The Other Side of the Hill - with The Twilight Generals Expansion

From NAC Wargames:

As the Second World War raged across Europe, tensions brewed within the seemingly monolithic German war machine. Hitler, like dictators before him, had given his minions overlapping responsibility, so that they would plot against each other and keep him the arbiter. Germany’s military leadership worked well enough as Germany’s armies advanced in conquest after conquest. But Hitler's no retreat order in the difficult winter of 1941-1942 was a turning point in the way the war was run. All decisions now had to be approved from the top—a flagrant reversal of the German military tradition of setting objectives and giving subordinates freedom in how to attain them. As victory in the battle for Europe eluded the German generals and final defeat loomed, their competing agendas came ever more to the fore. Contravening their overseer, military leaders looked to a settlement with the Allies and, in a few cases, the end of the regime.

The Other Side of the Hill is a boardgame that simulates the effects that this struggle for power within the German High Command had on the development of the Second World War. Up to four players represent military leaders cooperating and competing as they manage Germany's wartime strategy. To win, they must vie for Prestige by advancing the careers of their favored Army and Army Group commanders, grabbing their share of victories while the early-war pickings are easy, then avoiding responsibility for battlefield disasters as the Soviets and the Western Allies solidify and push back.

Players will pursue hidden objectives to dominate the German Officer Corps on behalf of Interest Groups such as the technically-minded Professionals, a traditionalist Old Guard, or anti-Nazi Dissidents—all while Allied aircraft bombard Germany’s war industry and Allied armies press in on every front. As in history, players must reconcile contradictory roles. The German General Staff’s job is to hold the Allies off, but each clique’s priorities can subvert any collective strategy. And beware: a player may in secret be sabotaging the war effort!

The other side of the hill can be played in competitive, cooperative and solo modes:

In the competitive mode, the game ends when Germany collapses or at the end of the 1945 spring turn. In both cases, the player with the highest accumulated Prestige is the winner. Players receive Agenda cards that will grant them extra Prestige Points at the end of the game. One of these cards may be that of the Dissidents, whose goal is to bring the war to an end as soon as possible, even at the cost of Germany’s defeat. One way to achieve this is to assassinate Hitler in the Black Orchestra plot. This competitive mode is the primary game mode.

In the cooperative mode, the game ends either when Germany collapses or at the end of the 1945 spring turn. If Germany collapses at any point, players automatically lose the game. The players’ Prestige is not tallied, but the players still distribute among themselves the Section of the High Command cards and General cards. Players can win the game as a group if Germany survives until the end of spring 1945 and a series of objectives are fulfilled, which include controlling Festung sectors on the map, keeping Fanaticism high and concluding technological projects. The solo mode works in the same way as the cooperative mode, but the single player takes over all the Sections of the High Command and controls all the Generals in play.

Additionally, the game includes two optional game modes:

In the semi-cooperative mode, the game ends when Germany collapses or at the end of the 1945 spring turn. If Germany collapses, all players lose the game. If Germany survives until the end of spring 1945, the player with the highest accumulated Prestige is the winner.Players receive Agenda cards that grant them extra Prestige Points at the end of the game, but the Dissidents' Agenda card is not used.

In the Campaign mode, players play short scenarios sequentially, allowing them to play long scenarios or even the entire campaign without having to keep the game set up for days or weeks. Players score the Prestige Points they have earned in each scenario and when they conclude the last scenario they add up their scores. The winner is the player with the highest total number of Prestige Points. This mode can only be played if the social Stretch Goals of the campaign that release the short scenarios are released.

There are three ways to obtain Prestige Points in the game and each of them explores a source of tension within the High Command. The first source of Prestige is the players' actions as Head of Sections of the High Command. Each year the players distribute among themselves the four Head of Section Cards:

The Head of the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht)

The Head of Operations

The Head of Production

The Head pf Personnel

The second source of Prestige is the actions of the Generals controlled by the players.The game includes dozens of historical generals, including most of those who held the position of Army Commander, Army Group Commander or Head of a Front during the war for a period longer than six months. At the beginning of each year, the generals corresponding to that year are distributed among the players. Players will earn Prestige Points at the beginning of each year if their generals occupy an Army Group Commander or Front Commander (OB) position. In addition, generals will also be awarded Prestige Points based on their victories in battle. Conversely, the generals' defeats and retreats reduce the players' prestige and cause their generals to be questioned and ultimately dismissed and removed from the game... or else they may become dissidents to the regime.

