The vacation season – at least in the Northern Hemisphere – just started. And with that another edition of my regular article – Top Travel-Friendly Wargames – ones, which we can take on our summer trips!

What type of games will we have here? They should conform to two basic rules:

  • space need to play the game – they cannot be too large nor take too much place to set-up; you anyhow are travelling so do not want to burden your luggage with too much additional stuff!
  • time needed to play the game – in general, that would be fast to set-up and play titles which can be even played on a bike trip! You are having a vacation, you want to get your bellowed wargames with you but not necessarily spend whole time with them (remember, family watching!)

Now, one important thing which I would like to stress – one cannot expect from the game which lasts 20-30 minutes and has couple of pages of rules ideal historical accuracy. And this is definitely not the goal of those position. Still, it is important to make this comment so we compare apples to apples 🙂

So let us jump to the selection!

Other articles in the series:

Battle Line by GMT Games

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A small card game created by the boardgames veteran Reiner Knizia. Two players face off across a ‘battle line’ and attempt to win the engagement by taking 5 of 9 flags or 3 adjacent flags. Flags are decided by placing cards into 3 card poker-type hands on either side of the flag (similar to straight flush, 3 of a kind, straight, flush, etc). The side with the highest ‘formation’ of cards wins the flag.

In 2019 we got the re-implementation of the game. This new re-themed version of Battle Line is a two-player strategy card game built around the theme of Medieval warfare. This re-themed version of Battle Line features 60 beautiful new cards by illustrator Roland MacDonald, as well as 10 full-color tactics “wildcards” that give players extra flexibility and choices and help make each new battle wildly different from the last.

The game is very easy to pack, requires limited space and takes no more then 30 minutes to play. Still, it provides very interesting game play and you need to really plan well to win. As I love that title I was not able to resist temptation and got both version – the Ancient one and the Medieval one. There are just minor differences between them and I play those titles interchangeably.  

More about game:

Caesar! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! by PSC Games

Caesar! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes is a very quick and replayable title in “20-minutes series”. You probably are aware of Blitzkrieg! World War II in 20 minutes! This is from the same series and same designer – Paolo Mori. However, the rules are completely different although some mechanics might seem familiar – there is hidden information regarding your influence tokens, to vie for control of provinces and who will use up first all his control tokens – wins!

That was definitely a fresh design for me as I have not played earlier titles in the series and definitely fitted well whenever we had some spare time between larger titles. It is also very compact so fully suitable as travel wargame – which we tested already with my colleagues!

More about game:

Shores of Tripoli by Fort Circle

The Shores of Tripoli plays out exciting episode of Early American military history – the First Barbaric War – one I was oblivious to! As the United States, one player will pressure Tripolitania to allow the free movement of American merchant vessels – or face the consequences. As the leader of Tripoli, the other player will continue the lucrative piracy of the fearsome corsairs while countering the American threat on land and sea.

From the first time I heard about the game in 2019 I was intrigued by a completely new historical subject to me – I will be honest, I never knew that US was fighting in the Mediterranean to repeal the pirates and they were supported by Swedes – all this happening during the Napoleonic Wars! What draw me to the game was also the asymmetry plus great Card Driven Game concept where you – throughout the game – have access to all of the cards but it is question when and how to use them.

I can definitely recommend it as travel-friendly wargame, as it is compact, allows for two-player and solo mode, can be easily finished in less than hour – plus is so much replayable!

More about game:

La Resistance by Flying Pig Games

Designed by Mark H. Walker, La Résistance is a simple, yet engaging, dice and card game set during the German occupation of France in World War II. During the occupation, brave French men and women fought against the Nazi conquerors, disrupting their communications, destroying supply warehouses, and ambushing German patrols. La Résistance gives players a chance to lead a band of resistance fighters, working to keep their men and women alive as they also strive to become the most famous resistance leader.

On each turn, a player will roll six dice, placing the dice on mission cards common to all players, he or she attempts to defeat the mission card by matching dice on the card, spending recruits, and using their resistance leader’s special abilities. To win, a player must amass 12 Glory Points or break – by stealing or otherwise removing all rival resistance group members – the other resistance bands.

Three to five people may play, so this is compact, quick and engaging proposition for larger groups travelling together! Highly recommended!

