The States of Siege Series is one of my favorite solitaire wargame series. The games in the series cover lots of great topics ranging from World War I (Ottoman Sunset, Hapsburg Eclipse and Kaiserkrieg!), the English Civil Wars (Cruel Necessity), the Russian Revolution (Soviet Dawn), ancient cultures (Mound Builders and Nubia) and World War II (Malta Besieged and We Must Tell the Emperor) and the fall of Communism (Gorbachev). The Series even includes a game on a future zombie apocalypse (Dawn of the Zeds). A series that has this much flexibility and range means that the mechanics are solid and adaptable. The States of Siege Series was first published by Victory Point Games and it all began with Israeli Independence: The First Arab-Israeli War. The Series is a collection of solitaire games in which the player is the overall commander of a typically desperate historical situation that includes being beset on all sides and surrounded by enemies, where the player’s decisions focus on the use and management of scarce military, political and economic resources to mount a defense.

There are over 40 titles in the series, and several others that are not specifically included but use the same mechanics. I have played about 15 different games in the series and find them to be engaging, fast playing and interesting and am always on the lookout for the next entry or to find a reasonably priced copy of one to purchase and get on my table. Without further delay, here are my 3 favorite States of Siege Series games.

3. Soviet Dawn: The Russian Civil War 1918-1921 Deluxe Edition from Worthington Publishing

Soviet Dawn: The Russian Civil War 1918-1921 Deluxe Edition is an updated version of Darin Leviloff’s States of Siege Series game focused on the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921. I played this one a ton last year and really came to enjoy the interesting choices that I was presented with to either try to focus on simply attacking the advancing tracks (Offensives), to try and win a political victory (Political) or to invest in the “stock market” per se and take a risk at gaining really interesting and useful advantages (Reorganization) to aid me in fighting off the advancing enemies of the movement. These three different types of actions are all very useful but some you will use more than others. Offensives will always be your most frequently used action because you will need to drive your enemies back as they advance down the various tracks. Political actions are necessary to keep your supporters behind you and to avoid difficulties in taking your other actions but also can be an immediate source of victory if you near the top of the track.

The Reorganization actions though are quite a bit different and this is what makes Soviet Dawn a winner and earned its spot on this list. There is a lot more risk involved in this course of action as these Reorganization chits, which provide certain advantages, are very hard to obtain. You will have to get a bit lucky and roll a modified 6 in order to successfully pull off these Reorganization actions. So most of the time these efforts will fail and you will kick yourself for wasting that action this turn. But when you succeed, there is great celebration! These include Armored Trains and Tank Corps (that gives a +1 DRM against the enemy on a specific track for the turn), the Comintern (that gives a positive modifier on Political Actions) and my favorite the Imperial Gold Reserve (which allows a player to change fate in the game by either negating a critical advance or changing any die roll to the result you want). These are very evocative inclusions that came out of the era and was a great addition to the game. It felt quite a bit like Axis and Allies and the technology rolls. Remember that in Axis and Allies, you had limited resources available, but if you could afford it, you could gamble on a chance to obtain some sort of strategic advantage, ranging from improved submarines to long range aircraft. Darin included this aspect into the game with the Red Army Reorganization Chart and it really deepens the narrative and the tension of the game.

I really liked Soviet Dawn and it still remains in my collection today and will hit the table when I am in the mood for a quick playing yet interesting solo game on the Russian Civil War!

Here is a link to my video review of the game:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=N84QxKfCq8w%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26fs%3D1%26hl%3Den%26autohide%3D2%26start%3D294%26wmode%3Dtransparent

And also a link to a video playthrough:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JwbioPwCSb8%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26fs%3D1%26hl%3Den%26autohide%3D2%26start%3D3241%26wmode%3Dtransparent

2. Kaiserkrieg! The Great War 1914-1918 from White Dog Games

This one is simply fantastic! A solitaire treatment of The Great War using the States of Siege Series model but with a change to a horizontal rather than vertical layout of spaces where enemy forces can build up and perform an “Over the Top” move if you don’t destroy their troops before then. The player takes the side of the Central Powers and must deal with events that replicate the history of the period and the tumult of various revolutions, threats and opportunities. Well done game by Ben Madison that uses chit pull to activate the enemies and cause events. Lots of chaos. Lots of tough choices. Lots of history. And it always seems to come down to the very end. The only draw back to the game though is that it is long, taking 2-3 hours to play through an entire game. Each chit drawn has lots of information and there are always lots of things to do each turn with your very limited actions.

