TDG: Cody's Top Ten Games Set in Germany (February 2026)

0:04 Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the discriminating gamer. You know I've developed a fear of German sausages. I keep fearing the verse. Ladies and gentlemen, today we're going to go ahead and take a look at my top 10 game set in Germany.

0:27 All right, ladies and gentlemen. So, my top 10 games set in Germany. As we'll see, there'll be a few that kind of are on the fence here about what exactly constitutes Germany because it's a, you know, crazy kooky borders changing. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to go ahead uh take a look at my top 10 games set in Germany. Again, generally, I'm looking at what it is just just geographically. Uh you know, what is Germany or what it was at the time. Uh, the game board essentially doesn't have to all be Germany, but primarily Germany at least, or a place, a location in Germany. All right, so let's go ahead and just jump right into it. Number 10. Number 10 is a game of resistance to the Nazis by the German military. Uh, this is kind of a quick game. Uh, plays in under an hour easily.

1:16 Uh, it's kind of a a riff on on another game. Uh, but this is Valkyrie from Tabletop Tycoon. Valkyrie is a game where, as I say, you are German resistors. Uh, but this is, as I say, a very quick game. There's another game we may see later that's a little bit more fleshed out. So, in this game, you are attempting to recruit allies. You've got allies on the board that help you. Of course, you're rolling dice. Uh, if you're in the same space with Nazi leaders, you got to draw interrogation cards, and they may do really nasty things, and you kind of can't tell your your your buddies, your friends. It's a cooperative game, you kind of can't tell them what it forces you to do, but it can put you in some bad situations. But it's a real fun quick light game about resistance to the Nazis and trying to assassinate Hitler. Uh very fun game, but again it's it's a quicker game. Another game it's a riff on another game we'll be talking about probably a little bit later. But this is my number 10, Valkyrie from Tabletop Tycoon. My number nine is a game that I haven't played in a while. I still have it. I still enjoy it. Uh and it's kind of from a family of games, but this one happens to be set in Germany. But this is Ticket to Ride Germany. There was, I know, an earlier Ticket to Ride game that was also kind of based in Germany. It had a different name. I think I played that one once, but Ticket to Rides Germany is fun.

2:32 You've got kind of meeples and you're trying to also not just connect the tracks, but to connect the meuples. Um, but it's a beautiful board of Germany. Now, I love Ticket to Ride. It's it's, you know, there's only so much they can do with the variations here. And really one of the big things you're getting out of a game of Ticket to Ride with the expansions or different um whole games is the map and the the actual maps that you're playing on. And this one is just a lot of fun. It's a great map. Uh you know, wonderful routes here and there. And I I've had a blast every time I played it. I haven't played it in a while, but I need to play it again. But this is Ticket to Ride Germany, and that is from Days of Wonder. My number eight is a game that I played recently. It is not available yet. I think uh they did the um crowdfunding for it a while ago.

3:18 I don't think it's out yet. Probably be out before too long. But this is Race to Berlin from Portal Games. Race to Berlin is a great game where one of you is the Western Allies, one of you is the Russians, but you're not just playing as those factions. The Western Allies are also playing as the Eastern Germans, and the Russians are also playing as the Western Germans. So you actually don't just play as as your faction, but also the German faction that is opposing your enemy. And so you're fighting them. You're trying to keep them back even as you're trying to advance on your side. But there's, you know, some great uh kind of bluffing elements here and the strengths of different units there. Uh and it's fun to kind of see the lines on the map change. You actually kind of set up these these lines on the map to uh indicate exactly how far you are progressing. It's great fun. Uh, and it's just as you as you actually get to Berlin, you actually go into a different map for Berlin. Uh, really had a ball with this one. Unfortunately, I just had the uh prototype copy, which I I have sent on. I'm looking forward to getting the actual um uh edition of it because it is a hoot. We uh really I played this one with Ray, I think, a couple times, and we just really enjoyed it quite a bit, and it's in Germany. So, that is my number eight, Race to Berlin from Portal Games. My number seven is a game that takes us back to the carefree days of the Napoleonic Wars. This is Napoleon 1806. So Napoleon 1806, this is in the middle of the fourth coalition, the war of the fourth coalition when Napoleon is fighting the Prussians

4:48 and he is this is 180 1806. He's fighting the Prussians and this is in reality where you got the battles of Yenna and ourstat. But what I like about this game and and I know there are other games in there other games in this game system that I family of games I'd like to play but this is the only one I played. But it's cool because you've got these kind of cohesion tracks for your various core that you're moving around the blocks you're moving around. And what's cool is as you do things you're kind of wearing down just moving. You're kind of being becoming more and more disorganized with your core. But of course there's some great systems you can do kind of a you know a card combat system or you can do a dice combat system. Um so there's some options there. But again, great card play, great kind of fog of war stuff going on here. Really enjoy this. This is a fun Napoleonic uh game with just some really, really fun mechanics here. So that is Napoleon 1806. That is from Shakos.

