Black Orchestra FAQ
219 questions players ask · Updated Nov 13, 2026 · Full rulebook
Components and Setup
- Can Black Orchestra be played solo, and how many conspirators can one player control?
- How many deputy tiles go on the board at setup?
- What do the numbers in the corner of Conspirator cards mean?
- Does Gersdorff start at Motivated, or does his ability change his starting motivation?
- How many Key Event cards are in the game?
- What are the faces on the Black Orchestra dice?
- Can a conspirator use the crossed-out motivation or suspicion spaces on the conspirator sheet?
Key Concepts
- Do ongoing Conspirator cards count against the dossier limit, and is there a separate in-play area for them?
- Do Ongoing cards and the Safe card affect all players, or only their owner?
- Do plot cards count toward the dossier limit?
- What does 'any' mean on conspirator and event cards, such as 'lower the Suspicion of any conspirator in Berlin by 1'?
- Can you play a card that raises your Suspicion when it is already at Extreme?
- If your Suspicion is already High or Extreme, can you still gain the benefit of an effect that raises it, such as Visit from Goebbels?
- How much Suspicion does the Paris space lower, and by how much does it add Military Support?
- Do a character's special abilities become available only at the Motivated level?
- Does using a character's special ability cost an action?
- Can a conspirator use Conspire if they are not yet motivated?
- If a conspirator cannot use its special ability, does that also block attempting a plot?
- If you are at your dossier or item limit, can you draw or pick up first and then discard?
- If your motivation drops to Timid while you hold more than two cards, must you discard down to two immediately?
- Can you discard a dossier card before you have to, or discard it without resolving its text?
- When you discard down to the dossier limit, can you use a card's ability as you discard it?
- How do you use a dossier card that says 'Discard this card'?
- Can you play a dossier card right after you draw it, or must you wait for your next turn?
- Can you play a lightning-bolt dossier card, such as Quick Reaction, during another player's turn?
- Can a lightning-bolt Conspirator card such as Urgent Communique be played after an event card is drawn, to stop its effect?
- What happens when the conspirator deck runs out?
- How does History Repeats work when the discarded conspirator cards are shuffled?
- Can you give the bonus dice from the All In conspirator card to several conspirators, including yourself?
- When do the bonus actions from the All In card take effect: this turn or the next turn?
- Does the Black Orchestra conspirator card let you roll all non-committed dice, with no three-dice limit like Conspire?
- Can the actions gained from a Black Orchestra conspirator card be used on the current turn?
- When a Classified Papers or Defections card says to ignore targets rolled on an Eagle, do those targets still go on the Dissent track?
- Does the Classified Papers conspirator card apply to Conspire actions by any player, or only its holder?
- Does the Resistance Network card change the normal results of a Conspire roll?
- Does the Resistance Network card's suspicion reduction apply during any player's Conspire action?
- If Conspire dice overflow the Dissent track, when are the extra dice placed?
- Does Hitler's Military Support stay at 7 once it reaches the maximum?
- How many cards does General Goerdeler draw at the start of his turn, and does his dossier limit rise?
- What is an 'Action card' in Goerdeler's ability?
- In a solo game with two conspirators, do you take a full turn with one conspirator and then the other?
- What rules changed between the first and second editions of Black Orchestra?
- Can Hitler and the deputies be moved only onto spaces that match the current era?
- Can Urgent Communique move a deputy to a space that is not yet legal for the current stage?
- What do the SS or lightning symbols on the board below the event decks mean?
- Can conspirators in the same space share items for a plot?
- Where do delivered or discarded items go, and can an item be picked up again?
- Is the Documents item discarded after you use its suspicion reduction?
- Can you look at the text printed under an item tile on a board space, or slide the tile aside to read it?
- Can you use a space's ability while an item tile still covers it?
- Do Black Box location abilities always need an action to use, or do some apply automatically?
- Do you have to be in a city to deliver an item there?
- If a card says that delivering an item to Vienna lowers suspicion only in Stage 2, can you get the benefit in a later stage?
- When a delivery benefit is distributed, how is a suspicion reduction split, and do the players need to share a space?
- Does the bonus for dropping an item in a space such as the explosives space reduce suspicion only when you hold that item?
