Steve Negus

The game draws from academic work done on the military competence of authoritarian regimes, and shows how the temptation of turning to strongman rule does not in fact make your nation any stronger, even in the old school sense of raw military might - it has the opposite effect, in fact.

Can't wait to try it again, especially when Akar is able to include some art from the two warring powers - whose propaganda poster game was probably superior to their military skills, at least at the start of the war.

I played on a team representing Saddam and his inner circle, and we chose cautious investment in reforms that would pay off later - only to see the Iranians surge forward in the south and cut off part of our vital oil experts. Their problems with Khuzistani guerrillas were small consolation.

Each player starts off with loyal but incompetent commanders and a very limited supply of "Authority" cubes which are expended to (slowly) build up military capacity while also staving off a coup, as dissidents plot bombings and your enemy presses on multiple fronts.

The game is unique, as far as I'm aware, in that the military operations are relatively simple and players are steered towards tough decisions on the internal political front: such as when to purge generals and when to empower them, and how far and how fast to press five different sets of reforms.

I was really glad for the chance to play Chalice of Poison by Akar Bharadvaj, covering the Iran-Iraq war with a political focus: two fragile regimes locked in struggle, knowing that reforms that lead to victory on the battlefield (like letting generals communicate easily) could also lead to a coup.

For Digvijaya, I need to make a lot more use of the map, reminding players which kinds of population carry which modifiers. Tokens also need a whole slew of improvements.
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44...

One particularly valuable suggestion for Angria was to add a new player aid card that provides a flowchart for the sequence of play. Also, I plan to tweak the trading system to put more importance on card placement and bluffing and less on die rolls.
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43...

Thanks to everyone who played Angria and Digvijaya and gave feedback. First and foremost, I need to use every opportunity to use the components both to communicate the game design and remind the players of easy-to-forget modifiers!

Back from @fortcircle.bsky.social's CircleDC, where I had a chance to demo Angria (18c Indian corsairs) and Digvijaya (medieval Indian religion), and try out Hellraisers of Kanawha County (1911 labor struggle), Drachen (WW1 recon), and Chalice of Poison (Iran-Iraq war). Impressions to follow.

BGG now has a Digvijaya page too:
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44...

Will also be running a pair of Teach and Plays for Angria, a two-player game on corsairs on western India's Konkan coast. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43...

In this three-player game, Hindu and Muslim reformers, missionaries, rebels and holy warriors establish movements and dynasties and win converts, while a third Syncretic player tries to reshape their theologies in line with the Indian tradition of blending and harmonizing faiths.

Getting my prototype of Digvijaya: Religious Reform and Rivalry in Medieval India ready to show at @fortcircle.bsky.social's Circle DC convention starting Friday.

A group of researchers have recreated the clothing of medieval Nubian royalty and clergy from the wall paintings in the cathedral of Faras, which sits at the border of modern Egypt and Sudan.

Thanks!

Thanks for putting this together! I'd like to be added, if my account (mostly reviews of historical boardgames plus some of my own projects) fits your list.

Also looking for wargamers in eastern Los Angeles county or nearby (Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County, etc) who might be interested in getting together one or two days a month.

Thanks for doing this! I'm working on a boardgame on corsairing and coastal warfare in 18th century India ("Angria"), and am also posting reviews/first impressions of historical boardgames on this account.

I'm happy to share that a week ago I was part of the San Diego Historical Games Convention @sdhistcon.bsky.social for the first time. My main objective was to show my game, Palmares, to players, publishers, and designers to help determine which direction I should pursue next. #sdhist2024

Anyway, Artur said he is working on single-player and cooperative variants where the Portuguese are played by the AI, but I would still think that two-player is the more rewarding gaming experience.

Palmares goes into considerable detail to model the bandeirantes' incentives. As a bandeirante, your superiors might expect you to recapture fugitives, clear out routes into the interior, or simply inflict punishment - and guessing that incentive helps the quilombos resist.

We have a tendency to look at evil as something akin to a diabolical force that tests our morals and resolve. But, evil is usually a human institution, with its own incentives and limitations on its power, and one usually has to understand those to resist effectively.

We have a tendency to look at evil as something akin to a diabolical force that tests our morals and resolve. But, evil is usually a human institution, with its own incentives and limitations on its power, and one usually has to understand those to resist effectively.

Nonetheless, I'm usually on the side of making games two-player, and this is no different. The theme of the game is resistance - and this is clear from the art and how the sides are portrayed - and I think you learn much more by resisting a human than an AI bot.

There was a bit of discussion about making this a two-player game. Many games have you play WW2 Germans, Confederates, ISIS, etc but this is perhaps different. If you play the Third Reich in a game, for example, you handle their conventional military, while the atrocities happen in the background.

It was easy to envision a column of 60-odd rough leather-clad bandeirantes, picking their way through the thorn-bushes, as we watched from the slopes, strew traps in their path, or scattered to warn surrounding villages that they were coming.

I like games that tell a story about terrain, that deal with asymmetry of forces, and that help you envision a common historical theme - like a "persisting strategy" that wears down a raiding column - that one reads about but rarely makes it to the gaming table. This hit all those bases.

The column of manhunters winds its way up river valleys, as the quilombolo player tries to wear them down. I took the quilombolos, and the cards gave me a wide range of options - sometimes gathering to send a few bullets or arrows their way, or steal their supplies, sometimes scattering.

So, it's a two-player game. One player represents the quilombolas, who are scattered in small communities over the rugged hills of northeastern Brazil. The other player takes on the role of Portuguese manhunters sent to re-enslave them. (More on this below, after a discussion of game mechanics.)