Day Five! War By Other Means!

One of these things is not like the other. Land and Freedom! Purportedly, this list was about games that are about war by other means. Except Land and Freedom is about an actual war, fought with actual bullets and actual airplanes and actual volunteer brigades. I don’t regret a thing — apart from not giving it the number one slot. Because this was almost certainly the game of the year, the one that has lasted the longest in my imagination, and the one that continues to operate as a critical benchmark against which I measure certain other games. So: Oops.

Everything else seems more or less correct. Sure, the specifics of placement might differ. But every title here is worthwhile. I’ve been replaying Witchcraft! lately thanks to its digital release, which has proven an easy way to experience the game. (Too easy? Maybe. But that’s a different topic.) It’s the most fantastical title here, and it’s funny to recall that its origin title deals with the same broad conflict as Land and Freedom, but it still winds up saying something true about communities and suspicion.

Doubt Is Our Product has a feral rawness, an uncompromising disdain for those who profit from suffering that’s every bit as relevant today as it was during the fight against Big Tobacco. Right next to it we have Endurance, Amabel Holland’s second inclusion for the day, which argues against historical inevitability with its sheer difficulty. It’s rare that I’ll get to see the same designer twice in more than a handful of years; that Holland is included twice in a day speaks to her capacity for design. I’m relieved to see that I included them here.

The others are similarly worthwhile, even if, again, I would retouch their rankings. The Battle of Versailles might be the most “frivolous” inclusion, although that’s a loaded way to put it. Certainly it’s the smallest and most intimate, conflict-wise. The one with the lightest real-world ramifications. It’s the very opposite of Votes for Women, with its question of enfranchisement for half a nation. But that speaks, I think, to the way historical games are expanding their scope, both growing outward to compass conflicts in new ways, but inward as well. I hope we see both trends continue.

Anyway, that’s it! Another year come and gone. I was surprised by how strong 2023 had been. What are your thoughts? What held up from back then? What has fallen out of favor? Let me know down in the comments.

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