Reign of Witches (2020)

Reign of Witches is the 2020 Hollandspiele Hollandays Sale promotional freebie game, shipped to folks who purchase at least two games during Hollandspiele's annual sale. The subject of this small two-player card game is America's Quasi-War with France, viewed through the lens of factional conflict within the Federalist Party. One player assumes the role of the supposedly obnoxious and disliked President John Adams, and is opposed by that ten dollar founding father without a father, Alexander Hamilton.

The players purchase cards from a market, play those cards in front of them for influence in three categories - Politics, Military, and Opinion - and activate those cards for special effects. Political influence comes easier for a veteran intriguer like Hamilton than for the somewhat guileless Adams. Each player has an advantage within their preferred branch of the Military - Navy for Adams and Army for Hamilton. Opinion allows players to wage a war of words, usually by discarding enemy cards that have not had their powers activated.

Your goal is to best your opponent in at least two of these categories when the Coup of 18 Brumaire brings the Quasi-War to a close. But there's one more wrinkle: your score across these three categories must also best that of the non-player Thomas Jefferson, who has been quietly accumulating power and influence while you and your opponent are tearing each other apart. Beat Jefferson and you (or your preferred candidate in Hamilton's case) win the election of 1800. Come up short and Jefferson wins. This historical result is the most likely, but with skill and a little luck, you can defeat your opponent with enough strength intact to secure ultimate victory.

Players must contend with the effects of plague, tax rebellions, slanderous pamphleteers, and events from abroad. From the Haitian Revolution to the Battle of the Nile, from George Washington to Napoleon Bonaparte, this short little game with a tiny deck captures the chaos and flavor of a fascinating era in American history.

—description from the publisher