5:38 All right, my number six. Now, this is a game that again is kind of on the fence because technically today, uh this location is in Austria, but during World War II, Austria of course was part of Germany. So this is Castle Eder. Castle Eter is a great game of a real life battle, the strangest battle of World War II in which right at the very end of the war, there's a a castle that held French prisoners and you have American units there, you have an Austrian resistor. These French soldier or French prisoners are also fighting. You even have German Vermacht and they're all fighting on the same side against an assault by SS units. This is in the the last week of the war and they're trying to hold out long enough for reinforcements from uh the Americans to arrive. So the whole game is you just trying to keep these these SS units from taking the castle. And it is great fun.

6:33 You've got the different tracks that are moving there. You can try to suppress your enemies to keep them from coming forward or try to kill them outright, which is harder. Great solitire game. Great game. This is actually the first Valiant Defense game I played. Um still might be my favorite. I don't know. I go back and forth on them all the time, but I really enjoy Castle. So, that is my number six, Castle. That is from DVG. My number five is a game I played not too long ago. Played about a week or so ago, and I'll be blunt, just played it once, but already I like it better than these others. Uh, but this is Werewolf or Devil from uh Legion War Games. Werewolf is a great game about um well, it's a coin game and it's an alternate history game. It's about what if the German resistance movement to the allies actually happened uh you know in in in became a big insurgency. So one of you is playing the Soviets, one of you playing the western allies. One of you is playing the Adal vice movement which are German militants who who want to reclaim Germany for Germans uh but are not necessarily hardcore Nazis. And then you have the Vervol movement. They are the unreonstructed Nazis who are attempting to um kind of reclaim Germany themselves. And so the four factions, of course, it's coin, so you have kind of the action menu selection. Uh you can play the cards, you can do the uh events on the cards, and you're attempting to get your own specific victory conditions because, of course, the game is asymmetrical and there are four

8:03 different factions who have four different victory conditions and it's just tremendous fun. I I I really, you know, I enjoy coin games generally and I love the imagination in this one. And I love the whatif scenario of this one. It was just a tremendous amount of fun. So that is uh my number five that is Vulf from Legion War Games. Okay, my number four. Again, this this this arguably is a stretch. The core game isn't specific about where it is, although it could very well be Germany. I know in the expansion you actually have a map that is Hitler's bunker, or not his bunker, but his but the Eagles Nest. Uh so this is Sniper Elite. Now, Sniper Elite is a hidden movement game based on the video game. It's a hidden movement game. One of you is the sniper, and you can play as the American in the in the base game.

8:51 In the expansion, you've got different nationalities, and you can play as the sniper as you're moving around the board trying to stay hidden and accomplish your objectives. You can also take shots at your enemies, and you're taking shots by removing these tokens from a bag and and trying to hit your enemies there. But, it is tremendous fun. I absolutely love Sniper Elite. This is one of my favorite hidden movement games. Fury of Dracula is still my favorite, but I absolutely love it. Like um like Castle It or Sniper Elite is a David Thompson design uh with him and his team and it's just great. I absolutely love Sniper Elite. Like I say, if if you like hidden movement games, it's one of the best. So that is Sniper Elite. Sniper Elite. That is from Rebellion Unplugged. And that is my number four. My number three is a game that I just love and it's a game that I have played with my students. Um, I've taught, you know, in the past I've taught courses on Nazi Germany and it's always kind of fun to play this game just to kind of it's such a heavy subject and obviously it's can be a little dark when you're teaching that subject and so it's kind of fun to be able to play this game and to kind of lighten it up. This is Secret Hitler.

10:00 Uh, Secret Hitler is such a fantastic game. Secret Hitler is a game that is a social deduction game and in my opinion as far as straight social deduction without any larger kind of board game components or anything like that. It's it's my favorite social deduction game. It is a game where of course um some of you are fascists, some of you are liberals and one of the fascists is Hitler and you're trying to prevent Hitler from becoming chancellor. Um if Hitler becomes chancellor, game over. But also too, you're voting through laws and sometimes the liberals don't have any choice. They're going to put pass bad laws, but there are ways from the president to the chancellor to try to get good laws passed. And you're trying to pass more good laws than bad laws if you're the liberals. And of course, if you're the fascist, you're trying to get the bad laws passed. But it's really fun. It's one of those games where you are constantly yelling at each other, making accusations. It's so much fun.

