Wise Guys Board Game Review - Gale Force Nine

It's maybe pure ignorance on my part but I've never seen a huge number of board games that sit within the organised crime genre. There seems to be more Sci-Fi than Scarface. I own The Godfather: Corleone's Empire, which was a grail game for me and was its own tale of negotiation and acquisition and offers that couldn't be refused. Wise Guys from Gale Force Nine enters the fray with a Goodfellas attitude on how you win at life, which is to gather up as much money as possible, without effecting your influence and clout and your ability to make money on the black market. It is a remix of a Sons of Anarchy game from a few years ago, but this time it returns without a connected IP. 

There's an attraction to this kind of genre of game, because these are criminals, but also the ultimate in non-conformists to a societal norm. Most of us don't want to work a normal job with a steady life and pay check if given the choice. Some of us already live on an edge, working from hustle to hustle to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. 

However, I also think that most people have a moral compass that excludes them from taking that extra step into law breaking and actual physical violence against those who would stop us getting from what we want. Goodfellas was cool, clever and smart and some of us imagine what it would be like to live the life of respect and money and wise cracks.  I believe the majority of us would stop at the point where we're taking a claw hammer to someone's fingers because they didn't pay that weeks protection money. So we continually romanticise this part of humanity and close our eyes to the will and required barbarity required to sit outside the normal circle of capitalism. 

Wise Guys is a Chicago prohibition era area control game where you are less likely to go to the mattresses and more likely to wise crack while leaning on the corner of a bar. Unusually or fashionably expected, each of the asymmetrical factions you can play as have their own set of pros and cons that you'll need to take advantage of in order to win the day. Your crew will have small time associates and physically larger made men  that offer their talents in being fast talkers or heavy handers. Each of the crews start off with different numbers of each type but everyone has the chance to recruit and promote their own as they go. Each of the crews are skewed in being better at talking or battling which means your individual approach top the game is likely to differ per player.

For the majority of Wise Guys the order of the day is adapting to the current situation as opposed to seeing long term plans come to fruition. It is a game about grabbing the current opportunity and squeezing it for as much money as you possibly can. This can happen in a number of different ways. Each round new location tiles will be revealed that offer you chances to trade or take, normally in the form of cash, guns or illicit liquor. Overall cash is what will win you the game, but guns can be used to help promote associates in your crew or help you dominate a slugging match. Liquor can be sold at the end of the round in the black market to help bring in more money depending on your overall clout. All of your resources are hidden behind screens during the game which makes it's importance known when you are bluffing in the Black Market or when you decide to bring a gun to a knife fight.

Even though Wise Guys comes to the table with a set of characters that you wouldn't want to be caught accidentally looking too long at, extreme violence isn't tolerated within the the main mechanics of the game without some form of punishment. Contested areas will allow you to sort out arguments by either talking or slugging things out. Bring a gun to a fist fight and there a chance that you'll win but also a chance that everyone is sent to the local hospital, losing clout in the process. It's possible for a contested site to end up with no one in it and therefore no one making any money. 

Lose a made man and you'll potentially lose an action for the next round, as they are decided on the size of your crew. You can't do nothing without actions. Movement, Exploiting, Recruiting and Initiation will all need one of your car tokens to make it happen. There's this balance you have to maintain of managing the size of the crew and making sure you're continually adding more resources to the pile. Simple choices at the beginning turn quickly into chains of decisions as you plan your way forward for one of the six rounds you'll play. On top of all that, Roaring 20s cards that appear every round have game changing effects or criteria that must be met to avoid a penalty. It adds yet another thing to keep an eye on as you try to make money. 

Presentation is clear and impressive, with Darko Stojanovic getting you immersed in the theme with the choice of character illustrations and locations that work exceptionally well. The rulebook is well laid out, containing easy to understand explanations and examples of play and they get a gold medal for the round and order summary on the back page, which goes that little bit further to getting you over the line to learning the game. 

Wise Guys brings randomness and reactiveness to the table. This is a game where your crew pick will decide your first steps, where the first locations will determine how you hustle and exploit. Your number of turns is likely to change through the game and you'll potentially need to shed guns due to a Roaring 20's penalty. It's a slice of pizza topped with pepperoni chaos and fist fight mushrooms. When you bring the game to the table, every session is very likely to play out differently. There's no definitive repeatable route to victory that will guarantee you a pile of money every time. You'll know people in your game group that will find this delightful and challenging.

For some, relying on the luck of locations and other external factors might potentially put them off. I found the challenge to be part of the overall enjoyment of the game. It reminded me very much of playing Eric Lang's difficult to get hold of and untouchable classic ( I mean that you can't find it, so you can't touch it), so if you looking for something in a similar vein, but is actually able to end up in your collection without having to resort to extortion and horses heads, then Wise Guys is going to offer you the same theme, the same area control mechanics and the same chaotic lawless fun. Just keep you head down and your nose clean, you hear me? 

Find Out More 

Game Design - Phil Yates 

Artwork - Darko Stojanovic

Graphic Design - Victor Pesch 

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This review is based on the retail version of the game provided to us by the designer and publisher. We were not paid monetary compensation for this review. We give a general overview of the gameplay and so not all of the mechanical aspects of the game may be mentioned.

The majority of the games that we are play are going to take a reasonable number of sessions and playthroughs to fully understand every possibility that they offer. We hope this write up gives you an idea of whether or not this game is something that you will consider playing or even add to your collection. 

Even if we don't like something, hopefully it helps you to decide if it is something that you should find out more about. We always suggest you check out a gameplay video to give you a better understanding of the game as it is played. 

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