From: "Jon Waddington" Subject: [spielfrieks] Twilight Struggle impressions: eurogamers may like it Reply-To: spielfrieks@yahoogroups.com I just played TS this weekend, and found it very appealing. It's pretty far from what you'd expect from GMT, much less a wargame and far more approachable. The rulebook is long, but the core rules are short, perhaps eight pages or so, and a very easy read. The other stuff includes an extended example of play (which is nice), and tons of historical notes (one note for each of 103 cards, I think). There are typos and errata, but they're easy fixes. It's basically a 2-player area control game. The map is divided into six regions (Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, South America, Central America), with each region containing countries, some of which are designated as "battleground" nations. Control over regions is classified (kind of like History of the World) into Presence (are you there at all), Dominance (majority, with caveats), and Control (majority + all battlegrounds). Points work along a continuous track, from -20 (USSR) to +20 (US), and you always score the net difference (so if the US has Dominance for 8 points, and USSR has 4 points for Control, you move VPs +4). If either side hits the threshold after a scoring, the game is over, otherwise you play a full 10 turns and then do a final scoring of all regions. Gameplay is card-driven, with each card having an Ops value and an Event. The events are coded to be either pro-US, pro-USSR, or neutral. Ops are used to put influence down, or initiate Realignments (removing opposing influence) or Coups (remove opposition and possibly install your own). The latter two are a little fussy, but nothing too bad, and far from wargamey (my wife compared them to Illuminati, only simpler). Influence is straightforward, but a there are some interesting things going on in terms of map adjacencies (you can't place Influence unless you're already in a country next to where you're heading), and it's more expensive to place it in countries controlled by the opposition (each country has a "stability" number; if you have Influence >= opponent's influence + stability, you control the country). Events are the usual thing. When you play the card, you have to designate which effect you are using, so you never get a great event and a high ops at the same time; a fun core choice (as anyone who's played any CDGs knows). Another neat trick is that if you play an card for Ops that has your opponent's event on it, the event takes place. So you can't just avoid all the nasty historical things that hurt your cause. There's also a Defcon level, which restricts where Coups and Realignments can take place, and which has to be balanced against a requirement for Military operations (you basically have to flex your muscles some each turn, but not too much or you start nuclear war and lose instantly). The Space Race track allows you to burn troublesome cards to earn some points and special effects (and it's much better to be winning the race than coming second). It plays very cleanly, and forces a lot of tough choices. You have to sequence your hand and try to minimize your opponent's damage, time the playing of scoring cards when you're peaking, choose between Ops and events (often difficult), and make sure you're keeping the big picture in mind. Some events leave when played, others stick around after reshuffles, so managing that is pretty subtle and interesting. There's a nice (and thematic) seesaw that plays out, as showing interest in an area must mean you're going to try to score it, so your opponent's interest in it goes way up, etc. There's a hefty chunk of randomness, both in terms of dice rolls (to resolve Coups, Realignments, and some events), and of course card draws can hammer you. But it's somewhat self-balancing, as if you're sitting with a hand of your opponent's events, he's likely to have a number of yours, and you can also control how cards are reintroduced to the play environment. Still, control freaks likely need not apply. I think a lot of eurogamers would appreciate this, though certainly not all. It has focused constraints and a nice elegance at its core, but it is a bit woolly for euro-purists. Definitely worth a look, though, if any of the above sounds appealing. And for the record, my wife liked it very much (which may be because she trounced me, but more, I think it speaks to the type of game this is--or isn't--as she's never enjoyed any wargames she's tried). Jon To unsubscribe: spielfrieks-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com To email the moderators: spielfrieks-owner@yahoogroups.com Spielfrieks on the web -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spielfrieks Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spielfrieks/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: spielfrieks-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/