More about game:

Tetrachia by Nestorgames

Tetrarchy in action – barbarians attack Egypt!

A good, interesting and addictive game in a pencil-case? Yes, it is possible. What I mean and refer to is Tetrarchy, great cooperative title form Nestorgames. Not many wargamers know that game so I would like to provide more info then usually in those articles.

This beautiful game by Miguel Marqués is a simplified story of the Roman fight for survival under emperor Diocletian. This is cooperative game, with four co-emperors working in conjunction on internal rebellions as well as external incursions. Secure 6 borders to win the game – which is not an easy thing, taking into account that you would also work on enemy armies converging on Rome and ever present rebellions.

The game can be played form 1 to 4 players and there are 4 different parameters allowing for gradual increase of the game difficulty:

  • Number of control tokens (like garrisons or armies) each of the 4 emperors can place (more tokens makes it easier for you).  Value: 3, 4 or 5
  • Number of fleets allowing emperors move across water (more fleets makes it easier for you). Value: 1, 2 or 3
  • Number of extra rebellions placed during setup (fewer rebellions makes it easier for you). Value:  0, 1 or 2
  •  Number of barbarian invading armies during setup (fewer makes it easier for you). Value: 0, 1 or 2

Thanks to flexible set-up of barbarians there is a great re-playability in this position. Soon after publishing the game a set of additional scenarios was created which prolongs longevity of the game even more. Coordination between players is a must and the defeat is a common outcome. It should take no more than 1 hour to play and requires only small space.

I used this title very often on the bike trips with my fellow wargaming buddy Marcin; was great to play during the breaks and provided us with a lot of fun (and frustration when we were losing!)

More about game:

Fort Sumter by GMT Games

Fort Sumter is a two-player Card Driven Game (CDG) portraying the 1860 secession crisis that led to the bombardment of Fort Sumter and the American Civil War. Fort Sumter is a small footprint game (11×17” mounted map) that takes approximately 25-40 minutes to play. The game pits a Unionist versus a Secessionist player.

Each player uses the area control mechanic pioneered in Mark Herman’s We The People design and immortalized in Twilight Struggle to place, move, and remove political capital. The location of political capital determines who controls each of the four crisis dimensions (Political, Secession, Public Opinion, and Armaments). After three rounds of play, the game culminates in a Final Crisis confrontation to determine the winner.

Fort Sumter posses all the characteristics of a perfect travel-friendly game. What is more, when taking this game for the trip, I would usually leave the box and take only content – this is than pretty compact and does not take too much space. Of course, you can go even a step further and simply play ethe digital version 🙂

Twilight Struggle: Red Sea by GMT Games

Twilight Struggle: Red Sea – Conflict in the Horn of Africa allows fellow players to continue the journey in the Twilight Struggle world. With a more limited scope and much shorter playtime, Twilight Struggle: Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to the Twilight Struggle system, while maintaining all the tension, decision making, and theme of the original classic.

But that makes this game also perfect as a travel-friendly position! Again, like with Fort Sumter, leave the box at home and use a zip-lock to minimize space needed and you have a great game – taking 20-30 minutes to play – for your travels. Also, just like with Fort Sumter you can cheat (😈) and us digital application instead 🙂

Guadalcanal: Solitaire by Worthington Publishing

When I was young I used to play the Bookgames, where you were reading, making decisions and then jumping to particular page to continue with the story. Here we have slightly different approach, but still the Guadalcanal: Solitaire – An Original Bookgame is a super compact title which can be taken anywhere.

As for the topic itself, well, this is one of the most iconic land battles of Pacific War – the heroic defense of Henderson Field by the US Marines form the relentless attacks of Imperial Japanese Army. In order to win you will have to withstand 20 turns, with constant charges of enemy on three critical positions: Koli Point, Bloody Ridge and Point Cruz. Easier said than done of course 🙂

As a bookgame, this is perfect title for travels – I used this game already on some of my business trips. You need pencil, 1 die and the actual book – and you will get a lot of solitaire fun with it!

Summary

These are of course only several proposal from the many games I am usually taking for trips or journeys. They all fit the size / time conditions which are essential to match when you think about playing wargames during travels. Some of them even have Digital Versions, which is of course also an option. I hope you will find above selection inspiring!

I would be grateful if you could share your ideas for vacation / travel games!