Stripped Down for Parts: In the Shadows

 

 

When I first heard about In the Shadows: Resistance in France, 1943-1944 (GMT Games, 2025), I was intrigued. The Resistance operations throughout occupied Europe in the Second World War had a pivotal role in the planning and execution of the liberation efforts of the Allies, providing information on German troop movements and strengths, engaging in sabotage of crucial transport infrastructure leading up to Operation Overlord. It was dangerous work; for anyone who was arrested or captured by the occupying force or the Vichy security forces in the south, the best for which they could hope was a quick death by firing squad. More likely, they would be interrogated and  likely tortured for days or weeks before facing the same fate. It's a compelling chapter in the history of World War II, but how do you capture all of that in a game?

In the Shadows was born out of a challenge. The first ConSim Game Jam in 2020 challenged participants to come up with a new game using the components from an existing COIN game in a weekend. Dan Bullock, Chris Bennett, and Joe Schmidt took a copy of Falling Sky: the Gallic Revolt Against Caesar (GMT Games, 2016) and repurposed the map of Gaul to represent 1940s France, creating the bare bones of that we are looking at today.

The box art sets the tone for the game. The cover picture is a drawing, presumably rendered by the estimable Terry Leeds who is credited with the art and layout of the game. The picture is of two Resistance fighters hiding (literally) in the shadows, observing an oblivious German Gestapo officer smoking a cigarette (careful, those things will kill you). The box is two inches deep and sturdy in construction. 

Box back.

Turning over to the back of the box, we get a precis of the situation and a brief description of how the game plays out. There are pictures of the map-board, sample cards, markers and tokens, and a list of components. The game is recommended for ages fourteen and up (of course), is suitable for one or two players (with a parenthetical note that it includes a dedicated solitaire system, confirmed by the presence elsewhere of the GMT One logo), and that a session will play out in around 45 minutes. The Difficulty is rated at Three of a possible nine, with top marks going to the game’s Solitaire Suitability on the basis of the aforementioned solitaire system.

The two-player rules; clear and concise.

In the Shadows can be played as a two-player game or as a solitaire experience. In fact, it really should be thought of as two games in one, each with its own rulebook. The two-player rulebook runs to sixteen pages, but the actual rules eight of those, with the cover, Introduction and component spread taking up the first three, another four pages devoted to historical and designers’ notes, and the back cover presenting a table explaining the Resolution Card Icons (we’ll come bask to the cards later).

2P rules sample page. Both rulebooks have lots of helpful illustrations.

The eight pages of rules themselves include lots of helpful illustrations. Both rulebooks are printed on a familiar weight of matt-finish paper, but a pleasant buff colour (close to a manilla folder in shade) has been used here, in keeping with the overall forties visual ascetic of the project.

The Solitaire rulebook (like it says on the cover).

The solitaire rulebook also runs to sixteen pages, of which thirteen are rules, though if you take out the theme-building photographic illustrations, it’s probably closer to ten pages of rules and pictorial examples. In the solitaire game, you play the Resistance, and your opponent is the Occupation Bot. You’ll be undertaking the actions for the Occupation Bot; it’s a fairly transparent algorithm, but it’s portraying a fairly rigid, bureaucratic system of regimented control, so that seems to be a good fit. The event cards will dictate what the Bot does on its turn, and there’s a robust table to decide its preferences (helpfully printed on the back page of the rules). At time of writing, I haven’t played either the solo or two player versions of the game, but they look to be similar experiences but not quite the same; separate paths to the same destination.

The map-board. It incorporates all the tracks and such. Both practical
and visually engaging.

The mounted board offers a playing area – a map of France – as well as various tracks for tracking rounds, Occupation Authority and Resources, and Resistance Operations.  The Map of France is divided into three areas, called “Districts”; Northern and Western occupied Fance, and Vichy France (the region of nominal self-government). Each region is itself subdivided into four “Zones”, each designated with an identifying reference number. The board, like everything else in the box, evokes the period. The map uses the muted colour-palette and fading effects popular in Western Continental propaganda poster art of the era. In the Shadows is by no means a space hog; the board is only 11” by 17”, and maybe another six inches on all sides will provide plenty of space for setting up the game for either a solo or two-player game.  

