Cudgel War 1596-1597 2027

A two-player, card-driven wargame of Finland's great peasant uprising.

In the winter of 1596, the farmers of Ostrobothnia took up their cudgels against the professional army of Marshal Klaus Fleming. Worn down by years of billeted soldiers and quietly encouraged by Duke Charles of Sweden, they marched south toward Turku to seize the man who ruled them. Within three months the rising was crushed — at Nokia, and finally in the snow at Santavuori.

The two sides are strong in different ways and win by different paths. The peasant rebels are many, angry, and spreading fast, but poorly armed and loosely led. Fleming's men-at-arms are trained and castle-based, but far too few for so vast a country.

Over twelve weekly turns, players draw a small hand and play cards one at a time. Each card is three things at once — activation points, a one-off event, or a mid-combat bonus — and you choose which. The rebels spread revolt district by district while Fleming pacifies, recruits, and burns to hold the country down — but he can never be everywhere at once.

It's a game of two clocks: rebellion spreading faster than the crown can stamp it out, and the crown striking harder than the farmers can withstand. History says the cudgels lost. Whether they lose at your table is up to you.

—description from the designer