All posts by 5 Minutes

Gaming Articles, Role-Player Game Reviews

D&D Theory: Dungeons & Dragons Over The Years: Part I of III

Dungeons & Dragons is rapidly approaching its 50th anniversary as a franchise and what a glorious 50 years it has been. Over the decades D&D has enjoyed immense success in just about every medium, but of course, the pencil-and-paper RPG is what makes this wheel spin. At no time that I recall has D&D seen more success than in recent years, the hobby has absolutely exploded in popularity and it’s in part because of its appearance in various tv shows, but certainly primarily because of the incredibly successful 5th edition released in 2014. The game has enjoyed many versions and variations of the game, each one a variant of what came before and if you really count some of the sub-edition and in-between stuff there is actually, even more, to choose from than might be immediately apparent.

Now modern gamers are going to play modern games, it’s natural as you enter the hobby, you go for the latest and greatest which is not only expected but recommended. That said, as a guy who has played every edition of the game extensively and is a huge history buff, I’m always excited to talk about what has come before and why modern gamers might want to take a spell and consider some of these past additions for their table even today.

5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, the latest version of the game made great strides in an attempt to solidify past and present editions into a single system to satisfy the many growing issues that have crept up in modern designs which include 3rd and 4th editions of the game. It’s by far and wide the most popular modern edition of the game with past generations of gamers as well as obviously, modern games (can you say 50 million people playing D&D!?).

Contrary to popular belief, past editions of the game as compared to modern games are not some old relics to be discarded and forgotten. Any one of these old editions can create amazing table experiences and I would argue are worth exploring even today. In fact, most complaints about modern games stem from certain gaming elements that were already tested, identified and resolved in old systems that have crept back into the modern game design because when you don’t know your history you’re doomed to repeat it, yes I’m looking squinty-eyed at you Wizards of the Coast!

With that little enticement, in today’s article, we are going to travel back in time and talk about each edition that came before, what you might find in between the pages and why it might just very well be worth your time to explore it.

Enjoy the article, it’s a big one!

Dungeons & Dragons: Original Edition

The original game was reprinted in a deluxe box set in 2013 as part of D&D’s 40th year anniversary. This classic, despite its age, is still played today.

We can only speculate as to what was going through Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s minds when they created the original white box set, after all, they were paving the way into uncharted territory perhaps not even aware that they were about to create an entire genre of gaming and franchise that would last for decades. Interviews in hindseight make them appear almost like geniuses who percieved a whole new genre of gaming but the reality is they were just a couple of nerds that like to make games.

The original game is perhaps best described as a proof of concept. Many of the ideas that would evolve from this 1st version of D&D were very rough in this original edition and while I would like to tell you that every edition of the game is worth exploring, this one included, of all the editions that followed this one would probably be the most alien to modern gamers.

For one the game was in its infancy and much of the terminology and concepts that would define D&D as the game we know today were yet to really be coined. There were only three classes in the game, The Cleric, Fighting Man and Magic-User initially and the game was very much about free-form role-playing with the absolute minimum of rules beyond some basic combat execution mechanics. Notably by modern standards, I think most would view some of the mechanics as odd at absolute best, in fact even among OSR (Old School Revival) circles the original game is considered a bit of a quirky historical reference.

D&D inspired an entire golden era of early PC gaming including classics like Bard’s Tale. Just like D&D, retro gaming and revivals of classic games from the 70’s & 80’s is common in PC games as well. We got the whole Bard’s Tale trilogy remastered in 2018.

For example, the damage characters could deal in combat was based on their class, not their weapon, there were no skills, feats or special powers and while there were 3 classes in the game with a 4th coming along later (Thief), for the most part, the game was very close to a completely rule-less system depending very heavily on DM adjudication, yet the game was very procedural at times as well bringing it much closer to what we could call an adventure game rather than a role-playing game today. Something I don’t doubt purist would wholeheartedly disagree with, most who played it leaned on the adjudication over structure element of the game.

Today there is still a fan base for this original style of play which was very much narrative storytelling focused. There are retro-clones available today like Swords & Wizardry which is a compilation and organization of the game into a single volume done by the famed OSR designer/writer Matt Finch who is among a small group of people responsible for the creation of the OSR as a concept. As such you don’t have to go through the trouble of hunting down original copies; versions of this game that are effectively replications of the original rules are available in print today through sites like RPG Drive Thru.

Swords & Wizardry is just one of several retro-clones of the original game available today. This one is hailed for its amazing line art and organization making the game a lot easier to understand than the original printing.

Why Play It Today?

I would be hard-pressed to give an exact mechanical or even conceptual reason to play the original game. I suppose you could say that if you like free-form role-playing where rules are more often improvised than stated, this might be a reason to try this one but I think most gamers today would probably want more mechanics than this game offers, both DM’s and players alike. If free form is your thing, you could just as well ignore rules that exist in your game than play one where they are missing when you want or need them.

I think the only real reason to try this original classic is just to get an understanding of the history of D&D, where it started, where it came from, and how the design evolved. This game is still played today, but unlike many of the versions that followed, the OSR community existing today that plays this game is made up predominantly of people who played the original way back in the 70’s. That is not meant to discourage or disparage the game, it is a classic, an original to be preserved and held high for its achievement, but still. Original D&D is to RPG’s what cave paintings are to art, an interesting historical reference but not exactly something that is going to teach or introduce modern gamers to anything that hasn’t been done better in games that followed.

Nostalgia certainly plays a role in D&D communities, but even when we look back, it’s rarely original D&D that is being presented, more often it is 1st edition Basic/Expert or Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that serves as a way back machine. Original D&D is just too far back to be relevant nearly 50 years after its release. A fate I fear will befall B/X & AD&D some day as well.

For me personally, it’s one of the few editions of the game I find difficult to recommend, it was kind of a trial run and while I think it has a lot of historical relevance, in practice, it’s pretty rough as a game system and much of the games core premise while familiar is actually quite distant from how both RPG’s and specifically D&D evolved. It’s a curiosity, certainly worth a read, but I personally never felt drawn to run it.

It’s a game you play to get a look through the lens of the origins of the game.

1st Edition Basic / Expert

1st edition Basic/Expert rules had several subversions over the years but the most often referenced and perhaps the most well-known is the 1981 Moldvay box set. For many D&D generations, this box set defines classic D&D for them.

Contrary to popular belief D&D actually evolved from two separate core games that while reasonably compatible had a vastly different approach conceptually.

1st edition Basic & Expert rules were released alongside 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and while one was intended as a starting point for the other, the games evolved along different paths and in a sense became two simultaneous editions of the game.

There are a number of core differences between 1st edition B/X and 1st edition AD&D.

First and perhaps foremost, 1st edition B/X was structured as an adventure game first and RPG second. A core of the game was that there were defined rules that structured elements of the game like the exploration of dungeons, wilderness adventures and adventures on the high seas. This concept I think would be quite unique to modern gamers who see the “adventuring” part of the game as a free-form role-playing concept, rather than a structured element of play which is exactly the case in the B/X system.

The concept of D&D as an adventure game is differentiated by the structure of play outside of combat. In an adventure game there are rules that govern all aspects of the game creating emergent stories and while the principle between adventure games and RPG’s are so similar it’s almost impossible to tell them apart, they are in fact quite different in practice.

In B/X time is tracked in actions even during adventuring periods and this has a procedure that is different for each of the types of “zones” of adventure (Dungeon, Wilderness & Waterborne adventures). Just like in combat, each initiative players take an action, which results in a “round” taking place and just like combat, this can have different effects on the game from torches going out, spells expiring, wandering monsters and other effects like getting lost in the woods, running out of food and so on. Not all that different than any other D&D game, but the tracking of time and the governance of rules of how to manage is mechanically driven.

Another core feature of B/X is that there are no race & class combinations, instead, races are their own classes. This is also wildly different and is exclusive to just this and the original edition of the game not to be repeated in any future editions barring reprints. Race as class (Elf as a class for example) I think is something that would raise the eyebrows of modern gamers but the premise here is that, in B/X, D&D is a very specific type of fantasy. In fact, B/X as a system is directly linked to a setting called “The Known World”. The known world would later evolve into the “Mystara” setting which evolved further with the releases of the Companion, Master and Immortal rules, effectively advanced B/X rules as strange as that sounds which is in contrast to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. This setting is built around a very Tolkien-like fantasy setting and the classes in the game are structured to depict that fantasy exclusively.

No version is influenced more by Tolkein fantasy, which includes the original edition of D&D than 1st edition Basic/Expert rules. Tolkien fantasy is built right into the rules and many of the core abilities and structures are designed intentionally to replicate middle-earth sensibilities.

This is a bit confusing but you can think of it this way. Initially, B/X was created to be a basic starting point and AD&D was where players were expected to graduate. I don’t think TSR expected that the B/X rules would gain their own, separate following and this resulted in a demand from this new B/X community for expanded content. They wanted more advanced rules, but not in the form of AD&D, but rather expanded rules for the B/X game system as its base. I will talk more about the result, BECMI (Basic/expert/companion/master/immortal) rules a little later.

The third thing that really made B/X unique is that the game assumed a sort of meta-game infrastructure. The game was really designed as a challenge to players, rather than their characters and to support that concept several meta-game rules existed that worked together.

For starters, the players were assumed to be treasure hunters. This is why we had structured adventuring rules, but there are also rules for rewards that support this. For example, XP for monsters was very low, but you would earn 1 XP for every 1 gold piece (treasure) you found. The idea was that players were motivated to travel across the landscape (Wilderness & Waterborne Adventure Rules), go into dungeons (Dungeon Adventure Rules) and find treasure (1 gold = 1 xp). This is how you advanced in the game and was a measure of your success.

The depiction in Strange Things in which players huddle together, form plans, roll dice and seemingly are playing a game more than role-playing may seem strange to modern gamers, but if there is a version of the game that depicted this element it would be Basic/Expert rules where the feeling of winning in an RPG was kind of real and very player centric.

Additionally, character classes were very minimal, you gained very few powers and much of your strength was based on the equipment you carried. Magic equipment was of course the best way to empower your character but the only way to get magic items (which could never be purchased) was to go into Dungeons and find them.

B/X as such was a very structured adventure RPG quite different from Original D&D which was very free form and future editions of the game that were very narrative and character-centric. B/X was a very player-centric game with a very firm meta-game motivation built into it.

The final thing about B/X, oddly enough even though it was a game designed with new players in mind, though it had a simple ruleset was incredibly difficult to be successful in. The game while being structured, meant that rules governed a great deal of the outcomes of the game which means dice rolls. This combined with the incredible deadliness of the game made the actual gameplay for expert (veteran) D&D players.

Using player meta knowledge and past D&D experience, really playing D&D as a player skill set was both encouraged and expected under 1st edition B/X rules. “Good Players” were far more likely to succeed in the game than “New Players” who lacked past experience. It was an odd position the game took from a design perspective given it (B/X rules) was designed as an introduction to Dungeons & Dragons.

A character in B/X would instantly die when they hit 0 hit points and at 1st level characters rarely had more the 2-8 hit points. A single blow could end a character’s life, not to mention how deadly traps and other effects could be. By and large, despite being aimed at new players, 1st edition B/X was the deadliest game in D&D history and remains today as the core of the OSR community for that very reason. A game designed for newbies was ultimately adopted as the foremost example of master-level role-playing aficionados who love a challenge becoming the foundation system for the OSR.

