[BCSWowbagger]

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/25/wa ... oard-game/

[edgeofhearing]

I prefer my boardgames with nerdy titles to be a bit more accessible:

[The Guardian]

I prefer my boardgames with nerdy titles to be a bit more accessible:

I've played that. That game is interesting.

[AllenGould]

I'll be impressed if it's more complicated than my personal favorite - Junta.

[princedetenebres]

I had two friends independently send me the details about that -- perhaps hoping that I might be the one to stupidly squander an obscene amount of money for that experience (so they could play it without having to pay for it). Fortunately, I'm not sold on it, certainly not for that amount, that there aren't better commercially produced games that are similar enough and are just better games, the Next War series being an example of one facet of modern geopolitics that a game/line of games covers in painstaking detail and are still great, exciting games, I'm sure there are others that are just plain more fun and yet still are good simulations for other aspects of the modern world.

That said, at a lower price point, I confess, I'd be all over it.

I'm curious why you say that about Junta. I admit, I've not played it -- it's been on my radar but just haven't had the chance at a convention or anything (perhaps I should've gone to the one this weekend, but didn't get a ticket before it sold out ) but I had been under the impression from my brief glance that it wasn't the weightiest of games, indeed BGG only rates it at a 2.86. What makes it so complex?



I'd say a lot of the wargames that are out there are as complicated, if not more than 1E. Even the 'simpler' ones like your Here I Stands and your Virgin Queens are pretty close to it, I'd say.

I don't know, in thinking about it, maybe I've just been playing this damned game so long that I've lost perspective, but it sure seems like I have a much harder time grokking something like Triumph of Chaos or Rise of the Roman Republic (or most Berg games, let's be honest) much less Europa Universalis or Grand Siecle than I do 1E.

But as I imagine others have more likely played complex sci-fi games, I'm curious how anyone else who's played it would compare 1E's complexity to something like High Frontier.


I don't know, I really love these sorts of games, and having gone from 1E to monster wargamer and more recently back to dabbling in 1E, I imagine that that's why I'm sometimes at odds with what direction others want to see 1E go. More complexity and depth and insanity, please!

[Mogh, Son Of Worf]

I'll be impressed if it's more complicated than my personal favorite - Junta.

I loved Junta - but after playing a lot, the game mostly devolved into simple mind games of whether somebody is at the bank or not - and all the interesting mechanics just became background noise.

[AllenGould]

I loved Junta - but after playing a lot, the game mostly devolved into simple mind games of whether somebody is at the bank or not - and all the interesting mechanics just became background noise.

I could see that. Probably for the best then that we only manage to pull it out every couple of years.

[AllenGould]

I'm curious why you say that about Junta. I admit, I've not played it -- it's been on my radar but just haven't had the chance at a convention or anything (perhaps I should've gone to the one this weekend, but didn't get a ticket before it sold out ) but I had been under the impression from my brief glance that it wasn't the weightiest of games, indeed BGG only rates it at a 2.86. What makes it so complex?

OK, here's my elevator pitch for the game (and yes, my description of the problem doubles as my "why you should play it" )

It's a game for 7 players (10 with the expansion), where each person represents a ruling family in an banana republic. You elect El Presidente, who assigns roles in the cabinet to the other players (IIRC, there are three Armys, a Navy, an Air Force, and the Secret Service in the base set). Each of those jobs have abilities or powers - mostly control of military units on the board.

Then El Presidente draws some "foreign aid" from the deck (each bill is worth between 1 and 3 million pesos), and assigns them (face down) to each ministry as their budget. Then you have some politics as you vote on whether to pass the budget (each minister gets a vote plus there are cards representing various lobby groups that add votes as well).

Plus, a minister can decide (probably because they're not getting enough money) to attempt a coup, at which point the table picks sides, and you play out a little miniatures wargame for a few rounds, and eventually one side wins and someone from the other side gets shot. (And replaced by their "cousin" - no actual player elimination).

Plus a bunch of other card-based "mess with opponents" effects.

Note that the actual *goal* of the game is to put the most money into your Swiss bank account.

[Dukat]

Unless someone finds a game where bombing whales from orbit, sending a cat through time or hitting opponent's with a big stick (https://www.trekcc.org/1e/index.php?mod ... ardID=2060) is totally normal, there is nothing more complex than 1E.