Wallenstein (Second Edition)

The 2012 second edition of Wallenstein revives Dirk Henn's classic with two built‑in expansions—Emperor's Court and Landsknechte—and a few rule tweaks. Set in 1625 amid the Thirty Years' War, princes, generals and counties vie for land, resources, and prestige. Each game spans two "years" of campaign, divided into spring, summer and fall action phases, followed by a winter that may bring grain shortages and revolts. During the action seasons, ten action cards are dealt—five face‑up and five face‑down—along with five bonus tiles that provide extra money, grain or troops. Players secretly assign one of their county cards (or a blank) to each of the ten action slots on their personal board, bid for turn order, and pick a bonus tile. After the round's event card is revealed and turn order set, actions are executed in the pre‑planned sequence, gradually uncovering the face‑down cards and giving players partial foresight.

Collecting taxes and extracting grain are vital, but over‑exploitation can spark winter revolts. Combat and uprisings are resolved using the iconic cube tower: army and peasant cubes are dropped from the top, some get trapped in the baffles while others emerge at the bottom, representing the forces that actually fight. The expansions add strategic depth: in Emperor's Court, armies that fall in the tower become courtiers competing for imperial favors; Landsknechte provides a four‑card stack per player that, when a player controls counties in four different regions, lets them draw the top card and claim bonuses such as money or troops. Although the box lists 2‑5 players, the game plays properly with 3‑5. With a 3.2/5 weight, it blends resource management, area movement, and simultaneous decision‑making, delivering a deep yet approachable experience for fans of historical strategy games.