Meeple on Board Rating
Be the first to review this product.Board Game Geek Reviews
Be the first to review “Prime Minister”
You must be logged in to post a review.
You must be logged in to post a review.
In 1837, Queen Victoria begins her long reign over the United Kingdom, a country split between Liberals and Conservatives. Liberals strive for social progress, including repeal of the Corn Laws to help feed the working classes, expansion of the electorate to create a real democracy, and Home Rule for Ireland. Conservatives want to slow the pace of change, while advancing their own agenda to maintain order, protect traditional values, and secure the Empire. Her Majesty occasionally interferes in politics, but it’s the Prime Minister who really governs the country and sets the political agenda. Ten different Prime Ministers served during Victoria’s reign, with varying degrees of success. Now it’s your turn to experience Victorian political life, taking on the role of a historical politician. Will you make your mark as a Backbencher? Stir up trouble as a wily Opposition Leader? Or successfully govern the world’s greatest empire as Prime Minister?
In Prime Minister, 1 to 4 players vie for political power and prestige by campaigning for public support, selecting and debating bills, pursuing official appointments, recruiting influential Victorians as supporters, garnering favor with the Queen, and, when the time is right, challenging other players for their leadership roles. Gameplay is partly cooperative with shifting alliances, but only one player can win by holding the Prime Minister’s seat at the game’s end.
In addition to the standard multiplayer game, Prime Minister includes a dozen scenarios of varying length and a “Clockwork" system featuring automated opponents for solitaire play.
-description from publisher
Ages | 12+ |
---|---|
Players | Solo, 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players |
Play Time | 60m – 180m |
Designer | Paul Hellyer |
Mechanics | Action Points, Semi-Cooperative Game, Solo / Solitaire Game, Simulation |
Theme | Card Game, Political, Post-Napoleonic |
Publisher | GMT Games |
erdogandalf
I like the four players, two teams, one winner thing, along with being able to get absolutely any role during the game. It's also pretty thematic. The the fluid changes between party leadership and ruling parties elevate this to feel very unique. Otherwise I'd just feel like I'd like to play more Hegemony.
individyouall
My initial impressions are that this is a superlative game of scheming, plotting and treachery that builds to an epic crescendo. I’m almost convinced this is a work of genius.
cfarrell
Played once. Interesting! Pretty easy to play despite the frustratingly opaque rulebook (seriously people, learn this skill. It’s a huge problem). The dynamics of 4 players with two teams and leaders and backbenchers but an individual winner is interesting. But you know the drill here. It’s a first-time designer working with GMT. I don’t think the game actually works. Because the support in various electorates is not push-pull but just individual tracks, those get maxed out and it’s not interesting. Because it’s almost impossible to win significant electoral majorities, or to activate enough partisans to pass partisan bills, passing bills just ends up an exercise in being there the lastest with the mostest and dumping supporters in, which isn’t super-interesting. And the way VPs are scored, and the balance between leaders and backbenchers, seems super-sketchy and with a huge endgame problem. So! I think there is potential here. But I wish the game hadn’t been published by GMT. Designers need time to practice their craft and unless they are doing highly derivative work or have significant publisher support (which no longer happens in the wargame space) it’s inevitable that their initial published designs aren’t very good. Even Cole Wehrle’s first published game, An Infamous Traffic, was kinda meh (although functional and somewhat better than this). So it’s good when they can ramp up - An Infamous Traffic was a small game. And it’s a problem that GMT gave this a deluxe treatment and high price point when it really wasn’t warranted. This should have gone through Holland Spiele, where the footprint would have been kept usefully spare and it could have found an audience of people who like experimental games where functionality is desirable but maybe not the top priority. I’ll be really interested to see where the designer goes here, because the raw material here is promising. But we’re not there yet. Whew, that was rantier than I intended, but I think worth saying. All that said, there is interesting stuff here and if you’re interested in games for the purpose of exploring game designers trying things, I would not say don’t play it. I would strongly advise playing the short game though (where you start at 70-ish VP). The full game is too long and the first half is not super-interesting. Just cut to the chase.