From Mark McLaughlin, the designer of The Napoleonic Wars and Fred Schachter, the team that brought you Wellington, Kutuzov and Rebel Raiders on the High Seas)

No stacks of armies, no hexes, no overly-lengthy rules to learn - Hitler’s Reich takes five minutes to set up and two hours (or less!) to play. Players fight over Europe, across the North Atlantic and Mediterraneanand into Russia using a combat mechanism similar to the traditional card game “War” with dice added in. High-quality wooden pieces mark their progress, which is aided economically, politically and on the battlefield through the competition for and play of Event Cards drawn from three unique decks: one for the Axis, one for the Allies, and one from which either side can attempt to draw.

Hitler’s Reich is the first of the Card Conquest System game series in which players recreate epic military contests of history in short, comparatively simple and easy to learn, but hard to master games. Designed to be set up in minutes and played to conclusion in one sitting, these are not simulations but games, albeit ones packed with enough historical flavor, excitement, and decision making to give you the feeling of being there at the highest levels of command.

In Hitler’s Reich, one side is the Axis of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and their East European minions. The other is the Allies of the United States, Great Britain and the Commonwealth, along with the Soviet Union. It is April of 1941 and Hitler, already master of Europe and much of the Mediterranean, is poised to launch his great march East – Operation Barbarossa: the invasion of Soviet Russia.

Unfortunately for his ambitions, his Italian partner is in trouble, so he is faced with pressure to divert forces to drive into the Balkans and commit more resources to the Western Desert. For that matter, why invade Russia? Perhaps the defeat of Britain via a naval/U-Boat campaign including the conquest of North Africa and The Middle East, leading to an invasion of Great Britain itself is a better course to victory? These are the kind of strategic choices the Axis faces.

As the Allied high command, will you succeed in throwing back this onslaught and eventually liberate Europe via a Soviet counter-offensive and Operation Overlord’s amphibious invasion of France? Or as the Axis leadership, will you triumph over all and create the thousand-year empire that would have been Hitler’s Reich?

Note: Although Hitler’s Reich isdesigned for two players, a three- and four-player variant is included for multi-player and team play. The game can also be played solitaire. Additionally, a two hour playing time may be anticipated once contestants are familiar with the game rules and cards.

Components

• One 17 x 22 high quality mounted map
• One deck of 54 playing cards
• One deck of 55 Hitler’s Reich “Events”
• Ten six-sided dice
• Assorted Wooden Pieces:
• 75 Control Marker Disks: 35 Axis Black, 15 Soviet Allied Red, 25 Western Allied Blue
• 12 Hexagon Shaped Pieces: 4 Axis Black & 4 Allied Blue for Fortification Markers, the others to indicate Card Hand Size (2) and when a Bonus Action is earned (2) during a player’s turn
• 10 Long Fleet Markers (6 Allied Blue, 4 Axis Black)
• 5 Black Cubes
• To indicate the initial Axis “Operation Barbarossa” Attacks (4) and that the Nazi-Soviet Pact in effect
• 6 Canary Yellow Cubes to indicate
• Blitzkrieg Attacks (3) – a game mechanism to simulate the fearsome territorial sweep of WWII mechanized operations
• Spain’s temporary value as an Axis Production Center
• Italian Surrender, Malta Besieged
• 2 player Aid Sheets/Cards (back printed)
• Rulebook
• One Game Set-Up Card back printed with Optional 10 Period Game Record Track: with historical arrival of events and the possibility of a “Sudden Death” game ending
• Play Book: Which contains a host of Optional Rules to extend players interest and the challenges in solving the puzzles of this fascinating game