While B/X box sets and rules are still available today through sites like RPG DriveThru, one nice thing about B/X rules popularity among OSR designers is that it has become the adopted love child on which many games are based. The result is that there are various re-edits and retro-clones of B/X, my personal favorite being Old School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome. This fantastic re-edit of B/X not only gives you the core rules in a really great edit but the game is expanded with several source books that take you beyond the basic B/X rules to include more classes and more advanced optional rules. As well they do some optional math reversal for you to get rid of the dreaded THAC0 and descending armor class so you don’t have to. Really great stuff!

Old School Essentials is just one of many retro-clones and remakes of 1st edition Basic/Expert rules, but it’s by and large the most popular, and this is likely because it stays honest to B/X rules as closely as humanly possible while correcting and expanding the game in ways that is very commonly done in house rules. It is in my opinion the best version of B/X rules out there today.

Why Play It Today?

There are actually quite a few intriguing reasons to play Basic/Expert edition Dungeons & Dragons, but I would still argue that modern players might see the game as quirky if not outright strange.

One of the main advantages of 1st edition Basic/Expert rules, setting aside the challenge level of the game (as a game) is that the rules are very simple to learn/teach. Far simpler than anything we have in modern systems. This simplicity is combined with existing familiarity anyone who plays D&D would have compared to modern games, meaning that if you know how to play any edition of the game including 5th edition D&D, you already know 90% of the system (B/X) because by far and large it is the basis for all other editions of the game.

This simply means that you can get the game to the table very easily with any sort of player group even complete novices. No one is going to struggle to understand how to play and everyone can get right to enjoying the game without the need for elaborate explanations often required to grasp modern games.

This simplicity is furthered combined with unmatched support for the game in particular in the form of adventure modules and unique variations on the system all of which are compatible with each other. In the nearly 50 years that D&D has been in development, this version of the game has continued to receive new content thanks to a thriving community and immense 3rd party publishing support. There are more adventure modules created for 1e B/X rules than all other editions of D&D combined. It is the most well-supported D&D system today, even more so than modern/current editions like 5th edition D&D.

A big part of why Basic/Expert rules are so flexible is the incredible compatibility it maintained long past its lifetime. 1st and 2nd edition adventures including all AD&D content are 100% compatible while 3rd and 5th edition modules are incredibly easy to adapt. The only rough spot is 4th edition which is generally incompatible with all D&D systems.

The next big sales pitch, which speaks to me personally has always been the structured and clear goals of the game for players. One very common issue with D&D is the absence of a common definition of what you are supposed to be doing in the game and understanding it as a game and as a concept. Modern games have this “it’s anything you want it to be” approach to playstyle, but this is particularly unhelpful and problematic when you sit down with five players and a DM to whom “anything you want it to be” is different for each person. Finding common ground, a gaming group where everyone is in sync and creating an experience that satisfies everyone at the table borders on an impossible achievement in modern gaming. It’s why despite the popularity of modern systems, the complaining from the player base is so excessive you would think they hate their hobby the way they speak about it.

1st edition B/X is a system that has clear goals, clear direction, one playstyle and no apologies, no excuses and no fancy philosophies. There is only one right way to play 1e B/X and the game tells you exactly what that is in no uncertain terms with no interpretations required. Certainly, it’s not a take-it-or-leave-it deal and you can and are actually encouraged to mess with the system, but at least you are on solid footing when you read the rules as written, there is a clear starting point, there is no confusion about what the deal is. Love it or hate it, it is what it is.

One additional element that has been lost in D&D is the ability to play the game as a pickup-and-go as well as a one-shot system. B/X combat is fast and snappy, its mechanics simple and it’s core gameplay clear. The result is a system that very happily supports the idea that you can pick up the books and say “let’s play D&D” and be up and running in 10 minutes or less. It’s ideal for 1 shot and pick-up games where you can simply play anytime you feel like it with anyone. This is because B/X is built on emergent story and gameplay concepts, meaning that you don’t need to do much prep work to get a very functional and entertaining game night, creating the story is built right into the system for you.

While AD&D (1st & 2nd edition), 3rd and 4th editions were all far too complex games to make either good introductions or be flexible enough for pick up and play games, with 5e thanks to introduction boxes like D&D Essentials Kit, picking up a game with little prep is again possible. This may be why 5e D&D is so popular as it goes back to its roots as a game in many ways and being easy to pick up is one of them, an idea founded in 1e B/X rules.

Finally and like anything this too is a matter of taste and preference is the fact that B/X 1st edition is effectively a D&D construction kit. If you ever wanted to create your own version of D&D, there is no system more modular and more adaptable than B/X 1st edition. This is a D&D lego set and while the core system has clearly marked boundaries, you cannot break the game, it’s so incredibly flexible you can take any other edition of the game, take any rule you want from that game, including any spell, feat, power or whatever, add it as written into B/X and it works without a hitch. Naturally, your power levels will fluctuate as a result, but there are not going to be any mechanical compatibility issues, it just works. It’s a creative DM’s dream come true as a system and it’s a lot of fun to do. A system that is firm in the layout of what it is, but infinitely modular to be anything else you want it to be while always remaining approachable to and by anyone.

1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

AD&D 1st edition was reprinted by Wizards of the Coast in 2016 without edits, a tribute to decades of fandom.

I think most D&D players, even modern gamers know a thing or two about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, while it is not the first edition of the game it is considered to be the granddaddy of D&D written by the god-emperor himself, Gary Gygax.

AD&D 1st edition however is actually one of the most problematic games in the D&D line up, which is not to say it’s bad, it’s actually quite phenomenal, but it requires a very stern hand to wrangle this beast and an open mind to its core concept. There is no question that this is one of the most complex versions of the game to learn, to run, and ultimately to master, definitively earning its unique title as Advanced D&D. In fact, it’s a rare DM who can fully grasp the core of the rules and implement them efficiently fully as written. RAW 1st edition AD&D games were rare then (70’s-80’s) as they are now. It really takes a true master to run a good 1st edition AD&D game which might explain why so many players and DM’s have a love-it-or-hate-it relationship with the game. In the hands of an inexperienced DM it can be a disaster, in the hands of a master DM, it is nothing short of a work of art. It’s a game that embodies the soul of D&D in a way that no game before or after ever could, but one must be a soulweaver to bring that essence to the table.

1e AD&D under TSR’s banner gave birth to all of the classic settings that are staples in the community today. Dragonlance is just one among many that created fantasy fans all over the world. Playing in this setting under the original system is an experience I would recommend to every D&D fan without hesitation.

AD&D shares many similarities with B/X, the two games are designed to be fully compatible and they are, but AD&D features a number of unique departures as well as much deeper and more fleshed out concepts that you will not find in either B/X or any other version of D&D that had come before or would come after.

First and foremost the rules of the game are hidden from the players very intentionally, documented in a massive and secretive tome in painstaking detail and frank commanding language known as the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide. A book that I both personally consider the first and definitive final word on how to be a Dungeon Master and one of the most confusing reads you will ever experience, spectled with brilliance and nonsense in the same breath.

This book not only defines every conceivable element of the game but it does so with flavor and a deep meaningful understanding of fantasy, an edgy abstracted realism, and a firm hand. It’s a book that declares the Dungeon Master god of the game in no uncertain terms, the great creator tasked with entertaining and challenging players in the most devious and detailed oriented ways possible.

The result is a system that is explicit, yet flexible, mysterious, yet self-aware and most of all, it creates a gritty, believable fantasy world in stunning detail if and its a BIG if you can wrap your head around all of the wisdom it passes on and be open-minded enough to embrace it.

The 1st edition DMG to me is the bible for Dungeon & Dragons, running D&D having never read it means you are always going to be a lesser DM than you could be. It is priceless information you will never find in any other book written for the game.

Now that is a very colorful way to describe AD&D and I will admit, no matter how many times I open the pages of the AD&D DMG, I can’t help but be swallowed whole by the mystique of it. It’s inspiring. That said, its a read riddled with issues, in fact, in a lot of ways, its approach as a whole is an issue to some both conceputally and mechanically speaking. Its perhaps best described as a confounding experience, you will either find its soul or be confused by its intention.

Still, D&D is a game and AD&D is a version of it, so the question is, what does it do differently, what aspect of the game may be worth exploring if you’re a modern gamer. Why go back to it?

Like B/X this is a game that is going to have a familiar surface, looking at the character races and classes, stats and hit points, armor class and sub-systems while some of them will feel like quirky versions of what you are used to they are not going to be alien to you.

There are however three core things that really separate AD&D from any other version of the game for better or for worse, you decide!

The first is the focus on the mundane, administrative elements of medieval life. AD&D as a system really tries very hard, successfully in my opinion, to make players feel the hardship of a medieval fantasy world. Your resources are limited, your powers are limited and it all amounts to the game being a brutal struggle for survival.

There is a harshness to everything with no video game structured answers or hand-waving of the elements of the adventuring life. You are as likely to die in the woods of dysentery as you are at the end of an orc’s blade. AD&D wants you to worry about how sharp your blade is, how clean your water is, how many arrows you have in your quiver, how heavy your pack is, how many spell components you have remaining and all sorts of other resource issues that drive your actions and decisions. No matter where you look in this system there are uncomfortable limits and restrictions. There are no character “builds” that let you circumvent the harshness or avoid the discomforts. The result is that players form comraderies in much the way soldiers do in war because the only way to truly survive, maybe even excel is through teamwork, the only way players can accept their circumstances is by suffering them together.

This of course can be seen as a major drawback as well. Adventuring heroes suffering anti-climatic deaths does not exactly make for a tolkein fantasy or fond memories. Sometimes the game is just a bit too real to be fun, a not all together uncommon complaint about AD&D.

The 2nd main focus of the game is emergent narrative storytelling. AD&D has a lot of charts and DM’s are often asked to let the events of the game unfold through the use of tables, encouraged to embelish these events and allow the chips, or dice as it were, to fall where they may. That is not to say that everything should be randomized or that the game is pure random chance, but the game is setup in such a way as to ensure the players are working against a structure rather than pure DM fiat.

These rolls are often measured against character attributes and abilities, which ties into the 3rd unique element of AD&D I will talk about in a minute, but the principle concept is that you do not just roll when you “do stuff” to see if you succeed, but you often roll to see “what happens” in general, how the world around you responds.

You open a chest, what is in it? Is there a trap on this chest? Is there an Alchemist in town? How does the merchant you just met feel about you? Do the Orcs run or fight this round? Rolling the dice isn’t just to see if you can disarm a trap or if you can find it, its very existance may be left to chance. This emergent concept is a foundational element of AD&D.

Forbidden Lands reminded me a great deal of AD&D 1st edition and it shows that there is still a place in gaming for harsh and ruthless survival stories and emergent storytelling. It is a great example of an OSR throwback and might serve as a much easier alternative to teaching the many lessons of AD&D.

