When I reviewed Escape from Colditz, there were a few rules questions that needed clarification. Here are the answers I received directly from Osprey Games:

The Appel Card

There is information regarding the use of “Appel” in the rules that are unclear to us. On one hand the card states outright that POWs in tunnels, safe areas, solitary and outside the castle are excluded by Appel. But then the card and rulebook go on to say that if you conduct a general search, any POW’s within the total dice range of any guard will be arrested. So is it really any POW’s, or is it any POW’s, except those excluded in having to follow the Appel roll call? In short, it’s not clear if the exclusion is merely for the roll call portion of the card, or if the exclusion ALSO applies when/if the security officer decides to conduct a general search.

The exclusion applies to the card in general, both the roll call and the search.

Obtaining Items

When two POWs obtains an item, such as a rope, they move to the appel area. It wasn’t clear to us if these pawns could then continue moving (provided there is movement remaining). We’ve been playing that they can continue moving.

Yes, they can continue moving.

Tunnels

We’ve read over the tunnel cards, rules regarding tunnels and the Quick Reference regarding tunnels, and we are still not clear on how guards make arrests after playing a “Tunnel Detected” card. When the card says “POWs in that tunnel can now be arrested from any point along the tunnel,” does that mean guards do not have to enter the tunnel entrances and move through the tunnel itself and can therefore just move onto a POW from “above” in order to make an arrest, or are guards required to enter via a tunnel entrance and use movement to move through the tunnel and land on the POW inside the tunnel? Complicating our answer to this question is the Quick Reference sentence that states, “Neither [guards or POWs] can end their movement on a tunnel space unless they are a POW (no mention of guards here) making use of the tunnel card.” Okay, so back to the question, how to guards interact with tunnels to make arrests?

Guards with a tunnel card may move directly into a pow in the tunnel to make an arrest as though it was any other space (i.e. break through the wall/dig into the tunnel). They can also enter the room the tunnel is in to make the arrest. As an arrest is made, the guard is not ending their move in a tunnel, but this could have been clearer.

The Staff Car Card

“Staff Car” references “a POW,” but there are two spots in the car. Is it true that just one POW can use the staff car, or if a movement roll allows, may two POW’s escape this way and end the game?

There are two entry points for the car, but only a single POW will escape.

The Advance Warning Card

Can the Advance Warning card be used to move to any safe area, regardless of distance? In other words, if my POW is three spaces away from a safe area, can I neglect to move him there and instead move him 30 spaces (for example) somewhere else? Also, does the POW have to stop once he enters a safe area, such as a tunnel, or can they move in farther in order to accommodate additional POWs? Could a POW move to a tunnel with this card, move through the tunnel to the outer area, cut a fence and continue moving? When does a POW have to stop with the Advance Warning card?”

You can only move to a blue Safe Area, rather than areas which are normally exempt from arrest. That said, if you spend the right equipment, you can move to any blue area on the board.