The Plot to Assassinate Hitler (game)

In the summer of 1944, with Allies forcing German forces to retreat on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, a movement in the German High Command and various resistance groups began to coalesce around the idea of assassinating Hitler in order to seize power and sue the Allies for peace before Germany itself could be invaded.[1]

The Plot to Assassinate Hitler is a game with both solitaire and two-player scenarios.[2] The map shows Germany as well as occupied and neutral countries in Europe in the last two years of World War II. Counters represent individuals who were part of various factions, either protecting Hitler, plotting to overthrow Hitler or neutral. The neutral parties can be persuaded to join one side or the other. The game system, which represents political activity, is resolved using wargame combat rules.[3]

The Plot to Assassinate Hitler was designed by Jim Dunnigan in 1976, and was published by SPI as a pull-out game in Issue 59 of Strategy & Tactics with graphics design by Redmond A. Simonsen. SPI also released it as a boxed set the same year. The unusual game was not popular, and failed to appear on SPI's Top Ten list of bestselling games.[4]

Following the demise of SPI, Hobby Games acquired the rights to the game and published a Japanese-language version as a pullout game in Issue 10 of Tactics magazine (October 1988).[5]

In the 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer described the game as an "Unusual multi-player game [...] featuring the power struggles behind the facade of the Third Reich".[2]

In The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training, Martin Campion found the game "interesting, but the representation of political infighting in mechanical fashion often gives grotesque results."[3]

• Simulacrum #4