Quartermaster General: 1914 (2nd Edition)

A interesting fast paced strategy game!

QMG 1914 is the defacto title of the Quartermaster General series, in my opinion. The QMG series features multiplayer dudes on a map wargaming between 2 teams (the two sides of the respective World Wars) using an innovative strategic mechanism of hand management and card driven combat. The system is diceless, revolving around action economy (you choose to play 1 card per turn), and your deck as a resource (once cards run out, you're out options). So you make difficult choices on which cards to play (and which to discard for purposes of getting important Build Army cards) towards conquering objectives, setting up special long term statuses (a tableau of special abilities), etc... The series also features an important element of Supply Lines detailing the true to life importance of Logistics. For campaigns and support you need to establish supply lines to empower your troops. What makes QMG 1914 so special, however, is the addition of a Prepare mechanic. Each card may now (optionally) be played in one of two ways: Per it's main effect, or during the Prepare phase of your turn. Allowing 2 cards to be played per turn (in different ways), and allowing that choice of whether to save a card for it's main effect (often more powerful) versus doubling up on action economy (playing a card for its less powerful prepare effect, but getting an option to play a second that turn) introduces fertile ground for strategic play. This coupled with the everpresent closed economy or finite supply of cards, countered with the tense, inexorable march of scoring rounds (every 3 rounds you check objectives for victory points, and if a point leader ever gets too big a lead he wins), asymmetric player powers, and various strategic objectives leads to an interesting game rich with possibilities. Additionally the QMG series is quite rare in that it feaures a short playtime (estimated at 90 min for those familiar with it). All in all, a winner I am happy to have in my collection. The components are pretty nice (wooden soldier and ship meeples, decent game board, etc...) as well.

Best played at 5 people. Some of the most fun interactions among my gaming group have been with this game on the table. Hand management and limited resources bring tension and no dice makes the choices more important. Great game, highly recommend.