Wallenstein (game)

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Wallenstein
Game data
author Dirk Henn
graphic Jörg Asselborn , Christof Tisch
Oliver Schlemmer (2nd edition)
publishing company Queen Games
Publishing year 2002, 2012 (2nd edition)
Art Board game
Teammates 3-5
Duration 90-120 minutes
Age from 12 years

Wallenstein is a strategic board game by Dirk Henn from 2002. Although the game is based on the Thirty Years War, it is not a battle simulation.

motive

Historical context

Albrecht von Wallenstein

Wallenstein is named after Albrecht von Wallenstein , the most influential commander of the imperial army in the Thirty Years' War (1618–48).

He won a number of battles and received the title Duke of Mecklenburg for it . His goal was to create a large central European empire. These ambitions led to his release in 1630, but he was rehabilitated when the Swedes attacked. He conquered Bohemia back and won at Lützen over the Swedes of Gustav II Adolf , who was slain in battle. Wallenstein was accused of treason by the imperial own and he was slain by some of his colonels.

Integrating the context into the game

The game depicts two years of the Thirty Years' War. Each player color corresponds to a significant personality from that era. Wallenstein is assigned the player color yellow. The game board shows a map of Germany at this time. The players have to earn grain and gold, feed the population, put down revolts, erect buildings and conquer provinces.

Game mechanics

Wallenstein

Train phases

Each of the two game years is divided into the four seasons. During the first three phases, players can build resources and fight. In the fourth phase, the wintering, the troops have to be fed and victory points are earned for the buildings. After the end of the second year, the player with the most victory points wins.

Each season consists of ten actions. The first five actions are placed face up on the board, the other five are face down. After all players have carried out their first action, the first of the face-down actions is revealed so that 5 moves can be planned in advance.

mechanics

The order of play is determined randomly at the beginning of each season and then remains the same throughout the season.

At the beginning of a year, four random event cards are revealed so that the players know what changes they are making. The cards are then hidden and randomly assigned to the individual seasons. At the beginning of spring, summer and autumn the respective event card is revealed and the effect is implemented. In winter the effect is ignored but a number on the map determines the grain shortage.

Players can only take actions in regions they control and a maximum of one action per region. Each player has a player board that shows the available actions. At the beginning of each season, each player determines his plan by placing face-down region cards on the respective actions. Empty region cards allow players to hide actions that have not been taken.

Actions

Build a palace, church, or trading house. - This action erects the respective building in the region if space is available. The regions each have 1–3 building sites. Each building can only be erected once in a region.

Production of gold / grain - The selected region produces the region-dependent amount of gold and grain and a rebellion marker is placed in the region. If there are already one or more insurrection markers in the region, a fight ensues. For this purpose, 1 farmer's block is thrown into the tower for each insurrection marker, along with any farmer's blocks in the catch pan and the armies of the region.

Recruit Army - There are three different Army Action Cards. Five armies for three gold, three armies for two gold, and one army for one gold. The latter action also allows the player to move armies from one of their own regions to an adjacent one.

Movement / Combat - Players can move any number of armies from one region to an adjacent one.

Struggles

Wallenstein

Combat is fought when a player moves armies into an area they do not control or when a riot breaks out. The fights are carried out by means of the combat tower. To do this, all armies of the parties involved are thrown into the tower. The interior of the combat tower contains a series of narrow projections on which the wooden blocks can rest. Those wooden blocks that leave the tower are offset against each other. Ie if 3 blocks of one party and four of the other fall out, 3 blocks are returned to the supply and the remaining blocks are returned to the contested region with which that player controls this region. In the event of a tie, the region is devastated, all buildings are destroyed and is now a neutral region again. At the beginning of the game some armies from each player and some farmer blocks are thrown into the tower. This means that more dice of the same color can leave the tower than were thrown into it in each fight. If blocks fall out of the tower that are not involved in the fight, they remain in the collecting tray until they are thrown back into the next fight.

Victory conditions

Every winter the players receive victory points. There is one point for each region and building. Then each colored area is considered - the player with the most palaces in the region receives three points, the one with the most churches two and the one with the most trading houses one point. In the event of a tie, the players involved each receive one point less.

Game material

The first edition from 2002 contains:

  • 1 game board
  • 1 combat tower
  • 5 player boards
  • 45 country maps
  • 25 blank country maps
  • 5 leader cards
  • 10 action cards
  • 25 event cards
  • 28 palace stones
  • 26 church stones tokens
  • 26 trading house stones
  • 42 uprising markers
  • 62 colored wooden blocks per player
  • 20 green wooden blocks (Farmer)
  • 35 unpainted wooden blocks (gold)
  • 20 orange wooden boxes (5 gold)

Variants and extensions

There is a 2-player version created by fans on BoardGameGeek .

The mechanistically identical game was launched in 2006 with a new theme as Shogun by Queen Games.

Two extensions have appeared: Am Kaiserhof and Landsknechte .

In 2012 a 2nd edition of Wallenstein was published by Queen Games.

Awards

Reviews

German

English

Online version

  • GameByWeb a play-by-web site including games of Wallenstein.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wallenstein
  2. ↑ Golo Mann: His life is told by Golo Mann . Fischer, Frankfurth am Main, ISBN 3-596-13654-7 .
  3. ↑ two-player variant
  4. ↑ Luding