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Preorder Versailles 1919 from GMT Games

Vesailles 1919 (GMT Games)GMT Games has an upcoming title coming from an interesting designer team up: Mark Herman and Geoff Engelstein. In Versailles 1919, up to four players will represent the major powers in negotiation following the 1918 armistice. Each nation looks to promote its own agenda, while also dealing with a variety of issues in need of resolution, before signing the famed (and flawed) Treaty of Versailles.

Versailles 1919 is for one to four players, ages 13+, and plays in around one to two hours, The game is currently being printed but you can still preorder at the P500 price of $59.00. The expected MSRP will be $89.00.

From GMT:

On November 11th, 1918 an armistice halted the killing field that was The War to End All Wars. To make peace, Woodrow Wilson (United States), David Lloyd George (United Kingdom), and Vittorio Orlando (Italy), were hosted by President George Clemenceau (France) in Paris, and sat down to write what would become the Versailles Treaty. The treaty was signed on June 28, 1919, after six months of acrimonious debate and bargaining between the great powers.

Versailles 1919, created by designers Mark Herman and Geoff Engelstein, allows you to experience this piece of history as one of the four leaders with a national agenda that must be satisfied. As one of the Big Four, you sit in a conference room gaining influence on the issues present in the room. Hovering in the waiting room sit other issues and personages who are waiting their turn to make their case to meet regional aspirations such as self-determination. Will you support Ho Chi Minh’s attempt to free Vietnam from French colonialism? Help Prince Feisal establish a new nation in Mesopotamia or Chaim Weitzman create a Zionist state? Work with TE Lawrence to reduce unrest in the Middle East or with Ataturk in Anatolia?

As France, you are concerned with containing future German aggression while aligning with the British on reparations to pay for the destruction of the war. The British, however would like to see Germany restored as a trading partner while preserving their empire against the global aspiration for self-determination. Italy wants territorial concessions from the former Austro-Hungarian empire. Lurking in the background is the threat of Bolshevism. Towering above it all is President Woodrow Wilson with his 14 points that set global expectations soaring, ultimately ending in disappointment when the US does not join the League of Nations.

Versailles 1919 introduces a new card bidding mechanic, where you use your influence to settle issues aligned with your agenda while keeping domestic constituents in support of your actions. You need to balance the need to demobilize your military forces while simultaneously keeping regional unrest under control. All of these decisions are set against the backdrop of regional crises and uprisings. The player who writes more of the treaty prevails in this contest of wills and national agendas. Can you save the world from the rise of nationalism? Can you make a better world while satisfying your domestic electorate? Play Versailles 1919 and relive making the flawed peace that was the Treaty of Versailles.

Vesailles 1919 Board (GMT Games)

Jeff McAleer

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