Two PACs: no waiting.

The game comes with two duplicate Player Aid Cards, printed on a good weight card in a low sheen. One side assists the Resistance player, the other the Occupation player. The cards are well laid out and quite readable, offering everything the players will need to reference for the two-player game, or as the Resistance in the solitaire game.

In the Shadows comes with two wrapped decks of cards, 82 cars in all. Forty-eight cards make up the two sets for the two-player game, while the remaining 34 make up the three sets for the solitaire game. I don’t normally d this in an unboxing, but I think it’s worth looking at the types of cards used in the games as these go a long way to demonstrating how the two games work.

Event cards. Red title banners denote Resistance events,
grey banners, Occupation events.

The Event cards are the heart of the two-player game. These introduce both some randomness and provide the economy for player actions. It’s a functionally elegant system.

At the start of the game, the players draw two Event cards. Each player will play one card face down, and both reveal simultaneously. These are played consecutively for their events (if the event favours the opposing player, they play out the event) and their Action points. The player holding the higher Action point-value card has the initiative; with ties, the Resistance player decides who goes first.

Resolution cards - providing somewhat random results for your committed actions.
Combat was a newsletter distributed by the French Resistance during the
Occupation; Le Petite Parisien was a Paris newspaper co--opted by
the Germans and used as a propaganda vehicle.

When push comes to shove, the action is resolved by drawing from the Resolution deck. There are five actions – three Resistance and two Occupation – that, when committed, will be resolved by a Resolution card draw. No dice, which won’t sit well with some gamers, but there you have it.

Persona cards.

As I mentioned earlier, the solitaire game is practically a separate game, played on the same board, tokens and markers, but it comes with its own cards and works differently enough, I think, to warrant consideration as a separate game.

First, the player chooses a Persona card. There are four from which to choose, each representing a major faction among the French resistance movement during the occupation, and each offers a different kind of benefit in gameplay, but also a unique secondary victory condition. This adds to the replayability of the solo game right out of the box.

Solitaire Event cards. 

As mentioned earlier solitaire game is played against the Occupation Bot. A separate Solitaire Event Deck is included in the game to accommodate the Occupation Bot. As in the two-player game, the Resistance player draws up to a two-card and plays one, while the Occupation Bot plays the next card off the deck. The same initiative rules apply, and the Occupation Bot’s decision hierarchy is helpfully reproduced on the back cover of the solitaire rules.

Location cards. More going on here than I have yet ascertained. 

A deck of Location cards matches the twelve zones into which the France map is divided. This deck is used to decide the location of some actions undertaken by the Occupation bot.

Markers and wooden pieces. Quite a few wooden pieces.

A roughly 7” by 5” punchboard brings the 24 markers used in the game. These are pre-rounded easy-punch counters (some more pre-rounded than others). These are used to track the progress or otherwise on the gameboard’s status tracks and rondel and mark the alertness of the Occupation forces in particular regions.

Inside the box. The game comes with more baggies than this;
these are just the ones I hadn't got to using yet.

Finally, In the Shadows comes with a box insert of uncommonly practical design. These are specifically designed for shipping purposes, to stop the flat bits (map sheets, counter sheets, rules, player aids – you get the idea) from getting bent or the corners banged up in transit. Often these get ditched to accommodate counter trays and such. In the case of In the Shadows, the insert is the perfect size to keep the board, rulebooks and PACs flat in the box, while perfectly accommodating the cards, markers and wooden tokens without hiding some under one or both of the box-ends. I know opinions are divided on this topic, but for what it’s worth, I’ll be keeping mine intact.

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In the Shadows promises to be a brief but compelling experience. I’m not going to engage with the inevitable “But is it a wargame?” discussions. Not here, at any rate. I will reiterate that it should provide both an interesting diversion that doesn’t outstay its welcome, which is our raison d'être here at Un jeu rapide. I should have an AAR of one or the other mode of play inside of a fortnight. Be sure to check in again.