Days of Ire: Budapest 1956 is a cooperative game in which one-to-four players work together during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when students attempted an overthrow of the ruling Communist Party. The game also includes a one-v-all mode, with one player taking on the role of the oppressor. Both play similarly, with only mild differences between them. Since most of my plays were cooperative, I’m going to default to describing that mode.

The fundamentals of the Days of Ire system aren’t too far from Pandemic, the cooperative Allfather. The board is a network of locations throughout Budapest, each filled with potential allies and enemy forces. Players take turns to execute actions with the goal of clearing events and removing Soviet forces.

Player count determines the number of actions each turn. You can move, activate fighters, resolve events, attack militia, destroy tanks, and give/take cards. Some cards have free actions, while others include resources that can be used to resolve the aforementioned events. Say, for example, that an event pops up in the Radio location which requires one Intelligence. You’d need to have either an active fighter at the location with Intelligence…

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The city of Recife was quiet. The streets near the prison were empty. Everyone had fled inside. Even the sun sought the cover of the horizon.

Jararaca cleaned the blood off his facão, running the blade across his kerchief. The volantes had put up a good fight, but they were no match for this band of cangaceiros. The dry, harsh deserts of northeastern Brazil do not create soft men. To survive here at all, let alone as an outlaw, you had to be tough.

Tainá put her hand on his shoulder. “Jararaca, we need to go. They’ll be sending more men.”

“Grab what you can from the corpses. We’ll head out into the mountains. They won’t be able to follow us there.”

A História

Cangaceiros has a remarkable capacity for suggesting narrative. The setting, northeastern Brazil during the Cangaço movement at the turn of the 20th century, combines with comic book illustrator Emiliano Mammucari’s superlative art to give the whole enterprise an impeccable sense of character. That box cover is divine. The character cards are full of personality, each feeling like a distinct individual. Even the volantes, who fought against the cangaceiros on behalf of the wealthy land-owners in the region, look cool. It makes sense that my imagination…

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What is Kingmaker?

Kingmaker is a game covering the War of the Roses, the dynastic clash for the throne of England between the houses of York and Lancaster from 1455 to 1487. A remake of the 1974 Avalon Hill classic of the same name, this latest version by publisher Gibsons has a double-sided board and two rulebooks, one for playing Classic Kingmaker, and the other for playing Kingmaker II —a streamlined version of the game. Depending on the version, the game can support up to 5 or 6 players. There is even a solo mode. This review is limited to Kingmaker II.

[caption id="attachment_284878" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Setup for a 3-player game[/caption]

Each player controls a varying number of nobles at the start of the game, along with the troops loyal to those nobles. Nobles can be awarded titles, offices within the English royal court, bishoprics, control of towns and cities, mercenaries, and ships. These are used to fight battles, conduct sieges, and gain control of royal family members from the House of York or Lancaster. An immediate Royalty victory is won when one player controls the only royal family member who has been crowned king. Barring that, a faction controlling a king can win a Prestige Victory under certain conditions.

Game…

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I knew the moment I saw This War Without an Enemy that I wanted to play it. Artist Nicolas Roblin’s cover, a fog-laden field with an overlain crimson cross, is a fantastic bit of work. The setting, the First English Civil War that spanned 1642–1646, didn’t exactly set my world on fire, but it seemed like the perfect theme for a heavier game to try with my roommate, who has an anglophilic streak the breadth and width of the English Channel. I’d had good experiences with the publisher, Nuts!, in the past. All signs pointed to go, and I happily went.

[caption id="attachment_251888" align="alignnone" width="768"] It's a good box! Imagine if GMT games looked this good?[/caption]

Occasionally,…

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Wargames generally take terrible situations and lay them out on the table for players to engage with. Sometimes these terrible situations, the pitting of person against person in bloody violence on a grand scale, is presented abstractly. Counters representing hundreds of soldiers occupy hexagons representing kilometers, and hours or days of violent conflict are represented with the roll of a die and the flip of a counter. There’s nothing wrong with these types of games. In fact, I think they’re excellent ways of demonstrating the complexity of human conflict in a manageable and understandable way.

After playing, engaging with, and enjoying a good wargame, it is hard to believe that a player could not say they know more about the conflict presented than beforehand (or at least the designer’s interpretation of that conflict, but that is another article altogether). Yet for how much I enjoy wargames for their ability to educate, to prompt reflection, and of course as a test of strategic or tactical thinking, there are times when I wish the more unpleasant side of what is represented is actually part of the design and therefore clear for all to see.

Enter the COIN series, COIN here referring to Counterinsurgency. Designed originally by Volko Ruhnke in 2012 with Andean Abyss: Insurgency…

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Star Wars is one of the most beloved movie franchises ever made. To date, there have been eight feature films, not to mention loads of cartoons, comics, books, and expanded universe content. Star Wars is a powerhouse intellectual property that sells millions of toys, clothes, and merchandise each year. As such, the Star Wars license is fertile ground for apparent cash-grabs disguised as board games. Star Wars Monopoly, Star Wars Clue, Star Wars Tatooine Twister, Star Wars Jedi Force Jump Hopscotch, Star Wars Don’t Wake “Luke, I am your” Daddy, Star Wars Obi-Uno Kenobi, the possibilities are endless.

Being a moderate fan of the franchise and an enormous fan of hobby games, it is with great trepidation and wariness that I approach a board game with the Star Wars brand. Is it more than just an ordinary game with the Star Wars license slapped on it? Can it truly tap into the feeling of the franchise? Is the game truly about Star Wars? I’m happy to report that Star Wars: Rebellion not only fits the theme, it NAILS it.

Star Wars: Rebellion is a 2-4 player asymmetrical tactical strategy game set in the universe of the original trilogy that pits the Rebellion against the Empire. Make no mistake, Star Wars Rebellion is an epic game, both in its scope…

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