On May 10, 1940, Hitler’s Germany invaded France and within six weeks, the country had surrendered. While a new government was established in Vichy, most of the country was occupied by German forces. Despite the fact that France had surrendered, a resistance developed to oppose the German occupiers and help provide support for an Allied invasion of liberation. While many people know about he D-Day landings the began the liberation of France, fewer realize the importance and efforts of the brave French people who sacrificed much, including their lives, to resist the Nazi occupiers and prepare the way for eventual liberation and freedom. Now a new choose-your-own-adventure style board game takes players into this dangerous environment of spies and saboteurs in War Story: Occupied France.
What Is War Story: Occupied France?
War Story: Occupied France is a cooperative or solo narrative game for 1-6 players, ages 14 and up, and takes about 60-90 minutes to play. It is set during World War II in Nazi-controlled France where players lead covert operatives of the French Resistance. It’s currently available from local and online game stores as well as from Amazon. The suggested retail price is $55 for a copy of the game.
War Story: Occupied France was designed by Dave Neale and David Thompson and published by Osprey Games, with illustrations by Kwanchai Moriya.
War Story: Occupied France Components
Here is what the game comes with:
- 1 Rulebook
- 1 Team Sheet pad
- 1 Secret Envelope
- 8 Agent Pawns
- 48 Wooden Cubes
- 49 Tokens
- 63 Cards
- 3 Mission Books
- 3 Mission Envelopes
War Story: Occupied France includes three mission books, one for each mission, which range in size from 68 to 108 pages each. These include a mission introduction with instructions on how to set up the current mission and then the remainder of the books include hundreds of numbered entries that are used to move the mission along.
Each mission also uses one of the three mission envelopes. Each contain a Mission Briefing with the background story of the mission as well as the players’ objectives. Also included are encounter maps used during the missions. The small secret envelope is only to be opened when called for during one of the missions.
Players will have access to a pool of eight agents over the course of the three missions. Each agent has their own agent card. These contain the name of the agent and their firearms and skills ability levels. Three of the agents also have special abilities. The reverse side of each card is used when an agent is wounded and features a reduced firearms level.
In addition to Agent cards, there are also equipment and mission cards. Equipment cards can be assigned to individual agents and can be weapons or other pieces of equipment that can provide abilities or benefits to the agents during a mission. These cards contain the name of the item, the ability or benefit, and for weapons if it is silenced or audible and short or long ranged. For example, each agent begins missions with a Welrod Mk II silenced pistol for use at short range. Some equipment can be used once and then discarded. There are two main types of mission cards. Action cards contain an action the players can take and then an entry number in the mission book they then read. Field cards may contain pictures of an area, communications, and a wide range of other things that agents encounter during the mission.
Players keep track of their three mission campaign on the team sheets. Here they list the names of their agents and keep track of time and other aspects concerning the status of the mission. The entries in the mission books may refer to information on the team sheet to resolve where the story goes. The back side of the team sheet can be used to keep track of the entries you have looked up in case you need to revisit one for more details or clarification.
The tokens are used for a variety of purposes. Skill, Firearm, and Advantage tokens are used to temporarily increase an agent’s ability levels and are returned to the pool when used. The large Team Pool token is where tokens can be placed that are available to all agents on the team. There are also other tokens to represent when an agent is mortally wounded and have special abilities. Finally there are vehicle tokens used during the third mission.
Each agent in play will have two agent pawns of the same color to use during encounters to represent their location on an encounter map. There are also a number of colored cubes that are used to represent allies and enemies, for dividing up your agents into two teams, and for other purposes called out during the mission.
How to Play War Story: Occupied France
The Goal
The goal of the game is to complete all three missions and achieve all of the objectives for each mission.
Setup
Start off by choosing which mission you will play. It is suggested to begin with Mission 1, The Maquis of Morette and then work your way through the three mission campaign. After a mission has been selected, place the team pool token near the play area. Separate all of the tokens and cubes into piles of types to create a pool. Place the agent cards in a pile with the agent pawns next to them followed by the mission cards and equipment cards into their own decks. Next gather the mission book and mission envelope for the mission you are playing as well as a team sheet. Finally, read the mission introduction from the mission book which will direct you how to finish setting up the mission. You are now ready to play.
