Balance of Terror (game)

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Balance of horror
Game data
author Ananda Gupta ,
Jason Matthews
graphic Rodger B. MacGowan et al. a.
publishing company Udo Grebe game design
Publishing year 2005 (English original), 2011 (German)
Art Board game
Teammates 2
Duration 180 minutes
Age 14 years and older

Awards

International Gamers Award 2006: best two-player strategy game
International Gamers Award 2006: best historical strategy game

Balance of Terror is a two-player strategy game that was published in the American original as Twilight Struggle by GMT Games in 2005. It is a card-based board game that is about the Cold War . In 2006 the game was recognized at the International Gamers Award as both best two-player strategy game and best historical strategy game.

The German version is published by Udo Grebe Gamedesign. There is also an English-language app from Playdek with which the game can also be played online.

title

Both the English original title and the title of the German edition refer to the inaugural address by John F. Kennedy . There it says at one point:

“Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle ... "

“And again the trumpet signal calls us now - it does not call to arms, although we need weapons - it does not call to battle, although we are prepared for battle - but it calls to take on the burden of a long fight in the twilight , ... "

- John F. Kennedy : inaugural address, 1961

Elsewhere he said:

“But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course - both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final was. "

“However, neither large and powerful group of nations can take solace from our current politics - both are overwhelmed by the cost of modern weapons, both are rightly deeply concerned about the steady spread of the deadly atom, and yet both vie for the fragile balance of horror to postpone that saves us from that irrevocably last war of humanity. "

- John F. Kennedy : inaugural address, 1961

At the same time, “ balance of horror ” stands for a strategy doctrine of the Cold War.

Gameplay

The game scenario is the Cold War from 1945 to 1989. Each of the two players slips into the role of a superpower . The game board represents a world map with fields for the most important countries. The world is divided into six regions: Europe, Asia, Middle East, Central America, South America, and Africa. At the beginning of the game, both players already exercise a certain power over different countries, which is expressed by so-called "influence points" that are placed on the fields of the countries as blue or red cardboard markers. In the course of the game this influence can expand even further.

The game is divided into a maximum of 10 game rounds. Each round begins with the so-called “headline phase” in which both players face down and play one action card at the same time. Then the two players take turns playing six to seven action cards. At the end of the round, the cards in hand are added again. Each card symbolizes a specific historical event that is assigned to the USA or the USSR. In the headline phase, the printed event is carried out. In the action rounds the player can decide with his own cards whether he carries out the event for himself or whether he uses the specified number of action points. Action points can be used in three different ways: First, they can be added directly as influence points in countries. Second, they can be used for a coup attempt, which, if successful, removes opposing influence from a country and possibly adds its own influence. Finally, influence points can be used to carry out so-called “reordering throws”. This can reduce the opposing influence. If it is an opposing card, the player does not have the choice: The event that in this case usually has negative effects on him is carried out in any case. Nevertheless, he can use the action points. Another possibility is to use one card per lap for the "space race". This card is then neither used for action points nor as an event card. In addition to these cards, there are scoring cards for each region on the game board. If a scoring card is played, both players calculate how strong their influence is in the region concerned. The player with the greater influence receives a certain number of victory points.

Coup attempts and some cards influence the DEFCON marker, which is still at value 5 at the start of the game. The DEFCON value determines, among other things, in which regions of the world coup attempts and reorganization throws are permitted. If the DEFCON value drops to 1, it means that a thermonuclear war has been triggered. The game ends immediately.

There are different victory conditions:

  • If DEFCON drops to 1, the player whose action round it occurs loses.
  • If at any point the Europe region is settled and a player is in complete control of that region at that moment, he wins the game.
  • If a player still has a scoring card in hand at the end of a round, he loses the game.
  • If a player reaches 20 victory points in the course of the game, he wins immediately.
  • The card “War Games” ends the game under certain conditions. The active player wins if he has more victory points than his opponent after subtracting 6 victory points.
  • If none of the above-mentioned victory conditions occur, there is a final scoring at the end of the game (after the 10th game round) in which all regions are evaluated. The player who has more victory points in total wins.

particularities

The game has been released so far (as of May 2017) in 12 different language versions: English (2005), Chinese (2009), Hungarian (2010), Polish (2011), Italian (2011), Spanish (2012), German (2012) , French (2012), Czech (2012), Korean (2016), Japanese (2016), Portuguese (2016).

Balance of Terror or Twilight Struggle has a tournament mode. As a result, the game can not only be played for pure pleasure, but also in sporting competition. An online world championship has been held annually since 2013.

Twilight Struggle is very popular in the gamer scene. From 2006 to 2016, it was consistently the top rated board game in the BoardGameGeek games database . At the moment (as of December 2017) it ranks fourth there.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Page of the publisher , accessed on April 13, 2017
  2. ↑ a b Inaugural address by John F. Kennedy in the Presidential Library and Museum, English
  3. ↑ a b German translation of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address in the Presidential Library and Museum
  4. ↑ a b BoardGameGeek , accessed May 7, 2017
  5. ↑ Twilight Struggle World Championship , accessed April 13, 2017
  6. ↑ 2006 Winners. International Gamers Awards, accessed April 12, 2017 .