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"In War Not Everyone Is A Soldier." The tagline which tells you that This War of Mine tries to show you the other side of war, that is often over looked and over shadowed by Soldiers, gunfire and the usual war games we know and love.
The most exciting thing, in my opinion, about this game is ‘The Book of Scripts’ a book which has hundreds of paragraphs which contain stories that relate to certain actions you make while playing the game.
This War Of Mine - Inside The Box
When this game arrived, I noticed the big heavy box and once opened it made sense why it was so heavy. The game has a vast number of cardboard tokens, plastic pieces, mini’s, dice, cards, and the board.
These are of an amazing quality and really are some of the best components I have seen in a game. The board its self is double-sided and has an easy and an advanced side. The stand out thing among all this though was the Book of scripts, a booklet containing thousands of paragraphs of stories, events and tutorials that you will use throughout playing This War of Mine.
This War of Mine - The Game
In This War of Mine you will play as a group of survivors (three at the start, rising to four later) trying to survive until the war stops. You will fix up the building you are staying in, build fixtures to aid you and go out scavenging to find items to help you survive.
You can find guns with ammo, lock-picks and parts to build items. The group's food and water supply will dwindle down and this is one of the most important areas to focus on as status aliments will affect what actions each character can do; a healthy team is productive team and you are only one step away from death at any time.
The team is made up of different characters, all with their own backstory and personality that will help and hinder you. From smoking habits to lock-picking skills the characters you have in your group make for a different approach each time.
One of my characters got miserable because I had no cigarettes for him to smoke at the end of the day just one of the many ways resources can help/hinder in This War of Mine.
The turn order, if you can call it that, is unique in This war of Mine and almost feels like a few separate solo games bolted together. There are seven phases each depicting a stage in the day and at points within these you pass control of the survivors over to the person sitting next to you (clockwise) and they have the final say in what you do.
For example, in the dusk phase you will feed your group and set up what each character will do in the next phase, from sleeping to regain tiredness to going out on a scavenging mission all these choices will be made by one person (others can advise but the game is better if you discuss and then let the ‘Leader’ decide).
This for me gives the game a great feeling that fits in with the game's theme, a feeling of who is the leader and who’s in charge? Arguments and disagreements will happen just like it would if this was real life.
The game kicks up a gear when you enter the Scavenging Phase as this is where you will really make use of the book of scripts. Meeting new people will give you a choice to help or ignore and at certain points you may come under attack, would you kill to survive? Just one of the many choices you may have to make.
This War Of Mine - The Game
In This War of Mine you will play as a group of survivors (three at the start, rising to four later) trying to survive until the war stops. You will fix up the building you are staying in, build fixtures to aid you and go out scavenging to find items to help you survive.
You can find guns with ammo, lock-picks and parts to build items. The group's food and water supply will dwindle down and this is one of the most important areas to focus on as status aliments will affect what actions each character can do; a healthy team is productive team and you are only one step away from death at any time.
The team is made up of different characters, all with their own backstory and personality that will help and hinder you. From smoking habits to lock-picking skills the characters you have in your group make for a different approach each time.
One of my characters got miserable because I had no cigarettes for him to smoke at the end of the day just one of the many ways resources can help/hinder in This War of Mine.
The turn order, if you can call it that, is unique in This war of Mine and almost feels like a few separate solo games bolted together. There are seven phases each depicting a stage in the day and at points within these you pass control of the survivors over to the person sitting next to you (clockwise) and they have the final say in what you do.
For example, in the dusk phase you will feed your group and set up what each character will do in the next phase, from sleeping to regain tiredness to going out on a scavenging mission all these choices will be made by one person (others can advise but the game is better if you discuss and then let the ‘Leader’ decide).
This for me gives the game a great feeling that fits in with the game's theme, a feeling of who is the leader and who’s in charge? Arguments and disagreements will happen just like it would if this was real life.
The game kicks up a gear when you enter the Scavenging Phase as this is where you will really make use of the book of scripts. Meeting new people will give you a choice to help or ignore and at certain points you may come under attack, would you kill to survive? Just one of the many choices you may have to make.
This War Of Mine - Final Thoughts
I am not going to spoil anything about this game or go into any more details about how it plays as it will ruin some of the excitement and experience. The rule book can be downloaded if you want to learn what it entails other than what I have said above.
What I will say is how much I like this game and its immersive storytelling and unique game play. The way it gets you to learn the rules on the fly and teaches you more and more as you get deeper into the meat of the game is very clever. The art is fantastic and really fits the theme, the minis are all of a good quality with unique features that match that of the character card and the components are all of decent quality too.
The best bit about this game for me is the way the game play is linked to The Book of Scripts, this is like the old choose your own adventure books I used to read as a child. The way in which you advance in the game and the choices you make gives you your own unique story each time you play.
After about 10 play-throughs I am yet to read the same segment once and every game has been different. The game does lack in the events deck but I am sure this will be added to later on down the line. Overall this is the best game experience I have ever played but not the best game if that makes sense.
See it’s a great game which tells you a story and gets you immersed in the story but it’s not a ‘fun’ game. The stories are quite bleak and some may find them upsetting and off putting (I only see it as a game so it did not put me off at all) but for me it does what it aimed to do and shows you that there is another side to the story of war and how difficult it must be for those involved.
This blog was originally published on June 19th, 2017. Updated on May 11th, 2022 to improve the information available.
