triumph of chaos [Updated April 2006]

TOC      
   
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  Lampeter   

Dan Hoffman, NC

2005 Champion

2nd: Chuck Frascati, MD

3rd: -

4th: -

5th: -

6th: -
Event History
2005    Dan Hoffman    9

AREA Ratings:

GM: David Dockter

the game's designer

Another Entry in the Card Driven Series ...

Triumph of Chaos: Russian Civil War 1918 ­1921 (TOC), from Clash of Arms, is a two-player card driven strategic board-game. Players assume the side of the REDs (communist forces) and the WHITEs (anti-communist forces) in the epic conflict of the Russian Civil War.

Game Description: The game reflects a rich historical period, which witnessed the emergence of one of the two totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century: communism, with the other being fascism. All the characters are here: from American Polar Bear troops to the Ukrainian anarchist, Makhno, to the White Russian general Yudenich's Northwest Army that almost took St.Petersburg to the British AZ Squadron that almost bombed Moscow to the feared RED Konarmiia (Cavalry Army). Over140 different armies, 40 leaders and close to 200 corps are represented along with most of the political events related to the conflict.

The design philosophy of ToC is to provide a game wherein players struggle with strategic political and military dynamics that bounded the conflict: This is not a game where military decisions are independent of political ramifications.

There are three phases to each game turn: Political, Action and Logistics Phase. During the Political Phase each side utilizes a shared deck of 66 Political Cards to drive the control of 18 separate factions. Factions include Countries (Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), Major Powers (Britain, France, USA, Central Powers, Czech Legion), Republics (Astrakhan, Belarus, Khiva, Mahkno, Transcaucasus and Turkestan, West Ukraine, and Ukraine).

During the Action Phase, each player uses their respective deck of 55 Action Cards (ACs) to activate units for movement and combat, implement Events (receive reinforcements, cause mutinies, etc), generate Replacement points or Strategically Redeploy units.

The Logistics Phase addresses attrition, rebuilding units and other odds and ends.

Tournament Format: This is the first full year for Triumph of Chaos at WBC. The game was released in the summer of 2005. Given that, we will use a short, introductory scenario for the tourney in the initial rounds. Depending upon the interest of the semi-finalists, we can play the campaign game at the end. The tournament scenario will be posted at www.triumphofchaos.com

Given that most players will be new to to it, rules will be explained. Essentially, the game is very similar to other card driven games like Paths of Glory, For the People, etc. If you've played any of the card driven designs, you will have no problem playing ToC at WBC. The big difference from other card driven games is the political sub-game. The complexity of that part of the game is low to moderate. If you have played historical simulations previously, you will also have little problem learning and playing ToC.

For more information: There are a number of places where you can find more information about Triumph of Chaos including www.consimworld.com (a discussion board in the Boardgaming > Individual Games > Era: Between the wars 1918-1939 folder) or the publisher http://www.clashofarms.com/ or the general game site www.triumphofchaos.com

 GM      David Dockter  [2nd Year]   NA  
    dd@hafconsulting.com   NA

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