If you have ever wanted a reason to finally try the two-player game that defined a generation of strategy gaming, here it is. GMT Games is marking two decades of Twilight Struggle with a 20th Anniversary Hall of Fame Edition, and it has already sailed through pre-orders to reach the printers.
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Start organising for freeTwilight Struggle, designed by Ananda Gupta and Jason Matthews, is a card-driven tug-of-war between the USA and the USSR across the Cold War of 1945 to 1989. Two players spend roughly three hours pushing influence around the globe, triggering historical events from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Space Race, each card a small dilemma about helping your own cause while handing ammunition to your rival. It is tense, thematic and famously moreish.
Its pedigree is hard to overstate. From December 2010 until January 2016 it sat at number one on BoardGameGeek, the hobby's biggest ranking, only losing the crown to Pandemic Legacy. It won the 2005 Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Modern Era Boardgame, two International Gamers Awards in 2006, and Golden Geek awards for Best Wargame and Best Two-Player game. Last year it entered the GAMA Hall of Fame, and this year the BoardGameGeek Hall of Fame.
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See how it worksThe anniversary edition keeps the gameplay untouched but rebuilds the look. Artist Terry Leeds has redesigned the box and board, and the map is now double-sided, with his new version on the front and Mark Simonitch's beloved Deluxe Edition map on the back. The headline new content is a fresh alt-history scenario called Red Sun Rising, the main draw for anyone who already owns the Deluxe Edition, and it arrives alongside a stack of promo cards gathered from past printings, the Turn Zero and Alternative Space Race variants, and a booklet of retrospective essays from the designers.
It is a P500 release at $60 (around £45), with a $94 recommended price once it hits shops. If you have been meaning to rope someone into a proper two-player rivalry, round up an opponent on Backseat Gamer and dig in.
