Verdun is a trick taking game Designed by Ren Multamäki, based on the battle between the French and German sides of the first world war in 1916. The game is designed to be sobering and thoughtful in its approach to the horror that is warfare. You don't put Verdun on the table expecting to have fun, it is not that kind of game.
Verdun should insist on four players. It doesn't say it specifically but implies it and certainly gives the impression that was what written on the original design brief. There's enough games out there that cater to two for everyone's enjoyment. Verdun doesn't need to cater to you, ideally you should probably cater to it in order to get the best out of what it is offering.
Playing with four is where Verdun is going to sit best. At that point it adds in a level of communication guessing and frustration and again helps to encapsulate the desperation of the situation. You'll lay down cards hoping that your team mate knows when to press the advantage or when to hold back. There's almost a demand here for silence as cards are played and the result plays out.
It is a trick taking game that tries to fight against the grain. There are only two main suits representing the French and German sides, and the lead card played doesn't define what everyone else has to play. The idea here is to play card in order to overwhelm your enemies' defences. Sharing glances across the table in the hope that some kind of shared telepathy will have let you decide the correct strategy for your attack.
It's a trick taker but it isn't. It's a lane battler as well, but again it isn't. There's special cards that in a war film would be played by famous faces, like Generals and Spies, Scouts and Chaplains. They offer chances to change the game slightly but usually are sacrificed when played due to their value. It's another layer to consider as you decide on which card to commit to the fray. Pick one of your enemies bases and make an attack. Play a card and then sit back as your opponents and allies in the game play theirs. Pray they don't play tactic cards that cause further damage and they happily sacrifice your high rankers while all you can do is stand there trying to pee in a handkerchief, hoping its enough to avoid death by mustard gas.
Once all the cards have been played with potential back up tactics, if the defence is breached then the defender has one last gasp and not losing the asset by revealing a final defence token. If the attackers beat this and succeed, then the lane and the asset is considered captured and the victors enjoy the spoils.
Well, they enjoy gaining a slight win, but still losing a card to their loss pile, with their lowest value card that was played, while the losers lose their highest card that was played. The war of attrition being played out in real time.
At first it all sounds a bit pedestrian, as you expect assaults will always come with high cards and confidence. There's always going to be that hand that is played on round seven or eight where you have no choice but to play a card you know is going to be lost to the casualty pile and place it down through bared and gritted teeth. This is how Verdun reminds you continually that you're not involved in anything fun.
There's no real celebration here, in fact you could argue that the primary theme behind Verdun is the acceptance of loss, and that regardless of how you play your hand, there will always be some kind of casualty of your little trick taking game. You're reminded of this by the skulls on the cards that sit in your casualty pile. All there to be added up at the end.
Ironically the prizes for taking over the enemies positions rarely make up for the loss of life incurred in the operation. Verdun is the type of game where victorious smiles end up feeling forced. Where you victory is about losing less instead of winning more. The game doesn't take time to play, but it works best in smaller plays rather than the recommended three rounds.
Verdun offers layers and a slight depth that your wouldn't consider possible from a simple deck of cards. Similar to General Orders from Osprey, it takes the theme of war and gamifies it, but its not here to deliver fun, but something much more sombre and important.
You can find the campaign for Verdun HERE
This preview is based on the prototype version of the game provided to us by the designer and publisher. We were not paid monetary compensation for this Preview. We give a general overview of the gameplay and so not all of the mechanical aspects of the game may be mentioned. Quotations from this preview may possibly appear in relation to any marketing associated with this game.
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