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A game of Pax Emancipation is far from a casual undertaking. The theme courses through the game, strong and evocative of the period. The gameplay is particular and nuanced and relies on knowledge of the games extensive and precise terminology. Yes, Pax Emancipation can be played cooperatively. No, a Pandemic clone it is not. Pax Emancipation requires player investment, demands it even. If you invest your energy into exploring its systems, what exactly do you get out of it?
The Struggle For Freedom
Pax Emancipation sees the players working to modernise the globe, freeing populations from the shackles of slavery over a time period of a couple of centuries. Players will free slaves, stop the slavers’ vessels and break down localised societal barriers in different parts of the globe, or spheres as the game calls them.
They do this by deploying agents to various cities, investing in vessels to partake in ‘gunboat diplomacy’ and placing agents on various cards in a shared card market, allowing access to powerful operations that will facilitate the freeing of slaves, dismantling of barriers and adding laws to the bill of rights.
Pax Emancipation sees players taking responsibility for one of 3 factions, all of which have differing criteria against which their success at combating slavery is judged.
The Parliamentarians (red pieces) can deploy marines on vessels and are the experts at gunboat diplomacy. Red agents in ports are the easiest way to facilitate the removal of barrier chits. The parliamentarians have to ensure there are more of their agents and marines in play than slave ships by the end of the game.
The Evangelists (white pieces) are primarily interested in the freeing of slaves and require there to be more than 15 freedmen meeples on the map by the end of the game. They are particularly good at deploying agents to facilitate this, as they are the only faction that can deploy agents for free. The others have to pay up to 5 gold.
The Philanthropists’ (green pieces) main goal is to remove the barrier chits from the different spheres on the board. Their advantage comes from the fact that deploying pieces from their board is cheaper than for the other factions, to represent the vast wealth available to these business folk.
Pax Emancipation is cleverly designed in that to be successful, these 3 factions have to work together. In the cooperative game, there is point scoring, as players score for every barrier and token removed from the board and every piece they have played there. 50 combined points scores a marginal victory, 75 a decisive one.
Differing Visions Of A Free World
A twist is added in that players can choose to play competitively. This plays out the same as the cooperative game above, but then with an additional stage at the end, where a few more rounds will play out IF all players have achieved their goals in the cooperative phase.
Judging players’ success comes in the final scoring. Parlimentarians score extra points for spheres left with just red barriers, Evangelicals score if there are only white barriers and Philanthropists if there are no barriers. This makes the cooperative era just that bit more antagonistic, as players try and bring freedom, but preferably freedom of their own particular brand.
This can lead to some uncomfortable moments created by the game. I think the simplest way of demonstrating this is that the Ku Klux Klan is one of the barrier chits in North America. This is a white barrier and it benefits the white player to leave this in as a barrier, rather than removing it, something that feels decidedly icky. Yes, all factions are trying to bring freedom to the world… but they also have their own motivations and visions for what the free world looks like and this comes to the fore in the competitive mode of the game.
Barriers To Learning
Pax Emancipation is a heavyweight game and something of a board gaming tardis, with its diminutive box size belying the massive scope of the game contained within. It is not a game for the feint-hearted.
To start, there is terminology and icons galore contained within Pax Emancipation. Terms for actions and operations are seeped in the historical period, but were unfamiliar to me as a result. I did not find it immediately obvious from the names what exactly the operations and actions did.
There are rules for the basic game and the advanced rules contained over 2 rulebooks. Due to the box size, these are small booklets and are not easily referenced. Everything is there, it just can be a bit tricky to find as the rulebook reads almost like a glossary. I got there, but it took some effort. A prime example is trying to find out how gunboat diplomacy works. It is separate from the rest of the operation descriptions and is actually earlier on in the rules, along with fundraising. There is no reference to it where all the operations are summarised either and, after 3 plays, I eventually found a helpful reference for gunboat diplomacy printed on the back of the rulebook. There is nothing anywhere else in the rules directing the player to look here.
Efforts at learning the game are further hindered by the amount of historical notes Phil Eklund has included on each page. Personally, I would have preferred these to be included entirely separately after all the gameplay rules, as it would have meant the rules were contained within fewer pages.
There are 3 comprehensive player aids that are excellent in terms of the information they provide. Unfortunately, reading them is a little tricky due to the small font, necessarily used due to the small box size. They are readable and useable, but a larger version would have made things a bit more comfortable.
Rewarding Perseverance
Despite the challenges posed by the rulebook and the historical depth contained in the game, I like Pax Emancipation. I like it a lot.
It offers me something unique and fascinating in my game collection. There are rich, challenging choices to be made with your 2 actions each turn and the way the cards appear in the market tableau keeps the game feeling fresh each time.
This is not a sandbox game in which you can do what you like when you like. Certain spheres are easier to modernise than others (like Europe and North America) and should be tackled first, else anarchy will start to spread in an uncontrollable fashion.
Barriers will need to be removed first in areas where slavery is especially prevalent, else the freedmen are likely to be attacked by the populace and, again, anarchy will spread.
I appreciate this about the game. I like that you are encouraged to play it in a way that makes sense historically and have to plan out your route to modernising the world.
Pax Emancipation makes me think. Not only how to tackle the systems, but also about the historical context of the game. This is a game where the theme and mechanisms are thoroughly integrated. I can’t help considering what my actions represent as I play, rather than simply enjoying the mechanisms divorced from any theme.
When playing it solo, I like to take a few moments to read about the historical figures in the card market. The flavour text is fascinating and provides further context to this period in history.
I even appreciate the small box size - it’s a game that’s easy to travel with and takes up hardly any shelf space. Yes, there is a trade off with some usability issues, but there are not many complex 2 hour euro games that are so compact.
Challenging, Powerful & Thought Provoking
Pax Emancipation is a game you need to go into with open eyes. You have to enjoy complex games. You need to be prepared for a learning game, as you get used to the detailed mechanisms and systems of Pax Emancipation. An interest in historical games, or at least an interest in giving one a go helps too!
Pax Emancipation is a game of challenge. It is challenging to learn, provides challenging decisions with the gameplay and the challenge of the theme is always at the heart of the game.
It’s a challenge I keep coming back to and I am delighted Pax Emancipation is in my board game collection. In a world of mid weight euro games with arbitrary theming, Pax Emancipation stands out in the way it provides a thematic experience of such grand scope and should be applauded for doing so.
If you enjoy complex games, especially solo or cooperative ones, I’d recommend giving Pax Emancipation a go. It provides an experience you’ll be thinking about after the game is over, an impressive feat from a box that practically fits in the palm of your hand.
