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And with a vast number of games comes coincidences in themes and even names, as with the first two titles in this post. DEFCON 1 is a 2-5 player game that plays in 90-180 minutes due out in 2021 from first-time designer Florian Dumont and French publisher Asyncron Games, and it bears this short description:
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DEFCON 1, a game about the cold war, can be played by 2-5 players, with the game having different modes depending on the number of players. The game includes five factions: three major factions (USSR, USA, unaligned) and two minor factions (China and France). Each faction has its own technological tree, mission cards, objective cards, and unit pool.
The game lasts multiple rounds, and each round has these steps:
—You collect resources (oil, uranium, influence, and research) depending on which zones (countries) you control.
—With research, you may unlock technologies.
—With influence, you can possibly destabilize zones or take political control of destabilized zones.
—Where you control a factory zone, you can produce available units and possibly upgrade units.
—If the DEFCON level has reached level 1, you may launch nuclear bombs (if you own the technology).
—Then you may redeploy units and attack neutral countries or (later in the game once the DEFCON level increases) other factions.
When you achieve mission cards, you receive rewards that can help you toward victory according to your two objective cards. Last but not least, there is also the space race on the game board...
• By contrast, Defcon is a 2-4 player game that plays in 60 minutes due out in Q2 2021 from first-time designer Carlo De Gregorio and Italian publisher Giochi Uniti. Even with the designers approaching the same subject matter, you can see from the description below that this game is quite unlike the previous one:The game lasts multiple rounds, and each round has these steps:
—You collect resources (oil, uranium, influence, and research) depending on which zones (countries) you control.
—With research, you may unlock technologies.
—With influence, you can possibly destabilize zones or take political control of destabilized zones.
—Where you control a factory zone, you can produce available units and possibly upgrade units.
—If the DEFCON level has reached level 1, you may launch nuclear bombs (if you own the technology).
—Then you may redeploy units and attack neutral countries or (later in the game once the DEFCON level increases) other factions.
When you achieve mission cards, you receive rewards that can help you toward victory according to your two objective cards. Last but not least, there is also the space race on the game board...
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After two global conflicts, we have seen a long time of apparent peace. However, behind fragile stability, enormous strengths were moving. Big transnational factors, such as globalization, world population growth, a shortage of raw materials, and the formation of international actors, have weakened pluralism in favor of a growing polarization on the international stage. In today's world, a few big regional powers compete for world domination.
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In Defcon, internal frictions push decision-makers to look for international success to consolidate their power, even though it means conflict against international rivalries. In a climate of growing tension, megapowers begin an arms race to be prepared for a global scale conflict. Whoever controls the hegemonic megapower at the end of the fifth round wins, and to do this, that player must obtain the highest position on the consensus index, which is made up of two separate rankings: the reputation index and the military index. Those who will find the right balance between military strength and support from public opinion will win the game.
• Another title coming from Giochi Uniti is Farmerstein, a 3-5 player card/party game due out in the first half of 2021. Here's an overview of the game:In Defcon, internal frictions push decision-makers to look for international success to consolidate their power, even though it means conflict against international rivalries. In a climate of growing tension, megapowers begin an arms race to be prepared for a global scale conflict. Whoever controls the hegemonic megapower at the end of the fifth round wins, and to do this, that player must obtain the highest position on the consensus index, which is made up of two separate rankings: the reputation index and the military index. Those who will find the right balance between military strength and support from public opinion will win the game.
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The life of a farmer is hard: hands covered with calluses, waking up at dawn, smelling manure constantly...in short, a nightmare. This is why some tired farmers have decided to make the most sensible choice: Follow the legacy of Doctor Farmerstein, and devote themselves to conquering the world! With a large number of potions and mutagenic agents, they are now capable of giving life to plants to build a fearsome and large army!
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In Farmerstein, you play the role of mad scientists who launch their GMOs to conquer the world, with your soldiers being asparagus, mushrooms, cucumbers, and tomatoes mutated into monstrous bloodthirsty creatures. Your goal is to conquer three continents — America, Europe, and Asia — and to do this you need to combine your vegetables and chemicals in the order required by the target cards. The game involves a lot of twisted interactions between players, but with one huge problem in common: the invasion of zombie zucchini, creatures so out of control that nobody can stop them!
• And in December 2020, Giochi Uniti is releasing Il Diavolo e l’Acqua Scura (The Devil and the Dark Water), this being both an adaptation of the Stuart Turton novel of the same name and the publisher's own 2018 release Smiles & Daggers from designers Gianluigi Giorgetti and Andrea Marchi, a game that plays as follows:In Farmerstein, you play the role of mad scientists who launch their GMOs to conquer the world, with your soldiers being asparagus, mushrooms, cucumbers, and tomatoes mutated into monstrous bloodthirsty creatures. Your goal is to conquer three continents — America, Europe, and Asia — and to do this you need to combine your vegetables and chemicals in the order required by the target cards. The game involves a lot of twisted interactions between players, but with one huge problem in common: the invasion of zombie zucchini, creatures so out of control that nobody can stop them!
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Smiles & Daggers is based on one of the most famous dilemmas of game theory. The term counter-competition, a neologism invented by the authors, describes the main mechanism of the game. It is a competitive game in which victory is more achievable through co-operation, but there can be only one winner. In other words, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer!
The Lady kills the Knight, the Lord kills the Lady but gets killed by Knights. You have to choose one card to put face down in front of you. Your opponent will do the same, whilst other players are betting on the outcome. Each card has two sides: one smiling that gives you money, the other kills (if possible) the opponent.
Which side will you choose? And most importantly, which side is under your opponent's card?
The Lady kills the Knight, the Lord kills the Lady but gets killed by Knights. You have to choose one card to put face down in front of you. Your opponent will do the same, whilst other players are betting on the outcome. Each card has two sides: one smiling that gives you money, the other kills (if possible) the opponent.
Which side will you choose? And most importantly, which side is under your opponent's card?
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