Diplomatic and military maneuvering in Napoleonic Europe. 1-6 players. No downtime. No risk, just fun.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
A new age of Napoleon!
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, Jul 06, 2021 at 01:53:50 AM
Hello Everyone!
Last Monday we brought you Raison d’Etat, a standalone expansion propelling Coalitions into the 17th century. It’s really hard to top that, with the sprawling Thirty Years’ War and Polish-Swedish Wars on a double-sided board, so we’re not going to do that... or are we? Read on and find out!
New standalone expansion: Sense and Sensibility… or Realpolitik!
The time has come to visit the latter half of the 19th century, a new age with new leaders, including the outstanding statesman of the era, if not all time, Otto von Bismarck of Prussia.
Sense and Sensibility / RealpolitikExpansion is a standalone game that brings all the great features and mechanics of Coalitions to a lower player count. It’s based on the Austro-Prussian (1866) and Franco-Prussian wars (1871), conflicts that made the unification of German a reality. Players take on the roles of leaders of France, Prussia, Austria and Italy to try to reshape the map of Central Europe to their advantage one more time. The scale of the game may not be as epic as in other expansions or the base Coalitions, but the stakes are high nonetheless!
The expansion will come with its own set of new components, including tokens, cards, rules, a board, the Wheel of War, and unique period-specific mechanisms. It’ll also be compatible with the Soldiers of Fortune expansion we announced in Update 9.
Why do we use two names instead of one? The truth is we can't decide which we prefer - and this is where you come in! Do you think this was a time best defined by glory, heroics and élan - a period of 'sense and sensibility'? Or does 'realpolitik' better capture the moment: hard Prussian realism, iron discipline, and adherence to order? Help us in choosing the name for this expansion on BoardGameGeek!
To add Sense &Sensibility / RealpolitikExpansion to your pledge simply edit the details of your pledge or increase your pledge manually with the price of the expansion.
Daily Bonus: the 1806 scenario!
The setup for this scenario reflects the beginning of the War of the Third Coalition. The French Empire is in firm control of several central European territories, but Prussia is massing its armies against it. Russia is also a part of this new anti-French coalition, but it’s barely begun its mobilization and keeps a part of its force on the Ottoman border, where a new war is in the offing. The Austrians are neutral following their decisive defeat in the battle of Austerlitz a year earlier.
Will Napoleon crush the Prussian forces before the Russians are able to react? Will the British send their armies to Portugal and Spain? Or will we see a completely different outcome of this scenario? As always, it’s all up to you!
This is a third special scenario for Coalitions core game. If you want to learn more about the previous two, check out Update #4 and Update #8.
Second Social Goal unlocked: Blücher
Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher nods with satisfaction at your ability to inspire the troops. You’ve just unlocked the second Social Goal, which makes Blücher another unique general in Coalitions! Not only will he get a new shade of black for his meeple, but also a special ability.
Reflecting his steadfastness and tenacity as a commander, from now on Blücher can only lose up to 2 units as a result of a defeat, not all 3 as every other general. Moreover, he can’t be removed from the board if defeated, regardless of the losses he sustains.
Podcast with Andrew Rourke
Do you like listening to podcasts? If so, check out the Everything Board Games Podcast interview with Andrew Rourke, the designer of Coalitions! In this short 16-minute podcast Andrew talks about his board game beginnings and all things Coalitions – how it came around, why there’s no secrecy in diplomacy (an important factor of Coalitions!), why the Activator system is a key design element, and much, much more!
Stay safe!
Srdjan, Adrian & PHALANX Team
Let’s go North!
almost 3 years ago
– Mon, Jul 05, 2021 at 12:19:32 AM
Hello Everyone!
Most of what’s going on in Coalitions and its expansions focuses on Southern, Western and Central Europe. And while the Raison d’Etat Expansion doesn’t leave out that part of the Old Continent, it allows you to revisit and concentrate more on Northern and Eastern Europe and conflicts which aren’t often on the forefront of popular history.
Daily Bonus: the 1700 scenario for the Raison d’Etat Expansion!
