CASTLE ITTER PLAYTEST v0.

2 APRIL 2016

A single player, skirmish-level, castle defense game set in WWII.

CONTENTS

PAGE 2
Introduction


PAGE 5
Setup

 45 minutes ages: 12+ 1 player
PAGE 6
Counters and Cards In Castle Itter, you take control of a makeshift force that is defending a

 medieval castle, nestled in the Austrian countryside from, a Waffen-SS
PAGE 7
assault. The force consists of an American tank crew and infantrymen,
Playing the Game

 Wehrmacht infantrymen, a former SS officer, French prisoners, and an
PAGE 8 Austrian resistance fighter.
Defender Actions
Object of the Game
PAGE 14 The goal of Castle Itter is to last until reinforcements from the 142nd
Defender Attributes Infantry Regiment arrive. In the game, this is represented by playing

 through a deck of SS cards.
PAGE 16
SS Cards
CREDITS
PAGE 21
Ending the Game, CREATED BY Game play examples in this rulebook are
Increasing Difficulty, David Thompson placed in gray tone boxes.


References
ART & GRAPHIC DESIGN
David Thompson Designer notes in this rulebook are placed
in light beige tone boxes.
PROOFREADING
Ted Davies

PLAYTESTERS
Compiling list…

Digital
Capricorn
Studios

 CASTLE ITTER PLAYTEST v0.2 APRIL 2016

Introduction
Castle Itter is a small castle situated on a hill near Gangl traveled to the nearby town of Kufstein
the village of Itter in Austria. After the Anschluss - where he met with a reconnaissance unit of four
the German annexation of Austria - the German Sherman tanks of the 23rd Tank Battalion of the
government officially leased the castle in late 1940 12th Armored Division of the US XXI Corps,
from its owner, Franz Grüner. under the command of Captain Jack Lee. Gangl
requested the Americans’ help in rescuing the
The castle was seized from Grüner by SS French prisoners, and Lee agreed.
Lieutenant General Oswald Pohl under the orders
of Heinrich Himmler on 7 February 1943. The After a reconnaissance of the Castle with Gangl in
transformation of the castle into a prison camp was the major's Kübelwagen, Lee conscripted five tanks
completed by 25 April 1943, and the facility was and supporting infantry from the recently arrived
placed under the administration of the Dachau 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th. En route,
concentration camp. Lee was forced to send part of the rescue force
back when a bridge proved too tenuous for the
The prison was established to contain high-profile entire column to cross. He also left a tank behind to
prisoners valuable to the Reich. Notable prisoners guard a key bridge. When the group finally reached
included tennis player Jean Borotra, former prime the castle, it consisted of ten American soldiers,
ministers Édouard Daladier and Paul Reynaud, eleven German soldiers, and a single tank.
former commanders-in-chief Maxime Weygand,
and Maurice Gamelin, and right-wing leader In the meanwhile, the French prisoners had
François de La Roque among many others. requested an SS officer they had befriended during
his convalescence from wounds in Itter, Kurt-
On 4 May 1945, in the last days of the European Siegfried Schrader, to take charge of their defense.
Theater of WW2, a Czech cook, Andreas Krobot, Upon Lee's arrival at the Castle, prisoners greeted
escaped from the castle and fled to the nearby city the rescuing force warmly but were disappointed at
of Wörgl in hopes of reaching help. He contacted its small size. Lee took charge of the defense of the
Austrian resistance in that town, which had castle, and positioned his tank, "Besotten Jenny", at
recently been abandoned by Wehrmacht forces but the main entrance.
reoccupied by roving SS. He was taken to Major
Josef Gangl, commander of the remains of a unit
of Wehrmacht soldiers who had defied an order to
retreat and instead thrown in with the local
resistance.

Gangl had intended to free the castle prisoners, but

was unwilling to sacrifice the few troops he had in a
suicidal attack on a heavily defended fortress
manned by the SS; instead, he was conserving
them to protect local residents from SS reprisals.

