Pax Pamir: Second Edition

Pax Pamir: Second Edition

In Pax Pamir, players take on the role of nineteenth-century Afghan leaders who are trying to forge a new state after the collapse of the Durrani empire. Western narratives often call this period “The Great Game” because of the role played by Europeans, who tried to use Central Asia as a theatre for their own rivalries. In this game, those empires are examined strictly from the Afghan perspective, who tried to manipulate the intervening feringhi (foreigners) for their own purposes.

As for the game, Pax Pamir is a fairly simple board game. Players buy cards from a central market, and then play those cards in front of them into a single line called the court. Playing cards adds units to the game map and provides access to additional actions that can be taken to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game. This last point is worth emphasizing. Although everyone builds their own line of cards, the game offers many ways for players to interfere with each other directly and indirectly.

To survive, players will organize into coalitions. During the game, the dominance of the various coalitions will be assessed by the players when a special card, called “Dominance Check”, is resolved. If a single coalition has an overwhelming lead during one of these checks, the players who are loyal to that coalition will receive victory points based on their influence within their coalition. However, if Afghanistan remains fragmented during one of these checks, players will receive victory points based on their personal power base.

After each dominance check, victory is evaluated and the game will be partially reset, offering players a new attempt to realize their ambitions. The game ends when a single player manages to acquire a lead of four or more victory points or after the resolution of the fourth and final Dominance Check.

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