Fort Sumter The Secession Crisis 1860 1861 by GMT Games Multicolored

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1. Cigar Jackal Verified Buyer – 5 September 2024

   I really wanted to like this game. However, it has two major flaws for my tastes.

   The first is that the theme seems entirely pasted on. The game mechanics would work with any theme, as really you are just color matching. You could rename red, blue and green ass anything and the game wouldn’t change at all.

   The second issue that I have, and the one that is a deal breaker for me is the game length. It is a very short game (15-30 minutes). Just as the game is starting to develop, it is over. It feels like you didn’t really accomplish anything, and the final scores are generally within a point of each other, so it almost feels like the winner was chosen at random.

   It is an ambitious subject to make a game about, but it just does not work that well in my opinion.
   

2. Michael Verified Buyer – 29 October 2024

   Play wiith the optional rule!
   

3. Cody Carlson Verified Buyer – 12 April 2025

   Fort Sumter, from GMT Games, is a light, fast-paced, card-driven game set against the backdrop of the beginning of the U.S. Civil War. One player takes on the role of the Union, while the other takes on the role of the nascent Confederacy. The board is divided up into twelve spaces- four groups of three, that represent different dimensions of the succession crisis. The dimensions are politics, armories, public opinion, and secession. Each side also has a number of cubes on a track to the side of the main play area, and players will draw their cubes from this track. The game takes place over the course of three regular rounds, and one special final round. Each round players will be dealt two secret objective cards- locations on the map that they need to control at the end of the round for a special bonus- and they may keep one and place it face down under the board on their side. Then, they are dealt four action cards. Over the course of the turn, each player will play three, and place one face down before them in anticipation of the final, special round. The cards may be played for their point value, or if the card color matches the player’s side, they may play it for its event, (not unlike Twilight Struggle). These cards allow players to take cubes from their tracks and place them on the board, or rearrange cubes already on the board. As they take cubes from their tracks the secession crisis escalates, giving players special abilities. Scoring occurs at the end of each round. During the final round, players retrieve the four cards they saved from the previous rounds and use the banner at the bottom to determine how they can manipulate cubes on the board. Once that is done the board is scored again, and whoever has the highest score is the winner. Fort Sumter is another fun game from the great Mark Herman, creator of such iconic games as Churchill, Empire of the Sun, and Washington’s War. In contrast to many of Herman’s games, this one is relatively light and plays in about 20-30 minutes. There is some real challenge here as players attempt to dominate certain locations on the board, and as one player scrambles to control a location the other player will be tempted to block instead of trying to fulfill his or her own agenda. It’s a wonderful system that makes from some really tough choices and interesting play. Fans of the theme won’t be disappointed, as the cards contain many historical events and personalties. All told, Fort Sumter is a great light game that fans of card driven competitive play will really take to. I highly recommend it! The Discriminating Gamer