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"Junta / Train" Topic


14 Posts

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vtsaogames30 Dec 2013 8:13 a.m. PST

Warning: this thread has a game spoiler.

Around 1980 New York magazine printed a glowing review of Junta. Some time later an irate woman mailed a letter about it to the Compleat Strategist game store, noted in the article as a place the game could be purchased. The letter writer rather obviously had not played the game but was incensed by the description of a game that included assassinations, riots and coups. She asked if I would design a game of the holocaust that featured melting baby dolls.

Fast forward to today. I downloaded a free Kindle book "Tabletop: Analog Game Design". One of the chapters is about Brenda Braithwaite's game "Train". There is only one copy that she takes from place to place and presents. It has a black board with broken glass, an antique typewriter, model train tracks, cars, yellow pawns and two decks of cards.

Players use the first deck of cards to load pawns into the railroad cars, link the cars and send them to the destination. When a train arrives the second deck is used to find the destination. The destination is one of the death camps. The typewriter (which typed the rules) is an SS typewriter.

More here via the Wall Street Journal link

It doesn't have melting baby dolls. It is a serious and moving treatment of the subject, unlike the comic-opera approach of Junta.

The designer remarried since the game was produced and is now Brenda Romero.

Mobius30 Dec 2013 9:17 a.m. PST

Where do you get SS typewriters these days?

Solzhenitsyn30 Dec 2013 9:46 a.m. PST

Ebay, but you can't show the brand symbol.

vtsaogames30 Dec 2013 9:47 a.m. PST

George Norman Rockwell's Third Reich memorabilia and hardware?

darthfozzywig30 Dec 2013 11:30 a.m. PST

The Apple Store sells them as well.

John the OFM30 Dec 2013 1:30 p.m. PST

Errr, I would rather play Junta.
I dislike "games" that try to teach me things.

Mobius30 Dec 2013 2:12 p.m. PST

About the same time there was another game that had you lead an exploration of Africa. You hired armed Askaris, bought provisions and equipment and proceeded to lead your team to find the Source of the Nile. (That was the name.) You would encounter villages were the natives were either friendly or hostile. If friendly you can trade and get provisions. If hostile your Askaris and you would have to fight them. Sometimes depopulating villages.

link

The G Dog Fezian30 Dec 2013 3:44 p.m. PST

It's no Pax Britannica. Unrest in the Sudan…again.

Mehoy Nehoy30 Dec 2013 6:51 p.m. PST

Thanks for the link. That made for interesting reading.

SECURITY MINISTER CRITTER30 Dec 2013 7:44 p.m. PST

I think I'll pass on it!

vtsaogames30 Dec 2013 9:46 p.m. PST

Well, you can't buy a copy.

Brian Smaller31 Dec 2013 3:04 a.m. PST

Who doesn't like playing Junta. One of the best board games I have ever played.

bekosh31 Dec 2013 11:49 a.m. PST

I can't tell you how many nights my friends and I sat around merrily chopping off people's heads.

Guillotine link

Nothing but good light hearted fun.

vtsaogames31 Dec 2013 8:12 p.m. PST

Just ordered a copy.

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