In hushed tone, the British escape officer briefs his fellow prisoners,
``Men, the tunnel is complete. We will leave at 22.00 during the changing of
the guard. There will be a new moon tonight, so we will have the cover of
darkness on our side. Meet me at the tunnel entrance at 21.45 and on my
signal we'll skedaddle!''
Skedaddle?
Skedaddle is the rather silly name of a recent board game based on the
real life adventures of the prisoners of war who were assigned to Colditz
Castle during World War II. One player takes the role of the German
Kommandant whose job it is to keep all his charges prisoner until the Reich
is victorious or for twenty seven game turns, whichever comes first. The
other players represent Escape Officers of various nationalities whose job
it is to coordinate the escape plans of the prisoners. Each player gets five
pawns; getting three of the pawns assigned to that player out to any of the
four places on the gameboard marked Freedom before the completion of the
twenty-seventh game turn results in victory for that player.
Inside the box with dreamy cover art you will find: one gameboard, some yellow
discs, some black rings, thirty nine pawns of various colours, three chits
representing three different conveyances, rules two strategy sheets and a
pamphlet about escape stories. The gameboard represents a stylized map of
Colditz Castle. The Kommandant player gets four pawns representing sentries
at the four sentry posts. He also gets two more pawns for each player
in the game. These pawns start in the barracks. All the Escape Officers
begin with pawns in the open at the roll-call area.
The game begins with the Kommandant player drawing from his order deck a stack
of nine cards. The order deck represents the game's time limit. When this
deck has been gone through three times the game is over. The Kommandant may
play most of the cards at any time during his turn but timing is crucial,
because at the end of every ninth game turn, all cards must be discarded
and the deck reshuffled. After the card is drawn, the Kommandant rolls the
dice and moves the sentries. The sentries must be moved off the main posts
as quickly as possible to be replaced by other sentries from the barracks
to keep an eye on the prisoners.
The other players take their turns in order clockwise from the Kommandant
player. Each Escape Officer will, in turn, roll the dice, move the appropriate
pawns into rooms and collect cards. These cards, sorted into seven decks
before the game begins, contain various implements such as disguises, rope,
wire cutters and the like to enable them to escape.
Because the Escape Officers are free to trade at any time, some of the most
dogged negotiations this side of Diplomacy can be seen as players barter for
needed cards. It's caveat emptor because the rules say that once the
cards have been traded there are no take backs.
I believe escape plans of the prisoners are a reflection of the personalities
of the players. The stealthful can cower in a cart and once that cart has
been moved use a key and slip out a side gate to freedom. The brazen can be
disguised as the commander of the sentries and escape by ordering a sentry
to leave his post. The determined can dig a tunnel. There are dozens of
ways to escape from Colditz.
The Kommandant player eyes the flurry of activity of the Escape Officers
and their pawns and decides on a course of action, keeping in mind that the
acting sentry will wind ip temporarily out of play in the barracks. That
action may consists of landing on the same space or room as the prisoner pawn.
This act sends the pawn back to the roll-call. A prisoner captured anywhere
else other than a room or any of the hexes near roll-call puts that prisoner
in solitary confinement. However, that may be part of the escape plan because
it is also possible for a prisoner to escape to freedom from solitary
confinement! The Kommandant player is clearly on the defensive as the Escape
Officers scurry around the gameboard in several different directions to
escape their captors. In three games, there have been no Kommandant victories
and all of the games ended before the game was two thirds complete.
How does it compare with the older Escape From Colditz from Gibson
Games? The older game has the more colourful presentation. Its rules are
clearer and the game is better balanced. A skilled German player can
actually win. Skedaddle is shorter and has more, perhaps too many,
options for the Escape Officers. This game is a race between Escape Officers
to met the victory conditions. The Kommandant player is little more than an
inconvenience. The later game could have been improved by having the
explanations of the cards on the cards themselves. The rules are constantly
being passed around during the game as the players seek rules clarifications.
I recommend this game because there is never a dull moment for the players.
The luck factor is balanced by the amount of risk the Escape Officers are
willing to take. With some minor tinkering with the rules, the Kommandant
player might even find the game interesting.
Alfonzo Smith
SWD: Great word, ``skedaddle''. I have been fond of it since I was a
kid. For the benefit of the non-native speakers whose vocabularies might
not stretch this far, here is the dictionary definition from `The Shorter
Oxford': ``To retreat or retire hastily or precipitately; to flee. (originally
U.S. military slang)''. As translations my German dictionary offers
`türmen' and `abhauen' and the French one the nicely descriptive `se sauver
à toutes jambes'.