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1066 is a year that rings bells for most people in Britain. What rang no bells for me whatsoever was that whilst William was conquering, another conflict was taking place in the northern regions of the Iberian peninsula. The War of the 3 Sanchos 1065-67 sounds like a great answer to a pub quiz question, but is it a good game?
Deploy to King
The War of the 3 Sanchos 1065-67 sees players taking control of the forces of one of the titular Sanchos. Through card play, they then marshal their forces, fortify towers and castles to control regions, besiege said castles and attack opposing forces in the field. The first player to claim 10 points worth of castles/towers is immediately declared the winner. If no one manages this by the time the deck runs out, then the player with the most points wins.
Each player has discs to represent their armies and a meeple that is their King. This piece is vital to players’ plans and strategies, given that it provides an advantage in combat and allows for deployment of armies to its space instead of the home territory. Players are encouraged to be bold with their King, moving it across the map and helping to swiftly deploy supporting armies into crucial territories.
The first thing that struck me about The War of the 3 Sanchos, is that it is so engaging for all players at all times. The card system is clever and forms an immensely satisfying decision space.
The current player gets a number of action points to use how they wish. Each card also details the specific actions other players get to take. The result of this is that on your turn you have to consider not only what you want to do, but also what you are offering to your opponents. You also get to decide (to a degree) the order of actions. Get this right and you will manipulate the conflict to your advantage, potentially providing your opponents with no useful bonus at all. Become too preoccupied with your own plans however, and you may just inadvertently allow your opponent a critical move or deployment that spoils your own schemes.
Asymmetric Sanchos
King Sancho I of Aragón, King Sancho II of Castilla and King Sancho IV of Nájera-Pamplona may have access to the same discs, King meeple and card deck, but they still play differently.
Aside from starting in different areas of the map, each Sancho has different strengths in terms of the actions available to them on other players’ turns. One Sancho is more combat oriented. Another can access troop deployments more easily. Nájera may appear disadvantaged, stuck as it is between Castilla and Aragón, yet the some cards balance this out by allowing a player to fight, but not in certain regions etc.
It all adds up to an immensely enjoyable strategic puzzle, regardless of which Sancho you control.
The map is well designed and tight, bringing players into conflict with each other quickly. The dice combat system is innovative and well balanced between allowing larger armies an advantage, whilst still ensuring smaller forces are a threat, especially if they take a 3 point combat action.
3 Is The Magic Number
This is the first area control game I have played that is clearly designed for 3 players from the ground up and it excels as a result.
Players never quite feel out of the game and the ‘A fights B so C ultimately wins’ scenario that blights many an area control game at 3 player counts is not an issue here. Players will work together to spoil the leader where necessary, as the open nature of the race to 10 points means you can watch for situations where an opponent may win on their turn.
This results in a game with a lot of inter-player tension from the start and throughout, as each player seeks to manoeuvre themselves into a position from which they can strike and claim the final points required for victory.
What if there are only 2 people wanting to play? Or you are a solo gamer? The War of the 3 Sanchos has you covered, thanks to the Auto-Sanchos. Yes, there will always be all 3 Sanchos participating in every game, with a well designed Auto-Sancho controlling one or two of the opponents.
Thanks to the card system built into the game, the Auto-Sanchos can be operated with a minimum of fuss. As a solo gamer, I especially appreciated the fact that I could choose any of the 3 Sanchos to use in the single player game, thus allowing for a good amount of variety for solo gamers. It is no slouch at 2 either, though if you primarily play games with 2 players, you are spoilt for choice in terms of confrontational head to head games, including the other 3 entries in Surprised Stare’s Pocket Campaigns series.
That said, I would not turn down a game of The War of the 3 Sanchos at any player count.
El Cid
The knight Rodrigo Díaz da Vivar, who became famous as El Cid (subject of a 1961 movie staring Charlton Heston) first gained his reputation as “campi doctor” or “master of the field” during this war. Thus El Cid makes an appearance in the War of the 3 Sanchos as a simple catch up mechanism.
If you are languishing in 3rd place, El Cid will commit his battlefield skills to your side, allowing a nice bonus in the next conflict you fight, before departing and deciding who needs his support next time. It’s a nice thematic touch, feels good to have, but won’t win you the game. Like everything in the War of the 3 Sanchos, it’s nicely balanced and has its place.
Surprised Stare Games are fast becoming the masters of small box conflict games. I’ve taught the War of the 3 Sanchos to young teenagers and, even with a teach and players unfamiliar with this style of game, it plays comfortably in less than 60 minutes. The advertised 30-45 minute play time is realistic and players are faced with interesting tactical choices throughout.
I’m not the biggest fan of area control and conflict games, but The War of the 3 Sanchos manages to skillfully avoid some of the pitfalls of the genre; ‘feels bad’ moments are few and far between and a bad dice roll will not typically cost you the game. Yes, there is some randomness to the combat and yes, the leader will get bashed somewhat (by design - the game would be over very quickly otherwise), but The War of 3 Sanchos provides a fast, tight, tactical and unexpectedly cerebral experience that keeps me coming back for more.
Forget Hastings. The theatre for my 1066 wargame of choice is Iberia and it’s one I’m happy to visit and play out The War of the 3 Sanchos over and again.
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