Supremacy
The Game of the Super Powers

Game Review

Reviewed by Ted A. McDonald

Supremacy Games, Inc. 77 Huntley Street, Suite 262 Toronto Ontario, Canada M4 2P3
Released: 1984
Price: $37.00
Complexity: Beginner to Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: None
****

I don't know about you, but I have always had a secret desire to control the Earth or, barring that, to destroy it rather than let it fall into the hands of unworthy groups. Now a ong; comes Supremacy, a game that will' let me assuage my desires for world conquest without causing harm to the ecosphere. Supremacy is a game for from two to six players with the object being to destroy your enemies through economic methods and armed forces with nuclear weapons thrown in just! for the fun of it. The rules of the game are presented clearly and are not complex. In addition, all the major rules are printed on the game board for easy reference during play.

The packaging of this game is excellent with great graphics on the board and hundreds of plastic pieces of different colors to represent the armies and navies you need to overwhelm your opponents. Each comes in its own container and fits nicely into a molded holder, so you don't lose them when you move the game. They include an ample supply of cash for the game, (nothing to me is worse than having to make up your own), and the cards and player supply center markers are made of durable and colorful materials.

My group had great fun with Supremacy when we played the game, but I played with another group of wargamers that had found some holes in the rules that took most of the fun out of the game. The rules place much emphasis on assuming control of the world through economic means rather than resorting to military or even (perish the thought) nuclear weapons. The game has a market price for oil, grain, and minerals that ranges from one million to one billion dollars per unit of the resource. What the rules permit to happen is the following: the first player will buy, say 12 units of oil for 50 million dollars per unit, and then give these units to the player following him. Each unit purchase results in an increase of one step in the market price, therefore the next player can sell them back to the bank for one billion dollars per unit and the two players can then split the $11.4 billion profit. This relieves you of worrying about how to pay for your armies and weapons and results in a mass buildup of forces which resembles Risk entirely too much.

When the game is played in this fashion it usually either with the "Coup Final" which is nuclear destruction of more than the 12 allowed areas. This is the only problem with the playability of the game and it is one that can easily be remedied by a simple rule change that causes the market to go up or down on each unit purchased rather than only after the entire purchase has been made.

There are two kinds of combat in Supremacy. There is conventional combat which just uses your armies and navies and there is strategic combat which uses your nuclear weapons and L-Star defenses. Conventional combat is somewhat weighted towards the defender since he is given two dice to roll to the attackers' one. Extra dice are provided for most armies and L-Stars.

The combat sequence doesn't last very long.

Then there is strategic combat which takes even less time since a country can only have a maximum of 12 nuclear weapons at one time. L-Stars are used to destroy incoming missiles and will destroy a nuke on a 1-5 on a D6. After the attacker finishes his attacks, the defender then gets a chance to counterattack immediately and against anyone he wishes.

Overall, the people at Supremacy Games have put together an exciting game with clear, simple rules and a minimum of luck. As with any game though, what you base your final judgment on is fun and Supremacy is definitely fun. So gather a group of your craziest friends, open up the bar, and proceed to save the world for freedom (in your own inimitable fashion, of course). I can guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

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© Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy.
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