This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames.
Game: Twilight Struggle
Designer: Ananda Gupta & Jason Matthews
Year: 2005
Country: U.S.A.
Publisher: GMT Games
Twilight Struggle was one of the first games I put on my list of titles to play during this project, but it looked intimidating and thus it took me almost a year to actually get around to do it. Now that I’ve finally played it, it turned out to be both much simpler than I expected. It’s complexity is emergent, arising from a deck of cards and the necessity to divide your attention across the entire map of the world.
Simulating the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Twilight Struggle presents the world as a battleground between two superpowers where smaller nations exists to be couped or vassalized. During our game, Cuba changed hands constantly, as did South Korea.
The game board divides the world map into regions and countries, and each side spreads their influence to gain control. The game’s strength is in its card deck. Each player plays cards, usually either just for their point value to gain that much influence, or for specific events. I played Allende, gaining the Soviets influence in Chile. The cards feature various famous events from Cold War history, nudging the game towards how it really happened.
As a game, Twilight Struggle felt very deep, yet also surprisingly light. The mechanics were fairly easy to grasp and the pace was fast as each player keeps putting down their cards. You can also compete in the space race, and there’s a Defcon track for how close we’re to nuclear annihilation. We went very close numerous times.