Components

1 12-page half-size rulebook
1 22” x 28” large-hex map of eastern Europe and Asia
200 die-cut counters 1 cardboard box

Counter Manifest

70 Buddhist units (orange)
54 Islamic units (yellow)
34 Christian units (blue)
5 Shinto units (light blue)
3 Mongol victory point markers (gray)
3 Empire victory point markers (white)
1 turn marker (light blue)

SimCan says

“Scourge of God is a game of the early campaigns of the Mongolians under Genghis Khan and his immediate successors. The game is strategic in scope with turns representing five years (with the exception of the last turn, which is 3 years long). One player acts as the leader of the Mongol tribes and the other as the leaders of the various Empires with which the Mongols were in conflict.”

The Reviewers say

“[i]t is tough to succeed as a Mongol, and all too often I felt the backlash of his scourge. If raping and pillaging are as difficult as this, I’ll stay in the teaching profession.” --Omar DeWitt in F&M 38

“The way the game works, there are a bunch of ‘empires’, all inactive at start, from Japan in the east all the way to what has to be a bit of Italy in the west (K.O.S. -- would that be Kingdom of Sicily?). These empires are everything from powers like the Sung and Chin, to virtual non-entities like Bashkir, Annam, etc. Byzantium is two weak counters in one hex, the Holy Roman Empire is two weak counters in two hexes. Each empire remains inactive until the Mongols show up next to one of its counters, which usually occurs as the Mongols are rolling in to overrun all of its counters at once. If any of the empire’s recruitment hexes are not Mongol-controlled (either the Mongols didn’t attack -- Mongol stupid mistake, they failed to clear the hex -- very rare except against the strongest hexes like the Sung and Chin, or more usually, failed the die roll to convert the center into one of their own), then the Empire can begin recruiting its army back. Weakest units are recruited first, so if you leave an empire alone for long enough it will get stronger and stronger. ... Thoughts after soloing the game? An odd experience. Very much a solitaire puzzle for the Mongol, how to get the most mileage out of his troops. He simply doesn’t have enough bodies to overrun everything in sight, as he needs to leave a Mongol unit on each empire recruitment hex (or it’ll spring up like mushrooms). It’s an unusual system, very solo-friendly” --Roy K. Bartoo in ConsimWorld.

Collectors Notes

Boone lists low, high and average prices of 2/13/6.75 at auction and 5/20/14.60 for sale.

Comments

“The game was actually designed to be a solitaire play product. We only bothered to even put in the other player in case there were two of you and one did not mind being a low level counter pusher. The game is very much a ‘Mongols against the clock’ game.” --Stephen Newberg in ConsimWorld

There are very few games dealing with the Mongols, and only two others that deal with their legendary expansion across Asia into Europe - the execrable Golden Horde by Excalibre Games, and the very simple Mongol by Yaquinto, half of The Barbarians twin-game pack. The more I read of Mongol history, the more I feel the need for a good Mongol strategic game. (Himmel! Do I have to design everything myself?)

Errata

Delete the second to last sentence of 7.3, since this cannot occur. As clarification, note that only one Mongol unit may actually become a garrison per hex. Though several units may remain in the hex for the Garrison Creation Segment, those that fail to become garrisons, due to die roll or another unit becoming the garrison for that hex, are eliminated as if they were combat losses as per the last sentence of 6.21

The second rule numbered 8.3 (Restrictions) should have been numbered 8.4 and all subcases of this rule should have been prefixed by 8.4x. Thus the restriction rules apply for all the rules of section 8, not just case 8.3.

Steve Newberg says:

This is a race against time game. It plays very well solitaire, since the Mongol player, by his attack patterns, chooses when and where the Empire player becomes active and can respond. The mechanics of the game are simple, but the scope is broad and it is a fun strategy exercise. The map system graphics are the same as for Jihad!, so they have held up well. I like the way the movement system turns the steppes into a highway to allow the internal shifting of forces.