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Setup Illustration and Components

7 8
6 9
3 4 5

2 10

1) Game Board 5) Suppressed Tokens (28, not included)

Set out the game board in the middle of the table. Place the suppressed tokens near the board.

2) SS Cards (72) 6) Defense Value Markers (6, not included)

Sort the SS Cards by the number on the front of Place the Defense Value Markers on the 6 Defense
the card. If this is your first time playing, remove value area for each location.
the cards marked Veteran and Elite from the game.
They are only used in more difficult versions of the 7) SS Counters (67)
game (see p. 21). Shuffle each deck of cards Sort the SS Counters. Place one Riflemen SS
separately. Stack the decks on top of one another in Counter on each of the large numbered circle
order, with the “4” deck at the bottom and the “1” spaces on the edge of the board. Place the
deck on top. remaining SS Counters near the board.

3) Defender Counters (28) 8) Load Token (1, not included)

Arrange the Defender Counters Place the Load Token near the board.
(Defenders, hereafter) near the
board. Place the three Defenders 9) Action Marker (1, not included)
with the Reinforcement [“R”] Place the Action Marker near the board.
attribute designation in a separate
area near the board. They will not 10) Dice (6, not included)
be used until later in the game. Place the dice near the board.

4) Suppression Tokens (20, not included)

Place the suppression tokens near the board. 5

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Counters and Cards

Attack Value / Suppress Value Design Note - Images: The

Defenders make use of two types
Special Actions of images. Key leaders from the
and Attributes Battle of Castle Itter are
represented by historical
photographs. When photographs
Name were not available, images from
the “Paper Friends” collection on
www.seven-wonders.co.uk were used.
Defender Counter
The silhouettes included on both
the SS Counters and cards are
from Tom Mouat’s WW2 Soldier
Suppress Value font, available from
www.mapsymbs.com.

Defense Value

Name

SS Counter

Name

Dice Value and Action Type

Card Effect Description

Deck

SS Card
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Playing the Game

Game Overview
During a game of Castle Itter, you take the role of the force that defended the castle from 0400 - 1600 on
5 May 1945. The goal of the game is to last until the SS deck is depleted, without allowing SS Counters to
reach the castle. Additionally, you score points for each Defender that becomes a casualty - the lower your
score at the end of the game, the better.

Castle Itter is divided into turns. Each turn consists of the following:
• Take five actions with Defenders.
• Play three SS cards.

The Game Board

The game board depicts Castle Itter and its immediate surroundings. The colored square areas of the board
are combat positions used by the Defenders. The large circle areas are where SS Counters are initially
placed on the board, and the small colored circle areas are the SS Counter advancement positions. The
large areas outlined in white are key Locations and have an impact on the Defender movement and defense.

Line of Site
Design Note - Line of Sight: The
Line of Site is used to determine if a Defender can attack an SS
line of sight mechanism in Castle Itter is
Counter. Counters have line of sight to one another when they
one of the game’s greatest strengths, in
are in areas with the same color. For example, if a Defender is in
my opinion. It allows for a streamlined
a red colored combat position, the Defender can attack an SS
and simple, but also logical, system for
Counter in any red circle. Defenders in combat positions with
determining line of sight. At the same
two colors have line of sight to both correspondingly colored
time, it still provides for tactically
circles. The white colored combat positions do not have line of
relevant choices for positioning.
sight to any SS circles.
SS Counter Placement SS Counter Advancement

Defender
Combat Position

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Playing the Game: Defender Actions

During each turn you take five actions with your Initial Actions
Defenders. You can only take one action with a At the beginning of the game, all of the Defenders
Defender on a turn. You can track the actions by start off the board in the Defenders supply. When
using the Action Track on the game board. The you take an action with a Defender for the first
actions include: time, move it from the supply to any combat
position on the board, then take an action. All 25
[Actions that Exhaust a Defender] Defenders that begin the game in the Defenders
• Attack supply must be placed on the board in this manner
• Suppress before any Defender can take a second action.
• Move within a location (Free Action) Therefore, for the first five turns of the game, only
• Move to a new location Defenders who are in the supply will be able to
• Special Actions (Command and Escape) take actions.

