Twilight Struggle (2005)

How To Play Twilight Struggle

Setup a Twilight Struggle game

Set-up for Twilight Struggle is fairly straightforward; place various tokens on the board in set places, space race to zero, Defcon to five, military operations to zero, the victory point token to zero. And so on, all of which is clearly laid out in the rule book.

Each player gets eight cards from the early war deck, so shuffle the deck and deal out those eight cards each, with the Soviet player also getting the China card as an extra. Examine these cards carefully, they will help define your initial placement of Influence markers and your initial strategy. Then, the Soviet player gets to place 15 influence markers as per the rules. Most are in set places, such as one in Syria, three in East Germany, three in North Korea. Then place 6 markers anywhere in Eastern Europe.

When the Soviet player has completed his set-up, it is the turn of the USA player to do so, following the rules for USA placement including seven anywhere in Western Europe.

The Event Cards

These are divided into three decks; Early War, Mid War and Late War. Player aids list the cards, make use of this, photocopy the aid if need be especially if you want to use a pencil to record which cards have been played. Tracking these cards can be really helpful, especially during the Early War when play is with a smaller deck of cards.

These cards drive every action a player can make. With the exception of Scoring cards, each card has an Operations Point number and an Event, those with a red star are Soviet events, those with a white star are USA events. Cards can be played for the event, in which case the event happens, or for the Operations number, in which case operations to that number can be made. Operations could be placing control markers on the game board, attempting a coup, attempting realignment and so on.

The Scoring Cards

In the early war, there are only three scoring card, Europe Scoring, Middle East Scoring and Asia Scoring. More become available later in the game. Work towards gaining victory points from these or make sure to limit the number of points your opponent might make.

Players may have Presence, Domination, or Control and score the points as indicated when scoring any region, with the exception of Europe where Control is an instant win. Remember, you must play scoring cards in the turn receiving them.

Turn Structure

All turns in Twilight Struggle operate in the following way:

1. Improve Defcon by one (if not five).

2. Deal Cards – To the number required in hand, eight in Early War, nine in Mid and Late War.

3. Headline Phase – Players must select one card as a headline event and reveal it simultaneously. The highest card goes first, if tied the USA player goes first. Unless the card specifically refers to the availability of operations points, neither player may get operations points from a Headline Card. You can’t play the China Card as a Headline card.

4. Action Rounds – Soviet player goes first, playing one card, the USA player plays a card, then the Soviet player and so on until the required number of actions are reached. You can play cards events or for operations. Those cards played as events, where there is text saying they are removed from play if used as an event, are removed from play. Put all others into a discard pile for later reuse.

5. Check Military Operations – A certain number are required each turn, equal to the Defcon rating at this point. If these have not been achieved then the deficit is made up for by removing an equivalent number of victory points.

6. Reveal held card (optional). Players normally have one card more than they need to play so you can hold one card in hand.

7. Flip China Card. If the China card is played, it is then handed face down to the opponent. At the end of the turn at this stage, flip it face up and the receiving player can use it in the subsequent turn.

8. Advance the turn marker.

9. Final Scoring – After turn 10, score all regions (not SE Asia since this is part of Asia).

How to win Twilight Struggle

If any player manages to establish Control of Western Europe this is an instant win in Twilight Struggle. If any play precipitates Nuclear War this is an instant loss, note the player who played the card precipitating nuclear war loses, not the player who might have used to card to that effect.

When a player ever reaches +20 victory points in play, this is an instant win. There are some other sudden death victory conditions in Late War. If none of these occur then after turn 10 score all regions and the winner is the player with the most victory points. If the Victory Point marker is at zero the game is tied.

Twilight Struggle Review

“Twilight Struggle is an absolute masterpiece and one of the pinnacles of game design in any medium. I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone who has any interest in board games. It captures the feeling of its theme better than any other game I have ever played. The way it utilizes multi-use cards to drive the action is brilliant. The way it brings you into the jaded mindset of a political leader by abstracting entire wars into a single card is extraordinary. Twilight Struggle is the best board game I have ever played.”

thethoughtfulgamer.com

“Twilight Struggle is not going to be for everyone. It is a three hour strategic two player game, longer and more complex than the likes of Hannibal: Rome v Carthage which is in the same family. The theme, the Cold war might look dry especially since play is all about politics and not war.

Furthermore, it has a steep learning curve and for me even now, after having played this game a huge amount of times, I am still learning new tricks. If however you are looking for a two-player game that is deep and immersive, with endless replay-ability, which will remain challenging even when deeply familiar with the rules and possibilities, and will remain tense as the victory point track swings back and forth, then Twilight Struggle may be what you are looking for.

So does a three hour two player strategic war game deserve the accolades and ratings? In my view, yes it does. Twilight Struggle is a masterpiece of tense and interactive strategic play.”

Ashley Perryman, board-game.co.uk

The content of this article is originally from Board Game Geek and board-game.co.uk. For more information and a better understanding of the game, you can watch the videos below.