J. R. Tracy - Jan 19, 2005 11:14 am (#8403 Total: 8436) "I no drive just for drive. I drive for to finish in front." - Milka Duno, Le Mans Last night David Fox, Dave Tolley and I played Svea Rike for the first time. This game represents the give and take among the first families of Sweden from the late 16th through the early 19th centuries. It's a political/ecomomic game with a heavy does of (highly abstract) warfare. The object is to build your family's fortune in order to score Status Points at the end of the final gameturn. Each game turn represents the reign of an historical Swedish monarch. A turn opens with the flip of a Royal card, which sets the conditions of the turn - either a War (which precludes any other activity), Peace, or Peace with a wrinkle or two (higher taxes, for instance, or improved trade or agriculture). Assuming no war, each player draws an event card and then performs one of three actions - agriculture, commerce, or 'Culture & Science'. Choosing the agriculture option allows you to collect income from your fiefs and buy a new one if you wish (and if one is available). Fiefs are rated for income (1-3 crowns) and troop strength (0-3). The nicer the fief, the more it costs to purchase (duh). Commerce allows you to send a merchant to one of the neighboring countries (Denmark, Prussia, Poland or Russia) and collect income on a non-linear accelerating scale. You may only commit one merchie per turn but you get a nice escalating payout for continued investment. The Commerce action forces you to pay for your troop upkeep, but also allows you to purchase a 'history' card. Finally, the Culture & Science choice allows you to collect income in either ag or commerce, makes you pay your upkeep, and allows a history card purchase. War is, basically, a pain in the ass. First each player secretly makes a commitment to aid the crown, or not. Aiding consists of picking a fief, preferably one with a high troop value. Not committing just means presenting an empty hand - commitment is revealed simultaneously. The enemy's strength is revealed by peeling four cards (six for late-game Russia) off the top of the royal deck - they have troop values from 0 to 4. Sweden fights first, with each player rolling against their chosen fief's troop value - equal to or less eliminates an enemy card. Then the enemy goes. With three players, and few three-strength fiefs in play, we were usually at a disadvantage - I think we won two wars. The fruits of victory allow each participating player to win a randomly drawn fief, get 3d6 of income, or pick a history card. If Sweden loses, participating players lose the fief of their choice (not necessarily the one chosen to 'fight'). Cowards who chose not to participate suffer no ills nor enjoy any fruits in event of Swedish victory; if Sweden is defeated cowards roll a die with a 50% chance of losing a fief themselves. Defeating enemy nations adds more fiefs to the available pool (though a loss to that nation later pulls them out again). The History cards typically confer some special power (augmented income) or allow an extra action (immediate Event card draw upon purchase), and when accumulated in sets of sufficient size will help you score Status Points at game end. The Events cards allow you to bend or break rules and occasionally screw your neighbors. There is a double shedload of them, ranging from increasing the tax on your neighbors to inflicting social strife that may well cause a player to lose half his fiefs. They can also help in wars versus specific countries, improve crop yields, and so on. Lots and lots of stuff on those cards, far too much too digest in a single sitting. The ability to play them 'at any time' adds a dollop of chaos to the process. We managed to navigate the approximate English translation of the rules and cards without too much difficulty, and played the game to conclusion in about two hours with three players. That's pretty swift action for such an involved game. With only three players we were at a chronic disadvantage during the wars, and suffered accordingly. Often the wise move seemed to be to sit them out and take our chances with the coward's die roll. The wars really drive the flow of the game, as they take provinces away, occasionally grant them, force merchants to return home, and take the place of more productive activity. Hmm, just like real life, without the blood. We suffered an inordinate amount of wars - the game has three eras (green/red/blue) with a unique History deck for each. The green deck has a 25% chance of wars, while we had 60%, the red rate is 50%, but we suffered 66%, and the blue rate is 38%, while we had 33%. All that extra mayhem left us poor and exhausted. David managed to duck enough wars (and their consequences) and score some sweet fiefs to move into a solid lead, never relinquished. Dave's trade-based strategy was heavily punished by the wars, while my own electric football attack predictably went nowhere. We had a lot of fun figuring out the events, fighting the wars, and generally wrestling with a challenging, highly atmospheric system. We had one rules question - the English translation hints at a hierarchy of choice of spoils. The implication is that order (determined by troop contribution) matters when choosing, i.e., if top contributor picks a fief, the rest of the war party must pick something else. That's not the way we played it as it is a little vague. Our related quibble: ducking wars seems like a no-brainer, at least in a short-handed game. We were typically 80% to lose a war, but if you take the coward's way out you are only 50% to lose a fief. If I were to tweak it I'd increase the incentive to fight (or the disincentive to sit out). With a full five player table, the war dynamic will of course change considerably. We will be trying this again, and if this is gathering dust on your shelf, I recommend taking it down for a closer look. If you don't have it, no worries, it's out of print - sorry, I'm an inverterate tease. JR