The Battle of Armageddon: Deluxe Edition

Nukes by the sackful, the Antichrist, seals, trumpets of the Apocalypse, and fighting until nothing is left standing: The Battle of Armageddon: Deluxe Edition does not slip quietly into a collection. I bought it as though something had possessed me one morning, and as a piece for an eccentric shelf it is a genuine gem. For a normal collection, it may require a warning label.

The few nations still intact are racing for the Holy Land, where the Messiah is expected to appear. Israel fights the Arabs; a red tide of 76 infantry counters that stubbornly refuse to die rolls in from the east; Magog turns up with AK-47s and Migs; Americans and Europeans, loyal followers of the Antichrist, arrive with fleets. It is so aggressively American that it comes back around and stares you in the face. And yes, you laugh.

At the table, this is an asymmetric free-for-all between six sides. Rounds bring reinforcements, armies, and brute-force cards, then players pile into one another over the Holy Land. There is no room for politeness: you see an opponent exposed and throw everything at them, because otherwise they will do it to you.

The interaction has teeth, although it sometimes bites the wrong person. A yolo event can wipe half the counters from the map and have the whole table laughing; three or four nuclear hits on one player in the first round can leave them effectively out of the game. And when one side receives 40 reinforcement points while another gets 2 in a game lasting three or four hours, that is not quite the enjoyable sort of nastiness. It is waiting.

It was not a bad experience; the setting has its own deranged charm, and there is certainly plenty of fighting. But the designer seems to have forgotten that an apocalypse still needs to be a game. The Battle of Armageddon: Deluxe Edition is a missed opportunity with a very handsome explosion.