Twilight Struggle

[Pignog]

"Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are – but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle..."
– John F. Kennedy

Once upon a time there was this good 2 player board game about the cold war. It's so good that it's been ranked #1/#2 on boardgamegeeks forever:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12333/twilight-struggle

It's a strategy game where one side plays America and the other plays the USSR. You place influence and coup nations around the world to bring them to your side, play cards to fuck each other over, send things to space, and try not to cause global thermonuclear war. It's really good and a couple years after buying it I still consistently crack it open to play with friends. Well anyway, now it's available on Steam and they did a bang-up job:

 

[Osrik]

I have always intended to play Twilight Struggle, but never gotten around to it, even though my local game store has a demo copy. A Steam version should increase the chances of me actually playing it, someday.

[Pignog]

30 minutes ago, Osrik said:

I have always intended to play Twilight Struggle, but never gotten around to it, even though my local game store has a demo copy. A Steam version should increase the chances of me actually playing it, someday.

If you can get them to run you through a game, it's a lot of fun. The boardgame seems a little complicated at first, but after a few games everything just kind of "clicks" and it plays really quick. The steam version plays even faster since it automates everything you'd normally keep track of irl (defcon, spacerace, events triggering certain things). I think a typical game takes about 2 - 2.5 hrs unless it ends prematurely (ie. global thermonuclear war).