Coalitions’ first major standalone expansion now has a double-sided board – and a set of components for Russia (tokens and meeples) to complement it! All of these new components have been prepared for the 1700 scenario depicting the Great Northern War (1700-1721) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). We're going to talk a bit more about these conflicts in future updates, so don't worry about the historical details right now.
In this scenario, both Poland and Spain are essentially just playgrounds for the clashing ambitions of various European powers and their rulers. In the East and North it’s primarily Russia against Sweden, with the Ottomans and the Prussians in the supporting roles, and in the West it’s France against a coalition of Britain, Austria and Prussia. Of course, this is just the beginning – what happens next and what coalitions and alliances are going to be formed and broken up is all up to you!
New Social Goal: Blücher!
The Duke of Wellington is ready. But how about the man who came to his rescue at the Battle of Waterloo, the Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher? We can’t leave him out, can we?
Unlock Blücher’s special ability and a new shade of his meeple by liking this image on BoardGameGeek. If it gets at least 35 thumbs-ups, Field Marshal Blücher will be upgraded to a whole new level! And how will his special ability work? You’ll find that out after the Social Goal is unlocked, but let’s just say those of you, who are aware of his exploits will certainly crack a smile!
Adam Mucha - Weekly Game Night
Is Coalitions a game for you? Well, this is how Adam Mucha, one of the gamers from Poland, described his recent gameplay of Coalitions:
“Previews mentioned it’s a game with no downtime. So we checked that and it’s true, the innovative system of simultaneous action-taking makes downtime minimal. So it’s a big plus.”
“This is an area control game, but it’s mainly about diplomacy. Each turn you’re faced with having to choose the most beneficial allies (...) so expect back-stabbing and conspiracies”.
“One of the actions that made me initially sceptical was movement. It’s unusual: if you want to make more moves than just one, you need to ask someone else for permission and if he gives one, he receives morale points. The problem is, that someone can’t be your ally. In effect, we had to ask our enemies for permission. And you know what? It’s a pretty cool mechanism. Your enemies often have an interest in gaining morale. This works! :)”
“The entire game, including the setup and checking the instruction took us 2 hours (...). This is an excellent playtime for an area game played (in this case) by 5 gamers!”
“Did we like it? Yes, and some of us liked it very much. Each of the 5 players who played it said he wanted to play this game again – and this is extremely rare.”
Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud
Another day and another game featured in the Make Games Happen program. This time it’s Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud, which we’ve already mentioned in Update #4, the one about the Russian Winter. You were eager for more details, so here they are!
Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud is a fast, two-player, thrilling 60-minute asymmetrical wargame with very simple rules designed to “blitzkrieg” you through the first four years of the Eastern Front of World War II. There’s no politics, no economy – just hard and bloody fighting through mud and snow and vast Soviet territories. It’s about moving and using a set of basic units – infantry, tanks, aircraft and warships – to battle over and ultimately take control of key cities and industrial centers of the Soviet Union. The Soviets have special Partisan units to harass the German supply lines, but they start the game severely outnumbered by the enemy. However, as opposed to the Soviets, Germans never receive any reinforcements, so they have to be very careful about how and when they use their troops.
This may come to you as a bit of a surprise, but Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud by Guglielmo Duccoli isn’t actually a new game! In fact, it’s a new edition of "Ferro, Fango e Neve", a game that was attached to the March 2019 issue of the "IoGioco", an Italian game magazine. After seeing and obviously playing it, we were so enchanted by the elegant simplicity of the rules and the short playtime, that we eventually decided to give it a thorough refurbishing, take it through more advanced development and thus to introduce it to other, non-Italian players. And while we don’t have much to show you in terms of graphic design yet (we’re putting almost all of our efforts into Coalitions), the game is mechanically sound and battle-tested, as this short opinion by Baalfagor proves quite well:
„Perfect to play during the lunch break or during the summer holidays, great for beginners to learn the [basics of] supply lines and movements blitz. Excellent job.”
Stay safe!
Srdjan, Adrian & PHALANX Team
Two more weeks of fun!
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, Jul 02, 2021 at 07:11:08 AM
Hello Everyone!
