Pax Pamir

Pax Pamir is a compact historical game about Afghanistan. You play local warlords supporting one of the three major powers - the loose local coalition of warlords, the British or the Russians. These major powers compete to exert influence in Afghanistan. You aren’t loyal to any one of them. You just want to be on the winning team when the dust settles. 

You will be buying and using cards in the game. Cards represent various characters and factions. Many of them are associated with one particular region on the map. Having them in play allows you to perform various actions. You raise armies, build roads, and march on those roads to fight.  Depending on which major power you are supporting, you deploy their pieces as armies or as roads. More pieces on the map means stronger presence. There is a type of piece - influence - which does not belong to the major powers, they belong to you. You also want to deploy these because if the strengths of the major powers are close, you score points based no your personal influence instead.

Two rows of cards are available to be purchased. Cards on the left are cheaper than those on the right, so players will tend to buy from the left and then cards will be shifted leftwards, dropping in price. Cards on the right are effectively a preview of what is to come. They allow you to plan ahead. There are limits to how many cards you can have in hand and in play. You need to buy and play cards in specific suits to increase these limits. So this is another challenge the game poses to you. 

What factions, characters and actions become available in each game depends on the order cards are drawn. You will be competing with other players to grab a combination of cards which work well together. The feeling is you are somewhat at the mercy of situation, i.e. history. You are going to learn much about this period in the history of Afghanistan. The option to switch support is interesting. If your current win condition is difficult to achieve, you might as well try something else.

Those thick discs are your influence pieces

Like other games in the Pax family, this is a game about manipulating the board situation to fit one of several possible end conditions. It is not a game about accumulating victory points. 

My game ended quite abruptly, while I was still trying to fully figure out what was going on. this is not a simple game. The board and the pieces look minimalistic, but it is quite a challenge to manage the cards you are going to buy and play. Your most important actions come from the cards you are able to play. Despite the simple structure, the game is complex because most of the details are on the cards themselves. You need to manage your tableau of cards. You also need to be aware of what your opponents can do.

I need to play this game again because I am still figuring out the strategy.