The third and final source of Prestige is Agenda cards. In every game there will come a time when the Head of the OKW will restructure the High Command to increase his control of the conduct of the war. The player with the OKW Head of OKW card at that time will continue to serve in that role until the end of the game and will be assigned a public Agenda card, which will award them Prestige Points at the end of the game. The other three High Command Sections will continue to be distributed among the remaining three players at the beginning of each year. Each of these players is also assigned a secret Agenda card that will earn them Prestige Points at the end of the game. These Agenda cards respond to various Interest Groups or factions within the Wehrmacht: the Old Guard, the Professionals, the Sympathizers and the Dissidents. The Dissidents represent the potential existence of a secret renegade in the game, the true hero in the story. This mechanic that adds depth and tension to the decisions made by the players.

Sequence of Play:

The game follows a strict and iterative sequence of actions that provides structure and allows players to easily internalise their actions and choices.

At the beginning of each year, Prestige Points are assigned to the players according to the positions held by their generals at that time and for the generals who have participated in battles during the previous year. Next, the Section of the High Command cards are redistributed and new General cards are dealt out to the players. Finally, the Head of OKW selects the Military Directive and Political Directive cards that he may play during the year and the Head of Production selects the Production Directive cards for the new year.

Each turn represents a season, so that a year consists of four turns, starting in winter and ending in autumn. In each season one Administrative Phase and one or two Operations Phases are played (two Operations Phases in summer and one each in winter, spring and autumn).

In the Administrative Phase, the Head of Operations allocates reinforcements to the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Strategic Warfare. Then the Head of Production readjusts the allocation of resources to the various needs in order to adapt the war production to the current state of the war.

Then Directive cards may be played. The Head of Production may play Production Directive cards to try and rationalise the German economy or to develop new weapons. The Head of the OKW can play Political Directive cards which, among other effects, can bring new allies into the Axis or increase the value of Fanaticism, which is the primary objective for the Head of the OKW. Finally, the Head of the OKW may also play Military Directive cards, which determine the offensives the German army will embark on later in the Operations Phase of this turn. Each of these Directives imply a production cost that will demand precious resources.

In each Operations Phase, the Head of Production first conducts Strategic Warfare for the season. Then, armies may be moved around, players check for dismissals and new commanders can be appointed. After this, battles will be fought: firstly, those initiated by the Axis as a result of the current Military Directive, and then those started by the two Allied factions, as directed by Combat cards. At the end of the Operations Phase, players will check whether the objectives of the active Military Directive, if there was one, have been achieved or not and the corresponding effects will be applied either way. Players also check for isolated Axis areas and, finally, they check if the conditions for automatic Victory or the collapse of Germany have been met.

Battles are fought in a strict sequence: first a Combat card is revealed to determine how many dice the Allied faction will roll in the battle. Next, the Generals that will intervene in the battle are activated. As a rule, a battle can be influenced by the Commander (OB) of the Front, if there is one, the Head of the Army Group and then a Leading General that is selected among those nominated by players for that battle. Then players roll the number of Allied dice specified by the active Combat card and the number of Axis dice corresponding to the armies in the battle. The number of dice to be rolled may be modified by certain factors, such as terrain, air power or the abilities of the activated Generals. Any Event results generated by the die rolls are resolved and the hits scored by each side are compared. An Axis offensive victory implies an advance and the possibility of exploitation; an Allied victory will imply the assumption of losses and/or retreats by the Axis. The Generals involved win Prestige as a result of their victories or lose Prestige and are questioned as punishment for their defeats. Questioned Generals may be dismissed if they fail the subsequent Confidence roll.