First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now. Also, I know that traditionally the 12 Days of Christmas happen after Christmas Day (starting on December 25th and ending on January 5th also known as Twelfth Night) but I want to do this in a lead up to the holiday.
On the 3rd day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…
3 Federal Agents in Hot Pursuit
The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth is a 1-3 player deduction game set during the American Civil War in April, 1865. The tragic events of that day saw a thespian Southern supporter and avid Lincoln opponent named John Wilkes Booth assassinate the President at Ford’s Theater as the war began to draw to a close. The player is tasked with tracking down the assassin behind Lincoln’s downfall in the moments immediately following the event. The player takes on the role of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and his legion of Federal agents, including detectives, local police, various Generals and Union soldiers stationed in the nation’s capitol. These agents will travel across D.C., picking up clues along the way that give an idea of where Booth has went and who his coconspirators are, and attempt to pursue and capture the culprit before it’s too late and he reaches freedom.
In the picture above, you can see that Booth has been found in Pittsburgh as he is attempting to escape through Detroit and into Canada, or at least his last known location has been found, and the player’s forces are closing in to attempt to find and capture him. The white meeple is a named detective of the time Luther Baker who comes with various abilities and the green meeples represent Union Cavalry. Also present can be local Police forces and various key figures of the time in the form of persistent and ongoing cards that have been played.
When the player has drawn clue tokens enough to be able to progress through the path of the assassin and solved various clues, they will then be allowed to conduct a Search Action, where if they are successful, will lead to an immediate Raid Action where they can take Booth by force using their weapons and other key equipment to aid in the task. When performing a Search Action, the player gets to add various bonuses together, including +3 for each Detective, +2 for each Police and +2 for each Cavalry in Booth’s space. There are also negative numbers though such as -2 if the Search is done at Night, -2 if Booth is actively Hiding, various negatives and positives granted by the location that the action being performed in (in this case Pittsburgh gives a -1 on Search and a +1 on Raids) and -1 for various Booth Cards that are drawn from the Booth Deck. At the end of these calculations, the player will get to then draw a Clue Chit from the draw bag and add its total value of 0-4 to their total and then compare that to the Search value of Booth from his played cards, present sympathizers and also a similar Clue Chit draw. A table is then referred to that will give the final result of the Search and the results are varied including nothing, being ambushed or finding and capturing the fleeing suspected assassin.
This game is really very cool and is also very flexible as you can play it solo, 2 player in a cooperative mode or even in a competitive mode. I very much enjoyed my 4-5 plays of the game and was very engaged with the process of searching for Booth and felt the tension and despair in the attempt as it truly can be very difficult. In fact, I only won once and it was very tight coming down to the very end. But, this is a game that I will keep on my shelf and pull out when I am looking for a fairly lite game on a very interesting historically subject.
We published an interview with the game’s design team including Wes Crawford and you can read that on the blog at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/12/03/interview-with-wes-crawford-designer-of-the-pursuit-of-john-wilkes-booth-from-blue-panther/
We also posted the following unboxing video:
If you are interested in The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth, you can order a copy for $70.00 from the Blue Panther website at the following link: https://www.bluepantherllc.com/products/pursuitofjwb
You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:
2 Armored Trains Supporting – 1920: Nest of Eagles from PHALANX
-Grant
The Players' Aid 