If you had been to learn my previous few critiques, you’d make certain I used to be a 2-player sport fanboy. You may additionally collect that I’m a GMT-head, a champion of the card-driven warfare sport. I really am neither of these issues. It’s pure coincidence that my final three critiques had been completely for 2-player video games, and my final two had been card-driven warfare video games. What drew me to Red Flag Over Paris, a 2-player, card-driven sport designed by Frédéric Serval and printed by GMT, was the historic setting of the Paris Commune, and its quick playtime, which clocks in at about half-hour.

The Paris Commune was one of the uniquely attention-grabbing moments throughout one of the uniquely attention-grabbing centuries in French and World History. France went from being a revolutionary republic to being an empire, then again to being a monarchy, then a special monarchy, then a republic once more, then one other “empire” (quoted as a result of it was a little bit of a joke as empires go), and at last, one other republic, which brings us to 1871, the yr by which the occasions of Red Flag Over Paris transpire. If your head is reeling from this listing of governmental upheaval, think about how the folks of Paris felt!

Gameplay Overview:

Similar to different card-driven video games reminiscent of Twilight Struggle or Paths of Glory, Red Flag over Paris gives 2 gamers an opportunity to tackle the roles of opposing forces in a multi-faceted battle for energy. One participant takes on the position of the capitulatory Versaille authorities, the leaders who surrendered to the Prussians on the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War, and the opposite participant assumes the position of the folks of Paris, consisting of the rebellious troops of the National Guard and the socialist radicals who claimed energy for themselves within the wake of France’s embarrassing defeat by the hands of the Prussians. The sport is performed over three rounds, or presumably much less if sure circumstances are met.

The battle in Red Flag Over Paris just isn’t merely fought among the many barricades and forts of Paris. Political maneuvering was simply as vital, and so the sport has 4 areas whereby conflicts are resolved: 2 political (“Institutional” and “Public Opinion”) and a couple of navy (“Paris” and “Forts”). These are known as Crisis Dimensions and management of those is scored each spherical, giving the participant a political level or a navy level, relying on what Crisis Dimension they management.

Each spherical consists of three actions per participant. As with different card-driven warfare video games, every motion largely consists of enjoying a card, both for its occasion or for its Operations Points, which permit gamers so as to add or take away cubes from the board. The cubes dictate management, and whereas it’s simple to take away your opponent’s affect within the political sphere, it’s tougher to take action within the navy sphere (there have been, in spite of everything, countrymen, who weren’t terribly impressed to kill each other).

While every participant performs solely three playing cards every spherical, they do draw 4 playing cards in the beginning of a spherical, and should choose certainly one of their playing cards to squirrel away for a ultimate spherical known as The Final Crisis. This is supposed to signify the ultimate historic battle of the Paris Commune, which was known as The Bloody Week, and consisted of, nicely, a bloody reprisal towards the commune leaders.

After three rounds (or earlier if sure circumstances are met), gamers should play 3 of their probably 4 remaining playing cards that had been held again for The Final Crisis, and are required to play them for the occasions listed, not the Operations Points worth. After the Final Crisis, if the Commune participant has extra political factors than the Versaille participant has navy factors, they win outright. If the Versaille participant has extra navy factors than the Commune participant has political factors, they win. In the (quite common) case of a tie, there are 4 tiebreaker circumstances. Whoever can declare extra of them wins.

Game Experience:

It’s vital to acknowledge the kind of sport that is. This is a quick, card-driven warfare sport. Much like The Shores of Tripoli, this sport is definitely performed in underneath an hour (and with Red Flag, simply performed in half-hour). That’s a reasonably essential level of enchantment, as lots of the video games within the style are historically within the 2-3 hour vary, or much more. This might be performed throughout one’s lunch break and by no means actually overstays its welcome. Hell, it’s actually a part of GMT’s “Lunchtime Series” of video games, so it’s baked into their advertising and marketing.

