Boardgame: Twilight Struggle is a complex delight and a worthy no. 1 on BGG

I sat down and played GMT's Twilight Struggle twice over the weekend and can truly state it's a delightful game. I was dubious to hear that it's no. 1 on Boardgamegeek at first, but once you get into the game, you quickly can see all the complexities and realize that no two games will be alike.

I am a history buff and was 22 years old when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. I remember the Cold War very well, thank  you very much. I was in the Canadian Militia also in the 1980s, and I thought for sure we in the West would have to tangle with the Soviets sooner or later. I didn't anticipate Gorbachev though, and before you know it, we all breathed a sigh of relief when the wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed. There was talk of a peace dividend in 1990s of course, but we all know now it was all bullshit. The Military-Industrial-Complex needs enemies of course, so if not the Russkies, it became first North Korea, then Iraq, then Iran, then terrorists, now it's seeming to be China.

But I digress.

I played this game with my buddy W.K on Saturday and Jim today. Both times I kept thinking whenever I read a card "Hey, I know this event" and such.

W.K and I played a titanic six and a half hour struggle on Saturday with the final VP equaling zero at the end, which we found hilarious.

Jim played the Wargames card on me and won with 6 VPs or so.

Both games were very different; W.K and I both dominated the Space Race, but when Jim and I played, we barely made it into the third box. I think Jim didn't make like 5 space race rolls for the first box alone.

W.K contemplating a Capitalist move

Almost seven hours and we end with a dead tie at zero.

Jim marshalling his Capitalist stooges against me

I think the best part of this game is not knowing which theatre of operations will impact the world stage, which must have been what the Cold War was like. One turn, South America is where all the scoring points are but maybe Europe the next. You never know and hop from one crisis to another.

Even if  you hold a scoring card, you can't do too much in that region that turn because you will tip your hat to your opponent. Ya gotta play it smart.


I think this game is great for us old farts, but I can't see teenagers resonating with this game. They probably don't even know who Gorbachev or Margaret Thatcher or even Reagan were and their signficance to history.

In the meantime, as long as us old grognards play boardgames, this game rocks!