10:52 It's just it's just a hoot. Uh so this is uh sniper or sniper. This is Secret Hitler. And that is my number three. All right. My number two. This is a game that um I mentioned way back at number 10, a game that Valkyrie was a riff on, and it's this one. My number two is Black Orchestra from Tabletop Tycoon. Black Orchestra is a game about trying to assassinate Hitler, but this is a little more in-depth. It's a little bit longer. There's more going on here. And I think um you know what I love about this game is it's it's tells such a great story because you've got to you're going around you're the agents or you know they're ob civilians or vermach and you're trying to find you know you got to find a plot and then you got to try to find you know the items you're going to need to carry out this plot to get you better dice and the whole time the gestapo is on your heels. You're trying to keep your suspicion low. Uh it's just so so good. You know, you may end up going to prison and it can really set you back. It may end the game if you all go to prison at the same time. I have lost that way. I played this game dozens of times and it's fun every time I play it. And just recently, this last year, we got the expansion which gives three different game modes. And I played each of the game modes. I haven't played any of them at more than one at the same time, but I played through each of the game modes and they are all very fun.

12:13 They all bring really fun and interesting variants to the game and I really really enjoy them. This, like I say, one of the best storytelling games. Uh, it's so immersive and it's so much fun and I love the cooperative nature of this game. How you and your friends are working together to try to solve this puzzle. Great game. That is my number two, Black Orchestra. That is from Tabletop Tycoon. All right, my number one game set in Germany. This is a game where the map is really a map of central Europe, but it's mostly uh the German states here. Uh this is in the 18th century, so there is no na nation of Germany as such. Uh but this is a game I first played maybe 2012 or something like that. And it just blew me away. I actually haven't played it for a few years. I got to get to the table again because it is so much fun. This is Frederick. Frederick. Uh my copy was uh distributed domestically I think by Rio Grandandy Games. And Frederick is such a fun game. It's you got hidden information. You've got armies on the board. One of you is playing Frederick.

13:18 Then you've got the French, the Austrians, and the Russians. They've also got, you know, like like the Swedes and the Holy Roman Empire also kind of in there as well. But like I say, four players. Everybody is fighting the Prussians is fighting Frederick, but they're not, it's not an all-in-one game because they are trying to capture victory cities for themselves. They're playing against each other as well. But you've got the armies and you write on a piece of paper how many like how much strength you've got in each of these armies and you're moving the armies around the board. And so there's hidden movement. When you actually uh you know get into a battle, you kind of reveal your movement. And what's cool with the battles is you have these suits of playing cards and you're playing these suits and adding the number of the that you've got there to your total uh power on that uh general uh to that army. And so you kind of abstract the suits as almost like the terrain, right?

14:11 You're playing a certain terrain card, but it is great fun. And then different events come out that kind of, you know, real life events that shape the Seven Years War in Europe. This is really a fun game. It is intense. It is filled with uh just tre. Again, it's a it's a great story. Uh it's fun because Frederick starts out the game and he's got a lot of armies and he can move back and forth, but he gets worn down as the game goes on and it gets harder and harder to keep that up and your enemies start gaining momentum. But it's great fun. I absolutely love Frederick. I have um uh was it uh Maria? Yeah, I've got Maria, too. And Maria I haven't played. I've had Maria for years. I think I bought Maria right after I got Frederick. I still haven't played Maria. I need to get Maria to the table. Shelf of shame. I got to get that one played. I've heard it's better. I don't know. We'll see. But I love Frederick. So, that is my number one.

15:04 That is Frederick from Rio Grandandy Games. All right, ladies and gentlemen. What do you think? What are your favorite games set in Germany? I would love to hear what you have to say. I'm sure there's a lot of great war games that that I didn't even mention that you could bring up, but these are my top 10. Uh, did you like my list? Did you not like my list? Are there some games you would have ranked higher or put on here that I didn't? Or are there some games you say there's no business being on a top 10? I love to hear your comments. I love to hear your engagement with the channel and with these lists. It's always a lot of fun for me and I sometimes I I learn a lot of games I've never heard about and I think I got to check that one out. So please, please, please leave a comment here on YouTube, on Board Gamegeeek, on our social media. Please, please, please subscribe to this channel, like this video, and again follow us on social media. We really appreciate it. If you really do like the content we provide here on the discriminating gamer, I would humbly ask you to check out my other channel that is Cody Carlson PhD where we talk about military history books on history. I even put some of my lectures up on there. It would mean the world to me if you would subscribe to that channel as well. And if you do really like what we do here, I would humbly ask you to click on the super thanks button and leave a tip.

16:10 Bad news, they just found a 120-y old letter in Vienna that never got delivered. Worst news, it was an acceptance to an art school. Please help me on my feet again. AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING. And I don't know where I've been. Please help me on this ground. IT'S A LONG TIME AND I'LL BE DYING. Once a year I wind up in the I love to fight, but I don't ever mind.

16:55 Bye-bye. Yay.