This War of Mine: The Board Game

Tabletop Game
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This War of Mine: The Board Game

2017 | Adult | Adventure | Exploration | Modern Warfare | Video Game Theme

This War Of Mine: The Board Game is the tabletop adaptation of the award-winning video game that pictures the drama of civilians trapped in a war-torn city.

You will enter this experience as a group of civilians trapped in a besieged and conflict-ridden city, enduring many hardships that often test the essence of humanity.

During day time you will take shelter in a ruined tenement house, which you will care about and manage by: removing rubble, searching through various rooms (often behind barricaded doors), you will build beds, improvised workshops, stoves, tools, water filters, small animal traps, you will cultivate an improvised vegetable garden, fix the tenements’ shelled facilities, reinforce the security of your shelter and should winter come, you’ll try to keep it warm.

Upon nightfall your main duties will consist of guarding your shelter and what little possessions you can accumulate against bandits and raiders. Those in your group fit for such a task will use the cover of the night to carefully explore dozens of the ever-changing locations scattered throughout the dangerous city in search of all the things that a person needs to survive (materials, food, meds, equipment, etc.). On your way you will meet tens of characters, each with a unique story (residents of the locations you visit, thieves, bandits, soldiers, war victims, refugees, neighbors, traders and members of local communities), each encounter is a potential, unique adventure. To guide you through all these events you will have the special SCRIPTS mechanism, responsible for implementing the deep and complex story and a coherent plot (each game will be unique and different than the previous).

Your goal is to SURVIVE until the cessation of war hostilities. During your struggle as the survivors, you will experience dramas connected with making extremely difficult decisions and choices (you will have to face the consequences of your actions sooner or later in the playthrough). Survival itself will often prove not to be enough. The price each of you will decide to pay, might be too high in the final outcome. So the goal is really to survive in a way that will let you live on with the decisions you made. The EPILOGUES mechanism will kick in here.

TWOM: The Board Game features a multiplayer experience for up to 6 players, as well as a solo variant. You will be able to personify one of the well-known characters from the electronic version of the game and face hundreds of new challenges and difficult choices.

The boardgame significantly broadens the original game’s universe and emphasises the depth of plot, yet its main focus will be on human interactions driven by survival instinct and group decision-making.

The project aims to omit the usual boardgame threshold - TWOM: The Board Game is an INSTANT PLAY game, with no need for reading the manual before starting the adventure.

Experience the simulation of a struggle for survival as a group of civilians facing a blind and merciless war.

In war, not everyone is a soldier.



No. of Players 1-4
Playing Time 45-120 min
Age 18+
Mechanics Action Point Allowance System, Area Movement, Co-operative Play, Press Your Luck, Simulation, Storytelling
Designer Michał Oracz, Jakub Wiśniewski
Artist Paweł Niziołek, Michał Oracz
Publisher Awaken Realms

Images And Data Courtesy Of: Awaken Realms.
This content (including text, images, videos and other media) is published and used in accordance with Fair Use.

Added By

Paul Kellett

Added this item on Mar 6, 2018

This War of Mine: The Board Game Reviews & Ratings (4)
9-10
25.0% (1)
7-8
75.0% (3)
5-6
0.0% (0)
3-4
0.0% (0)
1-2
0.0% (0)

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This War of Mine: The Board Game reviews from people you don't follow
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Paul Kellett (118 KP) rated

May 27, 2019  
This War of Mine: The Board Game
This War of Mine: The Board Game
2017 | Adult, Adventure, Exploration, Modern Warfare, Video Game Theme
Very immersive experience (4 more)
Great solo game
Stands out as a piece of art
Great teaching tool
Great storytelling game
Brutally hard (1 more)
Adult and disturbing depictions of war
Brutal Survival game
This War of Mine is a game of civilians struggling to survive in the middle of a war. It is harsh, brutal and contains scenes that some players might find distressing.

It is gritty, realistic and very hard. It's a remarkable game that really makes you think and can stand as a piece of art, capable of teaching about the harsh realities of war and humanity.

You play as a group of 3 (or 4) civilians trying to survive. You have to rebuild your shelter to try and barricade against the cold and other raiding groups.

A fully cooperative game, no player controls a single character but takes turns deciding what the group will do and resolving situations.

Split into phases, you spend the day building up your shelter, adding beds, workshops and other items that might ease your struggles.
You will try different combinations of things to try and work out the most efficient and vital components to build first. Depending on the whim of the various encounter and event cards as to how well these things will work.

The night phase is the main part of the game. You need to send people out to scavenge the nearby ruined buildings, post a guard to protect your shelter and try to get some rest. This is a fine balancing act and you will be forced to push the survivors to breaking point in order to do any of these things.

Scavenging brings danger from snipers, soldiers and other aggressive survivors trying to defend their property.
You pick one of 3 locations to investigate and build an encounter deck. As you explore, you reveal cards, find valuable resources, food, medicine, bandages, weapons and parts crucial to building better items in your shelter.

While scavenging, you will be told to reference numbered paragraphs in the Book of Scripts. This tells the story of what and who you find and it is this that brings home the grim reality of what you are doing.
You will have to make some terrible decisions - do you return home empty handed and risk one of your group dying from hunger or illness or do you steal the supplies you need from the old couple you found hiding in the ruined apartment?

This game is definitely not for everyone but I firmly believe that everyone should experience it at least once.
I borrowed a copy from someone in my game group and played a couple of short games before handing it back but I found myself thinking about it a lot afterwards and ended up buying it myself.

This War of Mine is definitely much more than just a boardgame. It is art. It is a lesson in humanity and the harsh reality of war.
(2)   
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Carlton Reece (41 KP) rated

Aug 9, 2019  
This War of Mine: The Board Game
This War of Mine: The Board Game
2017 | Adult, Adventure, Exploration, Modern Warfare, Video Game Theme
The game really makes you think before making decisions (1 more)
Able to 'save' the game and return to it
Very dark with some options being difficult to stomach (0 more)
Dark game that makes you think as a team
After a lengthy set up, the game is quick to learn thanks to the rule book explaining each step to the players as you go. As a group, players really need to work together to avoid an early end to the game as one laps of judgement can result in total loss. Would recommend for a night with friends if you have a few hours spare
  
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Paul Horton (13 KP) Aug 10, 2019

Did u find the set up, decks a bit off putting...dont get me wrong looks good

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Carlton Reece (41 KP) Aug 10, 2019

Not off putting at all, it just took a bit of time
(1)

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Paul T (21 KP) rated

Jun 30, 2019 (Updated Sep 2, 2019)  
This War of Mine: The Board Game
This War of Mine: The Board Game
2017 | Adult, Adventure, Exploration, Modern Warfare, Video Game Theme
Super thematic (4 more)
Amazing solo mode
Complex and challenging
Darker themes
Great components
Best solo, okay with no more than 3 (3 more)
Darker themes if its not your style
Very stressful due to some random luck and how immersed you become in the story
Very difficult (if its not your thing)