We’ve just hit the campaign’s halfway point! Thank you for your continuous support and believing in this project’s full potential. And don’t worry, we’re not going to rest on our laurels, not for a second! Coalitions is still being enhanced, developed and improved. These next two weeks are going to show you how much we’ve got in store for you – including a number of new bonuses and expansions!
Daily Bonus: the Imperial Election!
The Imperial Election introduces a new mechanism to both the Ancien Regime Expansion (free for all Coalitions Core Game backers) and the Raison d’Etat Expansion (the standalone expansion). It’s connected with controlling specific territories on the map and mobilizing the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor to support their actions. The Imperial Election will come with two special tokens for each of these two expansions. In addition to boosting the gameplay and your strategic options, this new mechanism will add even more historical flavour into both games.
The Imperial Election was the process through which the Holy Roman Emperor was elected to rule over hundreds of semi-independent - or de facto independent - kingdoms, duchies and principalities located primarily in the present-day Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Until the Thirty Years' War there were seven Electors: three ecclesiastical archbishops and four secular kings, dukes, counts and margraves.
Even more details on the Raison d’Etat Expansion
Why, you might ask, is it a standalone expansion and not a completely new game? It's because, while we introduce some new rules and mechanics to support the historic situation being covered by Raison d'Etat, we don't think this makes it a new game. It uses the same basic mechanics as Coalitions: the Wheel of War, two core opposing coalitions, the Activator system. It's Coalitions, but in a different setting. Hence, it's a standalone expansion.".
As we’ve previously mentioned, the coalitions system in Raison d’Etat differs from the one used in the core game and Ancien Regime Expansion. It’s no longer (or rather not yet, since it’s an earlier time in European history) a conflict between the interests of France and Britain. This time it’s a war of religion, a war of nations and rulers that chose the Protestant faith against the ones that remained loyal to Catholicism and the Pope.
Yesterday we briefly summarized the Thirty Years’ War. Now it’s time to look at the lesser known Polish-Swedish Wars of the 17th century. It was actually five wars. The first four were fought between 1600 and 1629, ostensibly linked to control of the present-day Baltic Countries. These were often interrupted by or ended with temporary truces. A more lasting settlement, the Truce of Altmark, was agreed at the end of the fourth war in 1629, with Poland ceding much of the duchy of Livonia to Sweden. The fifth war, also known as the Swedish Deluge, started in 1655 and went on for five years. This war was of a different, more destructive nature. It led to the widespread destruction of Polish lands, and the loss of a third of Polish population.
Social Goal unlocked!
Good job, soldiers! You’ve unlocked our first Social Goal and the Duke of Wellington is now ready to face Napoleon on the field of battle! From now on every Coalitions Core box will feature:
- A different shade of red for Wellington’s meeple (the Miniature Set has the Duke of Wellington on a horse, the same as Napoleon. As well as looking great this will help the British player to remember Wellington's special rule).
- Wellington’s special rule affects how he supports other generals in battle. Unlike other generals, instead of providing just 3 cards to the battle he’s supporting, his entire army is able to provide help. That means he can potentially contribute up to 4 strength points in any engagement he’s supporting!
Pursuit of Victory
You’ve asked us to provide you with more details about the games featured in our Make Games Happen program and this is a good opportunity to do just that!
Today we’ll focus on Pursuit of Victory, the other Napoleonic game we’re developing which depicts the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the period between 1805 and 1814. It’s a tense two-player hand-management and strategy game lasting about 2 hours where players must assemble their armies, use diplomacy and make daring attacks, utilizing a unique set of 10 cards allowing for multiple actions and very tough decisions – especially since playing a card locks it out for two consecutive rounds!
Aside from fully asymmetrical cards used by Britain and France, there are also 6 special double-sided cards always present on the board. They indicate the political status of Spain and Poland, Napoleon’s imperial ambitions and mobilization limits, and finally the Royal Navy’s dominance on the seas and British efforts to form an all-out Grand Coalition. Changing the card’s side or status is usually connected with controlling territories (especially in case of Poland and Spain), diplomatic maneuvering and the usage of special minor actions on player’s cards.