- What happens when you land on a space such as Auschwitz or Paris, and does it need an action?
- Do Special Location modifiers, such as Paris or Zurich, apply each time you enter, and do they last after you leave?
- When a space has a modifier, such as Paris, does it apply only to the conspirator who moved onto it?
- Can you still gain a board space bonus when your Suspicion or motivation is already at its maximum?
- How many plots can a conspirator hold at once?
1. Check for Hitler and Deputies
- If several conspirators are equally near a moving Hitler or deputy, which one does it move toward?
- Is Hitler counted as one of the deputies for effects that refer to deputies?
- Does Hitler or a deputy move when an event sends it to the space it already occupies?
- When Hitler or a deputy moves to the nearest conspirator, how are the Berlin spaces treated?
- Is the Train Station part of Berlin, and is it a separate space when counting distance?
- Does General Ludwig Beck's ability to ignore Hitler and deputy penalties still work when Goebbels is in his space at the start of his turn?
- Does Wolf Helldorff's motivated ability, which ignores Hitler and deputy penalties, work on any space or only in Berlin?
- If Hitler or a deputy is in your space, do its penalties resolve before your start-of-turn ability?
- Do you lose an item when Goering is in your space or near you?
- Do Hitler and deputy penalties hit every conspirator in the space at the start of each turn?
- If Goebbels is in Carl Goerdeler's space at the start of his turn, does Goerdeler still draw his start-of-turn card and keep the extra hand size?
- If Goebbels cancels Von Tresckow's special ability, must he discard the extra item the ability gave him?
- If your only card is a Plot card and you start your turn in a location with Hess, must you discard it?
- If several Hitler and deputy penalties hit the same space, in what order do you resolve them?
- When Hitler or a deputy moves to the nearest conspirator, can a conspirator in prison be the nearest space?
- When Hitler or a deputy must move to the nearest conspirator, does a conspirator already in its space count?
- If an event says a Hitler or deputy must move, and every conspirator is in its space, where does it go?
2. Take up to 3 Actions
- Do you have to spend an action to play a conspirator card?
- Can you deliver an item to a space that still has an item tile on it?
- Do Fortified locations protect Hitler from plot attempts?
- Can you roll more than three dice on Conspire, even with four or more actions?
- Does each die you roll on Conspire cost one of your actions?
- After a Conspire roll, how many actions do you gain?
- Can you take the same action more than once in a turn, and in what order must your actions be taken?
- Can you gain extra actions and then Conspire in the same turn?
- Does conspiring with other conspirators in the same space give a bonus?
- Is there an extra penalty for a Conspire roll with eagles while you are at Extreme suspicion?
- How can you lower Hitler's Military Support?
- Does Fabian von Schlabrendorff's passive extra die for Conspire cost an action?
- Does a lightning-bolt symbol mean the effect costs an action, and can you use it on another player's turn?
- Does General Beck's lightning-bolt ability cost an action, and can it add a die to another player's plot?
- Does a Move action take you to any connected space, or only to adjacent ones?
- Does delivering an item cost one of your actions?
- Do you get a location's benefit when you pick up its item?
- Do a space's modifiers apply when you move onto it, and does that cost an action?
- Where do delivered items go, and are they removed from the game?
- Must you be standing on the item's space to deliver an item?
- Is a Share action one action for any number of cards or items, or one per card or item?
- When sharing a card or item, can you take one if your hand or item limit is already full?
- Can two conspirators swap items when both are at their item limit?
- Can you trade a plot card to another conspirator in your space?
- Can you attempt the same plot again in the same turn after a failed attempt?
- Are item tiles revealed automatically when a conspirator enters their space?
- Can you pick up an unrevealed item to save an action?
3. Draw an Event Card
- When Slow News Day is drawn, can you look at the next event card before deciding whether to play it?
- Is an event card drawn after each player's turn, or once per round?
- How many Key Event cards are in the event deck?
- How long does a Key Event stay in play, and when is it removed?
- When several cards say to redraw because a Key Event is in play, how many redraws happen?
- Does an event that moves all Wehrmacht conspirators, such as Western Offensive, also move an arrested conspirator?
- Does a Gestapo Raid replace the current event, or is a further event drawn after the raids?
- If an event makes you draw more cards than the current stage has left, do you draw from the next stage?
