BUY THIS GAME!!! If you like a challenge, a mental work out, formulating strategy and implementing it in a dynamic fluid way, you will love this game. I bought this for Christmas 2016 for our annual family board game playing. Every year my older kids come round with their g/fs and b/fs and we sit with their young brother, my wife and I and we play some board games. My kids asked me to buy something new for them to play. Monopoly is too linear and boring after a couple of turns, Cluedo is too easy and some of the pseudo war games like 1941 are extremely poor. However, as a young lad of about 12/13, I played this with some of the friends living on our street. So it was a foregone conclusion when perusing a board game site, when I cam across the re-release.
As many on here have already commented, the presentation of the game is first class or as an RAF Flt. Lt. would say "Top Hole, old man!" (It's true, as one other reviewer said, it's great to immerse yourself into the spirit and time period of the game.) This game puts all other similarly priced games to shame. The box is beautifully printed on a nice textured board giving you from the box alone, a quality, expensive and tactile experience. Opening the box reveals a wonderfully crafted playing board, again, reeking of quality from the gold embossed game name to the thickness of the board stock. Even the lower box inside is printed which again adds to the whole experience. The playing components are housed in 3 heavy duty card boxes. One is marked up as a Red Cross parcel and it includes the playing pieces, the dice, and some exclamation markers which are used to identify escape routes where things like rope have been used and are still in play. Two playing card sized boxes contain POW Opportunity cards, German Security Cards, Do or Die Cards, Escape Equipment cards (like rope) and Personal Equipment Cards. Included are some historical documents which add a little to the ambience.
The playing pieces consist of beautifully made simple wooden pawns, coloured as follows: Black = German Guards, Red = British POWs, Orange = Dutch POWs, Brown = French POWs (strange choice, really should be Blue!) Green = Polish, and lastly Blue = American POWs. Thus this is from two to six players though there is nothing wrong with having teams, and as a strategy game, it is certainly is better played with groups playing each POW nationality. The board is beautifully printed with a stylised representation of the key rooms as dictated by one of only 2 British POWs to ever escape, Major Pat Reid, who conceived the game. I agree with another reviewer that it can be a little fiddly moving round the board and when there are many pieces close to each other. However, what I would say to the reviewer who thought the rolling the dice could knock pieces over, "why not use your brain and roll the dice in the box lid?" Additionally, this is a thinking man's game, and rushing to move pieces is not the way to play.
We had our second game yesterday, around a year after the first. The rules may be a little vague in places, but again, to counter reviewers who have found this difficult, all you have to do is make your own up before the game and agree them. That's not hard, really, is it? Both times we've played we played the classic rules. The new ones look too complicated and involved, but the classic rules, in my opinion are just as involving. For example, one of the rules is the use of the ruse, diversion, or distractionary tactics. This makes the game realistic. It allows you strategies like pretending to have tunnels to get the Security Guard to play a rare Tunnel Detected card, only to find no tunnel card in play. Other techniques are loading POWs in areas where escape attempts might be made, thus thinking guard numbers in areas where you might be planning to escape from. Additionally, setting a total number of POWs to escape can tailor the game to a certain duration. We had 4 players and Germans last night, though we started with 5 plus Germans. When my 12 year old found out there were no Russians he didn't want to play. The reason there were no Russians also somewhat upset him. (The Germans executed all Soviet and Russian soldiers they captured). In any case what it means is that there are 5 POWS for each team, and 15 Guards for the German team. We agreed that the POWs would win when any 4 POWs escaped from any combination of nationalities, within a 150minute period. If they'd not achieved 4 POWs at the end of time, they lose and the Germans win.
This very rule, pushes the POWs groups together as happened in real life. Though there wasn't as much co-operation, all Escape Officers were required to let others know of escape attempts. It also means that escape attempts could be used to create diversions. One particularly fun rule which I don't remember from the original game (though it may have existed) is the "Do or Die" card. This allows a POW to "make a break for it" in some demented, desperate attempt for freedom. Keys and passes are not required, but ropes and wire cutters are required. The POW escapee can at any point in the game risk it all on an attempt. Why risk it all? Because if the attempt fails the whole of that team are eliminated from the game! It's a high risk strategy, but it's a hell of a lot of fun when someone tries it, like they did last night. There are 5 Do or Die cards and basically they have dice rolls attempts from 3 rolls to 7 rolls inclusive printed on them. Basically, the suicidal POW has to reach the target destination within the number of prescribed rolls. Failure to do so means total elimination (a bit like the Soviets but without the bloodshed). It adds a load of excitement to the game and requires careful planning if not to fail.
Last year, as this year, someone escaped using the damned Staff Car, which was particularly annoying, especially as it was my same son that did it. The POW teams played very well last night working together, having escape meetings and using every trick in the book to try to defeat me. They even called out my wife, who was playing the French, as a collaborator, when she kissed me to cheer me up. Amongst fake accents and even me peering across all players, whilst getting into role, we had an amazing time. We only remembered the elimination role at the end of the game, and my older kids weren't going to play fair when they had a chance to beat Herr Kommandant Vater!
In summary, if you've got reasonable level of intelligence, enjoy thinking, love historical contexts, and want to show how smart you are, you will not be disappointed by this game. I just wish I could play it more often.
| Product Dimensions | 29.46 x 7.11 x 42.67 cm; 1.95 kg |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer recommended age | 14 - 18 years |
| Item model number | OSP8935 |
| Language: | English |
| Number of Game Players | 2 to 6 |
| Number of pieces | 1 |
| Assembly Required | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
| Batteries included? | No |
| Material Type(s) | Wood |
| Remote Control Included? | No |
| Colour | Multicolor |
| Release date | 25 Oct. 2016 |
| ASIN | 1472818938 |
