presentation

The Cousin’s War

War of the Roses

Conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster in 15^th century England; this war was originally named The Cousin’s War, as both houses were branches of the Royal Family.

At the start, each region on the board is equipped with one cube for York and for Lancaster; then players select a faction and take two markers of their color into their reserve and receive six action cards for the round; there are battle cards and event cards.

You play five rounds; each round represents between five and ten years of the war and comprises seven phases: 1. Deal Action cards; 2. Swap an action card with your opponent; 3. Determine Battlefield; both play a face-down battle card; the earlier date on the card determines the Battlefield; 4. Players alternate to play four action cards each, resolving either the Primary event in the top half of the card or use the command points of the card for actions - gain Troops in Reserve, add Troops to Battlefield, move influence, place influence or remove opponent’s influence; you must do one of both, you cannot simply discard a card; then you check if the Secondary event of the card is available for the opponent; 5. Resolve battle; 6. Victory check; 7. Clean-up.

If you control all regions of England at the end of a round or control most regions after five rounds or - in case both players control an equal number of regions - have won most battles, you win the game.

This is an excellent microgame, card actions and command points balance the luck of the battle dice nicely.

Players: 2

Age: 12+

Time: 30+

Designer: David A. Mortimer

Artist: Klemens Franz

Price: ca. 15 Euro

Publisher: Surprised Stare Games 2017

Web: www.surprisedstaregames.co.uk

Genre: Conflict simulation

Users: With friends

Special: 2 players

Version: en

Rules: en

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Excellent micro game

Fantastic graphics

Lots of game play with very few components

Compares to:

Historic conflict simulations

Other editions:

Currently none

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 1

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 0

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0