Gameplay
Gameplay in War Story: Occupied France is controlled by the entries in the mission book. The mission introduction begins the game by either providing an entry to look up or to select a card and follow its directions. As the players read an entry, it may ask them to make a choice and then go to another entry. Players may also have to draw specific cards from the decks or pull encounter maps from the mission envelope. All of the directions on what to do are right in the mission book.
At times, the entries may ask the players check ability levels of one or more agents. It could ask for a total, the lowest value, or the highest value. Players may spend firearms tokens to increase the firearm values by one for each token or skill tokens to increase the other four skills. Advantage tokens can be used for either firearms or skills. However, they are usually provided for a short time, such as during an encounter, so use them up since you may lose them once the encounter is completed. When players begin an encounter, they will use an encounter map and place cubes or pawns on it as directed by the mission book. Encounters often involve combat. Unlike other games, there are no dice to roll to see if you get a hit. Instead, combat is all controlled by the mission book and involves referencing firearms and skill abilities.
Game End
The game ends players reach the end of the mission. Depending on their performance, they will determine whether they have completed their assigned objectives.
Why You Should Play War Story: Occupied France
War Story: Occupied France is a very unique game. There are no dice to roll and no randomness at all. Everything is determined by the decisions the players make. Which agents you decide to take for the mission, how you assign them during encounters, how you spend your tokens, and of course which choices are taken during the mission. Each decision can affect the rest of the mission. If you do something that might alert the enemy, you may face more opposition later on. Other choices may provide later advantages. Therefore, if you fail the mission, the players can only blame themselves instead of luck.
Back in 1979, I purchased a new type of book which really hooked me. The Cave of Time by Edward Packard was the first in the series of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. Readers would read a page or so and then have to make a choice. Their choice would then send them to a specific page. The choices the reader made directed the path of the story. I loved these books and must have read dozens of them. The stories were relatively short so once you finished one, you could return to the first page and try a different choice to see where it took you. These books were like an adventure video game. War Story: Occupied France truly has the feel of this type of book. Each mission has hundreds of entries and decisions to make. Just like a single book could provides dozens of stories, each of the three missions in the game offers a number of different experiences and encounters. As you play, you learn which types of abilities are used for different actions. While high firearms skill is of course useful for combat, so is awareness so you can see the enemy trying to sneak up on you or take advantage of the situation. Influence is important when talking to characters in the mission while stealth is great for sneaking around unseen and technical is used when using some types of equipment.
War Story: Occupied France has a great table presence. The look of the mission books and the envelopes makes players feel like they are on a secret mission. The art on the cards looks great and the story is well-written. In fact, while it is considered a game, War Story: Occupied France could also be considered an interactive story. I like that the game includes an organizer in the box to keep all of the tokens, cubes, cards, and other components separated and ready for play. While reviewing the game, I played some missions in a hotel. I did not have a table for putting all the components out, so kept them all in the organizer and just used a desk to play the game and it worked well.
The player count states 1-6 players. However, players do not take on individual roles in the game. Instead, they all work together to make decisions. It plays great solo as well as with other players. When playing with multiple players, it can be a good idea to assign each player a task. One person could read the mission book. Another could be responsible for keeping track of the team sheet while others can handle cards and encounters. This helps engage everyone and keeps the game running smoothly. Also multiple players allow for some great conversations about choices. The rules do not explain how to play either solo or cooperative, so players can choose for themselves how they want to organize their gameplay.
I am very impressed with War Story: Occupied France. It is a different type of game which can be refreshing and is totally guided by the players themselves rather than chance or randomness. The story is engaging and well-written and the number of choices and different story paths allows each mission to be played several times and get a different experience each time. In fact, after playing the first mission solo, I wanted to play it again and try some different choices to see if I could do better. The setting of the French Resistance during WWII is also a welcome departure from typical wargames that focus on battles and players get to learn the challenges faced by the people who operated in the shadows to help liberate their country. I continue to enjoy playing War Story: Occupied France and recommend it as a great game for both solo as well as cooperative play.
For more information, visit the War Story: Occupied France page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