To achieve victory, the French player needs to keep Napoleon’s reputation high by winning major battles, forcing major powers to surrender and controlling minor countries as well as Polish and Spanish territories – and this gets tougher and tougher with each year by default, not just because of the other player, who’s actively trying to stop him.
Keep a close eye on our Facebook page and join PHALANX Club, our dedicated Facebook Group, to find out more about Pursuit of Victory. We’ll be posting more details about the game in the next few weeks so stay tuned! For now, we’ve got a special treat for you: the latest work-in-progress Pursuit of Victory game board with tokens set up for the main 1805 scenario!
The French Empire Strikes Back!
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, Jul 02, 2021 at 07:09:05 AM
HelloEveryone!
Salut! Our last three updates were heavy on the Raison d’Etat standalone expansion. Today we want to go back to basics by introducing for the Daily Bonus a new variant on the solo mode for Coalitions, and more details on how to use the Soldiers of Fortune.
Daily Bonus: Levée En Masse Expansion!
In the basic solo mode for Coalitions the player takes control of all European nations except France and tries to defeat Napoleon. With this new expansion, it’s the other way around!
Levée En Masse Expansion introduces a new, alternate solo mode that allows you to take on the role of Napoleon himself and use the might of his French Empire to dominate Europe! The AI cards in this expansion dictate the moves of the five other nations. They will try to do everything in their power to curtail the Emperor’s ambitions...
This exciting alternate solo expansion is entirely free for all Coalitions Core Box backers! And if you don’t like the idea of playing as Napoleon, you can always use the standard solo mode – it’s still very much a part of this game.
More details on the Soldiers of Fortune Expansion
As you might recall we announced the Soldiers of Fortune expansion in Update #9. It is free for all Coalitions backers, and comes with six non-aligned generals who can join your nation provided you’ve conquered the territory they’re controlling.
Meeples representing these generals will be shaped in such a way as to fit all historical periods covered by the Coalitions Core Box, as well as the Ancien Regime and Raison d’Etat. Using Soldiers of Fortune generals in any of these games is however optional, as they may change the balance of play to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the scenario.
Since it’s important to keep track of which Soldiers of Fortune generals belong to which territory on the map, each of them will be marked differently. We’re still working on the best solution in this regard and testing all the available options to make it as clear as possible.
The phrase ‘soldier of fortune’ has a long history, though its first known literary usage in English dates to the middle of the 17th century. It’s a poetic description of a mercenary, a military adventurer ready to serve anywhere and anyone for an adequate pay.
El Rey Planeta
Yesterday we took a quick look at Pursuit of Victory and today it’s time to do the same for El Rey Planeta, a game that incidentally deals with the same time period as the Raison d’Etat Expansion. This time however players take control of one specific country, Spain, and try to lead it through numerous conflicts and calamities, but also magnificent opportunities of early and middle 17th century.
El Rey Planetais a fast-paced event-driven strategy game for 1-2 players who need to skillfully navigate the troubled waters of global politics, economy and conflicts while trying to manage the complicated affairs of court and heart of El Rey Planeta, the Planet King – Philip IV of Spain. The game is played on a map representing Europe and Spanish-Portuguese colonies and can take from 2 to 6 hours depending on the scenario. What’s more, El Rey Planeta can be played solo, cooperatively or semi-cooperatively, all with an aim of surpassing the historical result achieved by King Philip IV!
In each of the 8 turns (in a full scenario) players build four separate decks: one for Event cards, and one each for three different types of characters: Nobles, Ladies and Geniuses. Events are resolved one after the other and shuffled among them are 7-8 Action Cards. These cards allow players to make four types of actions: Royal, Political, Government and Simple Actions. In a two-player game the first two actions are the prerogative of the King and deal with his personal happiness as well as appointing or removing all three character types. The latter actions are decided by the Valid (King’s favorite, a de facto prime minister) and concern military matters, recruitment and exploration. In this mode each player builds his own legacy and receives Victory Points separately.
Keep a close eye on our Facebook page and join PHALANX Club, our dedicated Facebook Group, to find out more about El Rey Planeta. We’ll be posting more details about the game in the next few weeks, so stay tuned! For now, you can take a look at these marvelous cards straight from El Rey Planeta!