- When does a new stage begin?
- When is an important event with a yellow top ignored because a Key Event is in play?
- Does the Party Rally event's Nuremberg effect apply if you start your turn in Nuremberg, or only if you pass through it?
- When the Berlin Speech (Hitler's Speech) is drawn and Hitler's Military Support is already raised, what happens?
- Does Berlin Speech's 'any conspirator in Berlin' lower the Suspicion of every conspirator in Berlin, or one chosen conspirator?
- How do you resolve the Casablanca Conference event when it lowers motivation and forces a discard?
- If Hess is already out of play from Attack on Pearl Harbor, does Hess Leaves Germany still lower Military Support by 2?
- If an event says you may do X to do Y, can you still do Y when X cannot be carried out?
- When you draw an event, which deck does the card come from?
- Under Slow Retreat (stage 6), what happens to conspirators, deputies and Hitler in a No-7 space, and can they go back there?
- Does the Parade in Berlin event, which lowers Berlin conspirators' Suspicion by 1, affect a conspirator in prison?
- What happens when Visit from Goebbels says raise Suspicion to High, and you are already at High or Extreme?
- What happens to a conspirator standing on a space that becomes illegal in Stage 7?
- When two conspirators are equally near Hitler, Goebbels or the Assassin, who is affected?
- Must Hess's token leave the board after stage 4 if his event card never came up?
- When Visit from Bormann must move to the nearest conspirator and the only one is in prison, what happens?
- Is an event resolved again while it stays as the current event?
- When a card gives every conspirator two cards, do dossier limits still apply?
- Must a No Event This Turn card be played before the event is revealed?
- If you delay Hitler during an event that moves him, is the rest of the event still resolved, including revealing the item?
Gestapo Raids
- Does the Safe card still protect you from Restricted cards during a Gestapo Raid?
- Are plot cards discarded in a Gestapo Raid or when you are arrested?
- After a Gestapo Raid where you are not arrested, do the illegal cards you keep still raise your Suspicion?
- During a Gestapo Raid, are all conspirators at Extreme Suspicion arrested, and is every illegal card in every dossier checked?
- Are you arrested as soon as your Suspicion reaches Extreme, or only when a Gestapo Raid resolves?
- If a Gestapo Raid pushes a conspirator to Extreme during step two, do they keep the remaining illegal cards?
- What happens when you are at Extreme Suspicion and an event raises your Suspicion to High?
- What do the SS symbols on the event track and under the event cards mean?
- Does Security Clearance stay in your dossier and protect illegal cards in every Gestapo Raid?
- Do the first and second edition Gestapo Raid steps lead to different results?
Arrest and Prison
- What Suspicion do you get when you are released from prison?
- Can an arrested conspirator in Jail be counted by effects like move to the nearest conspirator, or be treated as a space?
- Can a distributed Suspicion decrease from a delivery go to a conspirator in Jail?
- Can a jailed conspirator play cards, plots or use special abilities?
- If a conspirator with All In bonus dice is sent to Jail before using them, do they keep the dice?
- In a three-player game, when two conspirators are jailed, can the third free them, and what happens if the rescue fails?
- If you are arrested by a Gestapo Raid at the end of your turn, do you draw another event card that turn?
- If an interrogation card releases you from prison, does your turn end, and do you still draw an event card?
- What happens when a failed plot is detected and you are arrested mid-turn?
- If you are arrested, which cards and items do you lose?
- Does Security Clearance protect your illegal cards when you are arrested outside a Gestapo Raid?
- Can an imprisoned conspirator pay a cost in an option that would set them free?
Interrogation Cards
- How does the second-edition Enhanced Interrogation change jail compared with the first edition?
- Can you choose an interrogation option you cannot fully carry out, such as a discard that needs two players or a raise on a maxed track?
- Can you always choose the Try and Resist option on an interrogation card?
- Can you still Conspire after an interrogation card closes the Dissent Track?
- If an interrogation option does not say you are released, do you stay in prison?
- Can you discard your own plot card to satisfy 'Discard 1 plot in a dossier' on an interrogation card?
- In the second edition, do you still roll to avoid an interrogation card, or use the first-edition rolling rules?
- Do interrogation effects that hurt other players apply to an imprisoned conspirator?
