Pax Pamir Second Edition Review

#boardgames #review #paxpamir

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Music by:

Juanitos

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[Ravendas]

13min in... "If you lose your last tribe in a region, you lose all your cards in that region".


It's actually just the purple political cards. Not all of your court cards. Purple cards are the only ones to put out tribes, and the tribes are tied to them, and vice versa. Lose the last purple card for a region? Tribes in that region are removed. Lose the last tribe in a region? All of your purple cards in that region are removed.


The rule specifically has the purple political icon next to it, as a reminder.

[RockinBobXYZ]

The comment about needing a sensitivity warning for the slave market is a teachable moment.


The slave markets of Afghanistan operated for many centuries. The slaves were Persians, Afghans, Indians, and Russians. In fact, it was the presence of Russian slaves - captured by Turcomen raiding the Russian steppes and sold and held in the Afghan Khanate of Khiva - that served as a casus belli for Russians to invade Afghanistan. And it was British agents who secured the freedom of those Russian slaves in 1840, as a stratagem of the Great Game to deny Russia that casus belli (the British Empire had abolished slavery in 1833 - it was practiced in Afghanistan until 1920 or so).


So Russians were both the victims of slavery (and the modern gamers whose discomfort would presumably be addressed by a warning about slave markets?), and a colonial invader, while the other colonial power, Britain, secured the freedom of the slaves. Then of course there's Persia, the powerful neighbor that repeatedly invaded, occupied, and exploited Afghanistan. Persians enslaved Afghans, and vice-versa.


In other words, it's much more complex and nuanced than modern political attitudes around slavery and colonialism recognize. Which is one of the pleasures, for many of us, of historical simulations - they help us step out of our modern shoes and understand a complex world from a historical perspective.

[tundranocaps]

You can really see the inspirations from this that made it to Root, and I'm not talking about how Root is modeled as a "Pax" game, but the nature of point acquisition, the fluidity, and the multi-purpose use of cards. And I really want to play more Root, it dominated my months after the last time I played it, and hadn't played it since :(

[davidenania]

I own this game, I played it a lot, I got frustrated a lot because of the overwhelming rules but I love it to tears and it will stay in my collection forever. I have seen this review when it went out but I love so much you guys and this game that I came back to rewatch it. Greetings from Italy!

[JoshuaLivie]

I always love your research and perspective on board games.

[isaacbrooks]

“I am a good man. And thorough.”
A+ subtle Big Lebowski reference.

[bushibayushi]

Try Pax Renaissance guys. A stellar design.

[forifisher]

I've only played the 1st edition of Pax Pamir, but this review brilliantly articulated pretty much all of my sentiments about that game. I would say I have mixed feelings about Root, and actively dislike Pax Pamir (even though the game has so many tantalizing ideas.) I generally prefer An Infamous Traffic (probably because it's shorter), although even that game has its shortcomings for me. Either way, I like what Cole Wehrle is doing with games; he's experimenting and even when experiments don't work, they are at least interesting.

I say all of that because the one Cole Wehrle game that I do adore without reservation is John Company. It's every bit as complicated as Pax Pamir and every bit as unique, but I find it easier to understand the game state. There are fewer situations where I feel like I lost because I forgot one rule, and when there are big swings in the game, they feel less random and unpredictable. At the end of the video, you all state that you "can't wait to see what Cole Wehrle does next." I think you should play and review John Company; I would love to hear what you all think of it!

[WWFanatic]

"Let's go do a learn" is a great phrase and I'm stealing it.

[romain]

Just found out about this channel, your review style is both entertaining and insightful, I'm impressed. As I play mostly wargames/consims, none of the previous reviews had come to my attention. What I can say about Pamir is that it feels nothing like a regular consim, it's far more abstract than most hence the difficulty to internalize rules. I had the same experience with Pax Renaissance, I still have to check the fiddly parts all the time, no matter how many times I've played it, simply because a lot of the rules work together to create the big picture rather than each rule representing a specific aspect that would make it easy to memorize it. Pax Pamir is a breeze though after Renaissance. Most of the stuff you need is on the player boards. But it's one of those very opaque games where figuring out how what you need to do to play semi-competently is a long process of trial and error.

[robertyoung]

its my game of the year so far and after putting in 10 games within a week of getting it it has put itself in my top 5. I'm generally apprehensive to make a conclusion like that with such a new game but this one just really struck a nerve with me.

[snarfdk]

Your videos just keep getting better and better and I keep becoming a bigger and bigger fan. Once again: well done!

[DianeMountford]

Thanks, guys! I got to play An Infamous Traffic a couple weeks ago ... another Cole Wehrle game dripping with historical irony. I don't consider myself a war gamer, but his designs are incredibly compelling. I'm sad I ended up not backing Pax Pamir on Kickstarter.

[jakubgrygiel]

I would love to hear an explanation as to exactly which artwork on the cards is "suspect", I mentioned this accusation to other people I've played the game with and we are all at a loss to find exactly what you mean.

[ToddCarter]

Sure. There’s a lot of rules. But that’s why they have a player aid. You only have to remember how a specific action works when you need to do it and then you consult the player aid. No need to keep it all in your head. Player aids are pretty common in wargaming and historical simulation. Anyways, loved the review anyway and I hope to get more people into this new more simplified version of this greats game.

[Quietwulf]

What a fascinating game. Thanks for taking the time to break it down in such an entertaining way 😁

[carrickrichards]

So clever it is quite demanding to grapple with. All the many characters, tools and regions are constantly shifting. John Company, Pax Emancipation, Infamous Traffic (due a 2nd edition 2024-5?), Pax Renaissance are all of similar thematic depth.

[heathcliff]

Regarding Mr. Eklund’s essay on defense of british colonianism, here are a few articles (much more could be found) that make us wonder about the benevolent noble action of the british and their historic concern and contribution to the welfare of others. Colonialist minds like Mr. Eklund’s like to imagine the colonialists as bearers of modernity and advancement to the societies they colonised. They purposely forget that never has the motivation to colonise been for the benefit of the colonised, but solely for the colonisers’. This can be said for the british as well as others, like the french, the dutch, the german, the spanish and the portuguese.

[josephpilkus]

Absolutely tremendous game. I learned this title over the weekend by a very experienced player and I had a great time. Looking forward to buying it down the road

[anjovimusic]

*after listening to rule critique for obtuseness of overthrow rule: well...it actually only applies to political cards...LOL! I think this was a very common mistake folks made and only validates the critique more. I found the core rules pretty slick, but would really love a reference card for all of the nitty bits like overthrow, x2 cost for cards during military suit activation, etc.

That said, I might only recommend this game to people who want alot of levers to throw in the geo-politicin' of a historical space...But my, does it deliver!


Loved the review! I loved the extra context of the historical components of the setting, as well as the publisher history. I dig the 'board game special' approach to these reviews.