DEFCON 1

A totally asymmetrical game about the Cold War from 1950 to 1990, with historically based cards and technologies. Each of the five blocs has distinct strengths and weaknesses, its own technology tree, missions, objectives, and unit pool. Players collect resources from controlled zones, research technologies, influence political control, produce and upgrade units, and conduct naval and land warfare. As the DEFCON level decreases, further options become available, including nuclear weapons at DEFCON 1. A Space Race provides additional influence and technologies, while player counts introduce different structures such as secret objectives, semi-cooperation, and shifting confrontations.

Players: 2–5 best 5
Playing time: 90–180 min
Age: 14+
Complexity: 3.6 / 5

4 on LudoyaPoliticalVariable Player Powers

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About the game

Design: Florian Dumont
Publisher: ASYNCRON games

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DEFCON 1: Deep Dive2023

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4.0/10

from 1 Ludoya review

Balleflass4.0
Horrible card quality. Terrible rulebook and multitude of translation errors making it very hard to learn and reference. The iconography isn't clear enough for a seamless experience either. Cool concept, but it really need a 2nd edition with a professional rulebook editor, better component quality (especially for the cards) and I'd love a tiny bit more fleshed out combat system to make it a little bit more interestning.

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