate history. In the meantime, if you are interested we posted an interview with the designers and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2022/06/27/interview-with-clint-warren-davey-and-ben-fiene-designers-of-werwolf-insurgency-in-occupied-germany-1945-1948-from-legion-wargames/

-Grant