One of my favorite parts is the use of Blockade Runners to gain your funds for the turn. During the Naval/Air Warfare Phase, the player will place out their available Blockade Runners on various seas zones numbered 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3 and 4 in order to attempt to break Allied blockades and deliver goods and funds to Germany to fuel the war effort. Each of these numbered sea zones will provide a haul of Reichsmarks based on the number of the sea zone if they are able to evade the British Cruisers. This is determined by rolling 2d6 and consulting the British Cruisers Table to find out in what sea zones the available British Cruisers will be placed. If there is a Blockade Runner in the determined sea zone, it will be destroyed and placed in the Neutral Ports box where it will wait to be built later at a cost of 2 RM. If the rolled sea zone contains a Blockade Runner and the High Seas Fleet marker, the British Cruiser will be unable to destroy the Blockade Runner and a naval combat will ensue.

In the above picture, the Central Powers defeat the British Cruiser with the High Seas Fleet and the 3 Blockade Runners placed in seas zones 2b, 3 and 4 bring home a cash haul of 9 Reichsmarks that will be used to take actions and push back the amassing Entente forces in the various staging areas to avoid an Over the Top chit from being placed and prevent the built up forces there attacking into Germany. This process of gaining income is very interesting and unique and it really feels correct as you are trying to do your best to avoid and destroy the British Cruisers so that you have your choice of the best producing sea zones without the fear of Entente intervention.

You can check out our unboxing video to get a good look at the components:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=04_SEmiQS3M%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26fs%3D1%26hl%3Den%26autohide%3D2%26start%3D63%26wmode%3Dtransparent

Here is a link to my video review:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ydb5oBhaN34%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26fs%3D1%26hl%3Den%26autohide%3D2%26start%3D4%26wmode%3Dtransparent

1. Dawn of the Zeds from Victory Point Games

So the #1 spot on this list is a non-wargame, so I apologize but Dawn of the Zeds is just so damn good and I have such good experiences with this one that it dawned on me that this one is my favorite States of Siege Series game. Personally, I love the zombie horror genre and have enjoyed movies from the classic George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, to Day of the Dead and even on the small screen with shows like The Walking Dead. All tell a fantastic story about a gruesome future where people die and come back as slobbering, flesh eating zombies. There is something in the terror. Something in the fight for life and how character’s have to hack out a living in a bleak future. It just hooks me every time.

Dawn of the Zeds is a very versatile game from the States of Siege Series, in that it can be played fully co-operative, competitive, or even solo. There’s also 6 or 7 game modes (difficulties) within that, so you can tailor the game to what you want it to be. Would you like an easier, relaxed, and trashy B-Movie zombie slaughter? Or would you like a soul-crushingly difficult, dread filled horror film, where your favorite characters are the first ones to fall?

The players will have to pick their characters and some NPCs to play with, after selecting a difficulty level, then construct the event deck that will run you through the course of the game. You can also adjust the length of the game (which in turn adds to the difficulty again) by including more cards in the event deck. Depending on the game level selected you’ll then play through the deck one card at a time, going through a series of game phases, triggering zombie placement and movement, attacks, and other random (usually awful) events. The game turns have a great structure to them, and are simple and cleanly laid out. Once you’ve played two turns you’ll know exactly how to play the game without picking up the rulebook. Each player gets one, and only one action, then the players have a collective number of event actions ranging from 1-4, but mostly 1 or 2, as dictated by the event card. With these meager actions the players have to cobble together some kind of defense against the waves of oncoming zombie hoards attacking Farmingdale from all sides.

As the zombies start flooding onto the board and tracks advancing on Farmingdale in droves they’ll quickly overrun the outlying villages and attack the civilians. The game gives incentives (end game scoring) for protecting them, because they’re pretty much fodder when fighting alone. As you can see above, most times you’ll end up with at least a few in the cemetery, but as the game scales the body count will escalate very quickly. If you can outlast the event deck you’ll win the game, and then you count up your score of surviving units and supplies and ammo and then cross reference the epilogues book for a blurb describing how well you won.

For me, the main appeal of this game is how replayable it is. You can either treat it seriously, or tongue-in-cheek, you can play it super easy or super hard, you can roleplay a ton, or not at all, you can play co-operative, or competitive. The decks have cards removed so no game will look the same, and while the board is static the deck that moves everything on the board is wildly variable. There are many things in this game that might take you time to acquire and understand how best to use such as conducting research in order to build superweapons, there’s also rogue groups and anti heroes that will try to sabotage your efforts. Each of these things make the game harder, and harder – but ultimately more deep, rich, and tension filled.

Alexander and I both love this game. It’s a great implementation of an overdone theme. One of the best things is that the game contains nearly every trope you can think of from every Zombie B-movie ever made, so gear up, get ready to fight, and die and enjoy the ride.

Here is a look at a long ago done video review of the game, when Alexander and I were much younger, thinner and had more hair:

That was a look at my 3 Favorite States of Siege Series games. This was extremely difficult to put together and I sweated over my choices. Having to leave out such great games as Jeff Davis, Mound Builders, Levee En Masse and Malta Besieged. What States of Siege Series games are your favorites?

-Grant