As Hitler's grasp on Germany tightens and his maniacal fervor is unmasked, men from the highest levels of the Reich begin to plot his assassination.

As Hitler's dire ambitions and list of atrocities grow, these brave few must build their strength and prepare for the perfect moment to strike. Day and night the Gestapo hound their trail, calling these conspirators "Schwarze Kapelle" - the Black Orchestra.

Will this band of daring patriots save their country - and Europe - from utter ruin before it is too late?

Components

• Game Board
• 10 Custom Dice
• 5 Player Pawns
• 84 Event Cards
• 51 Conspirator Cards
• 24 Interrogation Cards
• 6 Deputy Tokens
• 24 Item Tiles
• 3 Difficulty Tiles
• 9 Conspirator Sheets
• 11 Tracking Cubes
• 1 Victory Card
• 1 Reference Sheet
• Rule Book

Object of the Game

As one of the historic figures in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, you must collaborate with your fellow traitors to gather supplies, motivate each other, and manipulate events such that an opportunity to achieve your plot is found, and then successfully execute it.

All the while, you must keep an eye on Hitler 's support, so you can find the right moment to strike while avoiding the suspicion of the Gestapo so that your attempt may not be detected.

There is one way the conspirators win:

Assassinate Hitler by enacting a plot and rolling a total number of @ on the dice equal to or exceeding the current level of Hitler 's Military Support while not rolling more # than allowed by the conspirator's level of Suspicion.

There are three ways the conspirators lose:

1. All conspirators are arrested and are together in the Arrested conspirators space at any point in the game.

2. The Stage 7 "Documents Located" card is drawn.

3. Players are unable to draw and resolve an event card.

Setup

1. Place Hitler and the five deputy tiles on their indicated starting spaces.

2. Randomly shuffle the item tiles and place one face-down on every black square space on the main board.

3. Select a difficulty level (see difficulty) and place the Hitler's Military Support marker on the appopriate value (2 for Easy, 3 for Standard, 4 for Hard). Optionally, place the appropriate difficulty tile underneath this starting value.

4. Separate the event cards into their resp ective "stages" and shuffle them. Place each stack of event cards in their stages along the top of the game board, ordered 1 to 7. Discard two cards face- down off the top of each deck and remove them from the game. Do not look at the contents of these discarded cards.

5. Place the conspirator and interrogation decks beside the board.

6. Randomly give each player a conspirator board (take two boards if you are playing solo) as well as a pawn and two marker cubes in a matching color.

7. All conspirator pawns start at the Train Station in Berlin

8. Place the ten dice near the main board.

The Conspirator Boards

Each conspirator board features a different person with a unique special ability. A conspirators' Motivation and Suspicion are also Tracked on the board along with inventory slots for items.

Motivation

• Conspirators start on Timid Motivation and are limited to holding only two cards.

• At the next level of Motivation , Skeptical , conspirators may hold four cards (5 players), five cards (3-4 players) or six cards (1-2 players).

• The next level of Motivation , Positive , conspirators may use their indicated special ability.

• When Motivation increases to Committed, a conspirator may enact plots against Hitler.

Suspicion

Conspirators start on Medium Suspicion. Suspicion Tracks how much suspicion the conspirator has attracted. Conspirators that are on Extreme Suspicion when a Gestapo Raid occurs will be arrested.

Conspirators that have attracted more Suspicion will have more trouble enacting a plot without being detected. The Suspicion Track shows the number of that if rolled will result in an unavoidable failure and detection of the plot.

Even if you roll enough to potentially kill Hitler, if you roll too many , your attempt is thwarted by his security forces.

Game Play

The players decide among themselves who should take the first turn of the game.

From then on, players take turns in a clockwise order. A summary of a Standard turn is shown on the board.

1. Check for Hitler and deputy penalties.
2. Take up to 3 actions.
3. Draw and resolve an event card.

I. Hitler and Deputy Penalties

If a conspirator begins their turn in the same space as Hitler or one of his five Deputies , a penalty is incurred (listed on each deputy tile). This penalty is not incurred when the deputy moves into a conspirator's space , only at the start of that conspirator 's turn. A conspirator can incur multiple penalties.

• Hitler lowers the conspirator's Motivation by 1.

• Hess forces the conspirator to discard a card of any kind, if they have one in their possession.

• Goebbles forbids the conspirator from using their Special Ability for the entire turn.

• Bormann forbids the conspirator from using the CONSPIRE action for the entire turn.

• Himmler raises the conspirator's Suspicion by 1. Goering forces the conspirator to discard an item tile, if they have one in their possession.

II. Actions

Each conspirator may take any combination of three actions, even taking the same action three times. Once all three actions have been taken (or skipped , as the conspirator wishes) proceed to drawing an event card.

