With the 2008 Election For Change now in full swing, the next gaming AAR to hit Flash of Steel will be a play by play of me and Bruce Geryk reliving history. Well, I’ll try to relive it. Bruce will try to stop it. He loves Nixon.<\/p>\n
1960: Making of the President<\/a><\/em> is an historical strategy game designed by Jason Matthews (one of the co-designers of Twilight Struggle<\/em>, our last head-to-head<\/a>) and Christian Leonhard. Its mechanics are similar to those of Paths of Glory<\/em> or Twilight Struggle<\/em>. You play cards with both action points (“campaign points”) and events. You choose which to activate on your turn, though your opponent can spend momentum points to trigger events friendly to him\/her. One person plays Kennedy, the other Nixon, and you compete for endorsements, media support and, most importantly, votes from the states that matter. Sorry Iowa.<\/p>\n There’s a lot to keep track of, and I still don’t have a firm grasp on everything going on. So Bruce will probably clobber me again, especially since there seems to be less margin for error than there is in Twilight Struggle<\/em>. But it’s a solid design and I have more fun losing while I learn than is probably healthy for a man my age.<\/p>\n As usual, we’ll try to explain things as we go and comment on the whole game design in general.<\/p>\n