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?
The War of the Worlds is a solitaire board wargame that puts you in command of the Human forces in a desperate attempt to defend Earth against the invading Martian Tripods! While you plan and carry out the Human side of the war, the game system commands the Martian forces.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Area Majority
Compete to have the strongest presence in areas that award control or points.
Area Movement
Move pieces between connected regions rather than along individual spaces.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Minimap Resolution
Resolve broader movement or conflict on a smaller linked representation of the map.
Solo / Solitaire Game
Provide rules and objectives designed for a single player.
Read the full game description
The War of the Worlds is a solitaire board wargame that puts you in command of the Human forces in a desperate attempt to defend Earth against the invading Martian Tripods! While you plan and carry out the Human side of the war, the game system commands the Martian forces. The War of the Worlds is a solitaire, low complexity board game. Each games takes only an hour or so to play. The US fielded a small military force at the time. This results in them having fewer Units at the start of the game. However, as seen a few decades earlier during the Civil War, the US is able to rapidly ramp up their production capabilities and quickly expand the size of their army. As the game unfolds, the US receives production bonuses to reflect this. The geographical area represented by the US map is larger than in the other games, as such, each Martian Wave is made up of 5 Tripods, and they tend to move a little less often. To match this, the US must pay 3 PP to move Units during the Production step. The US game gives a more lumbering feel with large forces bashing against each other.