With AD&D there are rolls that determine the input or outcome of a narrative. Maybe killing the chieften scares the rest of the Orcs and they run away, maybe it makes them even more angry and they attack with barberic ferocity! The DM is encouraged to let a big part of the story be told by the dice, far larger chunks than one might be accustomed to in a modern game. This in turn creates emergent stories, unexpected events, things the DM could not himself plan or would have even considered adding into the game. This aspect of AD&D creates a sense of danger and the unknown, not just because you as a player don’t know what will happen, but you know the DM doesn’t either. In AD&D very often, the dice do the storytelling.

This too can be a problem, encountering deadly traps and finding nothing in treasure chests while stumbling across random encounters every time you open a dungeon door can be daunting, brutal, unfair even. AD&D run as designed, can be quite suffocating and demoralizing. Some will see it as a challenge, others as unescessary cruelty.

The 3rd and final unique element of AD&D is that the games classes are definitively archetypical and each class deals with a very specific element of the game, offering a group an advantage in the area filled by a character of that class. This is true in B/X as well, but in AD&D there is a far more granular game, hence the class abilities are equally more granular increasing the complexity and types of class roles. A group without a Ranger is likely to get lost in the woods more often, have food shortages when traveling, have longer travel times and so on. A group without a Cleric is going to have a hell of a time crawling through a crypt filled with undead and recovery of the groups health will be dauntinly slow. A group that has a thief will likely end up with a lot more treasure, a lot fewer casualties as a result of traps and will be able to access parts of dungeons inaccessible without their skulldugary skills.

Some cross over exists here and there, but each class plays a key role and in the end each adventuring party will always be missing some element that is relevant to the adventure, some unfilled gap that they will struggle against.

Making each role a pivitol part of an adventuring party means that each player is a critical to the success of the troupe, everyone’s lives are easied by their presence against the horrific struggles of the medievil world you face together.

This aspect of the game is so refined, so poiniant that its become a staple in the gaming world in particular in MMO’s, yet oddly enough as editions progressed forward the game of D&D has slowly evolved away from this principle element to a point where in modern editions of the game its practically non-existant. A party of adventurers in 5e for example will not have a gap in the groupes capabilities because a Ranger, Rogue or Cleric are not part of a party.

This element also adds an aspect of meta strategy. Players that gather to form adventuring troupes are going to be very aware of their shortcomings and their strengths, they will devise group strategies that favor those strengths and avoid exposing their weaknesess, creating a kind of a game within a game. The composition of your party will and does dramatically change how you approach the whole concept of adventure.

Again there are drawbacks to AD&D’s archetype enforcement. At times you might sit down at an AD&D table and be forced to play a Cleric because the party needs one even though you actually want to be a thief, but the group already has one. Their is inflexibility in this rigid structure, the modern game favors players running whatever character class they want and in this is a kind of joy. Sometimes in AD&D, the struggle begins even before you start playing as players bicker over what the party needs as oppossed to simply creating whatever character you want.

Why Play It Today?

For me AD&D does two things, both of which give this game justification as a game to try today, but I would simultanously caution modern gamers that this is a very brutal game, much like Basic & Expert 1st edition is but unlike B/X it’s also very complex and can be a chore to learn and run.

The first thing is that I think the concept of emergent gameplay is applicable to modern games, though modern games don’t encourage or teach it, even though they are perfectly capable of the execution. AD&D teaches you how and when to do this well, so the experience of running AD&D as as DM makes for an exceptional education you won’t find in any other game on a subject (emergent gameplay). In my opinion emergent gameplay is not optional, it is a required element of the game that must be included for the game to be meaningful. The players must know that the fate of their characters isn’t just a DM decision, that the world around them is a living breathing thing, random as it may sometimes be. This is one thing I feel is worthy of your time and effort to learn and learn well and no game will teach you emergent gameplay better than AD&D 1st edition.

Emergent gameplay is an amazing seasoning to narrative constructs because as much as DM’s often think themselves briliant story designers, the truth is that most of us are not. Emergent gameplay creates a natural way for amazing stories to evolve (emerge) and with the right set of tools which the 1st edition AD&D DMG most certainly is, the creations will always be wildly unique inspiring stories you would have never thought to create yourself, acting as a platform for your own inspiration.

The second thing AD&D does really well is that it teaches you why limitations are better than options, a lesson you will never learn from a modern RPG, quite to the contrary most modern games very mistakingly teach the oppossite. AD&D shows you how you can play a straight, tough game, one that might almost seem mean to the players and end up with an amazing gaming experience in which your players flourish despite the hardships. This is because the reality of games of any kind is that victories that are tough to achieve, inspire players to be smarter, better, proactive, involved and curious to test their metal, all elements that become rewards in their own right. The side effect is failure but if you know anything about drama you know that traggedy and struggle produce the best stories which ties in nicely with the concept of emergent gameplay.

I really enjoy Pathfinder 2nd edition as an alternative to D&D, but this is a game that really shows how unwieldy and generic a game can feel when it has too many options and it’s reach to broad. When everything is possible and everything is unique, nothing is unique, the fallout of option overkill.

For me personally AD&D 1e holds a very special place in the DM arsenal. It is chalk full of lessons that simply aren’t taught anymore and should be to both players and DM’s. It is a game written with the voice of a true master storyteller, someone who understood the principle foundations of narrative role-playing.

It does however require an open mind as some mechanics have not aged well (I’m looking at your THAC0!) but a bit of math is a small price to pay for a great gaming experience and the truth is that most of the mechanics that aged poorly, can be easily corrected with a few house rules.

Some of these house rules, corrections and clarifications can be found in OSRIC, a retro-clone for AD&D that makes the game a lot more approachable. I would personally argue OSRIC fails to contain the same mojo of the 1e AD&D DMG, but it does, in plain language sort of explain things that are sometimes heavily hidden in the flavor text of Gygax’s quirky writing and as a practical matter this is quite useful.

Like Old School Essentials which retro-clones B/X rules, OSRIC is a re-edit of the 1e AD&D rules making it far easier to consume and understand the core rules, in essence making AD&D 1st edition far easier to run. You lose that Gygaxian writing that makes 1e AD&D such a fun read, but as a rule reference is really great.

Conclusion

That concludes our first part of the walk down memory lane of D&D gaming history. Clearly, like any fan of D&D I have my opinions and it’s certain to trigger disagreement, but I feel quite confident having played these games extensively I have nailed at least my own experience and perceptions.

Part II is coming soon where I will dive into 1st edition BECMI (Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortal) rules, 2nd edition AD&D and then switch gears to the birth of the modern D&D era with 3rd edition!

Board Game Reviews

Washington’s War by GMT games 2010

Designer: Mark Herman

In recent days I have played quite a bit of Mark Herman’s classic Washington’s War yet despite the game being number 15 on my top 20 games chart I did back in February 2022 and No. 6 in my Top 10 War Games I did in 2020, I’m yet to do a proper review on it. It’s a long past due oversight that I really wanted to correct and so here we go!

Mark Herman is a brilliant designer, a statement I make without hesitation and he made a big splash as the founder of the influence struggle and historical CDG war game genres in a single game called We The People in 1993. This led to a number of what are now considered classic historical war games in their own right that used these mechanics like Twilight Struggle, For The People, Empire of the Sun and Paths of Glory just to name a few. It was, to say the least, a pivotal moment in game design history that lead to the release of Washington’s War which is for all intense and purposes the 2nd edition of We The People.

It would not be an overstatement to point out that while We The People sparked an evolution in the historical war game category, breathing life into two different genres of historical war games it remains wildly underrated. Washington’s War, its follow-up, is really no different, in my mind it is one of the most criminally underrated games in all of board- gaming sitting in a shockingly disgraceful 730 on BBG as of this writing.

I will be the first to admit that We The People lacked the visual appeal of a mainstream game, it certainly does look the part of a complicated historical war game. This likely contributed to its shockingly underrated status.

Washington’s War is a game about the American founding father’s struggle to create a new nation out of 13 fledgling colonies as they opposed the British Empire in what has got to be one of the most fascinating pieces of history there is. The Revolutionary war is chock full of extraordinarily interesting personalities, political struggles that make The Game of Thrones look like child’s play and some of the most vicious military engagements in all of American history. Washington’s War manages to squeeze all of that history into a game that is easy to teach and learn while remaining streamlined to precision.

I love the influence struggle and CDG category of historical war games, my collection is full of them, but Washington’s War is the only game in my collection that I feel comfortable in pulling out with just about anyone. Whether you are a Eurogamer, casual dabbler, or a serious historical war game fan, you will fall in love with this games incredible back-and-forth tension. It is not just a great historical war game for historical war gamers, it is just good gaming period by any measure.

Twilight Struggle is a mainstream hit coming out of the historical war game universe, but it’s really odd to me. It’s a complex CDG based on the Cold War that has a fairly steep learning curve. It wouldn’t even be in my top 3 CDG influence struggle games I would recommend as an entry point into the genre.

Now I have played my hand a little here, clearly, I’m a fan but given the accolades it has already received on my site over the last few years, I don’t think it should come as a surprise to my more frequent readers. The devil is in the details however and while I would describe this game as a good time in a box, I think it’s fair to say I owe more of an explanation to this review, so let’s dig into the revolutionary war!

Overview

Final Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star(4.2 out 5) Great Game!

Washington’s War is an asymmetrical influence struggle CDG (Card Driven Game) war game. That is a mouthful, but given that We the People, the 1st edition of Washington’s War effectively created this style of game, it’s perhaps reasonable to explain what it actually is even if we have already watched this genre evolve over the years in so many other games.

In Influence Struggle CDG’s like Washington’s War, players take turns playing cards which they use to execute actions on a point-to-point map. In our case the map of the eastern United States where the revolutionary war takes place. One of the key elements here is control of different areas via influence tokens called Political Influence in Washington’s War which represents the political control the Americans or British have in an area in any of the 13 colonies.

The object of the game is to have sufficient political influence markers in each of the colonies to control them and essentially whichever player controls the most colonies by the end of the game will win the game. Technically the US needs to control 7 colonies while the British only needs to control 6 of them to win.

The catch is that there are also generals and armies on the board who can take these areas by force, so part of the game is also using actions to move armies around and engage in battles to force your influence onto the board.

The different cards also have event effects, special actions players can take when playing a card. These events represent different actual or hypothetical events from revolutionary war history. There are also several unique conditions and phases in the game like Winter Attrition for example that represents the harshness of the winters and the complexity of keeping standing armies in the field in this era. These various unique conditions create the challenges players must contend with as the war progresses.

Suffices to say that description is probably insufficient to really get a feel for the game, but I think what is most important to understand is that this game like all influence struggle CDG’s is about board control, timing, and about the back and forth tension between players as they vie for power on the point to point map. Since We The People, we have seen many games in this genre that leverage this mechanic, most famously Twilight Struggle. Washington’s War however takes a much more rules-light and less restrictive approach to this style of play.

The war plays out on a point-to-point map like many influence struggle games, but Washington’s War definitively falls into the “War” category of games where some influence struggle games have a more debatable status in that regard. In Twilight Struggle for example you do not move armies about the board and engage in battles.

Most notably, players share a deck and cards don’t have as many multiple uses as many games in this genre do where a card is both an event and an “ops value”. Instead, cards either are events or are actual ops cards (1, 2, and 3 ops). This makes the decision matrix for Washington’s War much simpler, in fact, in the influence struggle genre, it actually makes Washington’s War one of the lightest and most approachable games in the genre.

