Archon Studio’s Wolfenstein: The Board Game is now on Kickstarter, and while the game’s been fully funded, there are plenty of stretch goals that are left to achieve if you want to dive in. If you’re on the fence with giving it a shot, luckily ComicBook.com has you covered, as we had the chance to sit down with Archon Studio’s Project Manager Michal Hartlinski to talk all about the game, and by the end of our conversation, you should have a much better idea of what is in store for you and your friends if you decide to dive into Wolfenstein: The Board Game’s world. The team behind the game always adored Wolfenstein‘s world, and they are bringing that same passion of the game’s world and lore to the tabletop version
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“We have spent our Polish childhoods playing Wolfenstein3d first and Return to Castle Wolfenstein later,” Hartlinski said. “So we are basically making a board game based on our childhoods! ID Software games were insanely popular here in the ’90s, and Wolfenstein is not an exception. Also, bear in mind that BJ Blazkowicz is a Polish-originated hero, who fights against the Nazi Regime. Poland was the first country invaded during World War 2, we suffered a lot, so Wolfenstein’s theme and characters are very close to our hearts.”
You can hit the next slide for more from our interview, including what changed the most along the way, a look at the heroes and combat, where the story fits in, the game’s expansions, and more!
You can also find the official description for Wolfenstein: The Board Game below.
“1960, The Nazis rule the world.
Join the resistance in an alternate reality where the Allies lost World War 2 and the Nazis dominate the world. Those who break the Nazi’s rules or speak out against the Reich are silenced, many to never be seen again. For captured resistance righters, punishment is swift and brutal, and none have lived to tell their tale.
Welcome to Castle Wolfenstein – where you and a team of resistance fighters are going to find and assassinate Adolf Hitler himself.
Shoot your way through Nazi soldiers or sneak past the guards – it’s up to you. Explore hidden areas, uncover the castle’s secrets or stay focused on the mission. Work as a team of skilled heroes, ready to combine forces and make the Nazis wish they had never won the war. Wreak havoc in the halls of Castle Wolfenstein with an arsenal of super-powered weapons and defeat mighty bosses.
Everything started here, in Castle Wolfenstein, and here it will end.”
You can find Wolfenstein on Kickstarter now, and let us what you know what you think of the game in the comments or by hitting me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things tabletop!
Pulling From The Franchise
Archon Studio didn’t just want to base their take on one game though, and so they pulled from all aspects of the franchise, and are happy to incorporate Polish into the mix as well.
Having our own hero is awesome,” Hartlinski said. “We tried to bring as much as possible of that angle to the game. For example, Anya Oliwa has a skill called Maลa Wieล Serial Killer, which is pulled directly from the New Order backstory. We are happy to have a few Polish words on English cards. Wolfenstein will be the first game we are going to release in Polish as well. There is a legion of people on the internet who are demanding this!”
A Tabletop FPS
ย It can be challenging to adaptย an iconic video game license into a board game, as some mechanics are much different when you’re not using a controller. For Wolfenstein, it came down to trying to replicate the feel of a First Person Shooter without relying on the dice to carry the load.
“The most challenging part was to keep the FPS angle of the game without resolving to simple dice roller gameplay,” Harlinski said. “Our community expected us to bring the run’n’gun gameplay to life and demanded a simple game, but still challenging at the same time. So we went with asymmetrical heroes and weapons. We have developed a system that allows you to use both heroes’ skills and weapon skills at the same time. It required a ton of testing, but it paid off nicely.”
The Story
In terms of story, the game takes place alongside the sequels, finding spots to weave in and out without disrupting the main lore. They had to get creative, but they found a way to bring back some of the more iconic enemies and moments of the franchise without messing with the timeline.
“As for the story part, we could not interfere with officially released New Order and New Colossus storylines, but we could fill the blanks,” Hartlinski. “So, if you ask Wolfenstein fans in their 30’s what they want to take down, well, Hitler is obvious! So our team started writing, and we have come up with this idea that we could bring back some occult memories. So we’ve got professor Bevli and General Von Grimm characters working on prolonging Adolf Hitler’s life in Castle Wolfenstein. One of the ideas is cloning. Long story short, we got Mecha-Hitler, one of the most over the top things created in the ’90s, and we did this in 2020.”
All The Toys
Fans of Wolfenstein will be quite happy with the amount of enemies, heroes, and overall content from the greater franchise, not just the original game.
“Wolfenstein: the board game is set up during The New Order events,” Hartlinski said. “We got all the best toys and enemies from it, as well as Old Blood ones. Moreover, in the All-Stars expansion, we are bringing a lot of additional characters and weapons into the game.
Design Evolution
Creating a game is a long and constantly evolving process, and mechanics, locations, and designs can change quite a bit from their original incarnations. For the team behind Wolfenstein, it was the map itself that evolved the most during development.
“At the start, we had the whole castle as one, not-in-tiles map,” Hartlinski said. “We decided to change the game from 1 long mission to a 10 mission campaign. We also had a simple system of 1 movement + 1 action which was changed into Action Points.”
The Miniatures
Archon Studio is going with plastic miniatures rather than traditional resin for the game, though they’ve managed to still deliver high-quality miniatures thanks to how they are creating them. As for why they decided to switch, it comes down to volume.
“We have the biggest resin miniatures factory in the world, and that’s a fact,” Hartlinski said. “You can only make X amount of those per day though, and quantity needed for Wolfenstein is going to be in vastly higher amounts than any of our previous resin projects. Resin will just not meet those demands, so we need the speed of the manufacturing of plastic.
“Fun fact,” Hartlinski continued. “The only other company in the EU that makes high-quality miniatures for tabletop games is Games Workshop. We got the tech that’s normally available only in China.”
Expansions
While there’s a lot to enjoy with the core set, Archon also revealed several expansions to the game, and each one brings something different to the table, and the first is Old Blood.
“Old Blood is based on the New Order expansion of the video game,” Hartlinski said. “It’s a story placed 14 years before New Order and before the events in our Board Game happen. It features a different environment, taking place outside of the Castle itself. You can explore the streets of Wulfburg, the catacombs, cementary, and the interrogation room of Rudi Jager. You’ll also encounter new enemies like Kampfhunds or zombie-alike Shamblers. You even get a Laderboter Mech to use, which brings a ton of fun to the battlefield.
The next expansion is the All-Stars expansion, and this one focuses on characters.
“Another expansion is All-Stars,” Hartlinski said. “This one is made entirely of Stretch Goals and not available in retail later. All-Stars brings all the characters that did not fit into the official game’s storyline because of various reasons, either because they die early on, are from New Colossus, are from Youngblood, and so on. It also features several extra villains and bosses. It works as a portfolio of extra heroes, as you can set up the core game for example and remove 1 hero from the game and replace it with an All-Stars character.”
The third expansion doesn’t focus on story or heroes but instead features a way to give the core game a visual overhaul. “The third expansion is the Wolfenstein: 3D Terrain Kit,ย which features tons of plastic walls and floors, and allows players to assemble missions in plastic terrain, all without a drip of glue needed to work with.”
If all that sounds good to you, you can check out Wolfenstein on Kickstarter right now!