Plots
- Must you roll every die a plot attempt allows?
- If a plot attempt fails without being detected, is the plot card discarded?
- Are the items used in a plot attempt discarded, even when the attempt fails?
- How is the result of a plot attempt decided: detected, successful or failed?
- In what order are dice results resolved when Target and Eagle effects are both in play?
- Does a plot attempt fail if you roll any eagle while at High or Extreme suspicion?
- Do you need to match or beat Hitler's Military Support to succeed on a plot roll?
- Must dice-adding cards and optional items be used before you roll the plot's dice?
- Must you attempt a plot on your own turn?
- Can Derail Train and Plane Bomb be played out of turn, and do they cost an action?
- Can a card other than an event card move Hitler to set off Derail Train or Plane Bomb?
- Does moving Hitler between spaces inside Berlin satisfy Derail Train's requirement that Hitler move?
- When Derail Train or Plane Bomb is carried out after Hitler moves, which space is the plot attempted in?
- Do assisting conspirators' motivation levels matter when attempting a plot?
- What marks a fortified space, and what counts as a fortress for a plot?
- Can you attempt the same plot card again after an undetected failure?
- Do successes carry over between failed plot attempts?
- Can you use items carried by other conspirators in your space to add dice to a plot?
- Must other conspirators be in Hitler's space to contribute items to a plot?
- Can one plot use several copies of the same item, including items from other conspirators?
- What adds dice to a plot attempt or removes eagles from it?
- What does an event that adds 1 eagle to all plot attempts do, compared with one that ignores 1 eagle?
- Do plot cards count toward your dossier limit, and can you hold more than one?
- Do you need the plot card in your own dossier to attempt it?
- Can another player in your space trigger your plot?
- How many dice does a Reckless plot roll, and does its white die count as a base die?
- Does a jailed conspirator count toward a plot requirement that all conspirators share a space with Hitler?
- Do other conspirators' affiliations or abilities add to a plot's affiliation bonus?
- Does Ludwig Beck's plot die bonus apply if Hitler moves into his space before a plot is attempted?
- Can a plot that allows only three dice be attempted on Hard difficulty?
- How does the Resistance Broadcast plot get its dice?
- Can dice committed to the Dissent Track be used to attempt a plot?
- Can one plot attempt target both Hitler and a deputy in the same space?
- Does Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff's plot dice bonus apply to plots by other players in Berlin?
- Can you take cards from another player's dossier as part of a plot attempt?
- Can a dossier card from a conspirator who is not plotting help another player's plot?
- Can you play more than one Quick Reaction on the same plot?
- Are plot cards restricted (illegal) cards?
- Does Hitler count as together with you for a plot if he is elsewhere in Berlin?
- What do the letters printed at the bottom of item tokens mean?
- Does Plane Bomb trigger when an event tells Hitler to move to the space he already occupies?
Victory and Defeat
Game Variants
- Can you kill more than Hitler, and how do you kill a deputy in the Trusted Lieutenants variant?
- In the Trusted Lieutenants variant, does a deputy removed by the Pearl Harbor event count toward the two deputy kills?
- In the killing-deputies variant, do you discard the plot card after successfully killing a deputy?
Black Orchestra: ResistanceExpansion
- Can a mission without an Action arrow be completed by any player at any time, without spending an action?
- Can players choose to go to prison to complete a mission like Goebbels Informed?
- Can an unwanted mission card be cycled away, other than by waiting for its teleprinters to be destroyed?
- When an effect reveals an item in a location that holds two unrevealed items, are both revealed?
- If the Gestapo Raid token is revealed through Distant Contact or a deputy, does the raid happen immediately?
- With Kreisau Circle tiles in play, can you recruit a new ally to replace a flipped ally?
- On the Horst Kopkow 'You will fail' encounter card, is a die roll missing from the Take a Chance option?
- How many Stage cards do you remove when playing all three Black Orchestra expansions together?
- What is the Gestapo Raid tile in Black Orchestra: Resistance for?
- Does Erika von Trescow's ability to ignore all eagles on a conspire action cost an action?
- Does rolling an eagle on a Red Orchestra mission raise your suspicion?
- Is Horst Kopkow a deputy for card effects that mention deputies?