More importantly perhaps is the fact that Washington’s War has few exception-based rules, which is very commonly seen in historical war games and is by far the primary reason in creating a division between mainstream and historical war games. Historical war gamers love their “historicity” (made-up word, I know). What it means is that historical war gamers have a far higher tolerance for heavy rules implementations and rules exceptions as long as those rules breathe historical simulation into the game and this road can go quite deep in many historical war games. Washington’s War, while it certainly is historical, does this more with core rules rather than exception-based rules. What this boils down to is that though Washington’s War has not really become a mainstream game, there actually is no reason for it not to be. This, like any other board game, has straightforward rules that anyone can learn and is actually a lot simpler than many if not most Euro games mainstream gaming communities readily play.

That leaves the question, what is it about Washington’s War that has prevented it from crossing over to mainstream gamers as Twilight Struggle did? Is there a problem?

Components

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_star

Pros: GMT is a great publisher that never has never disappointed me and in Washington’s War they once again nailed it.

Cons: Looks deceptively like a complex war game which it most certainly is not, hardly a complaint but my explain why it’s not as mainstream as it deserves to be.

As a courtesy to the reader, I will make this brief, this is a GMT production which means that by default all components are top-notch quality. From the gorgeous and sturdy gameboard to the thick card stock and counters, everything is made to last with a wonderfully clear presentation.

It’s fair to remind readers that GMT is a historical war game publisher and while the component quality is definitively top-notch, rarely do we see miniatures in GMT games. This is largely a courtesy to keep costs down and the result of game pieces in historical war games having information on them relevant to gameplay as is the case with the cut-outs in Washington’s War. This is not a flaw, but a feature.

The rulebook is super clean and precise, the game includes a playbook that is so good you can almost learn how to play the game without reading the rulebook and just following along with the playbook. Finally, the game has the best reference cards I have ever seen in a game, so well thought out that once you play one turn of the game you aren’t likely ever going to have to reference the rulebook again as the reference sheets have everything you need to play the game on them.

Short and sweet, the components of the game are pitch-perfect. Nothing is overcooked, it’s just right, no complaints from this reviewer.

Theme

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star

Pros: Washington’s War has just the right amount of nuance to breathe life into the fascinating history of the revolutionary war without overwhelming you with rules “chrome”.

Cons: Veteran historical war gamers looking for a deep and/or complex revolutionary war simulation may not find what they are looking for here.

When it comes to the historical war game themes, it’s always a matter of taste on how much simulation, replication and historical accuracy a person wants in their game. I’m of the opinion that a good historical war game will allow you to play inside a historical period, but keep the scripted elements of the game to an absolute minimum. I don’t want to replicate history or follow along some historical path forced on me by the mechanics of the game, I want to be put in a position to make the same decisions the commanders and leaders of the time had to make and ultimately find my own path to victory in a sort of alternate history of the subject matter.

In this vein, Washington’s War is ideal because while the game has all of the elements of the revolutionary war including the important personalities, events, locations and abstracted conditions of the period, how the game plays out is not going to reflect the actual history of the revolutionary war. From the very first action to the last, you are going to inevitably change history.

Despite this a-historical execution, the game still captures the period perfectly from the asymmetrical sides and unique conditions they had to contend with to the interesting political events and personalities involved all making an appearance in the game. What changes are elements like when the French join the war if ever, or when if ever the declaration of independence is signed. Does Washington get captured during the war? Does the continental congress get dispersed? Do the British win or lose the south, can they use their dominance of the sea to win the war? All of these aspects of history are thrown off their axis in some form or another, many historical events may or may not ever take place and much of what does and doesn’t happen in your version of the revolutionary war history will depend on card draw, dice and most important decisions you make as a player.

I found the game to be extremely thematic, hitting the high points of the revolutionary war in particular in the way the Americans struggle to have a military that can face the British, the difficulties of the Americans to bring the French into the fight and the tough challenges of trying to control a country that was really quite divided on the subject of independence. Washington’s War feels like a game on the revolutionary war in every regard, yet doesn’t impose the history on you for posterity. It allows the a-historical outcomes unapologetically and as far as I’m concerned, this is exactly what I want out of any historical war game.

I found that every game of Washington’s War played out wildly different while always maintaining these struggles that were part of the history of the period. More importantly, however, these struggles are imbued into the mechanics so they feel natural rather than scripted, nor are they infused with a lot of exceptions to force the subject. Certainly, you are going to make some of the historical decisions as did the founding fathers because they make sense, but often I found myself in what-if moments, the execution of which is exciting and tense and triggers discussions with your opponent about the history of the game.

One of the ways Washington’s War really comes to life as a historical game is the uncertainty of the conflict. There are never any breakthrough moments in the war, there is a lot of attrition, a sort of push and pull where no matter where you push and win, it always results in you having to pull back somewhere else. This creates great tension in the game, really giving you that sensation of being an underdog as the American, while making you feel powerful as the British. Yet despite this, the game has incredible balance, even within the constraints of the asymmetrical feel each side has and despite Americans being the underdogs and the British being big and powerful, the game never gives the impression that either side has a leg up in the final outcome of the game (war). It is a war that either side can win and strategy plays the predominant part in that outcome, which feels both historically accurate and makes for a great gaming experience.

Finally and I mean this as a complement and not a negative comment, the game doesn’t overdo the history. Mark Herman designs very often are so regimented when it comes to history and while in many games like Empire of the Sun which is the driver for the game and ultimately what brings you to the table, Washington’s War relies far more on the strategic play to pull you in. Historical it certainly is, but this is a streamlined machine that introduces the history in subtle ways, while it remains far more a game than a simulation throughout. There are almost no exception-based rules in the game that try to force historical elements on you, which is not often the case with historical games and certainly not Herman’s designs. Mark takes a light-touch approach in Washington’s War and strangely it’s this distancing from exceptions that makes the game feel more historical and thematic, as it all just becomes more accessible.

General Washington for example is represented as a strong commander for the Americans and comes with a special ability allowing him to avoid some winter attrition penalties. This is a very subtle special power and it’s easy to remember because Washington is a unique commander, the game is named after him after all. It’s one of the very few exception-based rules and it kind of just makes sense and is logical enough to be easy to remember.

I really love this approach and I’m reminded of the fact that while I love games like France 1944 and Empire of the Sun, two other Mark Herman designs, I often wish I could play lighter versions of those games that still capture the same historical principles and strategic elements without being so complex and filled with exceptions. Washington’s War really nails this streamlined, more direct approach and I think the result is a far more enjoyable and notably more accessible game which ultimately lets the theme actually flow a lot better. You could almost say that there are fewer interruptions to the enjoyment of the history of the game thanks to a lighter rules approach.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Empire of the Sun and wouldn’t change a thing about it, but there are countless “if this then that” exception rules that make even playing the game correctly a real struggle sometimes. Washington’s War is a straight-to-the-point type of game that avoids the more common “chrome” direction most historical war games take.

If there are any flaws in the theme and mind you this requires one to get very nit-picky is that the CDG mechanic uses the one deck approach. This means both players draw from the same deck and that British and American events when drawn by the opposite player ultimately get discarded for 1 ops actions as they cannot be used for the event. There are a lot of really cool events in the game that simply never see the light of day in any given game as a result simply because of who drew them and while there is a mechanic in place where opponents can pick up discarded event cards, it typically doesn’t happen as players usually plan out their entire turn based on the cards they do draw. I personally prefer CDG’s where each asymmetrical faction gets its own deck as seen in countless games like Twilight Struggle, Empire of the Sun and Paths of Glory for example. The result of such a setup is that you are always drawing cards relevant to you, and more events hit the table which brings into the game more of the history and ultimately the theme of the game.

I would put this complaint in the minor quibble category based on personal preference rather than an actual issue with the game. It’s just a me thing.

As a whole, I think Washington’s War nails the theme beautifully in this game. It’s just the right amount of rules to get the theme across, there is a lot of attention to detail in the history even though all the various conditions and unique elements of the period are handled very subtly. I’m sure there are games on the revolutionary war that are far more detailed and make better historical simulations, but I think Washington’s War was aiming to be more high-level and abstracted and in approaching the design in this way, it has made this historical game a lot more approachable and easier to get to the table. I don’t think it really sacrifices anything critical with this approach and while I could understand that more serious historical gamers might be looking for more chrome, as a guy who plays in both casual and serious fields, I found this game highly thematic and fun.

Gameplay

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star christmas_star

Pros: As a fan of CDG influence struggle games, I’m like a moth to a flame here, I adore this genre and this game.  It’s a fantastic introduction to the genre, perfect for newcomers.

Cons: Washington’s War is based on the We The People formula which while great and revolutionary (pun intended) is a bit dated compared to how the genre has evolved. 

As simple of a mechanic Washington’s War is, there is tremendous weight in the strategic gameplay of the game, in fact, I would argue that the complexity of the game is quite high when you consider the deployable strategies possible here.

It’s a bit like chess where you can learn the rules easy enough, but becoming a good chess player is a considerably more robust topic.

For one Washington’s War is a very tight game, it’s really about very subtle motions where placing a token in one place rather than another can have a profound impact on the outcome of the game. That is not to say it’s sensitive to mistakes, but rather that each action really matters. You rarely make irrelevant decisions, every move and counter move is important and the whole thing just feels like it has weight behind it, adding to the tension and attrition.

In any given round for example as the British player, you may have the ops cards necessary to move a couple of units, place a couple of tokens and perhaps play an event. That is not a lot of activity in the big scheme of things, but because the game is relatively short and exactly when the game will end dynamic, these decisions can be quite critical and impactful. In fact any round after the 4th round requires you to be vigilant because the game can end quite abruptly so you need to make sure at the end of each round you are in a winning position.

The game doesn’t have this 3-4 rounds from now I will be in a position to win approach to strategy. You need to effectively be winning at the end of every round of play.

Rounds can end because there are cards in the deck that if drawn must be played which define when the game will end and this starts after the 4th round. The tension this brings to the game is awesome.

Generally, the game is about playing cards and taking actions, so the sequence of play is quite simple and like most influence struggle games it’s about having the most pieces on the board you can muster in the right places. You need to control a certain amount of colonies to win and control of a colony is defined by how many political control markers you have in each colony.

The difficulty of this is that each colony has a varied number of spaces that can be controlled, some like Virginia have more than half a dozen, while others like Rhode Island have a single space that defines control of the colony. This means that while more is clearly better, where you put your influence is equally vital. There is a trade-off between controlling a colony with a lot of tokens, which can make it more difficult to take away from you, and colonies that have a small number of control points which are more volatile and more likely to trade hands during the game.

Adding to the mix of this go-like game of point-to-point area control are the armies of each side and the generals that lead them. These armies move about the board forcing their will onto territories and the only method to control their ability to project power by your opponent is with their own armies.

This is where the “war” element of the game comes to fruition and again it’s handled in a simple and elegant manner. The factors that go into the effectiveness of an army are easy to calculate, there is ways to surprise opponents with cards and the dynamic factor of the dice makes outcomes calculable but not reliable. More than that, losses are generally minimal, battles can be won and lost, but armies are not easily dispersed so winning a battle does not mean you sort of breakthrough and dominate an area, but rather just push your opponent back in what really is a war of attrition.

