War on Terror (game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

War on Terror

Players	2–6
Age range	14+
Setup time	10-15 minutes
Playing time	120+ minutes (player dependent)
Random chance	low to medium
Skills required	Strategy, diplomacy, Machiavellism

War on Terror, The Boardgame is a satirical, strategic board game produced by TerrorBull Games. Released in 2006, War on Terror was invented primarily as a reaction and a challenge to modern day events, in particular the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the pursuit of the War on Terrorism itself.

Like some war board games, the basic goal is to dominate the entire world (or "liberate" in the parlance of the game itself). In this respect, it has been compared to Risk. However, the scope of War on Terror stretches to cover all aspects of war-time politics, not just battlefield tactics. The creators of War on Terror claim it is the most realistic war simulation around.

Contents 1 Concept 2 Controversy 3 References 4 External links 4.1 In the press

[edit] Concept

War on Terror, The Boardgame can be described as a Risk-like or war board game inspired by the early 2000's geopolitics and its causes. Starting with a tiny presence on the map, an empire aim at dominating aka liberating entire continents and to build cities to win the game. An empire controls a region when it has a development there: a village, a town or a city. To expand an empire can build developments at the border of its current empire if the regions are unoccupied. But of course most of the time this will involve some pre-fighting. There are basically two ways to attack or hinder the developments of other empires: fighting war against them or funding terrorists units in the hope of making them attack your opponent. Attacks against other empires or terrorist attacks are triggered by cards one obtain every turn or buy. Empires gets money from oil, which is unequally distributed among regions on the map. An important issue is that when terrorists are no longer dormant and leave your training camp for the real world, you don't have any direct control on them any more. At the next turn they might well be triggered against you by another player or by the terrorist player. Indeed players who become bankrupt or lose their last development don't quit the game, they become or join the terrorist player who control terrorists on the board collectively. It is also possible to become/join the terrorist side voluntarily. Finally players spin the Axis of evil regularly. The evil empire wear the balaclava and gets two terrorists cards (otherwise reserved to the terrorist player) every turn in addition to its two empire cards. Other empires then have a financial incentive to fight war against the evil one.

[edit] Controversy

According to the manufacturer's website, several major game and toy fairs, as well as several retailers, have refused to stock this product.^[1] The justification in all cases is some variation on the claim that the topic is highly inflammatory and may be offensive to some.

In August 2008, a copy of the game was seized by the British Kent Police because the balaclava included in the box "could be used to conceal someone's identity or could be used in the course of a criminal act".^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• War on Terror, The Boardgame official website
• Evil Balaclava discussion forum
• War on Terror, The Boardgame at BoardGameGeek

[edit] In the press

• International Herald Tribune
• Daily Mail, September 18, 2006
• Socialist Unity Network January 2006
• Sydney Morning Herald, September 20, 2006
• CBC News, February 6, 2007