I am starting a new series where I look at specific cards from wargames I have played. I want to share how these cards are used in the game. I am not a master strategist, and I am not always the best player. However, I do understand how games work and how to use the cards. With that said, here is the next card in my series.
#67: Frederick Douglas from Votes for Women by Fort Circle Games
Votes for Women is a unique card-driven game. It covers the American Women’s Suffrage Movement from 1848 to 1920. The game ends when the Nineteenth Amendment is ratified. This amendment gave women the right to vote. It is a game for two players. It also has a solitaire mode with an “Oppobot” and a cooperative mode. In the game, the Suffragist player must push Congress to propose the amendment. Then, they must campaign to get 36 states to ratify it. The Opposition player tries to stop Congress. If that fails, they try to get 13 states to reject the amendment.
The game uses cards in a traditional way. You can play a card for its event, or you can use it for actions like Campaign, Organize, or Lobby Congress. Each card has a specific era. This helps build the draw decks. Late cards go on the bottom. Middle cards go in the middle. Early cards go on top. Each player has a Start card in their hand at the beginning. Some event cards have prerequisites. Some require a die roll. If you roll a 3 to 6, you can take the action. If not, the card is discarded. The cards are full of history. They mention real people and real events. It is a game about the struggle for the vote, and it is very good.
I like how Votes for Women handles control in the states. A big goal is to place influence cubes in states. This lets you collect State cards. These cards give you free ways to add more influence. This leads to the end of the game. When the 19th Amendment is proposed, states are checked. If a state has 4 or more cubes of one side, that side wins that state. A green check mark shows support. An orange X shows rejection.
The Frederick Douglas card helps shake things up. It gives the Suffragist player a chance to push their luck. The card text says to roll a D8. The game uses D6s, D8s, and D12s. You add that many influence cubes in the Northeast region. This region includes New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. There is a limit. You can only place one cube per state. You can also use one cube to remove an opponent’s cube. However, you cannot remove the last cube and then place yours in that same state. That would be too easy!
Frederick Douglass was a strong supporter of women’s suffrage. He believed in human equality. He famously said, “Right is of no sex.” He was a key ally to leaders like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. He supported the cause for over forty years. He gave crucial support at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.
After the convention, he wrote in his newspaper, the North Star. He said that women deserve the same political rights as men. He believed that if a government is just, it needs the consent of the people. He argued that there is no reason to deny women the right to vote. His belief was that “Right is of no sex.”
Douglass kept supporting the cause after 1848. In 1866, he helped found the American Equal Rights Association. This group demanded universal suffrage. The group broke up three years later due to tensions. But Douglass remained important in both the fight for women’s rights and African-American rights. He championed equal rights until he died in 1895.
Here is a link to our full video review of the game:
We also published an interview with the designer, Tory Brown. You can read that at the following link. The link text is removed as per instructions.
In the next entry in this series, we will look at Usurper Emperor from Barbarians at the Gates. This game is about the decline of the Western Roman Empire from 337 to 476. It comes from Compass Games.
-Grant
