Pax Pamir - Second Edition English Kickstarter Edition

In Pax Pamir, players take on the role of 19th-century Afghan leaders trying to establish a new state after the collapse of the Durrani Empire. In Western historiography, this period is often referred to as "The Great Game" as Europeans attempted to use Central Asia as the arena for their own rivalries. In this game, these empires are viewed strictly from the perspective of the Afghans, who sought to manipulate the meddling Ferengi (foreigners) for their own ends.

In terms of gameplay, Pax Pamir is a fairly straightforward tableau pawn. Players spend most of their turn buying cards from a central market and then playing those cards in front of them in a single row called the board. Playing cards adds units to the board and grants access to additional actions that can be used to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game. This last point is particularly noteworthy. Although everyone builds their own deck of cards, the game offers players many opportunities to disrupt each other, both directly and indirectly.

In order to survive, players will organize themselves into coalitions. During play, the dominance of the various coalitions is assessed by players when a special card called the "Dominance Check" is revealed. If a single coalition has a dominant lead on any of these checks, players loyal to that coalition receive victory points based on their influence in their coalition. However, if Afghanistan remains fragmented during any of these reviews, players will instead receive victory points based on their personal power base.

After each dominance check, victory is verified and the game partially resets, allowing players to make a fresh attempt at realizing their ambitions. The game ends when a single player has achieved a lead of four or more victory points, or when the fourth and final dominance check is completed.

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