Doug Murphy - 07:47am Jan 5, 1998 PST

This is Brian Train's DTP game of American politics in the Dirty Thirties, 
available through the Micro-Game Co-OP. Fascists, Communists and Populists
battle it out.

Doug Murphy - 07:59am Jan 5, 1998 PST (#1 of 5)

I purchased and played this game over break. It was very exciting. There are 
three sides, mentioned above. Each starts with 15 "build points" worth of units
equivalent to the Strength Point for units and can choose their pick of either
Cadres, Committees, Fronts, Militia and one Leader (think Huey Long). Units are
then placed on an area-map of the US -- each area has a population value, which
is useful in Federal elections and two boxes noted as BUR or POL (whose
occupation shows control of bureacracy and police in the area -- with positive
modifiers for elections and stopping the entry of hostile units into the area.)
In our game, the Fascists set down in the Northeast: New York, Jersey,
Pennsylvania with their huge population numbers; the Communists set down in 
Virginias and the rest of the South; the Populists set down in the Midwest. The
game runs from 1930 through 1941 with 6 month turns. The object is to eliminate
the other players (near impossible) or influence a Federal Election. Every other
turn or so is a Regional Election. Play proceeds with a random selection of
First player. Then roll on a Random Events table to see if you get a new 
leader, migrant workers or mobs pop up somewhere, the economy worsens or gets
better -- that sort of thing. Then everyone gets to pick a Special counter out
of a coffee cup. There counters give positive DRMs for Build attempts, allow
free Passage for a unit accross the map, provide Assasins or Smear campaigns for
elections... Each player gets a Build phase where via a die roll per unit ('cept
Militia), you get to try to build new units, augment the ones you already have
or raise money. Then each player has a movement and lastly a "combat" phase.
Lastly, on certain turns, Regional elections are held in random areas and/or a
Federal Election all of which players can attempt to influence. More on the
game later.

Doug Murphy - 08:04am Jan 5, 1998 PST (#2 of 5)

In our game, the first few turns saw players attempt to build up their 
forces with little interference with one another. Cadres attempted largely
unsuccessfully to Infiltrate (via a die roll) into the BUR and POL boxes of
occupied areas. (the only other way to get control is to win a Regional election
in the area). The Fascists found themselves boxes into the Northeast, so satisfied
themselves moving Cadres out into New England and amassing forces along the
"frontier" in  Penn. The Commies sought to extend their influence into Texas and
also consolidate hold of the South. But the Populists went west in a big way,
taking California and a few of the lightly populated western regions. In early
regional elections, interestingly, all sides concentrated in attempting to 
win their "own" already occupied areas and interfered little with their opponents.

Doug Murphy - 11:31am Jan 9, 1998 PST (#3 of 5)

It gradually dawned on us that we could oppose Regional elections in areas 
in which other players have keen interest through the amassing of our own units
in the area and spending money to influence the elections. This led to a ferocious
series of conflicts in the Indio region held by the Populists in force, but not
controlled by them, and Militia from Communists and Fascists both. The Communists
and Fascists individually built their militias up to the counter limit and 
selectively (while not in any sort of alliance) went after the Populist Fronts,
Cadres and Committees.

The Federal Election of '32 was essentially deadlocked by the three factions. No
one held a controlling interest in any of the major parties despite jockeying for
party platforms.

The attack on the Populists led to a flurry of Assasination chit play that 
eliminated Huey Long (shot down in Cleveland), and both Communist leaders (whose
names escape me for the moment). Fr. Couglin lived a charmed life.

In '33 and '34, the Populists were ground down into nothing. We had a strange
situation in which their "building" units were suddenly all eliminated, and their
militia was unable to grow or spend any of their warchest. We instituted a house
rule also to keep militia from ganging up on Cadres holding POL and BUR boxes. We
said these units couldn't be attacked until all other enemy units in the region
were eliminated. After some discussion, the Populist player resigned, discouraged
by his eclipse...After the game, we figured he should've stayed in until the next 
regional election if only to serve as spoiler in some races.

The game had unexpectedly turned into a two player game with the '40 federal 
election looming.

Edward Sabatine - 09:14pm Jan 15, 1998 PST (#4 of 5)

This game sounds like Joe Miranda's Crisis 2000 . Doesn't it exagerrate the 
power of these fringe groups in the '30s?

Doug Murphy - 08:29am Jan 16, 1998 PST (#5 of 5)

It does to a certain extent, but I may be overstating it in the above. Within
the game's assumptions, unlike Crisis 2000, these interactions and conflicts
are supposed to be happening below the radar screen as it were, with the ultimate
goal of "influencing" one or both of the major political parties in a Federal
election. Even "control" of a region in a Regional election is a bit of a
misnomer, as it's assumed that control may be overt like Huey Long in Lousiana or
more akin to "influence" - being able to stuff enough key ballot boxes, or use
police or your party militia to inhibit "enemy" movement through the region. The
gamey part of it is all three factions are "equal" in initial power/chance of
winning the game. I'd prefer to tinker with what might be termed a "historical"
look at things.