Europe Divided

I approached Europe Divided with some real reservations. It looked like TS-Light, and it was not immediately clear what it could add to an already familiar shape. As it turns out, Phallanx has built a very strong system here, rather than merely a shortened version of a larger idea.

The asymmetry is between the EU/NATO pairing and the Eastern Bloc. The West has noticeably more options, but finds it harder to concentrate on one defined strategy; the Eastern Bloc is under greater resource pressure, yet can more readily carry out the plan it has chosen. This is not asymmetry as decoration. It materially changes how each side sets its priorities.

The interesting decision is that each player chooses the objectives they will score in the coming rounds, and their opponent can see them. Pursuing your own objectives therefore becomes an invitation for the other side to interfere, while the bluff operates on several levels: what you are actually pursuing, what you can achieve, and what you want your opponent to think you will defend.

It all comes together in scarcely more than 90 minutes, which is exactly the right length for this density of decisions. Europe Divided is a small, remarkably well-made surprise: familiar enough to get you settled quickly, but sufficiently its own game to earn a place on the table.