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From: dan@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Dan Reynolds)
Newsgroups: net.games.board
Subject: Pax Britannica (capsule review)
Message-ID: <2347@ut-ngp.UTEXAS>
Date: Tue, 3-Sep-85 19:22:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-ngp.2347
Posted: Tue Sep  3 19:22:05 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Sep-85 08:33:06 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: UTexas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
Lines: 40

Pax Britannica is a relatively new game from Victory Games (suggested
retail price $24 US, typically available from most gaming shops).

Pax Britannica simulates the colonial period from 1880 to the First
World War. Each turn is four years long and each player controls one
country. Four players is the minimum (England, France, Germany/Austria-
Hungary, and the United States) and seven is the maximum (Japan, Russia,
and Italy). Players strive to establish colonial possessions to increase
colonial income (very appropriately measured in pounds) which in turn
may be used to purchase military forces, colonial control markers, and
victory points.

Players interact with each other, much like Diplomacy, forming alliances,
signing (and often breaking) treaties, and holding Congresses of Europe.
The political nature of the period is nicely simulated: a country must
have a legitimate Causus Bellorum to declare war on another power. Such
actions have a definite effect on European Tensions which, as the tension
level rises, may lead to WWI (and the end of the game). Unlike Diplomacy,
military operations are quite structured with fleets and armies in
clearly quantifiable units possessing definite combat strengths. The
CRTs are simple to comprehend and the whole business of conquest simple
to master.

The richness of the game, like Diplomacy, lies in the interactions of
the various countries. Great Britain is quite the master of the period
but must energetically pursue colonial possessions or lose her supremacy
to the US, France, or Germany. The roles of Japan, Russia, and Italy as
minors are likewise challenging. Each country in Pax Britannica has a
reasonable chance for victory: at the end of the game, each totals up
the VPs for colonial possessions plus any purchased VPs plus any "bonus"
points to arrive at his/her total. The balancing factor is that each
country has a differing VP divisor: Britain's divisor at 10 is far larger
than Italy's at 2, reflecting the reality that "Big Red" must achieve
much more than "Little Orange" for an equal amount of VPs.

All in all, a highly recommended game for novice and expert alike!

Dan Reynolds <dan@ut-ngp.UTEXAS.EDU>
Computation Center, The University of Texas at Austin
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