While wandering GenCon, the Academy Games booth caught my eye, specifically the Mare Nostrum board fully set up on a neoprene mat of the Mediterranean, complete with plastic buildings and tokens. As a historical wargammer, I’m a sucker for games with at least some basis in reality or history. I’d classify Mare Nostrum as historically themed, but not historical (you can play historical figures that did not live concurrently and there is an expansion to add Atlantis). However, the meat of Academy Games’ offering comes from their historical line of games, particularly their Birth of America and Conflict of Heroes series.
I was able to play a full game of 1754 Conquest. The game itself is set in the French and Indian War, part of their Birth of America line. This series includes 1775 Rebellion set during the American Revolution and 1812 Invasion of Canada (can you guess it was set during the War of 1812?) Building off this theme comes the Birth of Europe. The first game currently published in this series is 878 Vikings. Players are able to re-litigate the Viking invasions of England. Sometimes history is delightfully straightforward, as far as naming conventions go. So, too, does Academy Games dub their titles.
Look for an in-depth upcoming review of 1754, but at a high level these games are described and grouped by Academy Games as “Head to Head and Team Area Control Games”. 1754 Conquest pitted the British Regular and British Irregular (colonial) armies against the French Regulars and settlers. The game was essentially a 2v2. There is a fifth group, the Native Americans, that true to history get pushed and pulled between the opposing sides (as a side note, Overbattle makes use of a similar mechanic with the Cyn faction). The ultimate goal is to control the most territory at the end of the war. Turn order is random and determined by drawing markers from a bag. The game ends when both sides have played both their Truce cards. Talking to the other players at the table, one of whom was a self described huge fan of 1812 Invasion of Canada, the games have the same core mechanics with some nuance with each version.
A noteworthy offering of Academy games is Freedom – The Underground Railroad. This is a cooperative game set before and during the American Civil War. The players take on the role of abolitionists, moving slaves along the Underground Railroad to freedom and safety in Canada. As players, you are literally playing against the institution of slavery. According to the one of the Academy Games staff, a hope of the company is that their board games would be useful in a classroom setting, and Freedom is a clear example of this aspiration. Brian Mayer, a school teacher and librarian, noticed that there are no boardgames covering this aspect of American history. He designed Freedom to try and give a sense of the challenges abolitionists and slaves faced trying to avoid capture and harm on their way north. He wrote a book to accompany this game, Teaching the Underground Railroad Through Play, part of Rosen Classroom’s Teaching Through Games series. Another title accompanies 1775: Rebellion.
Academy Games is branching out into less historical fare as well. Their new sci-fi title Agents of Mayhem was on display and is assuredly an appealing board. It’s a multi-tiered game that can be preordered as a late backer. However, the bulk of the Academy roster are historically themed or inspired games that can be used to illuminate periods of American, and now European, history. Especially with Freedom, the challenges a player needs to overcome were real. The openness of movement and turn fluidity in 1754 Conquest meant I, as a commander, felt constrained and more cautious than I would be in a similar command and control style game such as Risk. If this kind of realism appeals to you and/or your gaming group, I thoroughly enjoyed my game of 1754 and would recommend trying more games in that series.
If you are ever in an argument about how games are just games, or just for fun, add Academy Games to your arsenal of responses. This publisher brings history to the tabletop, both for enjoyment and for the classroom.
Ross Blythe is a Chicago based gamer interested in all things tabletop. He enjoys reading history as well as fiction, and so has a soft spot for historical wargames like Pike & Shotte. For the campaigns he runs as a DM he often looks to history for inspiration, for the lessons of the past to challenge the players at his table.
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