Kremlin (game)

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Kremlin
Game data
author Urs Hostettler
graphic Res Brandenberger
publishing company Mirage (1986),
Avalon Hill (1988)
Publishing year 1986, 1988
Art Board game
Teammates 3 to 6
Duration approx. 30 to 180 minutes
Age from 12 years

Awards

Game of the Year 1987: Selection list
Der Goldene Pöppel 1987: 1st place, 1988: 2nd place
Origins Award 1988

Kremlin (named after the Moscow Kremlin ) is a satirical game by the Swiss Urs Hostettler that caricatures the political situation in the Soviet Union . The players lead fictitious members of the nomenklatura who fight for the office of head of state and party leader . The game was published in 1986 by the Swiss game publisher Fata Morgana and was distributed in the USA by Avalon Hill in 1988 . The playing time can vary widely and is around 30 to 180 minutes.

Rules of the game and terms

Age

The central concept of the Kremlin is the “age” of the characters, which does not mean their actual age , but their state of health . The characters start with an age between 50 and 80 years. During the game, they receive “ stress points ” that make them age one year at a time. During a game round, which represents a year, the figures can age for several years - or not at all. The older a pawn is, the greater the probability that it will fall ill or even die. Deceased politicians are solemnly buried at the Kremlin wall .

Game flow

Although the Kremlin seems to be more inspired by the Brezhnev era (1964–1982), when the average age of the Politburo was over 70, and from 1982 to 1985, when the secretaries-general Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko were in office in rapid succession died, it takes place in the decade 1951 to 1960.

At the beginning, some of the pawns occupy the positions in the Politburo and the candidate ranks. The remaining figures form the people, where everyone waits patiently to see if one day they will not be able to climb the career ladder due to vacancies in the Politburo. Now each player chooses any ten characters that are under his or her influence and enters them in a secret list. The strength of the secret influence between 1 and 10 corresponds to the position on the list. If someone wants to intervene actively in the game - for example to accuse a competitor of espionage and to take him out of office to Siberia and to the labor camp - he or she has to take control of a pawn. To do this, the politician concerned must be "listed" on the player's open list, which means that some degree of influence must be revealed. A politician's position on the open list must never be higher than his position on the player's secret list. In the fight for control of a character, the players can outdo each other at any time (!). As in some other game situations, the principle of "gerontocracy" applies, which means that younger players cannot take over a politician on the same list position, but always have to go at least one position higher.

The first round of the game begins in 1951. At the beginning of each year, the Politburo members and candidates can take a cure, which increases their chances of avoiding stress and illness, but excludes them from the political decision-making process. If they stay in Moscow , they can promote, demote, indict their colleagues, ban them to Siberia and bring back exiles. This is where the above-mentioned battles for the control of game characters occur among the players, who of course suddenly change their mind and can refrain from an action. In the course of the game, it gradually becomes clear which player has bet on which politician and it is important to fill the key positions with your own people through clever actions, but to reveal as little as possible about the composition of your own, secret list of candidates.

Actions are usually associated with stress and cause the perpetrators and victims to age and become ill. That is why the state of health of the Politburo members is determined every year, depending on age, medical history and luck of the dice. This often has fatal consequences and the vacancies have to be filled again, which leads to further stress.

In addition, the players have event cards that can be used at any time or only in certain phases of the game. With these events z. B. individual politicians are targeted (assassination) or protected (bodyguards, misdiagnosis). Other events affect the entire Politburo, e.g. B. a sudden outbreak of flu.

Goal of the game

The highlight of every year is the October parade, during which the often badly battered head of state and party has to roll the dice again to see if he can "endure the stress of waving the heavy hat for hours on end". Because only then is the October parade successfully accepted and the politician come closer to the goal of the game.

If a pawn succeeds in removing the October parade three times during the game, at the end of the played period (1960) or in mid-1961 as head of state and party leader, the game is over. The winner is the player with the highest secret influence on this figure. It is obvious that theoretically this could also be a politician who was not influenced by anyone at the beginning. Then nobody won. According to the rulebook, the players drink a vodka together in this case.

Game material

Kremlin evades the classic classification according to game material, as it contains neither a game board ( board game ) nor playing cards ( card game ). The rules even encourage the players to put themselves in the shoes of the characters whose actions they are currently determining and to give short speeches for them ( role play ). The politicians are represented by cards on which their name, their entry age and their portrait - wearing an undershirt - are printed. They are put into cardboard bags in the manner of dress-up dolls, which symbolize the office, as the head of state and party appear in a suit, the foreign minister in a diplomatic dress, the defense minister in uniform and the sports minister in a shirt. Pre-cut tabs make it possible to put markings and number plates on the cards in order to record illnesses and the relentlessly advancing age.

Prizes and awards

Kremlin appeared on the shortlist for Game of the Year 1987 and also received the

extension

For the US version called Kremlin , Avalon Hill brought out the expansion Kremlin - Revolution in 1989 . Among other things, she carried 32 new event cards and 26 historical personalities such as B. Leon Trotsky and Felix Dzerzhinsky .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kremlin: Revolution (1989) , BoardGameGeek game database, accessed August 2, 2012
  2. ^ The GLG Kremlin Support Page , The Graduate Library Gamers' Home Page, accessed August 2, 2012