Review
The Daily Mail branded it as 'sick', the Police once confiscated a copy as 'evidence' of... something. We just think it's a bloody good game that makes us laugh.
So what's got all the knee-jerkers calling for blood?
It's basically Risk with a sense of humour, a balaclava with EVIL written on it, and some marvellously illustrated cards. But don't let that brief summation detract from the simple genius of TerrorBull Games. War on Terror is a great game, and in this day and age of fear-mongery and doom-say it wasn't going to be long until a couple of desperate journos and hippy-whacking coppers seized on the 'be the terrorists' aspect. Yet however much this has been painted as the board game equivalent of the Anarchist Cookbook... we say there is more to this game than a bunch of a gimmicks intended to wind up the media.
This is a war game and a playable one at that, and due to its clever lampooning of international politics it can be picked up by anyone with even the smallest comprehension of the post 9/11 world.
So how does it play?
It plays well, real well. The object of the game is to build an empire and to fill it with cities. To build cities, you need plenty of cash. The more land you own, the higher your potential oil revenues will be... but with land and money also comes a lot of unwanted attention of the boom-boom-bang-bang variety.
How do I get my hands on a big ol' cup of Texas tea?
Black gold is only obtainable by possessing land, and each country contains a random counter with a number printed on it. At the end of each turn the oil dice are thrown, if the dice roll matches the number on one or more of the counters in your empire you get a payout. Your payout increases depending on how much money you spend developing the country.
Take a little land, make a little war, get down tonight
Unclaimed land can be absorbed relatively simply, so long as you border it and you can afford the cost of colonising it with a modest village. To invade someone else's land however you'll need to possess the appropriate Empire or Terror card. These cards are the key to winning, and are what gives this game its special dynamic.
You have to either wait for or buy the right cards and lady luck can seriously help or hinder your expansionist dreams. You don't have an army as such, and any developments you make don't necessarily increase the defences of your realm. This random game element means the armchair general's tactical brain advantage is reduced somewhat but this is good on 2 levels:
- the playing field is levelled for family game play
- it drives any real wargamers absolutely mad that someone with no tactical knowhow whatsoever can drop a nuke and utterly destroy their plans (yes I am speaking from experience, and yes I am still harbouring grudges!!!).
Yet this randomness is totally acceptable in the context of the game. War on Terror is all about mirroring the international arena so we need all the anger, frustration, vengeance, madness, bitterness, and suspicion we can get!
The Terrorists
Any player can buy and control terrorists. Terrorists can be played anywhere on the map, and with the right card to 'activate' them they can be a real threat. Once played, you lose control of the unit and other players can attack or manipulate them. Scary, but this is where the more tactical minded can gain an advantage through surprise attack and misdirection.
The Axis of Evil
Every empire needs an enemy and to this end the Axis of Evil wheel is spun from time to time. The lucky/unlucky player selected not only takes control of the rather fetching Evil balaclava, but also draws both Empire and Terror cards. These extra cards increase your attacking capability but other players are likely to come gunning for you as attacks against the Evil empire are rewarded with cash bonuses from the world bank. This inevitably results in your once quietly expanding glorious nation being reduced to smouldering radioactive rubble.
Throwing in the chips
The best thing about War on Terror for me is the rule that allows you to forsake your empire and become a terrorist or 'freedom fighter' (we leave it to you to determine the context). You decide when to do this, though usually it'll happen when you've taken all the nukes or military defeats you can stand (or simply because you want to cause the other players as much misery as you can).
The Terrorist player can only access the Terror card deck, and cannot possess land anymore. Your job now is get rid of the greedy oppressors by destroying their developments, for each continent you liberate of Empire forces you will score points. Though beware... this is no easy task, and it is difficult to earn cash without land. What's worse is the other players may unite against you and try to totally eradicate you from the game. However it plays out... being the bad guy is always fun - just don't take it too seriously.
by Chris 15/02/2010
