The Collapse (P500)

Game description

'The Collapse' is a wargame that will be published in Spanish and English, which has a point-to-point mechanic for 2 players (with an optional multiplayer rule, and solo system under playtest) with a common deck (CDG), depicting the epic campaigns of the Thirty Years' War in Europe between 1618 and 1648. Each player takes on the role of a faction (Catholic or Protestant), seeking to direct the fate of the "Holy Roman German Empire" while pursuing their own national interests, allowing to reproduce bold moves and influence or control Regions in the Holy Roman Empire, Flanders and the United Provinces, Northern Italy and Hungary. With the crucial support of foreign nations both military (troops) and with 'Subsidies' (financial resources) will help to achieve victory for one of the two game’ factions.

The game will include a historical book with very interesting historical information about the conflict, and a detailed game example to progressively learn the mechanics of the game.

‘The Spanish Road’ and leaders

Also, the map includes the historical 'Spanish Road' which can be used only during the redeployment phase by the Catholic player and the 'Valtellina Pass' which can be used during the turn by the Catholic player, who together with the Dunkirk corsairs , the great leaders and armies of Wallenstein, Tilly, von Mansfeld, Thurn, Christian IV of Denmark, Gustav Adoldo, Torstensson and Horn of Sweden, Condé and Turenne of France and many more, add great historical details to the game to learn from history while playing it.

Unique mechanics and game differences

'The Collapse' is an intense and very fun game, which is easy to play due to its main mechanics (point to point) and being a card engine (CDG), but with unique aspects such as the planning phase at the beginning of the turn, the prestige points that grant more options to the players (leaders, abilities and much more), and the intense but impressive diplomacy of 9 nations (Saxony, Brandenburg, England, Papacy, Hungary, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and France).

Time gameplay

The game has 10 turns, with an average time length of 50 minutes per turn (2-3 years) and a duration of 5 hours for the complete campaign, although it has several shorter scenarios from 2 to 6 turns which includes the Bohemia Palatinate campaign (recommended to play as the first scenario and which will also serve as an example of the game), the Danish, Swedish and French Interventions, or the Cardinal Infante Fernando march. With the recommended optional rule that players can go one more turn with some modifiers if they want to continue playing once the scenario is over and they are having fun.

Sequence of Play and phases

The sequence of each game turn is divided into 4 main phases:

• Planning phase: depending on the prestige of each faction, various actions of the factions may have more or less options.

• Campaign phase: players alternate cards from their hand (6 cards per turn)

• Imperial Election Phase (only on turns 1 and 7): simple phase where it is decided which player has the status of Emperor, with some important benefits in the game

• End of Turn Phase: where players use their replacement points to strengthen their troops and armies, determine possible attrition of units outside of their home regions, observe possible expansion of revolts, impact of Dunkirk Corsairs, redeploy units to prepare for the next turn (campaign) and extra victory points can be earned for certain conditions.

The phases considered more administrative such as the planning, imperial election and final phase have their detailed help sheets, to facilitate the development of the game and that the players enjoy during the campaign phase.

Events and game Operations

Each card has Operations Points (OPS), which allow you to play the card for Operations and/or the event by paying its cost from the OPS of the card, giving many different game options and strategies.

The different Operations that players can use with their operation points are:

• Deploy (new Militia are recruited): 1 OPS

• Movement (units’ movement through map connections)

  • March (movement without entering cities with enemies): 1 OPS

  • Minor Battle (movement entering cities with enemies, with unit restrictions, capabilities use, less prestige points per victory and fewer casualties): 1 OPS

  • Major Battle (movement entering cities with enemies, no unit restrictions, capabilities use, more prestige points for victory, possible leader loss and higher casualties): 3 OPS

• Diplomacy (influence over 9 alliances): 2 or 3 OPS depending on the space of the alliance marker a player wants to move to.

• Naval Blockade (only the Protestant player): 2 OPS

• Siege: 1 OPS

• Replacements (to use at the end of the turn to strengthen armies and diplomacy influence): each OPS gives 2 resources

The tension of the game will be increased by having players loot regions and fortresses to pay their units (the 30 years’ war was devastating and troops were frequently fed and paid with what was ravaged. And be careful not to pay the mercenaries in the game, because they can add unrest to the game!