War on Terror: the board game

Readers probably know that I’m a big fan of board games — we recently posted about the strategic (dis)advantage of the Middle East in Risk — and I play the great game Settlers regularly with friends in Cairo (you know who you are.) I’ve also loved monopoly since I was a child (I would often play by myself when no one was around) and collect classic versions of the game. So I’m eagerly signing up to order a copy of War on Terror, a controversial new British board game (it was recently branded as “sick” by the British press and a 7/7 survivor) that pits suicide bomber against neo-cons. Obviously, it’s full of black humor (the best kind, really) and is going to upset the usual bunch of people who take themselves too seriously (like Bush supporters and Bin Laden supporters). They may even be coming out in Arabic. Here’s what it’s basically about:

The goal of War on Terror, the boardgame is to liberate the world, ridding it of fear and terrorism forever. Naturally, only the biggest and strongest Empires are up to this task and so a certain amount of dominance needs to be shown. Alternatively, you can play as the terrorists, fighting for a world without empires.

. . .

Empires soon strike up alliances and the propaganda war is in full flow – secret messages have been sold for over 100m in previous games. The games sway between paranoid pacts and all out war. Nukes get dropped and Empires soon find that sometimes you need to fund a bit of terrorism in order to eradicate a greater threat. Terrorists start to spread across the planet … dirty bombs are detonated … oil gets destroyed … the world slowly becomes a dangerous, radioactive mess.

Here’s what the boxed game looks like:
Imgs Gallery Thebox

From its board (below), it looks a bit like Risk.

Imgs Content Board-Shot

To give you a taste of what it’s all about, check out some of the game’s playing cards below:

Card SuicidebomberCard Regimechange
Can’t wait to start playing it.

0 thoughts on “War on Terror: the board game”

  1. Hey Issandr sign me up for a test run on that game. From the looks of it, it seems like a cross between those classic boardgames JUNTA and Nuclear War. Looks fun!!

    Reply

  3. Just so you know, the game is much more fun than suicide bombers vs. neo-cons. That would just be a two-sided battle. No fun at all. Our game pits Empires against Empires and Empires against Terrorirsts and Terrorits against Empires against Evil Empires against Terrorists. See? Much more fun.

    Seriously though, the whole point of the game is that you can be on either ‘side’ and even on both at the same time. In fact, there are no sides, just profit and victory.

    Hope you enjoy it!

    The TerrorBull

    Reply

  6. Hmph! In that post and comment thread on Risk, Rashad said:

    “Now diplomacy, there’s a board game.”

    Diplomacy, a board game? That’s really putting down only one of the greatest strategy games of all time. The only thing I’ve known to rival it is something called Empires in Arms.

    Reply

  7. Is there anyone with a Diplomacy board in Cairo? Or for that matter Empires in Arms? Diplomacy is by far the best boardgame I have ever played. Advanced Squad Leader, IMO can rival Diplomacy, though that game is more tactical than strategic.

    Awful Green Things From Outer Space, now that’s a fun game I haven’t played in ages.

    My geek past is catching up with me…

    Reply

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