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At the height of the Second World War the Nazis had a problem. What do you do with prisoners of war who have successfully escaped a multitude of prison camps, but have been recaptured before making it to a neutral country? Their solution? Colditz Castle, in turn a medieval fortress, asylum, and internment camp. It was a dark place, with a dark history, from which no-one had escaped. But Pat Reid did. Major Reid was one of a group of infamous escapees, nicknamed the ‘Laufen Six’ for the prison camp from which they had initially escaped, and was among the first British and American prisoners to be sent to Colditz. There, he discovered a castle demonstrating centuries’ worth of redevelopment, with old attics, forgotten cellars, and even a dentist’s office; a castle whose older locks had already been comprehensively picked by the Polish garrison troops, but whose exterior had been reinforced again and again with barbed wire, security outposts, and searchlights by the Nazis. Over time, escape attempts became so numerous that each Allied nation appointed an ‘escape officer’ – a high-ranking prisoner who was tasked with ensuring that no one country’s escape attempts accidentally sabotaged those of another.
The place Colditz commands in popular history comes almost entirely from Pat’s two best-selling biographies about his time there during the war. Almost every film or TV series about Colditz Castle is based in whole or in part on The Colditz Story, and the two-season series produced by the BBC in 1972 is among the best-loved. It was the development of this series that led to one of Pat’s most enduring friendships and collaborations – with writer Brian Degas. All of this is quite interesting, I hear you say, but this is a games magazine. Where is my interesting talk about games and such like? Well, it was Pat’s meeting with Brian that led to a unique piece of board game history. Around the same time that Dungeons & Dragons was being developed in the US, Brian and Pat were looking at expanding the approach to tabletop gaming in utterly different but equally innovative ways. Satisfied that the BBC series Colditz told the story of those incarcerated at the castle, Brian and Pat wanted to create something which captured the feeling of attempting to escape: the stress, the planning, the skill, the luck, as well as the spirit of international cooperation. Thus, Escape From Colditz was born.
It was a unique piece of game design, and way ahead of its time. An asymmetrical, semi-cooperative strategy game, with a setting designed to simulate the feeling of an historic location, rather than the literal truth of a battle there. One player takes on the role of the German Security Officer, while the others become Escape Officers from different Allied nations. Each Escape Officer has an individual goal – get two prisoners out – but operates in the knowledge that, without some degree of cooperation with the other players, the situation is hopeless. Escape Officers gather equipment needed to make escapes (e.g. a rope to climb out of a window), and steadily plan their routes, setting up prisoners and decoys as needed. Security Officers meanwhile, have the tense task of knowing they can’t stop every infringement, and prioritizing their movement to where they can shut down the most likely escape attempts. Do they deploy guards to the outer perimeter as a line of last defense, or congregate in the inner courtyard, where they can shut down illicit behavior early?
Escape From Colditz quickly outgrew the series and books that inspired it. Pat’s experience of Colditz Castle, and Brian’s eye for drama (this is the same Brian Degas who co-wrote the screenplay for Barbarella) created a unique experience that audiences lapped up. Now, for the first time in over 30 years, this huge hit is once again available in English.
For the 75th Anniversary of Pat Reid’s escape, we’ve updated Escape from Colditz as only Osprey can, with a massive visual overhaul from the Osprey Games design team and renowned historical artist Peter Dennis. This game combines the Osprey Games focus on experiential game design and beautiful production, with the historical authenticity of our parent company, Osprey Publishing.
After over 40 years of play we’ve overhauled the rules of the game alongside Mr. Degas, ensuring that every balancing tweak is in the spirit of the original design approach. The end result is not a remake of the game, but a remaster – a celebration of everything that made the original so exciting. We’ve included everything anyone interested in Colditz could ask for – new and classic rules, facsimile reproductions of materials from Colditz, internal packaging modeled on prisoner-of-war aid parcels, an extensive illustrated history book, and many more secrets. I’m delighted to be able to give people the opportunity to relive the escapes once again, and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it.
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