The armies and their commanders on the board have a considerable impact on this influence struggle game, making it definitively a war game.

There is also difficulty in moving armies and this is very asymmetrical and historical. The British have larger and more powerful armies, but they require a higher OPS card to move them, so you are likely going to move them less often. Meanwhile, the Americans have smaller, generally weaker armies that require lower ops cards to move, meaning you are likely able to move them more often. America’s military agility is further supported through two special rules, their ability to intercept and retreat, allowing them to intervene and avoid British attacks.

This game of cat and mouse creates a tense and very thinky mini game where each player is thinking less about outright crushing the opposing military, as this is highly unlikely to happen, and more about trying to position their military in the most optimal points on the map to exert power and control, adding to the influence struggle theme rather than overwhelming it.

Finally, there are a few other elements in the game that I like to refer to as “historical conditions” that create challenges for the players to overcome.

Winter attrition already mentioned, creates a real headache for the American player who is constantly having to contend with their armies dispersing between rounds. There is the struggle to get the French into the game which is pretty vital for the Americans as it brings into play the ability to blockade ports and a much-needed French command with French armies.

For the British the struggle and often the frustration is really dealing with the reality that with the right hand of cards you could really bring the fight to the American’s but the high maintenance commanders can only be moved with higher ops cards, typically 3 ops which means that you really have to plan way ahead and around their stubborn refusal to cooperate with your plans. You are simply never going to have the cards to do exactly what you want and your circumstances continually get worse as the war progresses. Ideally, you want to win this game as early as possible as the British because it gets tougher and tougher as time goes on.

The event cards are a mechanical layer here and while I would say the impact of these cards varies from “meh” to “holy shit”, generally their inclusion is more about infusing the game with theme than it is about strategy. They certainly can play a significant role in the plan of a particular round when drawn, but usually, you are trying to squeeze the events into your strategy rather than building a strategy around the cards if that makes sense. In fact, generally speaking, that is usually how all of the cards in the deck are used. You have a strategic plan and you are trying to use whatever you draw to make that happen, rarely if ever does your hand dictate your plan.

The event cards in the game have varied effects and their usefulness usually depends on the developing situation on the board, sometimes they can have a big game-changing impact, and sometimes they are worth more as a 1 ops action than actually using them.

What can I really say about the gameplay in Washington’s War other than that it’s absolutely fabulous? It’s just such a great tense game, with easy-to-understand mechanics, and lots of great history full of surprises, twists, and turns. It’s just a really fantastic gaming experience, nailed down to a 2-3 hour 2-player game that just works in every way. It’s game design brilliance.

I have no complaints about this game at all but know that my love for CDG-driven influence struggle games likely makes me a bit biased here. I love this genre of games and Washington’s War is one of the most approachable and satisfying takes on this genre out there. It certainly does not replace my love for Imperial Struggle, which I consider the current ranking champion in this genre, but this one is so much easier to teach and learn. I think it’s the best way to introduce new players to the genre.

Longevity and Replayability

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_star 

Pros: The game is very dynamic offering endless replayability, you aren’t ever going to play two games that resolve the same.

Cons: The simplicity of the design is a benefit for the purposes of introductions, however all but the most casual of gamers are going to graduate from this one rather quickly.

Washington’s War has a static start and that might give the impression that there is a limited number of plays built in that once you expire them you will have seen everything there is to see.

This is categorically false and I say that from having played this game at least a dozen times at this point. The dynamics of this game are a combination of decisions and strategies implemented, cards drawn and dice rolled. There is just no way two games will ever repeat or even appear similar to each other. Despite the static start, this game is a dynamic rollercoaster, whereas a player you will find yourself trying to unravel countless puzzles this game presents.

There is a lot of replayability here and there is no doubt in my mind that like many games in this genre including the famed Twilight Struggle, this is a game you can play over and over again and always make new discoveries.

Now in terms of longevity, for me personally, after a dozen plays while I’m always ready to go for it again, I find that anytime I have taught someone Washington’s War, my urge is to take the next step with them into more involved and complex CDG influence struggle games.

This game is light and as a veteran gamer, I enjoy complex games and it’s what I want to be playing. Washington’s War for me is a great way to introduce new players to the wonderful world of historical war games and in particular to the CDG influence struggle games, but it is not the final frontier and I want to graduate new players to more robust games. I feel the longevity of this game for most historical war game fans is going to be limited to using it as an introduction to historical war games, game. I would be surprised if two veteran historical war gamers would find the game enough of a challenge long-term.

There are many influence struggle CDG war games like Washington’s War, all of them benefit from the road paved by the evolution of the genre since We The People initially set the standard. It’s perhaps no surprise that as time has gone on, deeper and heavier variants have come out. Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul is a great next step after Washington’s War before moving on to even more robust games like Imperial Struggle.

That said, I do think more mainstream and casual gamers would find this game very satisfying long term. I hope that doesn’t come off as elitist and rude, but the term “complexity” means something completely different in the world of popular mainstream gaming and historical war gaming. As a historical war game, this one is feather-light, but I think compared to most modern-day board games, it would be generally considered a medium, perhaps even heavy weighted game on the complexity scale. The rulebook is 23 pages, practically a pamphlet for modern historical war games but quite heavy if this were say a Euro.

Conclusion

Among historical war gaming geeks like me and fans of Mark Herman’s work, Washington’s War is by many considered his masterpiece, his Mona Lisa. I would personally argue that this honor goes to Empire of the Sun, but certainly, Washington’s War is one of his stone-cold classics, there is no denying it.

Washington’s War is easy to learn and teach, it’s nuances offer a much deeper level of strategy than the mechanics suggest and it does a wonderful job of capturing the theme of the Revolutionary War without being a hard simulation. All of these things combined make Washington’s War an amazing gaming experience and an excellent addition to any fan of the CDG & Influence Struggle genre of games.

I would also make an argument for this game to get more mainstream attention, it certainly has all the hallmarks that have made other CDG’s like Twilight Struggle such smash hits and really I find it surprising that Washington’s War lives in general obscurity. I will say it again for posterity, this is not just a great historical war game, this is just a really great game period and you should not let the stigma of historical war games frighten you from trying it. Any fan of Twilight Struggle will find themselves quite at home in Washington’s War, in fact, I would argue this is a far better and much easier entry point into the genre than Twilight Struggle is.

If there is anything to complain about when it comes to Washington’s War, I’ve certainly missed it. It fires on all cylinders as far as I’m concerned, I give it my highest recommendation for pretty much anyone looking for a great, tense 2-player game, historical or otherwise.

Best of List, Board Game Reviews

On The Table: July 2022

You would think after the big superboard gaming weekend we had earlier in the month I would have run out of games to talk about, but I’m on summer holiday and the gaming continues.

Root (Digital Board Game Adaptation)

During our big gaming weekend earlier this month, I was exposed to a very curious little game called Root which piqued my interest both as a board game fan and as an amateur board game designer.

This highly asymmetrical war game about cute little woodland creatures fighting in a forest has some incredible dynamics which results in tremendous replayability and diversity. It seems like it’s one of those games where you really need to do many repeated plays to really explore it and fully understand it, not something that typically happens with any board game in my gaming group. We really rarely go back to the same game over and over again, generally being a lot more diverse in particular given the sizeable gaming collections some of us have.

Luckily there is a digital adaptation of Root available on steam and other apps which is perfect for some great solo gaming.

I played the digital version of root about 20 times already, doing so obsessively in succession as I tried to really delve into the games unique nuances and Root did not disappoint. As I suspected the more you play, the more unique elements and strategies you discover in this quirky little game.

The game has great tutorials that really walk you through the rules, so if you have no knowledge of the board game at all, the digital adaptation will not only teach you how to play this digital version, but how to play the board game version as well. It’s a great aid for a game that is a bit of a chore to learn to play.

The digital version of the game is a direct translation, has AI bots of various skills, and comes with a few expansions allowing you to explore it even deeper with more factions. The developers have done a great job replicating the cartoon art of the board game and the interface is really easy to use, allowing you to really focus on the nitty-gritty details of gameplay.

Highly recommend this adaptation if you are curious about Root but don’t have the group available that wants to repeatedly play this one with you. There is a small online community as well so there are plenty of opportunities to play with other players too.

War Room

Getting an opportunity to play War Room, my all-time favorite game is a real treat. I did a preview and review of War Room if you want more details on this epic, global-scale event game. This week we got it to the table and as always this game blew me away!

In short, what I can say about every game of War Room is that despite having a grotesque playing time, on average exceeding 12 hours, this is a highly interactive, deeply strategic, mechanically easy to learn but impossible to master game that to me is not only an achievement in game design but one of the ultimate board gaming experiences.

It is everything I love about big epic board gaming in a box as it addresses every issue I usually find with long, event-style games. Most of the activities in the game are done simultaneously and or in groups as the game is not only team-based but features hidden order movement. The combat is engaging and very dramatic so even if the nation you are running is not involved you’re drawn to it as it’s no less exciting to watch it unfold. Every move and round in the game, has far reaching and big impact on the results of the game that creates dynamic outcomes and narratives you are unlikely ever going to see repeated.

This is a game that tells stories that you will remember long after the game is put away with everyone expertly pointing out what “they should have done” or what strategy they will try next time. You’re going to be thinking about this one long after the game is over.

There are countless possible strategies as well, this is a World War II game that gives you the opportunity to re-imagine the history of the war and approach it with your own revision of this pivotal and tragic moment story without burying you in unnecessarily detailed and overly complex historical realities typically found in historical war games. It certainly will have a lot of familiarity for Axis and Allies players, but this game has an elegance that far surpasses its predecessor. It is simply put, just an amazing gaming experience.

I adore this game but I would caution anyone considering picking it up that you really do have to understand what your getting yourself into and the information on the box is a bit inaccurate in this regard. For one it suggests that the game is for 2 to 6 players and this is true, but while there are 2 and 3 player scenarios, what you are certain to want to do with the game is play the global war scenario which cannot be played by 2 or 3 players reasonably. There is just too much going on in this game for one player to run multiple major nations. Then again while the global scenario can be played by up to 6 players, if you do, one player is going to get stuck playing Italy which while an important nation in the war, plays in a fairly isolated part of the map and is really part of the German strategy.

The game also says that it plays 1 hour for each player which is complete nonsense. If you can finish a game of War Room in under 12 hours with any amount of players you are playing a very fast-moving game of War Room.

The ideal conditions for the game is 5 players (Japan, Germany, US, Britain and Soviets with the US player running China and German player running Italy). You also want to make sure you have a full day, or even better is to have two half days to play the game. You are going to need a ton of space and you want to setup timers where each team can have time alone with the gameboard to play, typically 10-15 minutes per planning phase is enough.

The point here is that this is an expensive game that requires real event planning and a good-sized group of 5, players preferably but no less than 4. That is what it takes to play War Room and I would avoid it if you don’t think you will have the gaming group and conditions to meet those requirements. You don’t want a 250-dollar game collecting dust on your shelf, especially one that will torture you as this one will because this game begs to be played.

My friends and I manage about 1 game a year and while I would love to play it more often, I consider it a big win to be able to pull that off. It was an amazing day!

Paths of Glory

Paths of Glory is a classic in the historical war gaming communities and is the foundation game for card-driven mechanics.