[Actions that do not Exhaust a Defender] French Prisoners

• Recover When the five French prisoners (identified as the
• Remove suppression Defenders with the France flag background) are
placed on the board from the supply for their first
action, they must be placed into a combat position
Initial Actions in the Cellar. Then, they can take their first action.

Gameplay Example: Before taking his initial

action, Borotra (a French prisoner) must be
placed in the Cellar. Then, he can take a Move to
a New Location (See P. 11) action to move to the
Great Hall. Any Defender that is not a French
prisoner can be placed in any combat position on
the board and then take their initial action.
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Playing the Game: Defender Actions

Attack
A Defender must have line of sight to an SS
Gameplay Example: Dietrich Attacks the
Counter to take an Attack action. Declare the
Mortar. Dietrich has a 1 Attack value and thus
Defender that will take the action and the SS
rolls one die. Dietrich rolls a 4, which is equal to
Counter that will be the target of the attack. Then
the Mortar’s defense. The Mortar is removed
roll a number of dice equal to the Defender’s
from the board and placed back into the SS
Attack value and compare it to the SS Counter’s
Counter supply. Note that Dietrich could have
defense value. If at least one of the dice rolled is
attacked the Riflemen because Dietrich was on a
equal to or exceeds the SS Counter’s defense value,
square colored both purple and yellow.
the SS Counter is removed from the board and
placed back into the SS Counter supply.

Attack

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Playing the Game: Defender Actions

Suppress
Add a number of suppression tokens equal to the
Defender’s Suppress value to the suppress square
on the game board that matches the color square
where the Defender is located. Suppression
tokens are used during the SS Card phase of the
turn (See p. 20).

Gameplay Example: Pollock Suppresses.

Pollock has a 3 Suppress value, and thus places
three suppression tokens in the green colored
square under the Suppression Area on the game
board.

Move Within a Location (Free Action)

Each combat position on the game board may
Suppress
only be occupied by a single Defender. Defenders
can use an action to change the combat position
they occupy within a location and then take Design Note - Suppression: Finding a good
another action. If a Defender moves to a combat balance between attacking and suppressing was
position that is already occupied, the two one of the key design challenges for Castle Itter.
Defenders switch positions; however, to switch Because the game is literally a “castle defense”
positions neither of the Defenders can be game, suppression needed to be thematically and
Exhausted (on their grayed out side). mechanically important. While attacking is
certainly a strong aspect of the game, knowing
Gameplay Example: Szymczyk wants to move when to suppress is critical.
within the Gate House to the combat position
where the Rifleman is located. Szymczyk and the
Rifleman switch combat positions and Szymczyk
can still take another action. Szymczyk could not
have switched places with the Rifleman if the
Rifleman was flipped over (on its grayed out
side). Szymczyk could have also moved to one of
the two vacant combat positions.

Move Within a Location

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Playing the Game: Defender Actions

Move to a New Location Design Note - Movement: Finding the right
A Defender can move to a new location by taking mechanics for movement was a challenge,
an action. The Defender cannot move into a primarily in striking a balance between simulation
combat position that is already occupied. and abstraction for the sake of gameplay.
Ultimately, a decision was made to allow for
Gameplay Example: Worsham wants to move maximum tactical flexibility with regard to
from one location (the Great Hall) to a different movement within a location, since players must
location (the Keep). Worsham can take an action to balance the pros and cons of having Defenders in
move into one of the vacant combat positions but combat positions with two colors. While they can
cannot switch places with Waltl. target two colors, they are also much more likely
to be targeted. Movement between locations
The Cellar (Special Rule): Defenders in the needed to be easy enough to encourage players to
Cellar location can only use the Move to a New take advantage of the option, without being so
Location action to move to the Great Hall. forgiving that players moved without regard for
the cost.

Move to a New a Location

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Playing the Game: Defender Actions

Recover
Defenders that are flipped to their grayed out side are Exhausted and cannot take most actions. Using the
Recover action flips a Defender back over and allows it to be used for actions once again. Remember that a
Defender can only be used for one action each turn. Therefore, a Defender cannot take a Recover action
and then a second action in the same turn.

