Conflicts in History - The Brooklyn Strategist - Game Center, Cafe, Social Club - New York

Recreating epic battles and conflicts throughout history has been part of the game enthusiast’s repertoire for ages. Does a slight alteration in strategy change the outcome of the life-and-death struggle? Add to this the subtle art of negotiation and subterfuge and you have a truly exciting range of games to challenge the sharpest minds and intellect. The beginning games of this module begin with a brief history of the world at the time of conflict and concludes with a game designed to push the limits of diplomacy.

Ideology: War of Ideas

warofideas

Ideology is a 2-5 player game where each player symbolizes one of the 20th Century's most powerful Ideologies -- Capitalism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Imperialism, Communism, or Fascism. Starting with one global region completely under its sway, each Ideology attempts to influence and control the independent regions of the earth.
Each Ideology will use economic, cultural, and military influence to bring countries under control. If a player has influence in a country in which you have influence, you can both engage in economic, cultural, and military conflict (depending on your diplomatic stance toward each other) to knock out your opponent's influence. You can also purchase Advancements like Propaganda, Tactics, etc. to make it harder for an opponent to conflict you or to make it easier for you to influence a country.

Machiavelli

Recreates the historical situation of the fast developing and ever shifting balance of power struggle in Renaissance Italy. There are five major powers: The Republics of Florence and Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples and the Papacy (which was a secular power in this era) along with 3 major foreign powers: Valois France, Hapsburg Austria and the Ottoman Turks. All of these states singly or in combination compete for control of the peninsula.

Risk

Widely accepted as the first mainstream wargame. Players are given tons of little army units to place onto the map of the world. When it's your turn, you use your units to attack other players' positions, hopefully with superior numbers. Combat is a simple dice rolling affair that stresses attrition, and reinforcements are given to players who collect sets of cards.

Axis and Allies

Axis and Allies is the most successful of Milton Bradley's Gamemaster series. It depicts WWII on a grand scale, full global level. Up to five players can play on two different teams. The Axis which has Germany and Japan, and the Allies which has the USA, the United Kingdom, and the USSR. A full map of the world is provided, broken up in various chunks similar to Risk. The game comes with plastic miniatures that represent various military units during WWII. Players have at their disposal infantry, armor, fighters, bombers, battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines, troop transports, anti-air guns, and factories. All of the units perform differently and many have special functions. Players have to work together with their teammates in order to coordinate offenses and decide how best to utilize their production points. Players also have the option of risking production resources on the possibility of developing a super technology that might turn the tide of war.

Diplomacy

The Classic Game of Intrigue, Trust, and Treachery! At the turn of the 20th century, the seven Great European Powers engage in an intricate struggle for supremacy. Military forces invade and withdraw, shifting borders and altering empires with subtle maneuvers and daring gambits. Form alliances and unhatch your traitorous plots as you negotiate and outwit—in a delicate balance of cooperation and competition—to gain dominance of the continent! In Diplomacy, your success hinges not on the luck of the dice, but your cunning and cleverness.