• Conspire

  This action represents a conspirator stirring up dissent and recruiting people to the cause. It can be a risky action to take, but it can reap great rewards. To Conspire you roll 1-3 dice (at one action per die).

  You may only Conspire once per turn. For this action and all other instances of resolving dice results, resolve the results in this order:

  • For each rolled, you and all other conspirators in your space raise Suspicion by 1.

  • For each rolled, place that die on the Dissent Track.

  • Add all number results together and gain that many actions this turn.

• Move One Space

  A conspirator may move from one space to an adjacent space connected by a white dotted line. A conspirator may move to any space in Berlin from any other Berlin space (including the Train Station ) for one action.

  While all of those spaces are considered to be Berlin , they are not considered the same space for giving items , plot stipulations , etc. To leave or enter Berlin, a conspirator must first move to the Train Station.

  Conspirators may only move to spaces opened up by the current event card stage or less. For example, conspirators may not visit Prague until the first Stage 3 event card has been revealed and is in play.

• Draw a Card

  Conspirators may draw a card from the conspirator deck. Some of these are useful items or information the conspirators can use, while other cards allow them to manipulate parts of the game.

  There are also plot cards, which are necessary to assassinate Hitler . Cards with a red triangle are Restricted , these cards will draw the attention of the Gestapo and make an Arrest more likely (see Gestapo Raids).

  
  
  

  All hands are face-up in front of the player in possession of them .The number of cards conspirators can hold changes based on the number of players and the Motivation of the conspirators.

  If your draw would give you more cards than your maximum hand size, you must then immediately discard down to that maximum (discarding cards does not require an action).

• Play a Card

  Place the card in the discard pile and follow the instructions on the card. Plot cards must be activated using this action (but the card is not discarded). Some cards do not require an action to play and may be played at any time. This information is highlighted on those particular cards.

• Share A Card/item

  A conspirator may give or take a card or item tile from another conspirator in the same space. Note that card and item limits must not be violated at any time during this action. Items may be discarded at any time to make space for new ones

• Search Location

  Flip the item tile in the space of your conspirator pawn.

• Procure Item

  Take a revealed item tile from the space of your conspirator pawn and place it in a free slot on your conspirator board.

  If your procurement would give you more items than your maximum item capacity, you must then immediately discard down to that maximum (discarding items does not require an action).

• Deliver Item

  Sometimes conspirators may need to continue to do their jobs to reduce the suspicion of the Nazi Party. Under the item tiles, the spaces are marked with items that can be delivered to the space, and the benefits of doing so.

  To deliver an item, discard the item tile from your board and gain the benefit. If the benefit as listed as "distributed ", players may distribute the benefits among themselves however they choose.

• Release Conspirator From Jail

  A conspirator may release another conspirator from jail (the Arrested conspirator space to the left of Gestapo HQ). The conspirator taking the action must be in the Gestapo HQ space and not at Extreme Suspicion .

  Roll one die. On a result of , the attempting conspirator is arrested. On any other result, the active conspirator raises their Suspicion by 1 and chooses one arrested conspirator to release from jail. The released conspirator moves to Gestapo HQ and sets their Suspicion to Extreme.

III. Event Cards

At the end of a conspirator's turn, an event card must be resolved. Draw a card from the current stage (starting with 1), place it in the Current event space and follow the instructions on the card in order , noting any special conditions mentioned.

When there are no more cards of a stage, move on to the next stage. Each stage of event card corresponds to an area on the map. Conspirators may only enter areas of the map matching the current stage's number and that of all previous stages.

Stage 7 makes many spaces off limits for the remainder of the game. Move Hitler, Deputies and conspirators to the nearest legal space when a stage 7 event is drawn.

If players are unable to draw and resolve an event card during this phase ( usually because there are no more event cards), the conspirators lose the game.

Key Events

In each stage, there is a Key event ( though some may have been randomly removed during set up).

When a Key event is drawn, place it in the Current event space like any other event. When the next event card is drawn, place the Key event in the Key event space beside the board.

The Key event isn't considered to be active, but when certain cards are drawn the Key event will cause them to be ignored.

Start of a New Stage

A new stage begins when the first card of that stage is resolved. For example, Stage 2 doesn't begin when the Stage 1 event deck runs out, it begins when the first Stage 2 event card is resolved.

Cards Removed by a Key event

If a Key event is in play, cards with the yellow top will be removed from the game without having an effect and a new card will be drawn in its place.

Resolving "nearest"

Some cards have "nearest " in the text (e.g. "Move Goebbels to the space of the nearest conspirator "). If multiple conspirators or Deputies are equidistant targets, the players choose which one is affected.

