In the final months of World War II, the Normandy landings paved the way to the occupation of Berlin and the resulting defeat of the German army, which tried to resist until the very end by developing new “wonder weapons. Now, this fascinating historical theme comes to the tabletop with WunderWaffen, an asymmetric strategy game by Walter Obert. Considered the most versatile among Italian game designers, he has created quirky games like "Ugg-Tect" and "Kragmortha", evergreen party games such as "Tokyo Train", and children’s games like "Drei Magier" and "Janod". In this Designer's Notes, he talks about WunderWaffen's creation and development.
The game designer Walter Obert with WunderWaffen at Spiel 2025.
"In Italian (and perhaps in some other languages, too!), there's a saying: "From the pig, nothing goes to waste." As a connoisseur of Parma ham, salami, and roasted shank, I couldn't agree more! After nearly 40 years as a game designer and nearly 40 games published, I can confidently say that this proverb also applies to board game design.
About twenty years ago, I designed a cooperative game based on the movie "Armageddon" with an interesting mechanic: each player performed their actions using two double-sided counters: one side of each counter had a positive effect, the other a negative effect.
The players had to agree on the best sequence for playing their tokens, one from each side. Ironically, the game concept caught the attention of Roberto Di Meglio, then manager of Nexus, who, after a period of testing, rejected the prototype.
A few years ago, a call for a design contest from the Italian Wargame Federation (IWF) gave me the chance to bring together four things that have always fascinated me into a single project:
- To capture, in a simple yet believable way, the relationship between the Allies in the final phase of World War II;
- To weave into a game the potential of the secret weapons German researchers were developing at the time (something halfway between Raiders of the Lost Ark and the video game Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe - thanks, George Lucas)
- To design a game that looked and felt like a wargame, yet was accessible to everyone;
- To finally reuse that ingenious double-sided counter mechanic that had been sitting idle for 20 years!
A positive note and a negative one: from the very first version, the game flow worked well, and its structure barely changed during development. That’s not something you see very often. The downside was the sheer number of revisions and fine-tuning required by me and the developers. I don’t hesitate to say that I worked more on this game than on all the others in my career put together.
A view of the game components.
From D-Day to Berlin
In the final year of the war, the Allied forces are marching toward Germany: the Anglo-Americans from the west and the south, and the Soviets from the east. The Nazis are doomed; it remains to be seen who will reach Berlin first. But in Germany's secret laboratories, new superweapons are in development. The Allies must cooperate as much as possible to optimize the conquest of territory and slow down German scientific progress. Each player has a starting supply of 18 double-sided counters, different for each faction. On their turn, they select three and play them in the desired order: two counters for themselves and the back of one counter for an opponent.
WunderWaffen is a unique cooperative game: the three allies must cooperate, but at the end of ten turns, only the player with the highest score is the winner.
The game also has a strong diplomatic component, as Allied players must agree on the best moves, carefully balancing the give-and-take that the double-sided action counters will allow.
The “Wonder Weapons”
The core rules of the game, which can be played by two or four players, are the same for all factions. However, the 24 research cards available to the German player allow them to modify these rules in their favor in various ways. For example, by making certain types of counters particularly efficient, increasing the points earned from certain actions, or preventing certain actions from being performed by the Allies.
The Allies must limit Nazi scientific research as much as they can, while advancing as quickly as possible towards Berlin.
Research cards available for German player bring variuos advantages during the game.
The cards represent various types of weapons, prototypes, and events, all of which are actually documented: from the Tiger super tanks to jet fighters, from the B1, B2, and V3 to the atomic bomb.
After numerous playtests and subsequent revisions, WunderWaffen won that design contest, beating out 18 competitors, thanks to the positive evaluation of a jury composed of several Italian wargame publishers. After a first edition in Para Bellum magazine, the game is about to be published in a new version by Ares Games and Oliphante, improved in many ways. Gianfranco Fioretta and Roberto Di Meglio deserve credit for always believing in this project, which will significantly be published exactly 80 years after the end of World War II. My heartfelt thanks go to them and to the dozens of playtesters, Riccardo Vadalà first among them."
This article was originally published on Game Trade Magazine issue 308 (October 2025).
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