Remove Suppression
When a Defender has a Suppressed token on it, it cannot take any action other than the Remove
Suppression action. When a Defender takes the Remove Suppression action, remove the Suppressed token
and place it back into the supply.

Command (Special Action)

Only Defenders with the Command [“C”] special action designation can take the Command action. When
a Defender uses the Command action, it can give two free, immediate Recover and/or Remove Suppression
actions to Defenders in the same location. Both actions can be given to a single Defender or they can be
given to two different Defenders. If a Defender has a Suppressed token on it and is
Exhausted, a Remove Suppression action must be used first. The Command action
cannot be used to give a Recover or Remove Suppression action to a Defender that
also has the Command [“C”] special action designation. Defenders that have had
the Command action used on them during a turn cannot also take actions of their
own during the same turn.

Gameplay Example: Schrader

can use the Command action in
two ways. He can use it to Remove
Suppression from Waltl and then
Recover Waltl, or he can use it to
Remove Suppression from Waltl
and Worsham. Schrader cannot
use the Command action on the
Rifleman, because the Rifleman is
not in the same location as
Schrader.
Command Special Action
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Playing the Game: Defender Actions

Escape (Special Action)
Design Note - Borotra’s Escape: Getting Borotra’s
Only the Borotra Defender, who has the Escape
escape right was very important. It is a key piece of
[“E”] special action designation, can take the
the lore for the Battle for Castle Itter. In the game, the
Escape action. When Borotra begins his turn in a
goal was to make his escape difficult but also very
combat position that has no SS Counters in
rewarding. While Borotra doesn’t have to escape for
positions with corresponding colors, Borotra can
you to win, it helps, and it will almost certainly result
take the Escape action. Additionally, Borotra
in a lower score.
cannot escape from the Cellar or Great Hall. He
must begin his turn in the Southern or Northern
Terrace, the Keep, the Gate House, or Besotted
Jenny to take the Escape special action. When Gameplay Example: At the beginning of the turn,
Borotra escapes, take seven cards from the bottom Borotra is in a green combat position. Borotra cannot
of the SS deck and, without looking at them, escape because Mortar and Riflemen SS counters
remove them from the game. occupy green colored SS positions. If the SS counters
are attacked and removed this turn, Borotra could use
the Escape special action.

Escape Special Action

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Playing the Game: Defender Attributes

Some Defenders have special attributes. These attributes are not treated as actions. Instead, they are special
conditions that are always in effect. Attributes include:

• Low Morale [M]

• Reinforcements [R]
• Tank Crew [T]
• Wehrmacht Officer [O]
Design Note - Low Morale:
Low Morale [M] The low morale attribute was
The five Rifleman Defenders all have the Low inspired by an event from the
Morale attribute. Any time a Defender that is in Battle for Castle Itter. During
the same location as a Rifleman becomes a the battle a Wehr macht
casualty, the Rifleman is also removed from the rifleman fled from the castle,
game board and treated as a casualty. deserting his companions
possibly to join the SS
attackers.
Wehrmacht Officer [O]
Five of the Defenders have the Wehrmacht
Officer attribute. When a Defender with the
Wehrmacht Officer attribute is in the same
location as a Rifleman with the Low Morale [M]
attribute, you ignore the effects of the Low
Morale attribute.

Reinforcements [R]
Three of the Defenders have the Reinforcements
attribute. These three Defenders should be kept
separate from the other Defenders at the
beginning of the game. When the SS Card titled
“Reinforcements” is revealed, the three
Defenders with the Reinforcements attribute are
placed in the Defenders supply. Unlike at the
beginning of the game, you do not have to place
these reinforcements before taking actions with
Defenders already on the board. They can stay
in the supply as long as you like.

Design Note - Reinforcements: During the Battle

for Castle Itter, Wegscheider and Linson (Wehrmacht
riflemen) along with Waltl (an Austrian resistance
member) traveled from the nearby town of Wörgl to
Castle Itter to serve as reinforcements.

