Publisher: Flying Buffalo Games
Designer: Doug Malewicki
Artists: Steven S. Crompton, Gary Freeman, Brian McCrary
Year: 1965
Players: 2-6
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 45 Minutes
Retail Price: $29.95
I purchased this game around 1982-ish and have had it ever since. We played in high school quite often but eventually I put it away and it has been resting on a shelf for many years.
Recently, when Jeff was in Chicago, I decided to pull it off the shelf and relive some memories. We had a good time of course, except our buddy Bob could simply not figure out that the missiles had to come first, then the bombs could be loaded on them. Ahhh… endlessly harassing him when he screwed it up was a good time.
I got to thinking about the game and found out that Flying Buffalo still exists and still publishes Nuclear War, as well as 3 expansions and a bunch of other games. So It seemed time to do a review for this classic game of world destruction.
Nuclear War is a card game that features player elimination. The object of the game is to be the last person with population remaining alive. However, it is possible for everyone to lose all of their population, and thus no one wins. An interesting lesson there eh?
At the start of the game, each player is dealt a number of population cards based on how many people are playing. You keep these secret so the other players don’t know how many people you have left. The cards list their numbers in millions of people, ranging from 1 to 25 million on each card. It is random, so you can get really screwed or be in really good shape right at the start of the game.
Each player also receives 9 game cards. These make up your “Hand” of cards. There are Propaganda cards, that you can play during those rare times of peace. Secret and Top Secret Cards, that play automatically when you receive them and either give you extra population from someone else, or sometimes take them away. The Missile and Bomb cards are your main method of attack.
Each player also gets a player mat, which isn’t really necessary to play. Finally there is a spinner, or you can use 2 dice and roll on the attack chart.
To start the game, each player plays all of the top secret and secret cards in their hands, until they have no remaining, and draw back up to 9 cards. This causes a shift in power at the beginning of the game, but you have no idea how much population anyone else has so it is no big deal.
Next, the players each lay out 2 cards in front of them. These cards will be put into play in the order placed, one at a time, on each players turn. So you need to plan at least 2 turns in advance as to what you are going to do.
On your turn, you draw a card. Then flip over the first card in line in front of you and that card takes effect. Finally put another face down card behind the one remaining on the table in front of you. Propaganda cards are resolved immediately when you flip them over. You choose a player and tell them how many millions of population they lost. These cards don’t cause war, and only actually work when you are not at war.
If you are ready to launch some missiles at someone, you first have to play a missile card. On your next turn you can play a bomb card that has a certain number of megatons. This determines how many millions of population are destroyed. Then you get a spin on the attack chart to either get a bonus or possibly cancel out the entire attack. The player you are attacking could also have anti-missiles that can stop your attack. It doesn’t matter however, because once the bombs start flying, everyone is at war.
There is a short period of peace once a player is eliminated, to give you a chance to get rid of those propaganda cards, but the bombs will soon be flying again.
The nice, special part of the game is that when a player is eliminated they get to launch any bomb/missile combinations that they happen to have in their hands as a “Retaliation Strike” as a last action. This is how you can have a game where no one wins, because everyone ends up getting eliminated.
What an absoute hoot this game is. Yes you are destroying the planet, and it has player elimination, and it is possible for no one to win, and you can tick off your loved ones by ganging up on them. But with the right group and a tongue-in-cheek attitude you can have an excellent time. I have many fond memories and after playing again, I hope to build a few more.
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I enjoyed this game quite a bit, there are mild strategic elements accompanying the standard random chance, but its mostly just good fun. Those who are easily frustrated could definitely be perturbed by the aspect of getting decimated with nuclear weapons, just as the reviewer said, but for most groups of gamers I feel this is just a good time.