I love the Card Driven Game mechanic and how it pits players against each other. The mechanic is very well suited to any game where two ideologies are fighting for control and I found a really good implementation of the system in a game from Compass Games called Prelude to Rebellion: Mobilization & Unrest in Lower Canada, 1834-1837. This game depicts this conflict of ideas as a CDG using key events from 1834 to 1837 as the Patriotes and Loyalists fight for control of the electorate. The player will have many choices presented to them in how to use their cards and will be torn between using each for the card’s Activity Points or the Event while doing their best to fend off and undo your opponent’s cards. The overall focus of the game is that the player will fight to mobilize the people of the various counties of Lower Canada and rally them to their point of view. In addition to Montréal and Québec, 24 rural counties, with each having a bias towards a faction, are represented on the board. Every county has a number of Mobilization Boxes, each costing a number of Activity Points to place a cube in. Whoever has the most cubes in a County is said to control it.
Here are links to a series of Action Point posts that dive into the various aspects of the design:
Action Point 1 – Game Map and discuss the Mobilization Boxes, Scoring Tracks, Turn Track, Rebellious Spirit Track and take a look at the Opportunity Pool.
Action Point 2 – look at the cards and discuss their use either as an Event or for the Activity Points.
Action Point 4 – the Scoring Tracks and how the Scoring Die works and also discuss the Scoring Sequence and how the game can be won.
Action Point 5 – points of strategy and how each player should go about waging this conflict.
-Grant
The Players' Aid 