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Playing the Game: Defender Attributes

Tank Crew [T]
Six of the Defenders have the Tank Crew attribute. These Defenders can make use
of the five special combat positions on the game board marked with [T]. Four of the
combat positions are in the Besotten Jenny location, and the fifth one is in the Gate
House location.

Tank Crew Special Combat Positions

M1919A4 and M2HB

When a Defender with the Tank Crew attribute is on a combat position marked M1919A4 or M2HB, they
can use the listed Attack/Suppress values instead of their own.

76mm Cannon (Load)

When a Defender with the Tank Crew attribute is on the combat position marked 76mm Cannon Load,
they can take an action to place the Load Token on the 76mm Cannon combat position. Note that the
76mm Cannon Load combat position is colored white and does not have line of sight to any SS areas.

76mm Cannon
When a Defender with the Tank Crew attribute is on the combat position marked 76mm Cannon and the
combat position has a load token, the Defender can use the listed Attack/Suppress values.

Tank Crew Special Combat Position

Gameplay Example: Lee and Basse can
take Attack or Suppress actions and use the
values from their Tank Crew special
combat positions. Rushford cannot use the
76mm Cannon unless Seiner first uses an
action to place the Load Token on the
76mm Cannon combat position. The
Rifleman cannot use the Tank Crew special
combat position because he does not have
the Tank Crew attribute.

Design Note - M1919A4 in the Gate

House: During the evening of 4 May,
before the Battle of Castle Itter began,
Besotten Jenny’s crew removed the assistant
driver’s hull mounted M1919A4 .30-caliber
machine gun and emplaced it in the nearby
gate house to increase its firing arc.

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Playing the Game: SS Cards

Once you have completed your five Defender actions for the turn, reveal three SS Cards from the SS deck,
one at a time, resolving the effect of each one before moving to the next. After all three SS Cards have been
resolved, the turn is over and the next turn begins with five new Defender actions.

There are four different categories of SS Cards, based on the card effect:

• Attacking Defenders
• Attacking a Location
• Placing SS Counters
• Suppressing Defenders

Attacking Defenders
There is one SS Card with the Attacking Defender effect: the Sniper. When you
reveal a Sniper, roll a die and check the result against the numbers on the Sniper
card. The result indicates the color of combat positions that will be targeted. Once
the color has been determined, roll again to see which specific combat location is targeted by comparing the
result to the number on the board. If the result of the roll is a combat position that is empty, go to the next
highest number. If no higher number is occupied, the attack has no effect. Once the specific Defender has
been identified as a target, roll five dice and compare the result against the current Defense value of the
location. If at least one of the dice rolled is equal to or higher than the Defense value, the Defender becomes
a casualty and is removed from the board.

Gameplay Example: A Sniper SS

Card is revealed. You roll a 6, which
corresponds to purple on the Sniper
card. You roll to see which purple-
colored combat position will be
targeted, and the result is a 2,
indicating Gamelin will be the
target. If Gamelin had not been
present, Blechschmidt would have
been targeted instead. Now that the
target has been identified as
Gamelin, you roll five dice. The
current Defense value of the North
Terrace where Gamelin is located is
5. If at least one of the dice rolled is
equal to or higher than 5, Gamelin
becomes a casualty and is removed.

Attacking Defenders
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Playing the Game: SS Cards

Attacking a Location
There are four SS Cards with the Attack Location effect: two
different 75mm Pak 40’s, the 88mm Flak 37, and the
Panzerfaust. The Pak 40 and Flak 37 are resolved in the same
way, while the Panzerfaust is slightly different. When you
reveal the Pak 40 or Flak 37, roll one die and compare the
result to the card. The result indicates the location that is
attacked. Now roll a number of dice equal to the dice value (6
for the Flak 37, 4 for the Pak 40). If at least one of the dice
rolled is equal to or higher than the location’s Defense value,
reduce the Defense value by one. If the Defense value was
already at 4 and at least one of the dice is equal to or higher
than 4, every Defender within the location is suppressed (See Suppressing Defenders,
p. 20). The Panzerfaust works just like the Pak 40 and Flak 37 except you do not roll
for the target. It always targets Besotten Jenny.