I have an online buddy that comes out of the woods periodically and challenges me to a game of Paths of Glory, which I always graciously accept because I absolutely adore this game. In stark contrast to War Room however, this is an intimate and very historically accurate war game that endeavors to not only teach, but gives you an incredible sense of a global conflict.

Paths of Glory is about the whole of World War I and I did a review on it last year. It’s an incredible but very long and very detailed game that is not particularly easy to learn and certainly impossible to master. It requires tremendous patience and dedication to learn to play it well, but it has made a believer out of me.

This is a card-driven game so it’s a nice fit for me personally as I love all things card-driven, in fact, looking at my top 20 board games of all time no less than 7 games use similar mechanics. Paths of Glory is unique however in a number of ways in terms of historical war games. For one, it’s a point-to-point rather than a hex and counter game, which creates a unique dynamic as you have this really strong sense of supply lines and complications of the terrain. It sort of forces you to deal with the real historical issues of the day without forcing it on you via mechanics, so it has this great “re-write World War I” feel, but you still get a lot of historical outcomes anyway.

More than that this is a game with so much diversity and dynamics that no two games ever turn out the same and it’s amazing to see how wildly different the outcomes can be even the same strategies are deployed.

I have always been a huge fan of this one, but I caution my readers that this is firmly in the historical, chit game category and Paths of Glory does not apologize for that. The rules are complex, full of exceptions and there are a lot of moving parts. It’s for seasoned historical gamers only and I would not recommend this as an entry point if this is your first go at the genre. It’s best to have someone teach you this one if possible but veteran historical war gamers will be on comfortable footing here, Paths of Glory is an established classic that’s based on some of the historical war gaming most foundational mechanics.

Best of List, Gaming Articles

4x Science-Fiction Civilization Building Games: Part I

At the start of this summer, I wanted to have a writing project for the blog, something unique to work on when those rainy days come or when I’m up late with a cold beer after the family has gone to bed.  It’s something of a tradition for me and has produced articles such as my Battletech Guide series (Part I, Part II & Part III) and my Star Wars: X-Wing guide (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV & Part V) for example.  

This year’s summer project is to evaluate and write a comparison article on Science-Fiction 4x civilization-building games, a topic that is something of a passion of mine.  I have always been a big fan of monster games in general as far back as I can remember, getting my start with classics like Advanced Civilization, Axis & Allies and Shogun back in the 80’s.  My love for SF 4x games however comes from the world of PC games with classics like Master of Orion and Galactic Civilization series of games.  

For years Twilight Imperium has been the ruling king of the hill of this genre in board game form, it has floated around in my top 10 best games of all time since I started it nearly 10 years ago and remains the mecca of this genre in my opinion.  Equally, for the same amount of years I have searched for alternatives for Twilight Imperium if for no other reason than the simple fact that Twilight Imperium is a real pain to get to the table despite its many positive elements.  Simply put, it’s a very long, very heavy and conceptually complex game to get into.  It demands a bit more than most gamers are willing to give and so I have searched for alternatives that might bring the 4x experience to the table more often with a wider range of players.

My hope was that if I explored this genre in detail, I might find some 4x games that might be a bit more approachable.  Going into this project I have no expectations that any of the games I will try will replace Twilight Imperium for me as my ruling favorite, but I am hoping to find some new 4x games to explore.

My research has shown that there are quite a few potentially great SF 4x games in the board game world and it’s my intention to go deep with this article series and do some detailed assessment of what I believe are the most popular of these games that will hopefully act as both a buying guide for those looking to get into the games and a sort of review for each individual game.

The List & Why

There are quite a few games that could go on this list, in fact, arguably to be a proper assessment of the whole genre I think a list of 10-15 would be needed but I wanted to narrow it down to the most widely popular games and I wanted to have some games that hardened veterans of the genre would also approve of which is to say, games that might be more obscure to general mass markets but the experts within consider staples of the genre.  This I felt was important because the goal here is to expose you, the reader to something new and interesting and battle-tested, not necessarily a comparison of the most known games.  

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition

The ultimate 4x science-fiction epic, it is considered by many to be the king of the 4x genre.

Twilight Imperium was a very obvious choice, it is considered a hallmark of the genre, ask any fan of SF 4x civilization building to make a list for you, and this one will always be on it.   It is widely accepted as one of the best in the genre, arguably the one by which all other games will be judged so it had to be on this list.

Eclipse:  Second Dawn For The Galaxy

Many argue that Eclipse is the Twilight Imperium killer, a more refined, faster playing 4x game.

Eclipse is perhaps the second most widely known and accepted game in the genre and actually has even broader mass market appeal.  More importantly, it’s considered the most natural competitor to Twilight Imperium by the gaming community even if the publisher makes no such claims.  It is also highly disputed by Twilight Imperium fans as a contender, some argue for it’s shorter play time while others insist it comes up short.  I love a good controversy, so it had to go on the list as well.

Star Trek: Ascendancy

A relative newcomer by 4x standards, but this 2016 release has made a splash with 4x and Star Trek fans alike often compared to Eclipse.

A very popular franchise but a less commonly listed game, Star Trek: Ascendancy is a full-fledged 4x game that has had quite a bit of buzz among 4x fans and has seen a number of reprints since its 2016 release which means people are still playing & buying it. One really interesting element of Ascendancy is that many argue its a better, albeit less refined Eclipse and there is a lot of debate about its quality that seems to have created a sort of Ascendancy vs. Eclipse grudge match.  From that, it was an easy decision to include it.

Exodus: Proxima Centauri

While my first experience with this one was less then stellar, it’s a community favorite and many argue that it is a far more competitive and varied game in direct competition with Twilight Imperium and Eclipse.

I was very hesitant to add this one to my list mainly because I own it, I have played it once and neither my gaming crew or I thought much of it.  Despite this among 4x circles, it’s considered a staple and standard for the genre and it’s been compared to Eclipse and Twilight Imperium in countless reviews, many feeling this is the superior game.  While I have my doubts, the evidence is in its success.   It has also not only remained in print but has received a 2nd edition and been nominated for some prestigious awards including the 2013 UK Games expo for Best Boardgame of the year.  It’s clearly a competitor, it had to go on the list.

Stellaris Infinite Legacy

Based on one of the most popular 4x games in modern times, this new kid on the block is making a lot of bold claims about being an evolution in the genre and we are going to give it, its shot to prove it in this competition.

The final game on the list comes from Academy Games which attempts to create a board game version of one of the most popular modern 4x PC game franchises in existence, the fan favorite and beloved Stellaris.  I know very little about this one but I felt strongly that if someone is going to try to re-create a board game version of one of the best 4x PC games on the market today, it needed to be on the list.  

That’s your list, 5 games.  I’m committed to play each game a minimum of one time, though it’s likely I will have a couple of plays of each game before this article is complete and I have the advantage of having played some of these games already before I even start.  I have no idea how long it will actually take me to complete this article series, but I’m hopeful that it will make for some fun gaming and writing.

How they will be judged

I think it’s important to establish some method or standard for how all the games will be judged to ensure not only that the competition is fair, but that there is at least a general understanding of what the expectations for a 4x game are.  Each game will be rated from 1 to 5 on each of the following categories.

Is it a true 4x game

The first category simply ensures that the game meets its advertised goal which is to be a 4x game.  4x is a reference to the four key elements of a science-fiction civilization-building game.  

Exploration

Does the game have a fun/interesting exploration mechanic, after all this is a game about building a civilization in space and exploration has to be a part of that.

Expand

This is a bit of a tricky one as the word is intended to have multiple meanings.  It’s a reference to the civilization-building component of the game and covers anything that helps to build your civilization from a fledging single planet to a mass empire.  Science research, fleet and base building, economic engine growth and really anything else to do with the construction and forward progress of your civilization.

Exploit

Similar to expanding in a way, exploiting is about making sure that the galaxy itself is the source of the struggle in the game and that it breeds player competition for resources to ensure players are forced out of their comfort zone of their homeworld.  Exploitation is about the economics of the game and the road to confrontation and the final and arguably most exciting element of the 4x genre, war (Exterminate).

Exterminate

In the end, the exploration, expansion and exploitation of the galaxy should put the players into conflict with each other and lead to the expected eventual outcome which is war.  All good 4x games are in the end in some shape or form war games.

The Extras

While the 4x civilization-building genre is very specific, many of these games include concepts like politics, diplomacy, trade, espionage and other elements often associated, but not directly mentioned as part of the 4x mantra.  These extras should count and hence they get their own category in the evaluation.

Competitive & Fun

This second category is a bit more opinion driven, it’s about a general judgment and comparison of how competitive and fun the game is.  Does it hit those joy centers with its mechanics, do players walk away satisfied, is the game balanced and fair and of course naturally how does it fair in general as a gaming experience.

The Event Status & Presentation

Civilization-building games should be an event, a robust, full-fledged game that everyone is excited about and builds a foundation for a great gaming event.  This combines its visual appeal and presentation, its replayability and its status as a game around which an event can be played.  4x games shouldn’t just be board games, they need to generate a much higher level of excitement beyond just a simple game night, they should feel epic in size and scope.  This category is a measurement and discussion of its status as an event game and includes its presentation.

Deliver On The Promise

This one is important mainly because I don’t think a game should be judged solely on the expectations and desires of players, but on what the game actually promises.  Whether it’s by advertisement on the box or website, we use that information to determine how well it delivers what it promised.  Does the game do what it said it would?  That is the question we are answering and rating here.

Strengths vs. Weakness

This is the only category that will not be scored so much as listed.  I will attempt to outline each game’s strengths and weaknesses and help guide players to the game that is right for their group.  

Comparison Ranking

Finally is the comparison ranking.  This category will not be included with each game, but rather be an article in its own right where I compare and contrast all of the games and come to a conclusion about where they ultimately rank in this competition.  It will be a definitive, top 5 of the best from this list of SF 4x civilization-building games.

Conclusion

Ok so that is the setup for this article series, we have our game list and we have our established method of judgment.  I’m uncertain exactly what order these articles will appear or even what approach I will take beyond these simple goals but the plan is first to play all of the games so that I have a strong basis for assessment.  I expect this series will go well beyond the summer to complete, but keep an eye out for it in the near future.

Board Game Reviews, Gaming Articles

BOARD GAMING SUPER WEEKEND 2022 EDITION!

The sacred annual event known as Hassela weekend in my gaming circle is a staple of my gaming group’s gaming life.  We look forward to it all year long, the holy event is a 4-day gaming excursion where my buddies and I hide away in a small remote Swedish town and do nothing but drink beer, BBQ and play board games. It is sacred, it is glorious and it is a board gaming super weekend.

This year’s event was overflowing with amazing gaming, so much so that I kick-started this article only an hour after I came home still buzzing from the countless mini experiences of playing classics and new gems alike.

Get ready for the list, because it’s quite meaty, in no particular order.

