Polish edition of the game
The Crime Syndicate is the Polish edition of the fantastic game BLITZKRIEG! published by PSC Games. The reviewed edition includes the original version, which takes place in New York, and the Los Angeles supplement (in the foreign edition – Nippon). The author of the game is Paolo Mori, and Mariusz Gandzel is responsible for the illustrations. The main goal of the game is to play the role of gang leaders fighting for control over the districts of American cities. In individual turns, the participants of the game send their gangsters, smugglers and corrupt policemen to skirmishes with a rival gang. Controlling the right districts grants smuggling income and an unquestionable increase in wealth. The game ends when either gang reaches 25 points on the wealth track. The average playing time is 20-30 minutes.
Simple rules, hard decisions!
The game is medium sized. The box contains a rulebook, 66 gang tokens, 18 power-up tokens, 2 cheat sheets for players, 5 contraband markers, 3 wealth markers and two pouches. There is also a double-sided board – New York (5 city districts), Los Angeles (15 city districts). In addition, the creators took care of the needs of individual players. There is also a single player variant available – 8 solo tokens and a dice. This rulebook describes in detail the rules of the base game set in New York, the rules of the Los Angeles expansion, and the single-player variant.
The game is extremely simple and is based on three rules: players send their gang members to skirmishes with a rival gang (there are three skirmish fields – streets, where you can place, among others, gangsters and corrupt policemen, a river – smugglers and corrupt policemen, and mixed fields (what is important, gangsters operate on the streets, smugglers on the river, and corrupt policemen wherever they want), perform the actions of the field on which they placed their tokens (gang recruitment, reinforcement call, gang reinforcement, smuggling in this or that district, money, gunshot) and move the smuggling marker by as many spaces as the strength of the tile placed (gangs try to move the smuggling marker to their side of the track). The skirmish ends when there are tokens on all the squares. then we know which player controls the smuggling in which district and that player earns the wealth points listed next to the skirmish that has just ended. In addition, he has the opportunity to gain additional wealth points if the marker on the smuggling track has reached or passed a coin space.
is it worth it?
I appreciate the Nasz Księgarnia publishing house for a nice addition to the games – video instructions on their website. As for the Crime Syndicate , it’s not that important (because the rules are simple and during the game there are no doubts about the proposed solutions), but it can make it easier to prepare for the first game. The game delighted me with its simplicity and this is its main advantage. Unfortunately, looking at the elegant cover and graphics in the manual, we can expect slightly different content – larger tiles, richer (not so ascetic) illustrations … But in general it’s not bad, because the atmosphere has been largely preserved. You should also pay attention to the board, which initially does not want to lie flat on the table (but luckily it is only a matter of time and familiar sessions).
The crime syndicate may be enjoyable, but it all depends on our (and rival’s) commitment. The solo mode is interesting, although it depends if you like playing against a virtual opponent. I encourage you to try it – it’s only 20 minutes after all, and there’s a good chance you’ll like it!