Destroying Besotten Jenny

Unlike the other locations, Besotten Jenny can be destroyed. If the Defense value for
Besotten Jenny reaches 0, Besotten Jenny is considered destroyed. Any Defenders on
combat positions in the Besotten Jenny location become casualties and are removed
from the game. If Besotten Jenny is the target of an attack but it has already been
destroyed, the attack has no effect.

Gameplay Example: A 75mm Pak 40 SS Card

is revealed. You roll a 2, which corresponds to
Besotten Jenny. You roll 4 dice (the dice value for
the Pak 40). The current Defense value for
Besotten Jenny is 4. If at least one of the dice
rolled is 4 or higher, the Defense value for Besotten
Jenny is reduced to 0 and Besotten Jenny is
destroyed. All four Defenders in Besotten Jenny
immediately become casualties and are removed
from the game.

Design Note - Targets: The target locations for

the Pak 40 and Flak 37 are based on their positions
during the Battle of Castle Itter. As depicted on
the map on p. 22, the Flak 37 was northwest of the
castle. One Pak 40 was southwest of the castle and
the other was to the east.
Attacking a Location
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Playing the Game: SS Cards

Placing SS Counters
There are four SS Cards with the place SS Counters effect:
Machine Gunners, Mortars, Riflemen, and Scouts. Placing SS
Counters is the key element of the SS advancement toward Castle
Itter. Placing each SS Counter has three steps:

• Roll to determine the SS Counter Placement area

• Decide whether to attempt to suppress the SS Counter
• Advance any SS Counters if applicable

Roll to Determine the SS Counter Placement Area

When you reveal an SS Card that places SS Counters, check the
number that follows the “Place" text to see how many of each SS
Counter should be placed. For each counter, roll two dice to
determine which SS Counter Placement area the SS Counter
should be placed on.

Decide Whether to Attempt to Suppress the SS Counter

If you have Suppression tokens in the suppress square that
matches the color where the new SS Counter is to be placed, you
can use as many Suppression tokens as you want to roll an equal Design Note - Suppression:
number of dice. If any of the dice rolled are equal to or higher Choosing when to suppress, and
than the SS Counter’s defense value, don’t place the SS Counter. deciding how many suppression
You should decide whether you want to suppress an SS Counter tokens to spend, is a critical - perhaps
before rolling to place another one. the most critical - part of Castle Itter.
It is essentially a press-your-luck
Advance any SS Counters if Applicable mechanism, where you’re trying to
The Machine Gunner and Mortar Counters do not advance other get as much value for each
SS Counters. There is no limit to the number of Machine suppression token as possible. It’s
Gunners and Mortars which can be in the same SS Counter often a difficult choice on whether
Placement area. They will always remain in the SS Counter you should suppress a Scout, for
Placement area, unless they are attacked and removed. If you example, as their lack of a suppress
placed a Riflemen or Scout SS Counter, progress any Riflemen or value makes them seem like a low
Scout tokens already in the SS Counter Placement area along the threat. However, if multiple Scouts
track towards Castle Itter. If advancing Riflemen or Scout advance on a track, they can be very,
Counters moves them into SS Counter Advancement areas that very difficult to remove through
already had SS Counters, then advance the SS Counters that were attacking.
already in that area forward. Continue this process until the
leading counters are moved into the first open area. If moving SS
Counters forward in this way would advance an SS Counter beyond the end of the track where it can no
longer be advanced it is considered to have entered the castle, and the game ends immediately and you lose.

