Most Glorious Comrade
Author: Eugene Shenderov
Cover Design: Charlie Wilcher
Publisher: This and That Games

A few weeks back Storm-Con wrapped up. It was a great event this year. As always we had a great time and I am already eager to get wrapped deeply into next years con prep. Often we have several game designers at the convention and this year was no different. As things were wrapping up I had the pleasure of having a short chat with Eugene Shenderov and Duncan Davis. Eugene is one of the creators of Most Glorious Comrade. Dunchan has made several games and is best known for Into the City: Origins. They showed me their games Eugene gave me a deck of Most Glorious Comrade and Dunchan a copy of the Meme Game. ( Review of the meme game soon ) That next weekend I was about to get in a 4 player a 5 player and a 6 player game of Most Glorious Comrade.

Overview:

Most Glorious Comrade is a fast placed game for 2-6 players play time ranges from 5-30 min. The game on average had a run time around 15 min.  As with most games of this type play time will go up slightly with more players.  The play goal is to reach ten proletariat to win the game, Sounds simple right ?  Well comrade you might be in for a surprise.

Most Glorious Comrade is played between 2-6 Communist leaders vying for the affections of the Proletariat as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Trotsky, El Che and Castro. Each leader has abilities they may use to make each leader unique form the rest. There are four styles of cards in the deck. Those being Proletariat, Revolutionary, Dirty Capitalist Pig Dog and Overthrow Actions cards. Proletariat cards range from 1-4 Million proletariat in value. Revolutionary cards that count as 1 million proletariat for every proletariat card you have in play. Dirty Capitalist Pig Dog Cards. These cards count as negative proletariat to your total  score. The last card type in Most Glorious Comrade is the Overthrow Action card. These cards are how you keep your fellow comrades from winning the game before you. They allow you to really stab your neighbor in the back and do anything you can to win the game. In most cases the player to most wisely use a combination between their leaders special powers and overthrow actions will carry out the day.

Lastly in the 6 players games that I played if your players are not actively going after one and other this short game ends rather suddenly. As 10 million proletariat is not that difficult to acquire in a one or two passes around the table if someone is aggressively going for the win. This is not a bad thing but I would go as far as suggesting adding 2 million proletariat required to win for each player beyond 4.  As our four player games usually lasted about 15 min. But our 6 player games were much shorter.

Pro’s

There are many pro’s with Most Glorious Comrade. Starting with the price Tag. At the  cost of $19 dollars you get a sturdy tuck box for your cards. As well as 52 sturdy playing cards. These cards will stand up to a good bit of abuse and are far from flimsy.  The artwork on the cards is excellent! Play is easy and fast paced. Making for an over all fun quick game.

Con’s:

There are really only two cons to be pointed out with this product. Some of the cards need to be read closely so that you understand their effects properly. In our first few games we had a few cards that the group needed to discuss for quick group consensus as to the intent. This only occurred with the overthrow action cards.  Over all this was a minor issue.  Lastly the production quality of the tuck box is excellent but makes the box actually hard to open. I have had the game less than a month yet the box has some considerable wear from relatively light game play it has seen.

 
Runkle’s Ranking

I  had to do a little thinking on this one as card games are not my normal wheelhouse of games that I had considered to put in my ranks. Yet the system of my ranking can fit card and board games just as easily. So after a bit of thought I decided that due to the quality of production, As well as the ease of play this makes a great game to toss out as you are waiting for other players to show up to your game or just a fun casual time burner when you only have a few min to kill. It is fast paced and easy to teach. So I give it a solid 12 in my rating system. It is defensively an above average game that many people who enjoy quick fast paced screw your neighbor style games will enjoy for a long time.

SO where can I get a copy ? 

Just click on the image below and you will be sent to the gulag where you can pick up a copy today!