Cataclysm: A Second World War

Designer	Scott Muldoon William Terdoslavich
Publisher	GMT Games
Players	2-5
Playtime	90-360 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Expansions	Cataclysm Mounted Maps + 3" Box
Additional Info	125977/cataclysm-second-world-war http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125977/cataclysm-second-world-war/forums/63

Cataclysm: A Second World War

Cataclysm is a two to five player game simulating political and military conflict in the 1930s and 40s. The premise is that a second World War could have broken out at any time, not just September 1939, given the numerous political crises that signaled the march of fascism against the contemporary international order.

Each player commands one or more powers representing an ideology: Fascism (Germany/Italy/Japan), Communism (USSR) or Democracy (UK/France/US). The status quo resides with Democracy, while Communism and Fascism use political or military force to revise the world order to their liking... but once all three ideologies are fighting, another World War is on!

Cataclysm is designed to be playable in one long sitting (five or six hours), but with scenarios as short as 60 minutes. Components will include one 22" x 34" map, 456 counters (9/16"), 160 wood cubes, and about 20 pages of rules. The several scenarios include start points in 1933, 1939, 1941, and 1943, covering one or both theatres, plus an "intro" scenario covering just the Crisis in the West from 1937-40, and "alternate history" options like a fascist France or war between the Soviets and the West after the fall of Germany. There will be an extensive playbook with play-throughs, examples, design notes, strategy notes, and a bibliography.

The game scale is army groups, fleets, and air forces, and two years per turn (with a variable number of actions). Design goals include a minimum of maneuver elements, a minimum of arbitrary constraints, and a maximum of interaction. Players must do more forward planning than is typical of strategic WWII games, but also must remain flexible to respond to events. There is no sequence of play, everything (including production) is mediated through a chit-pull mechanism. Every game is an outlier.

Cataclysm was submitted for publication to GMT Games in March 2013, and went up for P500 pre-order in October 2014. The designers are William Terdoslavich and Scott Muldoon, with development by Kevin Bernatz.

"I WOULD EAT A KITTEN FOR THIS GAME" --Kuhrusty