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Playing the Game: SS Cards

SS Counter Placement

Gameplay Example: A Riflemen Card is revealed with “Place: 2.” You roll two dice and the result is 11.
A Riflemen Counter should be placed in the “11” SS Counter Placement area. You decide not to suppress
the Riflemen and place it. For the second Riflemen, you roll the dice again and get a 9. You decide to try
to suppress the Riflemen because there are already Riflemen and Scouts on the track. You choose to use
two Suppression tokens from the gray colored suppression square. This allows you to roll two dice. Because
the Riflemen has a Defense value of 3, you need to roll a 3 or higher to suppress the Riflemen and keep
the counter from being placed. You roll two 1’s. You place the Riflemen counter and advance the Riflemen
and Scout Counters forward on the track.

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Playing the Game: SS Cards

Suppressing Defenders
There are two SS Cards with the suppress Defenders effect: 20mm Flak
30 and SS Squads. Although both cards result in placing Suppressed
tokens on Defenders, the resolution process for the cards is different.

When you reveal the Flak 30, roll one die and compare the result to the
card. The result indicates the location that is affected. Now roll three
dice to suppress each Defender in the location individually. If at least
one of the dice rolled is equal to or higher than the location’s current
Defense value, place a Suppressed token on the Defender.

When you reveal an SS Squads card, you will work through each set of SS colored circles on the board,
determining whether groups of SS Counters in like-colored circles are able to suppress Defenders in
correspondingly colored squares. Work through the SS squads suppression in this sequence:

- Choose a color of SS circles.

- Add the suppress values for all SS Counters on that color.
- If the total suppress value is at least 1, roll one die and compare it to the corresponding color of Defender
squares to determine the targeted combat position. If the result of the roll is a combat position that is
empty, go to the next highest number. If no higher number is occupied, the attack has no effect.
- Once the target has been identified, roll a number of dice equal to the total suppress value.
- If at least one of the dice rolled is equal to or higher than the location’s current Defense value, place a
Suppressed token on the Defender.
- Continue this process for each color where SS Counters are present.

If a Defender already has a Suppressed token on it and is supposed to receive another Suppressed token, the
Defender has become a casualty. Remove it from the game.

Gameplay Example: An SS Squads

Card is revealed. You choose to start
with green. The total suppress value
for the Mortar (3), two Riflemen (1
each), and Scouts (0) is 5. You roll 1 die
and the result is 5. However, there is no
target in the green-colored 5 combat
position. Therefore, you target De La
Rocque, since he is in the 6 combat
position. The South Terrace has a
Defense of 5, which means at least one
dice must have rolled a 5 or higher to
suppress De LA Roque.
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Ending the Game and Increased Difficulty

Ending the Game

You Win if the last SS Card is resolved and no SS Counter advanced beyond the end of the track into the
castle.

You Lose if an SS Counter advances beyond the end of the track.

Score: The goal in Castle Itter is to score as few points as possible. For each French prisoner Defender that
became a casualty during the game, you score 3 points. For each other Defender that became a casualty, you
score 1 point.

Increasing the Difficulty

Once you have beaten the normal version of Castle Itter, you can try the game with increased difficulty. To
play the game at the Veteran level, leave in the six SS cards marked “Veteran" when sorting the SS Cards
during setup. To play the game at the Elite level, leave in the six SS Cards marked "Veteran" and the six SS
Cards marked “Elite" when sorting the SS Cards during setup.

References and Additional Resources

Additional Reading on the Topic

• The definitive book on the topic of the Battle of Castle Itter is "The Last Battle," by Stephen Harding.
• BBC article on the battle (includes a brief interview with Stephen Harding). The Austrian castle where
Nazis lost to German-US force
• French language article on the battle: “Le jour le plus dingue: comment des GIs se sont alliés à des soldats
de la Wehrmacht pour libérer des Français en mai 1945”
• German language article on the battle: “Als Wehrmacht und Amerikaner gemeinsam gegen die SS
kämpften”

Castle Itter Scenarios for other Games

• ASL scenario included in Rally Point #4 - Ruins of the Reich. (2009)

• Memoir 44 scenario. (2014)
• ASL scenario and a Heroes of Normandie scenario in Yaah! Magazine #4. (2015)

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CASTLE ITTER PLAYTEST v0.1 MARCH 2016