Just when I thought I’d gotten over crowdfunding, September came along and ruined everything. Next week we’re going to see the re-release of Harvest – the only Trey Chambers game I don’t own. But first, Snowdale Design just started a Gamefound campaign for their latest offering in Peacemakers: Horrors of War.
Now, I’m a big fan of Snowdale Design. Dale of Merchants is one of the best deck-builders I’ve ever played, with each expansion only making it better. Then last year, Lands of Galzyr fully understood the assignment of how to make a great story-based game. In fact, it ended up being one of my favourites from 2022.
The only blemish on their impeccable record is Dawn of the Peacemakers. It was a good game, had great writing, and a wealth of novel mechanics. But when put against the rest of their catalogue, it’s found lacking.
This is no surprise either because it was also their most ambitious title. A big claim for any publisher, but doubly so for Snowdale Design. Who tend to push the boundaries of genre conventions for whatever game they’re working on.
In the case of Dawn of the Peacemakers, they created a reverse war game, spawning a new genre of board game entirely. One where you’re in the middle of a war, trying to calm both sides so that the conflict ends in negotiation.
What’s new in Peacemakers: Horrors of War?
One of the biggest issues with Dawn of the Peacemakers was setup time. It was a big box campaign game, where everything was configurable or interchangeable. Meaning every scenario took you an age to set up and tear down.
From the Gamefound page, there is a huge emphasis on removing this barrier for entry with Peacemakers: Horrors of War. Letting you get to playing the game as fast as possible.
One of the most notable differences in this regard is that this new game traded in the large map and different terrain hexes for two flipbooks. These books contain an array of maps already printed on the pages, along with what units are going to be in the battle, and the motivation trackers.
We’ve seen these types of map books work wonderfully before in Sleeping Gods, and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. So we know it’s going to be a massive improvement in terms of setup time. However, these map books will also allow more fascinating hand-crafted scenarios as well.
Looking at the gameplay, it’s no surprise that once again you’re thrust into the middle of combat and must try to persuade rival nations to negotiate peace. But before their leaders are willing to sit down and discuss terms. You must first use all your cunning and strategy to lower the motivation and appetite for destruction on all sides of the conflict.
This a puzzle, as you have no control over the major nations who are hell-bent on butting heads. Instead, you’re individuals in the field, trying to demotivate soldiers on the front line. As such, you can never directly control the armies but instead must influence them to settle down.
The big difference between the original and Peacemakers: Horrors of War is the introduction of the horror deck. If a unit dies, then you take a card from this deck which will penalise you in one way or another. Even though this loss of life might speed up the end of the war, it’s still a casualty that we all must live with.
It’s a powerful metaphor in a genre of board games that often focus on winning at all costs.
Other small changes include opting for screen-printed wooden tokens instead of miniatures. As well as, replacing the full-scale campaign with 6 scenarios, and guaranteed replayability. Then there is the organised insert, which looks to make setup even faster still.
Peacemakers: Horrors of War looks to fulfil the promise the original game made. Just reading about it, and looking at the changes made gets me excited for the game. Everything here looks like an improvement, and I can’t wait to put an end to war again.
You can find Peacemakers: Horrors of War on Gamefound, or you can check out the rest of Snowdale Design’s catalogue on their website.
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