THE BELL OF TREASON Interview: Petr Mojžíš

 

The Bell of Treason: 1938 Munich Crisis in Czechoslovakia is a fast-paced, card-driven board game in which two players experience the existential crisis faced by Czechoslovakia in response to Hitler’s territorial demands.

The rules and images shown here are not final

You can find it in P500

1-Who are you and your favorite wargame/s?

I live in Prague, have two kids, and have a day job in the field of information and cyber security. I play lots of different historical games. From euro-type historical board games to heavy hex and counter games from companies such as Multi-Man Publishing. In general, I prefer games that give broader context and detail on any historical subject. For example, when I have to choose between hex and counter game and card-driven game on the same topic, I will more likely grab the latter. That being said, I don’t like to name some Top3 as I don’t have any. But looking at what I was playing a lot recently, I can point out Levy & Campaign series games Nevsky or Inferno (I am playtester), Imperial Struggle, Absolute War or Versailles 1919. I am also in love with crime-solving games such as Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective.

2-Why did you decide to do this game?

I am in the line with designers who say that the game they would want does not exist, so they design it by themselves. In general, I love games that cover rare historical topics. People can learn much more from them than from replaying the Battle of the Bulge all over again. Being Czech I am naturally interested in events around the 1938 Munich Crises. It was one of the pivotal moments in the history of the nation. Although there are some magazine games about the military side of the counterfactual German attack in 1938, there is no game with a focus on the political crisis itself. Initially, I wanted to do a multiplayer game but the more I have studied and focused on the last months and weeks before Munich Conference, more I have realized the only open question was, what will be the final decision of Czechoslovaks? Will that bend under the appeasement policy and concede disputed Sudetenland or will they stand and fight alone? And that is what the game is about. In the end, it was only them who understood what is at stake: country fortifications build against Germans, the armaments they can misuse, and industry they can leverage in following wars.

3-Can you talk about the mechanics?

The game is at its core card-driven. Players familiar with events and operations points on cards will be at home here. Familiarity of putting influence to the connected spaces on the board is here too. That does not mean it is not different in other ways. Following the informal Final Crisis series games Fort Sumter and Red Flag over Paris, it has objective cards for scoring and special effects for each given turn which are awarded based on control of spaces. There are Pivotal space bonuses that bring the importance of some spaces on the board such as the United Kingdom being the leader of appeasement policy or the President being dominant over political spaces. And there is a limited pool of cubes that can be placed on the board. Imagine radicalized public marching in the street, which was by the way the case during the crisis. That limits actions in other spaces as maybe it is too much energy there and politicians rather stay behind closed windows. The game also heavily stands on arrows between some spaces introduced in Red Flag over Paris. Here we have limits on how the influence of Concede idea and Defend idea can spread. For example, major international powers influence the situation in Czechoslovakia but not the other way around. New to the series mechanics include for example the concept of political will (more you do more energy you will give to your opponent), new Final Decision turn rules, or special always ready to execute mobilization event.

4-How do the different factions work?

In terms of rules, the game may look like a symmetrical game. There are no special rules for something one player can do and the other can not. But the historical situation is of course highly asymmetrical. This can be mostly seen looking at events on the cards but there are situations where it is very special. For example, there is a German escalation track with special red discs in the game. When putting discs on the track (representing various stages of Sudeten German terror activities) white cubes are being released as Sudeten German minorities are being suppressed and the German majority wants to join the Third Reich. At the same time, this escalation leads to partial and then general mobilization of the Czechoslovak Army which is a huge event for Defend player bringing more green cubes to the game. There is also a high asymmetry in victory conditions. Players compete over victory points, which represent the country's willingness to concede or to defend. But that is only half of the story. Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš was an architect of international treaties securing the country's defense. Those treaties were put on the head during the crisis. President didn’t want to shed blood of his countryman for a probably lost cause. Therefore there is a second condition to fulfill by Defend player to win. There must be enough green cubes in or adjacent to President space to match or overcome the number of white cubes there. This second victory condition brings new strategies to the table. Special Final Decision turn at the end of the game also mostly focuses on these.

5-Scenarios and/or length of the game?

I am following the informal Final Crisis series and present only one historical scenario. On the other hand, this is a game every board gamer should be able to play. It is not overly complicated, we are talking about the rules complexity of Twilight Struggle. It takes 30-45 minutes to play. I hope it will reach gamers who like small CDGs like Watergate, 13 Days, or of course predecessors in the series, Fort Sumter and Red Flag over Paris. In rare circumstances, the game can be much shorter. Some events may call for Hitler’s die roll. It is a roll of six-sided die that can lead to the German invasion and immediate game end. The die is used in the game for this purpose only. Players should feel the uncertainty of if and when this unstable aggressor is going to order an attack.

6-Do you have another game/project in mind?

I am already working on the game in the medieval Levy & Campaign series presenting the first two years of Hussite Wars called Žižka. The series is on the rise I think and I hope this one will be interesting to a wide audience as it brings a very special form of peasant warfare together with aspects of the first reformation attempt of the Catholic church by force.