The thematics are additionally high notch. While it’s simple to play a sport like Red Flag and completely ignore its taste textual content, there are some precise sport mechanics that lean into thematic components, which reinforces the expertise of the sport. The Momentum Track is a good instance of this. This monitor serves a special objective for every participant. For the Commune Player, it’s known as the “Revolutionary Momentum Track,” and is supposed to signify the rising radicalization of the Commune members, whereas additionally giving that participant a much-needed Cube Bank the place cubes faraway from the board might be returned to, lest they be eliminated solely from the sport.

The Versaille participant doesn’t have this situation. They have already got a limitless dice financial institution, representing the Versaille authorities’s vital edge over the Communards on assets. But because the Commune participant advances additional on the Revolutionary Momentum monitor, the general public’s response to their elevated radicalization might be combined, and so the Versaille participant will get to put a dice within the Public Opinion or Institutional Crisis Dimensions as a response to this elevated radicalization.

Similarly, the Versaille participant’s momentum monitor, known as the “Prussian Collaboration Track,” can also be deeply thematic. As that participant progresses alongside it, it receives extra cubes, representing assist from the Prussians, who –  whereas they’ve simply defeated France in warfare—are prepared to assist France’s reputable authorities get the unruly plenty of Paris underneath management. As you may think about, the folks of Paris don’t love this collaboration with their very latest enemy, so the deeper down that path the Versaille participant goes, the extra cubes the Commune participant might place within the Public Opinion or Institutional Crisis Dimensions.

The participant aids are largely good, however one very complicated factor is the omission of the Pivotal Space bonuses. During my first few performs, I used to be continuously reaching for the rulebook to test my choices, when it might have very simply been included within the in any other case useful participant help. Additionally, rulebook is unfortunately a bit missing. The determination by GMT to separate their reference supplies up right into a “rulebook” and a “playbook” is finally a nasty transfer. Normally, rulebooks function illustrations of the sport board and elements, significantly the place the sport setup is described. This just isn’t executed within the rulebook, however is type of included within the playbook.

The playbook walks gamers by way of the primary few rounds of an instance sport, in addition to the Final Crisis, each for a 2 participant sport and for solo mode, and in addition contains plenty of pages dedicated to historic background on the Paris Commune. I feel all of this might have been simply mixed into one booklet, or just had a separate booklet particularly for the historic background materials, and stored the foundations, examples, and illustrations collectively in a rulebook.

The one factor that did probably derail the sport at instances was merely the luck of the draw. A participant might probably draw all playing cards that belong to the opposite participant’s faction, which means they’ll just about solely use them for his or her Operations Points. This generally is a very irritating begin, and may finally result in a gap that may be very onerous to dig out of. That mentioned, as a result of the sport is so quick, it by no means actually felt like that huge of an issue. The choice to set it again up for one more sport was at all times in play.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, Red Flag Over Paris is a superb card-driven warfare sport from GMT, and the pace at which it performs makes it good for these moments in a sport night time the place 2 gamers want that 30-minute filler between bigger video games, however need one thing that has a bit of heft. Furthermore, the sport’s setting is interesting to historical past nerds like me, and the sport does a very good job folding the theme into the mechanics. The sport’s final result is at all times razor skinny and sometimes comes all the way down to the Final Crisis, protecting every play partaking till the tip. Its rulebook and participant help points are mildly irritating, however as soon as gamers familiarize themselves with the mechanics, it’s flows pretty seamlessly.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars – A strong addition to GMT’s Lunchtime Series, giving 2 gamers the texture of a Twilight Struggle card-driven warfare sport within the area of half-hour and delivering on a really serviceable marriage of theme and mechanics.

Hits:
• Short playtime
• Simple rule-set for a card-driven wargame
• Thoughtful presentation of theme

Misses:
• Order by which playing cards are drawn tremendously affect begin
• Cards may very well be larger high quality
• Rulebook is confusingly put collectively