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No players are co-operating with each other. Each player has a maximum of armies at his/her own disposal (which varies according to the number of players). So players will need to co-ordinate attack on various locations (if the Nazi army is present).

Some locations will become Nazi "Strongholds". Stronghold produce extra troops each turn. So what happens at the start of the game, Berlin is the ONLY Nazi Stronghold. From that stronghold, more Nazi troops get produce and migrate to nearest locations in Germany...

This is sort of like Pandemic's outbreak mechanic.

So the game allows for up to 6 players to play together. But there are 8 SOS:

1-Infiltrator: Required to penetrate a Nazi stronghold
2-Bomber: can fly to a location and bomb it (50% odds of success)
3-Explosives: Use a special explosion token during battles
4-Sniper: Use a special snipe token during battles
5-Engineer: Moving around cost less APs (Action Points)
6-Scout: Has MORE APs than other roles
7-Medic: Second chance during battles
8-Commando: Can battle twice on the same turn (same location)

I think these roles add some *NICE* flavor to the game...

As I am relying on some of Pandemic's mechanics, the Player's Deck is supposed to be the *dynamic* Clue cards that get revealed as the game progresses.

Note: Please be aware this is a very *volatile* design - since it is still rather immature in the development stage.

Pandemic says Player's LOSE if they "exhaust" the Player's Deck (A player cannot draw 2 Player cards = LOSS). In this game, Player's would ALWAYS WIN if they "exhaust" the Player's Deck... Because this means ALL card locations would be revealed and the two (2) locations would be OBVIOUS.

So I need some kind of MIDDLE GROUND: something that means players can WIN or LOSE but that it has to do with the actions they take, more than random factors (such as card positions).

Obviously stopping the Nazis from achieving 10 Strongholds is one thing. But I really wanted it to feel like an "all-out slaughter/struggle" when it comes to battling the Nazi armies. And during all of this battling, players MUST stop the building/launching combo of the V-Bomb.

I still think it's possible - just needs some fresh ideas as to how this 2nd phase is executed!

Did you ask this because if I DID have competing players, it might be MORE POSSIBLE to make this "mash-up" work???

Like if the Player's Deck get's dealt to each player (evenly), players could go travel to locations and try to "uncover" the secret plans. And the OPPONENTS could dismiss the location... And then it would be the OPPOSITE, it would be a RUSH to FIND the two (2) locations (or three - a variant).

Something like "Research Facility" (where the plans are designed), "Factory" (where the V-Bombs are made) and "Launch Site" (Where the V-Bombs take flight)...!

So I have figured it out! chriswhite's suggestion of player competing against each other is THE KEY!

Let me explain:

1-Out of 51 locations, 3 will be set aside and are the components to the ultra secret V-Bomb plans.
2-That leaves 48 locations in the Players Deck. That divides well into 2, 3, 4 and 6. So those are the # of players for the game to be even and fair.
3-Each player is dealt 48 / # of players Player Deck *Location* cards.
4-Players check off on their ULTRA SECRET location minder sheet the locations they have received.
5-All those location cards then get reshuffled into the Players Deck.
6-On each player's turn, they draw TWO (2) Location cards and reveal them to the rest of the group.

What this does is that AT SOME POINT in the game, ONE (1) player will know the three (3) locations before all the others. And that player will WIN the game. This will NATURALLY occur BEFORE the Player's Deck gets *exhausted* (the problem I was forseeing).

BUT at the same time, players must COLLABORATE to ensure that the Nazi forces do not overwhelm the board with Nazi strongholds. Remember 10 Strongholds and EVERYONE LOSES.

SO the key is CO-OPETITION, a mix between co-operation and competition.

The other thing to NOT forget is this game is also based on "Pandemic".

Players who have played that game know that on many times the players LOSE the game to one of the diseases or to outbreaks or just running out of Player Deck cards.

So don't think that "OBJECTIVE #1: Fighting off the Nazis" will be an easy task. On the contrary this will be TOUGH and require much coordination among the players. And hopefully like in Pandemic, players will lose the game most of the time...

I want this to be a challenging game - where players want to go another round to try to WIN the game.

Playtesting will show if the Player's Deck can be exhausted in which ALL players LOSE also. This has to be playtested to see if it is at all possible.