Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
In the early 17th century the Republic of Venice had predominance in the Adriatic Sea, which for centuries had been subject to its jurisdiction and called the Gulf of Venice, but the Archduke of Austria, a Habsburg who ruled with great autonomy Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, part of the Friuli and many other imperial possessions, did not miss a chance to challenge it. When the raids of the Uskoks, corsars of Catholic faith in service of the Habsburgs, from the Kvarner Gulf to the Venetian routes became more insistent, Venice reacted by triggering a long and bloody war on its eastern borders and in Istria with the idea of putting an end to the raids, defeat the Austrian challenge and to regain the fortress once founded and then lost, Gradisca.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Area-Impulse
Players alternate short actions within contested areas until everyone passes.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Chit-Pull System
Draw tokens to determine which units, factions, or events activate next.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
In the early 17th century the Republic of Venice had predominance in the Adriatic Sea, which for centuries had been subject to its jurisdiction and called the Gulf of Venice, but the Archduke of Austria, a Habsburg who ruled with great autonomy Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, part of the Friuli and many other imperial possessions, did not miss a chance to challenge it. When the raids of the Uskoks, corsars of Catholic faith in service of the Habsburgs, from the Kvarner Gulf to the Venetian routes became more insistent, Venice reacted by triggering a long and bloody war on its eastern borders and in Istria with the idea of putting an end to the raids, defeat the Austrian challenge and to regain the fortress once founded and then lost, Gradisca. Saint Mark's lion roared still ... The War of Gradisca 1615-1617 is a simulation game of that ancient conflict, which saw the confrontation of two powers of the era in a political and military context that anticipated the long period of the Thirty Years War. The game mechanic allows activating units in an unpredictable sequence, enabling uncertainty about campaign outcomes and replayability. Cards introduce political and historical events and allow the development of custom strategies. —description from the publisher