The Pillars of The Earth by KOSMOS 2006

Designer: Michael Rieneck, Stefan Stadler

The Pillars of the Earth is among the first board games I bought and introduced to my new Swedish friends when I first moved to Sweden. In fact, it’s among the first reviews I did for this blog (The Pillars Of The Earth Review). My first gaming group was a mixture of gamers and non-gamers, it would be a couple of years before our gaming crew really formed, so I needed an easy-to-learn and teach game that non-gamers could get their head around while being interesting and fun for board gamers like me in the group. This one came highly recommended but wasn’t the usual recommendations I had heard for introducing people to gaming like Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride. Nothing against those two, but I always felt like while they are introduction games, they aren’t that interesting for more seasoned gamers.  

The Pillars of The Earth is a very pretty game, with a theme based on a book that gives it a sort of regal and intelligent presence and it was very easy to learn and teach so no one is going to get overwhelmed. It was quite perfect as an introductory game and even to this day when someone comes to me wanting to take their first venture into board gaming, I find it to be a great choice.

This is a really pretty game with a lot of color and thought put into aesthetics, so despite the rather odd theme of being about 12th-century architects building a cathedral, it has a lot of personality.

That however is not why it’s still in my collection years later and why it found its way to our Hassela weekend. Despite its simplicity, this is a very elegant Euro that really stands out and will challenge veteran gamers.

It’s a simple worker placement and resource management game on the surface, which is to say, the standard formula in which players place workers on limited spots, get resources and use those resources to score points.  Nothing too fancy…

The twist is that in addition to managing the resources needed to score points you have money that is used in a pre-round auction of sorts where you draw “worker” tokens out of a bag and if your color comes up you have to pay the current cost of putting your worker on the board or pass your chance to put down a worker until the end of the round. This means that having more money gives you a better chance of getting your workers on the board first, which is a huge advantage, and being broke is equally really, really bad.  It is in this mini-management element of the game a lot of the planning magic happens.

It’s a struggle between doing what you want, doing what you can and doing what you need to do while competing for the best spots on the board and finding victory points wherever you can. It’s a pretty tight game, so every inch you claim counts. Additionally, the method of scoring points is all about having the best craftsmen cards that convert resources into points, but getting those also costs money and there is a very limited supply of craftsmen available in any given game.

The whole thing boils down to a thinky resource management puzzle, not so difficult that you don’t understand what and how to do it, but always challenging to do it well.

The Pillars of the Earth is a stone-cold classic in my opinion, it’s a straight-to-the-point Euro that uses well-established worker placement mechanics but does so in a unique way that even nearly 20 years later it still holds up in veteran gaming groups in addition to being a very serviceable introductory to board games-game.

It’s still in print and available today, this is a real gem and comes highly recommended if you are looking for a good gateway game that carries over to more serious gaming tables.

Root By Leder Games 2018

Designer: Cole Wehrle 

Root has been on my must-play list since its rise in popularity over the last couple of years, I’m certainly a late comer to the experience, but someone brought it so I was excited to finally have go.  Root already has over a dozen expansions, it has been converted to a digital game and clawed its way to the 28th spot on boardgamegeek.com.  Impressive resume for a game about cute woodland creature cartoons fighting in a forest.

Despite its endearing art and theme, Root turned out to be a pretty complex gamer’s game with what I can only describe as extreme dynamics and asymmetry.  Each player in the game takes control of one of four or more available factions (depending on expansions) in what can best be described as a sort of quasi-war mini-series. Each faction not only plays wildly different but has entirely different game mechanics and methods of scoring points.  Some factions don’t even have units on the map, some have entire armies, while others are essentially solo adventurers who wander around the map causing trouble.

It’s a pretty crazy setup, so nutty it’s difficult to fully express but I suppose the best way to describe it is that every player is effectively playing an entirely different game (quite literally).    Each faction has unique rules for the game and while there is a lot of interaction in the game between players, which is great, this extreme asymmetry can be a bit confusing when you are learning to play the game.

It’s probably not a great idea to do what my group did which was play a 5 player game with expansions on our first go (or at least my first go).  That likely complicated the matter unnecessarily.

When we played it took us quite a bit of time to get the game going and even though I found my faction to be quite straightforward (I played a Vagabond, essentially a solo adventurer), I didn’t have a bloody clue how anyone else worked or what the hell they were doing until the late game when it all abruptly ended.  It felt a bit anti-climactic and I was a little disappointed, but I don’t think it illustrated a flaw in the game, just the unexpected reality that despite being about adorable little forest creatures, this game is a fairly robust and serious gamer’s game.  I don’t think describing it as a war game is unfair, though perhaps not 100% accurate for every faction, yet despite its cuteness aesthetically the game was quite brutal.

This game’s adorable theme is in stark contrast to its rather harsh, take that gameplay.

It’s difficult for me to form an opinion on a game this diverse after only one pretty wobbly play.  What I can say is that I was immediately sold on the theme, concept, and mechanics and definitely excited for another go, so the game certainly didn’t turn me off.   For me this was the surprise discovery of the weekend, to be honest despite a kind of lackluster first go, I really liked it quite a bit and I was hoping that we would get a second play during the weekend but we never got to it.

All the buzz on this one is warranted I think, looking forward to taking another crack at it again in the near future.  

Hansa Teutonica by Pegasus Spiele 2020

Designer: Andreas Steding

Originally released in 2009, this is something of an old-school Euro classic with a pretty impressive list of prestigious game awards.  We played the re-printed 2020 big box release which I think is largely unchanged from the original but comes with several expansions packaged together. 

Our game took place on the German map and going into this one I didn’t really know what to expect, I had never even heard of it and at a glance, it looked like a rather boring Euro cube pusher.  I was not terribly excited, my relationship with cube-pushing euro-classics is a bit of a mixed bag.

I swear I have nothing against a good Euro cube pusher, but I find for every 3 or 4 I play, I find one I like and the rest are meh… so I tend to be a bit skeptical.

Fortunately, Hansa Tuetonica turned out to be a delightfully simple, yet very thinky and clever game with tons of player interaction and wonderfully streamlined mechanics.  Everyone at the table took to it right away, there was none of this “now that I know the rules, I will be able to do much better next time” kind of talk after the game, it was crystal clear what you needed to do to win from turn one, the challenge was figuring out how to do it well.

This was a game about building trade routes and controlling buildings by placing down control cubes. The tricky part is that if someone placed a cube into a route you want to control, while you can kick them out, it costs you an extra cube to do so and gives them 2 cube placements elsewhere on the board for free.  So the game is all about players trying to get under each other’s feet to get the free rewards and then use those rewards to outpace each other.  Each player also has their own gameboard and you can upgrade various properties of your little business to improve the sort of actions you can take which opens up various advantages as well as scoring you additional points.

It’s really a victory point race as you might expect from a Euro, but highly interactive and cutthroat and there is a kind of sense of urgency with everything as the board fills up over time and your options start to slim down as the game progresses.  The game had really good tension and unlike so many of these old-school Euro games, you didn’t feel isolated from the other players, quite to the contrary, it all felt very crowded.

Really enjoyed this one a hell of a lot more than I thought I would when it came out of the box, another of a long line of pleasant surprises this weekend.  I think it’s difficult to offer a comparison for this one, I suppose you could say in a way it’s a worker placement game but that would be a real stretch of the term.  I do think like The Pillars Of The Earth, this is a good example of a game that is going to be very newbie friendly while having plenty of steam for the more seasoned gamer.   Really nice find!

Dune Imperium by Dire Wolf (2020)

Designer: Paul Dennen

I never did a full review of Dune Imperium and I probably should have, but it did appear in the number 9 spot of my Top 20 Best Games of All Time list  I did earlier this year so that should tell you a little something about how I feel about this one.


To make it short and sweet, this is hands down among the best games that came out in 2020 and remains one of my favorites to put on the table. It was no surprise to me that this one found its way to the Hassela super weekend rotation, I’m fairly certain most of my crew enjoys this one as well.

We played Dune with the new expansion (Rise of Ix), which has not received particularly high marks and was rumored to be very poor so I was mildly concerned about adding it into the mix.  Boy are those reviews wrong!

Dune Imperium – Rise of Ix was a fantastic expansion that vastly improves the game, in particular in the variety of viable strategies for winning.  Without the expansion, the method of winning is pretty strict, you must get lots of influence with the different factions and you must win a few victory point-based battles, else your chances of winning a game of Dune Imperium are slim to none generally reduced to a lucky intrigue card draw.  

I played a lot of Dune, it’s a fantastic game and I’m always weary of expansions for games I already think are amazing. A game that was nearly perfect already gets better with Rise of Ix, its a must-own for any fan of the game.

With the Rise of Ix the game opens up a great deal proven by my own victory which I achieved without ever winning a single battle.  The combination of interstellar shipping, technologies, new faction cards, dreadnoughts and various micro additions, there are a lot more ways to score points so the game is just a lot less linear.  Perhaps repeated plays might reveal some flaws, but from where I was sitting, the game not only felt even tighter but there are more ways to make a comeback.  Our game ended with 3 players achieving 10 points and the 4th sitting on 9 at the end of the game and the tie-breaker was a technology card I picked up earlier in the game.  One of the most exciting and closes games of Dune Imperium I have played yet.

The expansion does complicate the game ever so slightly but really one play without the expansion should be all the education one needs before adding it in, it’s really not that substantial rules-wise.

If you haven’t played Dune Imperium yet, this is a combination of worker placement and deck builder no serious connoisseur can live without, it’s a must-play game in my opinion, without question among the best games in my collection.

Imperial Struggle by GMT Games (2020)


Designers: Ananda Gupta, Jason Mathews

On the first day of the Hassela, a buddy and I were the first arrivals and we had a chance to play a couple of two-player games, so I did not hesitate to bring what I consider to be THE best two-player game in my collection.

I have hummed the praises of Imperial Struggle in my Review earlier this year, a game that received 4.4 out of 5 stars and landed in the number 3 spot on my Top 20 Best Games of all Time list this year.  

To put it plainly, I adore this game, it’s incredibly challenging, deep and thematic while being reasonably short for a two-player historical board game affair.  It doesn’t hurt that the influence struggle card-driven mechanic is one of my favorite mechanics in board games and I have collected quite a few in that category for comparison and this one remains my favorite among them (List includes Washintgons War, Ceaser: Rome vs. Gaul & Twilight Struggle…. So far).

This can however be a pretty frustrating and unforgiving game, it is not for the faint of heart.  A couple of bad decisions can quickly break your momentum and lead to ruin, in particular if you’re facing a clever opponent who knows how to leverage errors in judgment.  I have played about a dozen games of Imperial Struggle at this point and it really doesn’t get any easier over time either.  This is due in part that the game has a lot of dynamic elements that can really alter what strategies will be effective and these dynamics really push you to constantly think globally.

I could probably write several blog posts about my theories and ideas for strategies which are probably all terrible, but that is really the beauty of a game like this is that you never really stop thinking about it and trying to figure it out.

I would not recommend this as a first venture into the influence struggle card-driven genre unless you are a board game veteran, there are lighter games like Twilight Struggle and Washingtons war that make for much better starting points, but to me this is the final word in the genre, the standard by which all others are to be judged.

Love it!

Eclipse: Second Dawn For The Galaxy by Lautapelit (2020)

Designer: Touko Tahkokallio

Eclipse was a smash hit with the entire gaming crew in Hassela and really the highlight of the weekend, we actually ended up playing it twice with everyone nodding in approval.  I picked this game up as this summer I took it upon myself to write an article about 4x science-fiction civilization-building games and Eclipse was a natural contender for such an analysis along with games like Twilight Imperium.

