ABG All Board Games
Zurmat: Small Scale Counterinsurgency box art

Zurmat: Small Scale Counterinsurgency

Players

2

Time

60-90

Age

14+

Weight

2.5

Rating

8.00

Fit

Teach 2.4

Teaching signal

Replay 4.0

High replayability

Interaction 3.7

Highly interactive

Scaling 4.4

Scales well

Strategy 4.5

Deep strategy

Control 3.5

More strategic control

Table feel

The game Zurmat: Small Scale Counterinsurgency has a high level of direct confrontation, with battles and competitive actions having an immediate impact on opponents. It also offers strategic depth in confrontation through resource denial, market manipulation, and strategic positioning. Players need to frequently pay attention to and react to others' strategies and turns. However, the game does not emphasize cooperation as much. Overall, the game has a strong interaction score, making it engaging and competitive.

Replay value

The game offers a high degree of variability and freshness in each playthrough, with multiple paths to victory and variable setups. The expansions available add new content and gameplay elements, enhancing the replay value. There is deep strategic depth, allowing players to discover new tactics and strategies over time. The game scales well with different numbers of players, maintaining its appeal and balance. While it may take some time to learn, the easiness to learn score is moderate, providing a good balance between accessibility and depth. Overall, Zurmat: Small Scale Counterinsurgency has a strong replayability score of 7.95.

Luck profile

The final luck score for Zurmat: Small Scale Counterinsurgency is 7, indicating a game that has a balanced mix of luck and strategy. Random elements have a notable but not exclusive impact on the game outcome, and players have substantial ability to mitigate randomness through strategic decisions and planning. The game outcome is primarily determined by player strategy and decisions, with luck playing a minor role.

Overview

A remote district in turmoil, a few hours south of Kabul, bordered to the east by the sheer mountains where the Americans almost captured Osama Bin Laden in 2001. Zurmat is a mostly Pashtun district that the government of Afghanistan has only the thinnest veneer of control over. Taliban forces move freely across the dusty roads at night, spreading terror with their night letters, threatening anyone who cooperates with Kabul. Just now an American infantry company sets up a Forward Operating Base (FOB) just outside the district center. The Afghan Army is starting to patrol, drones are heard above, and the occasional jet swoops low, explosions following in its wake. Meanwhile, in the mountains of Pakistan, bearded men in secure caves are determined to stand up to this increased Coalition presence. By mules, motorcycles and camels, weapons and ammunition make their way into Zurmat. This will not be a quiet year… Zurmat is a two-player (Coalition versus the Taliban) game played across month-long turns with players trying to achieve their commander’s objectives while always trying to gain control of the peoples' hearts and minds. Each month/turn begins with a random event, then the Coalition player takes their turn, followed by the Taliban player. Each turn you will take an action and play cards. The game ends when winter arrives. Since winter cards are part of the deck of random events, the exact ending of the game may not be known until perhaps even the last turn of the game. —description from the publisher

Media

No media imported yet.

Editions

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Files

No files imported yet.

Credits

Designers

1
Tim Densham

Artists

2
Grace Densham Dominik Šinkevi?

Publishers

1
Catastrophe Games

Linked items

No linked items imported yet.