76 April 2019
PLAYED
e government and socialists each
have three leaders who can be called
upon, deploying to the board as unique
units and allowing for special actions,
such as revealing your opponent’s
secret objective or blocking a
movement route between regions.
Each played card has a cost in time
which advances a calendar through the
year of 1917, granting bonus actions
for landing on certain dates and later
triggering the return of Trotsky from
exile, who can lend his strength to
either side to begin with before allying
permanently with the Bolsheviks in the
summer. e calendar also serves as a
timer for the surprisingly brisk game,
handing victory to the dominant side if
neither player manages to swing public
support far enough in their favour.
Neutral units who lend their strength
to whichever side has the ‘Will of the
People’ – which can be claimed once
by each player by using Kerensky or
Lenin – present another interesting
way of keeping the board-based
competition consistently dynamic.
Along with its exceptional visual
presentation, these sprinkles of Dual
Powers’ historical theme stand out
as the highlights of a game that is
otherwise solid and satisfying, but
still lacks avour – despite the chance
to dive into a period with a wealth of
potential. e tight, tense cardplay,
layers of hidden information and
asymmetric area-control strategy make
for an enjoyable abstracted two-player
experience, but it’s hard not to feel that
there was a missed opportunity here to
make something both as mechanically
robust and steeped in its setting as
Twilight Struggle.
Had Dual Powers managed to nd
the middle ground of its own tug-of-war
between theme and gameplay, it could’ve
been something extraordinary. Instead,
it’s remarkable – but not revolutionary.
MATT JARVIST
he 1917 Russian revolutions and
the civil war they sparked were
complex and bloody, and their
eventual outcome would go on to
change the world forever. Dual Powers
distils the events, gures and con ict
of the momentous year into a head-
to-head struggle for power between
the Provisional Government and the
Petrograd Soviet that’s beautiful to look
at and impressively streamlined to
play, but lacks the rich thematic depth
to make it a true classic.
e tussle between the state power
formed in the wake of Tsar Nicholas
II’s abdication and the rising socialist
movement led by a worker council is
symbolised by a Twilight Struggle-like
tug-of-war points tracker along the
bottom of the board, which swings
back and forth as the two sides claim
regions in Petrograd. Each player has
four actions each round to recruit
new units, move them around the
board or recover their strength before
up to three of the regions are scored,
handing points to the dominant force.
Despite the complexity of the real-
life politics involved, the core of Dual
Powers remains this trim area-control
con ict throughout, powered along by the
smartly designed deck of command cardsthat can be used for one of two available
actions or played as an secret objective.
ese secret objectives are one of
the elements that make Dual Powers
more than a run-of-the-mill battle
for territory. Each player plays a
card facedown at the beginning of a
round, secretly selecting one of the
regions that will be scored and how
many points the controlling side will
earn. A third region is dictated by
an area of ‘unrest’, which is known
by both players. e combination of
hidden and shared knowledge cleverly
introduces an element of blu ng
and deduction into the movement of
units around the map, as you try to
deduce where your opponent might
score that round while misleading
attempts to counter your own points
grab. It works brilliantly, enriching
the straightforward strategic cardplay
on the board with the potential for
psychological jousting.
While Dual Powers wears its
historical dressing loosely, the setting
allows for the comfortable addition of
some fantastic asymmetrical gameplay.Don't you know it’s gonna be alright?
Dual Powers:
REVOLUTION 1917
45m 1-2 13+ £39WHAT’S IN
THE BOX?
◗ Game board
◗ Six region tiles
◗ 48 command cards
◗ Six leader cards
◗ Eight historical
information cards
◗ Two player aid cards
◗ Eight leader tokens
◗ 26 unit tokens
◗ Score marker
◗ Blockade marker
◗ Day marker
◗ Month marker
◗ Will of the People
marker
◗ Three objective
markers
◗ 27 opposing
unit tokens (for
solitaire variant)
◗ Three difficulty
level tokens (for
solitaire variant)TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED... TWILIGHT STRUGGLE
Two players using tight cardplay to battle for control during one of history’s
most pivotal moments? That sounds familiar...(^) PLAY IT? PROBABLY
Dual Powers is a well-designed and
fun two-player game with a fantastic
look and a promising theme. It’s just
a shame that the theme doesn’t go
deeper, resulting in something that
doesn’t live all the way up to its potential.