From: Terry Rooker <trooker@CAPACCESS.ORG>
Subject:      Red Empire (was Re: Re[2]: Putting a CONSIM spin on the MacArthur)

On Sat, 5 Oct 1996, Danny Holte wrote:

> How is that game (Red Empire)?  I've seen it, but haven't ever played.
>
It's got pretty mixed reviews.  The rules and game are simple, so there
is little challenge there.  In keeping with the great GDW tradition,
there is one critical piece of information missing from the rules, but
there should be a very small piece of paper with the correction.  It's
one of those games where the interaction between players makes or breaks
the game.  There is very little more to the game than what I said.  In
addition to handling the crisis cards you can also try to purge members
of the other factions.  You do that by playing cards against them, and
when the cards exceed the value of the person they are removed fromt he
game.  There are special cards that temporarily inflict a penalty against
all people of a certain group (either the party, the military, or the
KGB).  Whichever player has the highest total strength of party members
is the President.  This is where it gets interesting.  If a crisis is
handled then the President gets 'credit' for it.  If the crisis is not
handled, then the President is removed from office and the game.  So the
other players will want to ignore the crisis, but doing so runs up the
count of unsolved crises.  So there can be a lot of 'kibbitzing' by other
players trying to influence the current player.  It's a fun little game
that could be used as a 30-45 minute filler before or after a longer
game.  If you already have it, it's probably worth trying.  I don't think
I'd go out of my to find a copy though.

Since most of the cards have a strength of 1-2-3, and some of the crisis
cards are worth 8, it plays better with more players.  There is also more
possibility for player interaction.  IIRC, the game is designed for 3-6 (8?)
players.

Terry