Pax Pamir: Second Edition
GAME OVERVIEW
In Pax Pamir, players assume the role of nineteenth century Afghan leaders attempting to forge a new state after the collapse of the Durrani Empire. Western histories often call this period "The Great Game" because of the role played by the Europeans who attempted to use central Asia as a theater for their own rivalries. In this game, those empires are viewed strictly from the perspective of the Afghans who sought to manipulate the interloping ferengi (foreigners) for their own purposes.
In terms of game play, Pax Pamir is a pretty straightforward tableau builder. Players spend most of their turns purchasing cards from a central market, then playing those cards in front of them in a single row called a court. Playing cards adds units to the game's map and grants access to additional actions that can be taken to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game. That last point is worth emphasizing. Though everyone is building their own row of cards, the game offers many ways for players to interfere with each other directly and indirectly.
To survive, players will organize into coalitions. Throughout the game, the dominance of the different coalitions will be evaluated by the players when a special card, called a "Dominance Check", is resolved. If a single coalition has a commanding lead during one of these checks, those players loyal to that coalition will receive victory points based on their influence in their coalition. However, if Afghanistan remains fragmented during one of these checks, players instead will receive victory points based on their personal power base.
After each Dominance Check, victory is checked and the game will be partially reset, offering players a fresh attempt to realize their ambitions. The game ends when a single player is able to achieve a lead of four or more victory points or after the fourth and final Dominance Check is resolved.
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Customer Reviews
Pax Pamir is from same firm that made John Company.
Same extremely high quality game from the box to the components and cards.
Amongst the very best games I have ever played, Pax Pamir shines as an example of what can be accomplished with a thorough and thoughtful remastering of an existing great game.
Firstly the game is beautiful, the period pictures might not be to every taste but the game has a fantastic sense of presence, time and location which it wears comfortably. Packed into this relatively small box we have a deep rich game with a beautiful cloth map, gorgeous resin play pieces and plenty of well chosen design decisions.
The rulebook is well thought out and structured, the solo rules are superb as well though I would watch the creators (Ricky Royal) Youtube 'Box of Delights' video to learn them. They are presented here in truncated form and hard to parse.
On to the main course this is a game which plays well from 1 player solo, on to a fantastic tight 2 player and into wilder player counts. Each works well and provides a different experience.
Like a game of Pax Renaissance the game is greatly about the selection and purchase of cards from a shared market. The cards are well structured and easy to read from a distance and all have their place. What follows is a tense and clever battle over the shared map of Afghanistan as players manoeuvre allied factions to best suit their purposes.
I could go on much longer about the clever framing of the 'Great game' period of history as we focus on local warlords rather than international interlopers. I could talk about the fantastic closed economy or the sudden plays as players flip allegiance at the drop of a hat. I'm not going to though. There is just too much here for a short form review.
I love this game, if you have any interest in the theme and like your games clean but deep, and playable in less than an hour to boot; You may love it too!
Cole Wehrle, designer of Root, Oath, and John Company, really excelled himself with the 2nd edition of his Pax Pamir. The game was produced by his very own Wehrlegig Games, an outfit which he and his brother run in their spare time. But you would never guess this from the production values – this game is a beautiful luxury to look at and to handle. As a “Pax” game it shares DNA with Phil Eklund’s Pax Porfiriana and Pax Renaissance, but takes the Pax genre to a very distinctive place. If you enjoy historical games, and if you love games that come at their subject from an unexpected angle, and if you value a game that bears the imprint of some serious intellectual deliberation, I confidently predict that you will love Pax Pamir 2nd edition. And one more thing – it comes with an excellent solo mode!