Fortune favors the bold!
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, Jun 30, 2021 at 12:51:06 AM
Hello Everyone!
Yesterday's announcement of the Raison d’Etat standalone expansion seems to have garnered quite a bit of attention! And since some of you have asked us for more details about the expansion, we hope this update will satisfy at least a part of that thirst for knowledge.
Daily Bonus: Soldiers of Fortune Expansion!
This free for Kickstarter backers expansion introduces 6 special non-aligned generals who broadly represent the rulers of minor non-playable European kingdoms and duchies. These generals control certain scenario-designated territories at the beginning of the game. Any nation who captures one of these territories will be able to employ its general as if it were their own – at least as long as the said territory is garrisoned by that nation.
The expansion could potentially change the balance of power in Europe, granting nations such as Prussia or Austria access to additional and much-needed generals. But will that be enough to offset the French military superiority? Quite possibly!
The Soldiers of Fortune Expansion is completely free for all Coalitions Core Box backers, including the Core Pledge, Deluxe Pledge and Group Pledge (x6 of course). It’s also fully compatible with Coalitions core game, the Ancien Regime Expansion and the Raison d’Etat Expansion.
More details on the Raison d’Etat Expansion
As we mentioned yesterday, Raison d’Etat is a standalone expansion. That means you won’t need the Coalitions Core Box – the Raison d’Etat box will contain all the components necessary to play it, including the expansion-specific tokens, cards and meeples. It’d be historically inaccurate to play Raison d’Etat with Coalitions core components and we certainly wouldn’t want that. After all, there is a gap of at least a hundred years between the two historical periods.
There are seven nations in the Raison d’Etat Expansion and two of them are completely new. You’ll be able to play as Spain, France, Austria, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, Sweden or Poland. In the 17th century both Poland (more specifically the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and Sweden were major European powers, no less influential than western nations, and with vast territories under their control.
The Raison d’Etat Expansion is based on two lengthy conflicts, the Polish-Swedish Wars and the Thirty Years’ War. Tomorrow we’ll briefly summarize the former conflict and today we’ll focus on the latter one. It was a religious-political war between the Protestant powers on one side and Catholic powers on the other fought mostly in Central Europe, on the territories of present-day Germany, Austria and Czech Republic. The first phase (1618-1635) of the conflict was limited and involved the Holy Roman Emperor and his German Protestant enemies, but the second phase (1635-1648) engulfed most of the European powers. The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia which generally favored the Protestant cause, led to the independence of the Netherlands and the enlargement of France and Sweden.
To add Raison d'Etat Expansion to your pledge simply edit the details of your pledge or increase your pledge manually with the price of the expansion.
Social Goal needs a final push!
The Duke of Wellington grows impatient. How is he supposed to defy Napoleon without your support? ;) You only need 10 more shares either on Facebook or Twitter (that counts too!) and you’ll unlock the following goals:
- A different shade of red for Wellington’s meeple.
- A special rule concerning how Wellington supports other generals in battle.
Live presentation of Coalitions in Katowice
We’re very sorry we’re unable show you our games live in the United States and United Kingdom due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions – we hope the situation will eventually improve, the restrictions will be eased and we’ll once again be able to meet you and have a lot of fun playing our games together.
For now, however, we’re only able to operate in Poland. Last weekend we managed to play a few games of Coalitions in Katowice, at a gaming cafe called Ludiversum. This is what some of the players said about the game after the event:
-Coalitions promises to be an awesome game. I’m eager to find out more about other mapboards and scenarios!
-It was great, I didn’t think I’d like a game about negotiations so much! I highly recommend Coalitions.
-This is a really good game. I recommend it!
A French preview and a German review
Coalitions is going to be published in French and German, so it’s only right to show you the game in these languages.
The French ParadoxeTemporel has published a preview of Coalitions showcasing the most important elements and mechanics of the game, including the Wheel of War.
At the same time, the German BoardGameMonkeys have thoroughly reviewed Coalitions and it seems they like the game quite a lot. If you know German, this is a perfect opportunity to know more about Coalitions!
