Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of WWII

The Battle for Castle Itter was fought near the Austrian village of Itter on 5 May 1945, in the last days of the War in Europe during World War II. US soldiers joined forces with Wehrmacht infantrymen, an SS officer, an Austrian resistance fighter, and recently freed French prisoners of war to defend an Austrian castle against an attacking force from the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division.




Object of the GameDuring a game of Castle Itter, you take the role of the force that defended the castle from 0400 - 1600 on 5 May 1945. The goal of the game is to last until the SS deck is depleted, without allowing SS Counters to reach the castle. You score points for each Defender that survives the assault and lose points for each SS Counter remaining on the board at the end of the game - the higher your score, the better.



Game OverviewCastle Itter is divided into turns. Each turn consists of two phases:

• Defender Phase: Take five actions with Defender counters
• SS Phase: Play three SS cards



Defender PhaseDuring each turn you take five actions with your Defenders. You can only take one action with a Defender on a turn. When you take an action with a Defender, place an Action Token on the Defender. If you use an action that exhausts a Defender, flip the Defender to its exhausted side. The actions include:

• Attack
• Suppress
• Move within a location
• Move to a new location
• Special Actions (Command and Escape)
• Recover



SS PhaseOnce you have completed your five Defender actions for the turn, reveal three SS Cards from the SS deck, one at a time, resolving the effect of each one before moving to the next. After all three SS Cards have been resolved, discard them. The turn is over and the next turn begins with five new Defender actions.

There are four different categories of SS Cards, based on the card effect:

• Attack Defenders
• Attack Location
• Disrupt Defenders
• Place SS Counters



Ending the GameThe game ends at the end of the turn when the SS deck is exhausted or immediately if the 142nd Infantry Regiment card is drawn from the SS deck.