Construction to Destruction: Exploring Praga and Blitzkrieg!

Welcome to this week’s gaming post! This week I’m discussing a heavy euro set in medieval Prague and a two-player, tug-of-war World War II game. So without further ado, let’s jump into the recent highlights.

I recently played a four-person game of Praga Caput Regni which is a heavy euro game designed by Vladimir Suchý. In the game, players take turns selecting one of six different tokens from an action wheel and carrying out one of the two actions printed on the token.

I won’t attempt to try to explain all of the different mechanisms in this game, but one that I really enjoyed was the action wheel mechanic. Once a player finishes their turn, they rotate the wheel and place the token they just selected at the end of the wheel. If the next player wants to select the same token, they have to pay gold to take the action; however, action tokens that haven’t been selected become cheaper or don’t cost any gold and may even give the player victory points. This makes it so that the game feels more tactical rather than strategic, which is something I generally prefer in board games. In addition, while the game is certainly a heavy euro, the complexity comes more from the amount of choices to consider rather than the actions themselves.

The game is also very much a point salad, and playing the game feels rewarding because regardless of which of the six actions you take, you’re almost always given something. This makes each turn feel enjoyable, and with players only getting 16 turns in each game, this makes each turn feels important. The game also provides plenty of opportunities to create big turns where you combo abilities and generate additional actions. And there’s just something so incredibly satisfying when you pull off one of these turns.

I was a bit nervous about playing Praga with four players because of downtime between turns and the limited planning you can do before it’s your turn, but I was surprised that we were able to finish our four-person game in roughly two hours with two new players. I can’t think of too many heavy euros that can be played in two hours with four players. Again, this is likely down to the streamlined action wheel; however, I can see how this game can trigger analysis paralysis, and I likely wouldn’t recommend this game to those types of players.

One of my biggest gripes with the game is its board. The board looks gorgeous on the table, but it feels very busy like a “Where’s Waldo?” board which makes it difficult to discern what you need to pay attention to. The 3D bridge, hunger wall, and cathedral also look impressive, but the setup for those and the game itself can be a bit of a chore. Also, there isn’t much player interaction other than from another player taking the action you wanted and a small amount of area majority with the building tiles. Finally, while the rulebook does its best to tie the game back to its theme of medieval Prague, the theme is very much pasted on.    

Praga Caput Regni is a game that I’m always nervous about bringing out because of its complexity; however, once the game has started, I’m almost always having fun throughout. The combos are incredible satisfying to pull off, and the tactical nature of the game makes each play feel unique. Overall, I really enjoy Praga, and my recent play of this makes me want to pull the game out more often. 

Next up is Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes. The game is a two-player tug-of-war game where one player controls the Axis powers and the other plays controls the Allies. In the game, players take turns placing a unit token onto one of a handful of different historical campaign theaters during World War II. When a player places a unit, it has an associated power number which moves the battle marker for that theater that many spaces closer to their side. The player then carries out the effect printed on the space. When the last unit has been placed in a row of a theater, whoever is currently winning that campaign will score victory points corresponding to the row. The game ends whenever someone reaches 25 victory points.

Other than the name being a bit of a mouthful, the game is true to its name as games take roughly 20 minutes to complete. This makes it a great choice as a two-player filler or as a game to play at the end of a board gaming session. Even though the game was released in 2019, the art and components remind me of one of my dad’s old childhood World War II games.

While I mostly enjoyed my plays of Blitzkrieg, there are a few things that keep me from wanting to return often. First up, I really wish there was variable setup in just the base game. The board is always the same each game, so the five different theaters are always the same as well as their effects. There was also no discernable difference between the Axis and Allied units, and I believe other than the art on the tokens, the numbers and types are the same. This feels like a big missed opportunity to make each faction feel unique, and the only way to make your side feel different from the other player’s is through special weapon tokens you collect throughout the game. Even then though, since you’re randomly pulling tokens from your bag, you may never draw them. This leads me to my last downside, which is that there is a fair amount of luck in the game depending on which tokens you pull from the bag. You may just get unlucky and pull a low number or the wrong unit type you need, and other than a few effects that let you add more tokens to your reserve, there isn’t much of a way to mitigate this luck.

Overall, I enjoyed my plays of Blitzkrieg, and I would be happy to play it if someone brought it to the table. However, due to the downsides that I mentioned above, I don’t think I would likely seek this one out on my own.

With that, I’ll wrap up this week’s gaming highlights! I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the games I’ve mentioned, future content, or format in the comments section below. Happy gaming!

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