We are All Bulldogs on the Pantleg of Opportunity

"All hail to the thief

But I'm not!

Don't question my

Authority or put me

In the dock

Cozimnot!

Go & tell the king that

The sky is falling in

When it's not

Maybe not."

2+2=5

from the album "Hail to the Thief"

Radiohead

As jackbooted blackshirts goose-stepped their way through the streets of Wellington, New Zealand, for the second time in the night, I decided it was time to reflect on the timely political commentary that doubled as a game in the form of Ideology: The War of Ideas.

Ideology, a first-time effort from designer Andrew Park and published by Z-Man Games, is a very compact game, both in terms of a well-written and bug-free ruleset as well as its physical box size. Once out of the box, however, the game both literally and metaphorically expands dramatically.

Ideology represents the 20th century conflicts between clashing “ideals” – Capitalism, Communism, Fascism, Imperialism and Islamic Fundamentalism. Each of the ideologies, controlled by 2-5 players, competes to obtain 12 points of global influence by bringing various regions under their sway.

Using military, economic and culture influence, drawn at the start of every turn during the resource phase, players may influence uncontrolled regions during the foreign influence phase, or initiate conflicts to eliminate enemy influence during the conflict phase. During the trade phase (just before foreign influence and conflict), players may discard influence card up to the number of regions controlled by the ideology. After trade comes development, wherein the players improve their holdings and develop advancements. After the dust has settled, a diplomacy phase follows, in which a very elegant method of determining political stance (peace, neutral, war) can have dramatic effects on the following turn. Finally, during the assessment phase, nations are increased in development and players check to see if anyone has fulfilled the end-game condition of 12 global influence points. If not, turn order is determined for the next turn and play continues.

The game seems initially complex, but gameplay is smooth and interactive. Ideology also often manages to mirror historical conflicts and situations (with the exception of the Fascist takeover of Hobbit-land above) with startling familiarity.

In two game sessions, the Soviet-Afghan war, a mini-WWII and the rise of dictatorships in South American made their appearance. Not to be confined to history, however, the games also saw Canada become completely Communist, a brief Islamic revolution in Japan, and a fascist invasion of Cuba.

In our first session, with Adolf Easy, Commie Shemp, Mullah Hapi and King Kozure competing, we failed to recognize the threat of the Red Menace’s iron curtain ability, and reacted too late to Mother Russia clasping most of Asia to its ample steel bosom. Communism reigned supreme in this world, comrade.

In the second, with our lessons squarely learned, somehow Shemp and Easy drew identical ideologies to the previous game, but with President Kozure and Emperor Hapi now making an appearance. The game was much more strategic this time, with an all-out “kill the leader” tactics much in vogue. Despite constant attacks and a very weary-looking Adolf Easy weathering union riots in Germany, the Fascists marched to victory. Shemp made frequent use of the totalitarianism special ability to stomp on the head of fledgling Capitalism in Canada. Capitalism, under the shaky leadership of President Kozure, managed only a dismal last-place finish, with Hapi and Shemp taking third and second respectively.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the game. Mechanics were tight but not confining, pacing was good without a lot of downtime, and the theme was well explored. My only quibble might be with the thin cardstock of some of the counters. I initially had a problem with the small size of the influence and advancement cards, but after actually playing the game, I realized that any larger and you would need a ping-pong table to play. As it was, even on Shemp’s medium-small dining room table, we had a tight fit. A minor drawback to a game debut which, in my opinion, is one of the strongest so far in my collection.

To kick off the evening, in honour of our theme, “Hail to the Thief”, we played a round of Taboo with US election-themed words. Chimpanzee, Pantleg, Pie, United Nations, Moral Majority, Fallujah, Al Gore, George W. Bush and other similarly loaded words, people and phrases made their way into the lexicon. A lot of fun that certainly put us in the mood for Ideology.