Off the Line (2025)

Overview

At the beginning of an operation, the commanding officer determines the point from which the operation will begin. This is referred to as the line of departure. In this game, players discover what happens once the soldiers under their command move ... Off the Line.

Off the Line is a wargame of low-to-moderate complexity that depicts man-to-man combat during World War II. Each combat unit represents a single soldier. Games are won through the completion of mission objectives such as the control of locations on the map board, exiting soldiers from the map through specific points, or the simple elimination of enemy soldiers. Although players are open to maneuver their forces as they wish, they’ll soon find that traditional tactics for units at the game’s scale are the best bet to achieve goals and to keep their forces intact.

Game play is managed through the use of a shared deck of action cards, each of which is used to determine how many soldiers might be activated during a turn, the resolution of random outcomes such as combat and morale checks, and random events. Being able to manage limited resources is a key to victory.

Each soldier is individually named and rated for morale (which determines a soldier’s effectiveness under fire), melee, weapon, and in some instances, command. Terrain is represented through the use of twelve geomorphic map panels that can create hundreds of different battlefield configurations.

This initial game includes forces for the United States and Germany facing off through twelve individual scenarios, plus instructions on how to create your own. Plans are in place to add additional nationalities, more maps, and lots more scenarios!

—description from the designer

Scale: - 15-20 meters per hex

Expansions

Off the Line: Expansion #1 – The British

Off the Line: Expansion #2 – The Italians