Academy Games Kickstarter - 878 Vikings, 1754 Conquest, Freedom

Back in April, I participated in Academy Games' Kickstarter for 878 Vikings. I have been a fan of the company for their game 1755: Rebellion about the American revolution, which was a fantastic light strategy game that does a good job with the history of the time too. I reviewed that game here which includes the mechanics that drive most of the historical games from this company.

In addition to the 878 Vikings game, I also picked up the 1754 Conquest and Freedom: Underground Railroad games as addons. I have now played all three as solo games and looking forward to playing them with others.

878 Vikings: Invasions of England is about the period of British history when there was a succession of Scandinavian invaders and the knifes edge they came to being overwhelmed. After a play through, both sides must play carefully and not overextend themselves. It uses the dice mechanic common throughout the Academy games series as well as the card mechanic. Plays 2-4 players in 1-2 hours.

 Freedom: Underground Railroad is a different sort of game from Academy Games, in that it is cooperative against the semi-randomly moving slave hunters. Players are abolitionists from 1800-1865 attempting to free slaves from the South and help them escape to Canada as well as changing attitudes in the United States against slavery. After one play-though I have already learned more about this historical event and am looking forward to playing it more. 1-4 players in 1-2 hours.

 The last of the three is 1754 Conquest: The French and Indian War. This is a very excellent strategy game that gives you a great sense of the importance of the First Nations during the conflict between the French and English in North America. The expansion deck is a must to accentuate this concept and add immense replayability.

 To give an example of what the game looks like, here is the Maritime Provinces at game end, a French victory. English are red and white. French are purple and yellow. First Nations are green.

 Quebec, Ontario and North United States areas.

Great Lakes region.

I am immensely happy with these acquisitions and played another game of 1754 after writing the draft of this. The English won with timely playing of two truce cards. The game was a nail biter, which is a good thing.