I played the original Eclipse and it triggered two articles I did back in 2015 called Top 5 Games That Were Almost Great and my Top 5 Popular Games You Can Skip.  Suffices to say I saw a lot of potential in the game but it had a few flaws that just made the game pretty stale after repeated plays.  I think at the time I was probably a bit more sensitive about the sales pitch as well which suggested that this was a faster, lighter Twilight Imperium which really is just objectively false advertising.  It was for all intense and purposes a cube-pushing Euro disguised as a Twilight Imperium wanna-be.

I will be the first to admit I may have been a bit elitist and harsh in my assessment of the original Eclipse and while I still don’t think Eclipse is even in the same class as Twilight Imperium as a game, at least with Second Dawn the game delivered on the promise of a proper fully fleshed out 4x science-fiction civilization building game that can be played in a reasonable amount of time.

The game has been streamlined generously, on our second game when everyone knew the rules and we just setup and played, we finished a very tense and very exciting game in a little over 3 hours which is at least half the time it would take to play Twilight Imperium if I’m being generous (probably more like 1/3rd of the time).

More than that though the game just had a rhythm that worked.  Turns were fast, there was always some action on the board each round, the game felt tight and uncertain and you really had to take some gambles in response to other players’ activities.  There is a lot of tension in this game, you can’t sit on your butt and just build-up, you have to act; the game feels, because it is, extremely short.  It was just a really fun and exciting game.

There is a lot more I want to say about this game, but I’m saving that juice for the big 4x article I’m working on, so for now I will just say that all the accolades this game has received over the last couple of years is well deserved, this is a really great 4x formula that delivers on the promise of a shorter yet very robust 4x empire building game. I don’t really remember the old game enough to specifically point out which changes made the difference here, but clearly, the game is a lot more streamlined that is for sure. Loved it, can’t wait to play it more!

Nidavellir by Grrre Games (2020)

Designer: Serge Laget

A curious little game about recruiting dwarves destined to fight a big dragon, though in practice it’s about creating a point-scoring engine driven by a competitive blind auction for point-scoring cards.  I honestly thought I would like it a lot less than I ultimately did as the rules were being explained to me, but the game is very short and quite clever, it was a nice distraction and worked well with 3-players which was our player count at the moment it hit the table.

Very nicely published for a game this simple with great components and pretty art.  I think this would make for a really good family game with kids, this is a concept anyone can pick up instantly and it demands a bit of math which is a good way to sneak in some education for the youngsters.

At a table full of veteran gamers it was quite well received, maybe a bit too robust to be called a filler, as it required some explanation with some of the specialty hero cards, but once you know the game I would be surprised if it took 3-4 players more than 30-45 minutes to play.

I liked it, if you’re looking for a light family game this is a really nice pick.

Star Wars Jabba’s Palace Love Letter & Lovecraft Letter

Designers: (Star Wars): Justin Kemppainen & Todd Michlitsch

Designers: (Lovecraft):  Vincent Dutrait, Kouji Ogata

We played not one but two different themed versions of Love Letter, both of which I found to be fun takes on an established classic.  Love Letter is a sort of take-that player elimination game where you attempt to knock out the players with various card effects to be the last man standing.  It’s a very simple game with a bit of deduction strategy and psychology playing into it.

The Star Wars Love Letter featured two different factions which played off each other a bit and included some special mission cards that created alternative winning conditions.


The Lovecraft one used an insane mechanic that worked similarly to factions (sane and insane) and had some alternative winning conditions to the standard love letter rules.

All and all both of these games were really fun just like the original Love Letter is.  Each had a unique thematic take on the concept, but ultimately these were just additional layers on a game that just works really well.  

I’m not a huge Lovecraft fan and I am a massive Star Wars fan, but if I had to choose between the two-themed versions I actually thought the sanity mechanic in Lovecraft letter worked a bit better.

Love Letter is a really great game and there are so many different themes for it, so you pretty much just pick a theme that speaks to you and buy that version.  There really isn’t much more to say about it, I have always really liked this game and having some fun themes like Star Wars and Lovecraft adds a bit of flavor.

I’ve never met a person that doesn’t like Love Letter, the only real downside to the game is that you really want at least 4 players, it loses a lot of its tension with 2 or 3 players.  No gamers collection is complete without Love Letter in it.

Smartphone Inc by Cosmodrome Games (2018)

Designer: Ivan Lashin

This little sleeper hit I think is one of the most underrated games on boardgamegeek.com, sitting in the 399 spot it’s practically criminal.  This is without question one of the most unique Euro’s I have played in years, it never disappoints.  Actually, I would argue if you are looking to become a board game designer, this is a must-play game because it proves that game designers are still coming up with original ideas despite the tens of thousands of games released each year.

In Smartphone you are running a mobile phone company, producing and selling phones on a global scale.  It’s a simple combination action selection and area control game with an economic twist, but the real brilliance of the game is how you define your actions.  Players have two, two-sided game boards which they must secretly layer over each other to determine what sorts of actions they will take during the execution phase of the game.  The rules here are simple, but this a brain teaser that will have you tearing your hair out and it’s absolutely brilliant.

I adore this game, don’t let the hipster on the cover distract you, this is a polished gem that exemplifies great game design.  It has a fantastic, albeit simple aesthetic which some might find a bit pedestrian but the level of streamlined play here is a real achievement in my opinion.

Don’t miss out on this one, games this original don’t come every day, this is a must-play, it will make you a believer! 

Tsuro by Calliope Games (2005)

Designer: Tom McMurchie

This one made an appearance last year and really my opinion on it has not changed in anyway so for posterity I just copied the same thing I wrote about it last year!

I’m not a huge abstract gamer, looking at my shelf I can count the number of games I have in this genre on one hand minus a few fingers, but every once in a while a game comes along that I find irresistible (I’m looking at you THE DUKE).

Tsuro however was not one of those games and though I really didn’t see anything particularly wrong with it as it was clever, simple and quick, exactly what you want an abstract game to be, it’s not the kind of game that floats my boat. It’s not an issue with the game, but rather just my general gaming preferences, in fact, I would argue that if you like abstract games, this would probably hit the spot just right. From what little I know of the genre, this game seems to have that puzzle element I think abstract gamers are looking for. When we played it I’m not joking when I say the game took about 10 minutes to complete multiple times, it was a very quick game.

Undaunted by Osprey Games (2019)

Designer: Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson

I liked this game quite a bit when I first played it a couple of years ago, but I haven’t seen it hit the table again until now and I have to wonder why not?  This two-player part tactical war game, part deck-building card game is elegant, pretty and fun.  It has great tension, a push-your-luck element, lots of little clever tricks you can pull and alternative strategies you can deploy.  All that wrapped up in a game that can’t possibly take more than 30 minutes a match to play once you know the rules.

There are different scenarios for the game and arguably some are a bit more lopsided than others but from what I have seen of the game, there aren’t any obvious flaws.

We played the Normandy variant which is the original game but today there is already an expansion for it (North Africa) and another on the way (Stalingrad).  I doubt that will be the end of it, this one has picked up something of a following and it’s no surprise to me, this is a really fun two-player game that borders on filler speed and simplicity while having a bit of meat on the bones.

I really loved this one, I definitely would like to see it hit the table more often, in fact, this weekend’s experience had me seriously considering adding it to my collection because while the theme is war, it runs like a fun two-player family game, something I can see myself playing with my daughter.

This is good old fashion fun gaming.

The King Is Dead by Osprey Games (2020)

Designer: Benoit Billion

Originally released in 2015, I picked up the 2nd edition of the game and packed it with me for the weekend, I thought it could act as a little filler and distraction as we knew going into the gaming weekend that we would be at 2 and 3-player counts for a part of the weekend and this was a strong recommendation as a 3 player game.  

This one has a bit of a Condottiere vibe which is one of my all-time favorite trick-taking card games, though The King Is Dead leans a bit less on card play mechanics and a bit more on being an area control game.  As a general premise however this is a game of strategic maneuvering, the whole thing is basically a brain-teasing puzzle where you are trying to arrange control cubes to favor your own position with limited card play.

It’s a really quick and straightforward game but like Condottiere it relies a lot on the psychology of the players and trying to predict what people will do while thinking several moves ahead.  It’s very clean and fun, and easy to understand.  I like it quite a bit but Condottiere is in no danger of being replaced in this kind of funny sub-genre of games.

A fun little distraction, not sure it’s a full recommendation because honestly if I was going to recommend a game of this type I think I would argue for Condottiere over this one.

Star Trek Fleet Captains by Wizkids (2011)

Designer: Mike Elliott, Bryan Kinsella, Ethan Pasternack

I’m a huge Trekkie, always have been, always will be so Star Trek Fleet Captains is a game very close to my heart.  I did a review for Star Trek Fleet Captains back in 2015 and I have not changed my mind about this one in the slightest.

This IS Star Trek in a box and very much like War of The Rings or Star Wars Rebellion, this is a game all about the theme which it nails with perfection.  

While the game can be played with 3 or 4 players using the expansions (Romulans & Dominion) both of which I have, ideally this is a 2 player game which is how we played it this weekend.  It’s a game that is part adventure game, part ship-to-ship battles and part sort of a bit of everything else.  You fly around with your little Star Trek ships, you play cards to add crew and equipment onto your ships, you have encounters and eventually, you scrape phasers and shields against your opponent.  It’s all very … Star Trekie.

A big part of the appeal in Star Trek Fleet Captains is that they went to extreme lengths to include the most iconic elements of the tv shows and movies into the game via various mechanics.  Every time you pick up a card, if you’re a Trekkie like me, you immediately connect the card to an episode of Star Trek be it the original or the next generation.  The cards themselves are all still photos from the shows and movies, which normally I would complain about but in this setting that actually works really well.

I’m not sure I would describe the game mechanics as “good”, in fact, arguably they could probably use some work and the components for this game given its price are pretty flimsy, but I know of no other game that embodies the Star Trek experience like Star Trek Fleet Captains.  It’s a nostalgia-fueled trip into one of my favorite tv series of all time and I love that about playing this game.

This one has been out of print for quite a while and the re-sell value on it is a bit extreme likely putting you back 250-300 dollars to get the game and all three expansions.  My recommendation is that you only do it if you are a crazed fan like me, this is nothing to dabble into unless you love Star Trek madly!  If you do, however, this is the single best Star Trek game ever made, hands down!

Conclusion

What can you possibly complain about after a 4 day board gaming weekend with your best buds, limitless beer and top-notch BBQ? It was an amazing weekend filled with awesome gaming, I can’t wait until next year.

That said to me there were a couple of omissions that require a minor complaint.

This year Game of Thrones the board game did not make an appearance and it was sorely missed. Some of my favorite memories of these big board gaming weekends is playing a massive 5 or 6-player Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, we spent the majority of the weekend in a 4 player group and there just was no opportunity to get it to the table. It was really too bad.

I also felt the absence of The Sheriff of Nottingham. This game has appeared in the Hassela super weekend several times and it’s always a hilarious blast. When my friends get this game on the table the ridiculousness of our outrageous humor has no boundaries and I’m usually laughing until my face hurts.

Well that is it for this year super board gaming event, see you next year!