1775: Rebellion

Today's review is of the 2013 release, 1775: Rebellion.  For 2-4 players, it takes 1-2 hours.

Overview
In the New World, tensions have boiled over.  The Americans are rebelling against their British overlords, and it's come to war!  In 1775: Rebellion, players are either rebels (Continental Army and American Militia) or loyalists (British Regulars and Loyalist Militia).  Each player controls armies (represented as cubes).  Each turn, you'll place reinforcement units, move them, and fight your opponent.  Game end conditions depend on the scenario you play (three are included), and generally involve controlling the most colonies.

This is a card-driven game, meaning your movement possibilities each turn is dictated by the card you play (one card, for example, allows you to move three armies up to two spaces each).  Whenever you move an army into an area controlled by an opponent, combat ensues.  Other units (Native Americans, Hessians, French) can come into play depending on special event cards you can play or movements you make.

board and components; image from here

Combat is pretty basic, a back-and-forth dice-chucking affair where you can hit, flee, or decide to move your forces elsewhere based on what you roll.

Review
Simple to learn and fast to play, this quasi-educational area control game is pretty decent.  The board is beautiful, the flavor text on cards gives interesting history, and things are pretty straight-forward.  I didn't like one aspect of combat- even the winner in a conflict can be forced to make units flee, which seemed odd (though 'fled' units come back into play the next time you reinforce).  And I wish the cards would allow you to move more army cards (though perhaps limiting combat possibilities each turn is necessary to keep the game moving).  But overall, this is a nice game.

Rating: B