Avoiding Manichaeism

Above all things, we wanted to avoid any inclination to Manichaeism about World War II. We highlighted some aspects of the conflict, especially the people who opposed the Nazi regime from the inside.

Loads of Resistance fighters were from Germany and risked their lives and their families’ trying to thwart the Führer’s plans; some of them even intended to murder him on various occasions. What’s more, a majority of German soldiers weren’t “Nazis”, but simple men that had no choice but to fight.

So here is how we dealt with that in V-Commandos:

• You can play a German Resistance fighter, the Spy (in the expansion V-Sabotage: Résistance).
• We usually talk about “enemies” or “Germans” in the game, rarely about “Nazis”.
• Historical references in the rulebook sometimes focus on acts of resistance, just like this one: