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39.00€
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Alkorahil
Cards, game board and markers are of good quality. Excellent two player game with good replay value. The rules are not complex but the strategy is deep.
Andy Parsons
Dual Powers tells you as much about Russia in 1917 as El Grande tells you about Golden Age Spain, which is to say that the historical theme is but a thin veneer. Dual Powers is about contesting the control of up to three of six areas of Petrograd on each turn. One area is randomly selected as in unrest and then the players each secretly choose an area that will also score. Like El Grande, the game is card driven, with cards allowing the recruitment of supporters or an action such as moving supporters or refreshing those that have become exhausted through contesting areas in previous turns. Beyond the situation on the board, a further element in your choice of card is how a number on it progresses the calendar; land on certain dates and you get a bonus action, start a new month and you get the will of the people (but why?). The will of the people is important because it brings control of neutral pieces and it acts as a tie breaker. Each side has three leaders, plus there is Trotsky, who starts neutral and then becomes a Bolshevik. They are disappointingly just like any other unit after a special action when they are first placed. It all works reasonably well and the game asks some tricky questions about timing and about how much to commit to a contested area. There are also opportunities to bluff, like paying no attention to a secret scoring area where you happen to start the turn with the lead. All the same, there isn't anything that makes Dual Powers really stand out from the herd of area control games. Production quality is very good. I liked the large, chunky counters and the wooden pieces that didn't really need to be. I found the artwork a mixed bag, with the leaders nicely done and the cards quite pleasing, while the board is downright ugly. The rulebook is decent.
dukane
Of the two player quick-push/pull style games i've played, this is probably my favorite. The hand management gives you some options to deploy and move around, giving you the ability to bluff without feeling like you've wasted a quarter of your moves on a risky gamble that you'r opponent might not even care to challenge you on. Throw the bonus actions and will of the people with the calendar into the mix and there's a lot of decisions above a straightforward area control game going on.