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

#14 GI’s and Fräuleins

When American soldiers marched into Germany in 1945, they were told that fraternizing with the enemy was forbidden. Even eye contact was to be avoided, let alone becoming friends and falling in love. This was due to the threat of the Werwolves, and the fear that there were 2 million ex-Nazis out of uniform who would not hesitate to murder Americans caught off-guard. Watch out G.I’s – sneaking down an alleyway with an alluring young fräulein could be a trap! However, official military etiquette and the threat of terrorism could not stop relationships from flourishing.

American soldiers in occupied Germany became almost immediately popular among young German women, due not only to the swagger of a victorious army but also the rationed luxury items that GI’s could provide including cigarettes, chocolate, alcohol and stockings. German towns became dotted with jazz and strip-tease clubs, and the youth became enamored with American pop culture. The title of this card comes from Maria Höhn’s 2002 book on the subject, which documented these German-American relationships and the harsh conservative German reaction to them, particularly to dalliances involving black GI’s.

This card provides the option of these romantic relationships strengthening pro-American sympathies in the occupied provinces, building up Allied Loyalty and harming Werwolf Resources. It also presents the possibility of insurgents targeting such women and their families with terrorism as punishment for being overly friendly with the enemy. This shifts provinces towards Active Resistance and drains Allied Morale.

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

#62 CIC

#3 Nuremberg Trials

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