Nuclear War

Complexity Medium Cost £20 Duration Medium-Long Players 2-6 expands to 13 Producer Flying Buffalo Size Medium

Premise

Nuke'em till they glow ?

Review

Nuclear War together with its two expansions Nuclear Escalation and Nuclear Proliferation, is a classic Cold War game from the 70's.

Some people may find the subject material and the black humourous line it takes offensive, but one can also argue that it was pointing out the stupidity of the nuclear arms race a long time ago, when only "commie radicals" would have taken such a line in the West. The one saving grace of the game morally is that it is possible for no one to win, i.e. everyone can be eliminated in a MAD scenario.

The game itself, which is card based, has two phases: Peace and War. War can only end when someone is eliminated. During peace, players can attempt to use propoganda to seduce citizens of an opposing country to defect. Such cards have no effect during war. To launch an attack, one has to play a delivery system, such as a rocket, and then play a suitable size warehead on it. Once this is done, you designate a target, they might be able to shoot it down, you spin the wheel of fortune and apply the results. Sometimes you do extra damage, sometimes the warhead fails to explode. Players begin with random population sizes, so the game is always unpredictable.

As if this wasn't hard enough, you have to play two cards in advance so you are committed to a certain tack. You can of course bluff. To make life even more fun, special Secret and Top Secret cards have to be played and a new card taken as soon as you have them. These cards can be good or bad, and you have to announce you have one so that other players can attempt to steal them. Often players can be eliminated during the initial secrets round. Some secrets stick around such as "Skippy" the Wonder Virus and reduce all players' population.

After a player is eliminated (after all his population is gone), he can attempt final retaliation where he launches any legal attacks he can make from his hand.

The later sets add more complexity and fun. Proliferation added special player sheets which give players special abilities. All three sets give you enough to have upto 13 players, should your sanity leave you for a moment! Of note is that each set can be played independently of the others.

The production quality varies. The original set is pretty monochrome, but the latest set and extra cards are quite pretty. The rules are quite brief, without much in the way of examples. I suggest you dry run the game a few times until you're used to the unusual concepts.

Expansions

All three sets can be played alone, or in combination with each other.

Nuclear Escalation

The first "expansion" set. Set in the early days of the Reagan administration and the infanous MX missile. Classic US versus USSR stuff.

Nuclear Proliferation

Set in the early post cold war era, just after the Gulf War. Reflects the post cold war horror where everyone can have a nuke and appeared about the time of the Gulf War.

Booster Packs

At the height of CCGs, Flying Buffalo released some booster packs with 47 extra secrets, warheads etc. These are probably out of print now, but you may be able to find some around. Note that all cards were equally likely in the packs i.e. no rares.

Rating

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