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Escape from Colditz!
Escape from Colditz!
 
Price: $70.00

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Product Code: EXC0002
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Description
 
Colditz Castle—the fortress deep in Germany which held captive the very best escapees of World War II. Now you can enter the gray stone walls and relive the deeds of famous men and heroes. Measure yourself in the most daring game of all—the pursuit of liberty and life itself.
One player takes the past of the German Guards, while the others play the “Escape Officers” who are responsible for organizing escape attempts by their teams of prisoners. Generally, the winner will be the Escape Officer who achieve the most successful escapes; but it might be the German Forces, if they are able to limit the number of escapes.
An escape succeeds when a Prisoner of War (POW) reaches one of the “Safe” targets outside the Castle boundaries. In order to achieve this, equipment must be collected to negotiate both physical obstacles and the patrolling guards. Such items include rope for scaling walls; wire cutters, for cutting perimeter wire; forged passes and disguises to fool the guards and skeleton keys to slip through locked doors. These are obtained from rooms within the Castle—the Laundry, the Dentist, the Guradroom—those places where years ago they were made secretly or stolen.
A Survival Kit must be obtained (clothing, food and maps) before any escape may be attempted. Without these, no escapee would last long on the run.

Opportunities to outwit the guards will arise: Red Cross cigarettes, to bribe sentries; hideaways, to forestall searches; Diversions, to distract attention from a comrade; even Inspection by the German High Command, forcing Sntries to return to Barracks. In particular, tunnels will be used as the best way to ensure the safe escape of a party of POWs.
And what of the Gemrna Guards? They must play a cat and mouse game, opnly able to act on suspicion. Sentries will be posted to cover possible breakouts; POWs caught outside the Castle’s inner courtyard will be arrested and sent to solitary confiement. POWs caught with illegal equipment within the Castle will also be sent to the cells. Roll Calls (Appels) will be held, forcing all POWs to attend in the Central Courtyard, or risk automatic arrest. The German Officer faces a daunting task; containment rather than outright success is his objective, particularly as his limited forces will be stretched to breaking point in the later stages of the game.

The Game in Play:
Play commences with all POWs lines up in the Roll Call area in the Inner Courtyard, while the German Guards are placed in their barracks. Each player in turn throws the two dice, and moves any number of his men up to the total thrown. All movement is made by way of the circles marked on the board. Guards may, however, be posted direct to certain parts of the board without throwing the dice, allowing rapid deployment to cover POW movements.
The early stages of the game will see POWs collecting equipment necessary to attempt escapes. This obtained, definite escape plans can be formulated; by rope over the walls, by tunnel from the Chapel, cutting through the perimeter wire, or simply attempting to walk out, armed with skeleton key and forged pass. On certain throws, Opportunity Cards will be drawn, giving the POWs extra advantages, but also giving the German Security Officer inside information, with which unwary POWs can be caught napping! In particular searches may take place, POWs arrested, and equipment confiscated. POWs may be seemingly safe in their tunnel, only to find, horror struck, that the innocently patrolling Sentry nearby has played a “Tunnel Detected” card, and that the cells, not freedom will be their next destination.
As the game builds to a climax, daring deed will be attempted. Escape Officers may elect to draw a “Do or Die” card, which allows one POW to make a run for it, by giving extra dice throws. But—if he fails to make his target, he is presumed shot dead, and the entire team out of the game!

Components: Game board, 16 pawns, 96 assorted playing cards, 2 dice, rulebook.
No of players: 2-6
Ages: 8+
Game time: 2-3 hours

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