For purposes of resolving "nearest ", conspirators currently in the space of the moving enemy are ignored. In other words, when Hitler or a deputy is required to move , they must end in a different location than they started from, regardless of if there was a conspirator in the space they moved from.

Gestapo Raids

Most stages include at least one "Gestapo Raid" event card. Place any conspirators with Extreme Suspicion in the Arrested conspirators area next to the Gestapo HQ . conspirators not arrested may discard any number of cards . After discarding , raise each conspirator 's Suspicion by 1 for each Restricted card they hold. Finally , remove all dice on the Dissent Track.

Arrested Conspirators

Arrested conspirators must conduct their turns as shown on the board. First, they must discard all Restricted cards plus an additional card for each Restricted card. Next, they must roll a die to resist interrogation according to their level of Motivation.

If they fail to resist interrogation, they must draw an interrogation card and choose one of the options. They cannot consult with the other players on this decision, and must shuffle the card back into the interrogation deck without showing the other players.

If the arrested conspirator rolls a , then they are released and move to the GESTAPO HQ space and set their Suspicion to High . It is possible for a conspirator to resist interrogation but not be released or fail to resist and then be released.

Plot Cards

In order to succeed, conspirators need to acquire at least one plot card from the conspirator deck. Plot cards do not count as Restricted cards . Playing a plot card counts as an action.

Plot cards count against the limit of cards you can hold, just like other conspirator cards. They may also be shared as normal. However , they do not have to be discarded during an Arrest even if Restricted cards are present. Even so, they may be discarded at any time, by taking the "play a card" action.

A plot card lists the required elements to assassinate Hitler, such as requiring Hitler to be in a certain space . Remember, conspirators also need to be at at least Committed (sometimes even Zealous) Motivation to enact a plot.

A conspirator is always granted one die (denoted by the symbol) by meeting the required elements of a plot, and this die must be rolled when the plot is attempted . Optional elements on the card allow a conspirator to add additional dice to the attempt or ignore a result.

If the plot can be legally attempted, then a conspirator may gather dice to add to their roll. If the conspirator possesses item tiles that match the optional elements on the card, they may discard those items to add a die to the total dice rolled during the attempt.

Some plots will allow the discarding of multiple instances of the same item to gain a die for each discarded. There are also some conspirator cards and special abilities that will let you add dice to a plot attempt. A conspirator is not required to add optional dice to their roll.

Once the conspirator has settled on the number of dice they will roll in the plot attempt , refer to the current level of Hitler's Military Support and the Suspicion level of the conspirator attempting the plot. All the dice are then rolled at once to determine if the plot succeeds!

Success and Failure

To succeed, the conspirator must roll at least as many shown on the Hitler's Military Support Track with fewer as indicated on the conspirator's Suspicion Track.

If the roll is successful, Hitler has been assassinated (along with any Deputies in his space) and the conspirators win the game. It is possible to fail in the attempt but remain undetected. The failure is only detected if the indicated number of are rolled.

Undetected failed plots do not require any changes to the game state, but item tiles used in the plot must always be discarded . If the plot failed but was not detected, do not discard the plot card.

If the plot is detected , discard the plot card used, move Hitler to the Chancellery, lower all conspirators ' Motivation by 1, and the conspirator that attempted the plot is arrested.

End of the Game

The game ends when either Hitler is successfully assassinated (the conspirators win) or when the conspirators lose by the "Documents Located" card, all conspirators arrested and in Jail, or if the players cannot draw and resolve an event card.

You may refer to the following chart to determine your level of success.

You must decrease your final score by 1 million lives saved for each deputy still on the board:

Lives Saved

• Stage 1:36 million lives saved
• Stage 2:35 million lives saved
• Stage 3:34 million lives saved
• Stage 4:26 million lives saved
• Stage 5:20 million lives saved
• Stage 6:12 million lives saved
• Stage 7:5 million lives saved

Difficulty Level

During Setup, choose a difficulty level: Easy, Standard, or Hard. Place the Hitler Military Support marker on the appropriate value:

• Easy: Starting value of 2.

• Standard: Starting value of 3.

• Hard: Starting value of 4.

This level also indicates the minimal level of Hitler's Military Support. If a game effect would cause Hitler's Military Support to fall below its starting value, it stays at its starting value instead.

You may put one of the difficulty tiles directly below the starting level as a reminder.

Additional Difficulty Options

For additional challenge, consider making some or all of the following modifications in addition to choosing a difficulty level:

• Allow Deputies to be killed with plot cards (on a setting of 2 To win you must eliminate Hitler and at least two of his Deputies.
  
  Even if Hitler is killed first, assume that his Deputies continue to direct the war.

• During setup, discard three event cards from each stage instead of only two.

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