Originally published at: https://statelyplay.com/2019/03/25/playdek-gmt-union-producing-more-fruit-here-comes-fort-sumter/
- iOS, Android, Steam
The biggest news story around these parts last year was word that Playdek and GMT Games, two names that carry a lot of weight around these parts, had formed a partnership. Playdek would have access to the GMT catalog and announced the first product, Labyrinth, would be coming to our touchscreens. We were wondering which other titles from GMTâs vast library would be coming. Now we know the second title, Mark Hermanâs fantastic Civil War filler, Fort Sumter is on the way.
Unlike most Civil War titles, Fort Sumter takes place during the secessionist crisis that ends with the shelling of the titular fort. Thus, thereâs no battlefields, armies, or any of the usual blue/gray shenanigans weâre used to. Instead, we have a tightly packed little game that can be wrapped up in 30 minutes that takes its gameplay from bigger fare like We the People and Twilight Struggle.
Fort Sumter is a two-player Card Driven Game (CDG) portraying the 1860 secession crisis that led to the bombardment of Fort Sumter and the American Civil War. Fort Sumter is a small footprint game (11Ă17â mounted map) that takes approximately 25-40 minutes to play. The game pits a Unionist versus a Secessionist player. Each player uses the area control mechanic pioneered in my We The People design and immortalized in Twilight Struggle to place, move, and remove political capital. The location of political capital determines who controls each of the four crisis dimensions (Political, Secession, Public Opinion, and Armaments). After three rounds of play, the game culminates in a Final Crisis confrontation to determine the winner.
The twelve map spaces are grouped into the four dimensions of the crisis. You gain a victory point each round that you control a dimensionâs three spaces. For example, the Armaments dimension is characterized by Federal Arsenals, Fort Pickens, and of course, Fort Sumter. In addition, each round you score a victory point for controlling your secret objective space. But beware; either player can score active objective spaces. At the end of the dual Presidential inaugurations (round three) a new Final Crisis mechanic drives the game to its hotly contested conclusion.
The game itself is incredibly easy to pick up, ruleswise, but strategy is another matter. Iâve played a handful of times and still have yet to wrap my head around planning for the Final Crisis.
The Playdek version will, of course, include all the polish we expect from Playdek. That means robust online play and an AI that can fill in when you donât have a friend able to play. It will be released for iOS, Android, and Steam. Iâm assuming PC/Mac on Steam (thatâs what Twilight Struggle is, anyway), but weâll have to wait until more info comes rolling in.