Osprey Games Escape from Colditz: 75th Anniversary Edition Game – October 25, 2016

Always loved this game since I was a child. The updated Deluxe Edition by Osprey games is a great improvement that sticks to the original spirit of the game (so much so they also include the original rules for those who want to use them). Escape from Coldittz is kind of a competitive cooperative game in which the Escape Officers try to outwit the Security Officer. The problem is, too much cooperation with a fellow Escape Officer may inadvertently lead to you losing the game. The Security Officer has his work cut out for him and, at times, it can feel like herding cats and chasing pigeons. That said, patience and a refusal to panic can ultimately lead to the Escape Officers turning on each other to get the win.A classic game that has been nicely updated with terrific artwork and some nice touches such as boxes designed as red cross parcels etc.

I played this as a kid in Wales almost 50 years ago, and I loved it then. I have a 14 y/o son who is fascinated by the World Wars and loves board games. I saw this and picked it up for him (us). We’ve played it several times, and we love the game. The shipping was prompt, and the game was exactly as expected. Now if I can only find the tv series for him. . .

I played this game a lot years ago, and remembered it with great affection. I'm pleased to be able to get my hands on this excellent anniversary edition at a reasonable price. The board, cards and pieces are of excellent quality, which adds to the pleasure of playing the game.

This 75th Anniversary Edition of the game is amazing in terms of packaging. You can read all about the little details by searching the internet or reading other peoples reviews.All that design stuff is well and good, but there were a couple of problems we experienced in playing it. First is the Escape Officer / Security Officer pegs are kind of small and lightweight and the way the board folds there is a separation that runs through the Appell spots so sometimes all these little pegs fall around like little bowling pins because the ones straddling the separation can wobble and fall down thereby knocking down a lot of the others in the area. If you can get through the pegs not toppling all over the place while in appell then you still have to be very careful when moving your pegs because it is very tight to grab a peg if there are other player pegs around. Secondly, rolling the dice if not careful could result in them going onto the board and knocking pegs over. During our games we had a lot of pegs falling over and it kind of gets frustrating.In general the design and components look great. The game play is long and can be really long with more players. The pegs will topple around a lot. The theme is great. The team aspects are really cool as the Escape Officers can plan and work together to get a couple of prisoners from one nation out.I recommend if you get this game or have this game that you use a dice tower for the dice rolls as this way the dice can be contained from rolling all over the place and potentially knocking the pegs around. I only wish the Escape Officer / Security pegs could have somehow had wider bases or more weight to the bottoms to better keep them from falling over. Other than the few peg annoyances the game is pretty good to play and fun.

I have visited this castle and learned about the stories surrounding the POWs that were so clever and creative. The interaction this game creates makes it fun for a group to play together and gives them an idea of what these POWs went through at Colditz. Very high quality materials and interesting copies of historical documents included.

I played the original version and it is an awesome game. This new addition is simply gorgeous and has been tweaked based upon 30+ years of game play but it still includes the original rules so that the classic version can still be played.

Nice old game

With the exception of very thin cards, this is a masterful production. Beautiful big board showing great details about the castle. Very interesting history book about the history of the castle and the escapes. The look and how the game components are packaged is top notch. It is cool that the directions come with updated rules for this new edition and the classic rules. Unfortunately, in our opinion the game play was a bit meh. It is an old fashioned roll and move game. Gaming has come very far from roll and move and unfortunately despite the beautiful production the game is a game from a simpler time in board gaming. The game takes a while. There are many turns. The game plays better at higher player counts but the catch 22 is higher player counts make the game even longer. At two players, the guards have very "OP" powers. Also, from a historical point of view I have an issue with the whitewashing of who the bad guys were in this game. The older versions of this game made it clear who the bad guys were. World War II Germans were Nazis. Nazis were among some of the worst people in history. I know there are issues with showing the symbols and I know there is a debate in gaming about playing the side of the Nazis and the question of whether or not WW2 games glorify that somehow. But I think with using Prussian symbols and referring to the Nazis as "guards" or just "Germans" you are making them seem not as bad as they were. Nazis were terrible people and newspeak does not make them any less horrible. This game is so rich in WW2 history, I would hope we are mature enough to handle who the bad guys were, "guards" just lessens the evil in my opinion. Bottom line, with the exception of card quality, a beautifully produced game, that is very thematic and rich in history. However, the amazing production can't update the roll and move mechanic of the game.