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Fortress America

Game ID: GID0132781
Collection Status
Description

Fortress America, originally part of Milton Bradley's Gamemaster series, depicts an alternate near-future in which all of the world attacks and invades the continental United States. From the west arrives hordes of Asian foes; from the south arrives a union of South American countries through Mexico, and from the east lands come legions of Soviets who have taken over all of Europe. America besieged has to rely on the remaining ground and air forces left in the country along with partisan uprisings to defend mom's apple pie.

Up to four players can play Fortress America, one player being the U.S. and up to three others controlling the invading units from a particular direction. Being a near future scenario, the units in the game include conventional infantry, APCs, hovertanks, helicopters, bombers, US partisan units, and special "Star Wars" laser relay systems that fire from space.

The game emphasizes combined arms in that players receive a bonus if infantry, mechanized, and air power are all used in a conflict. For the invading countries, all the units they receive for the game are given at the start so they must manage them wisely. The U.S., however, starts with a skeleton defense and builds up throughout the game through a random deck of cards. Further, the U.S. slowly builds up its Star Wars system, so the longer the invaders are delayed, the more powerful the U.S. becomes both conventionally and through its defense system.

Reimplemented by:

Fortress America (2012)

Year Published
1986
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment: pos 1 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
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Video eT7JwFvyHjs Under the Hood analysis at 11:04
video_pk 12475 · mention_pk 36400
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Click to watch at 11:04 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • dice-based combat with charts / random outcomes — uses dice and simple resolution to drive combat outcomes
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • dice are probably the first board game mechanic
  • the more sides of the dice the more extreme their variables will be
  • dice can add uncertainty to actions and while you may recall vividly the fistful of ones you rolled in an important battle the overall distribution of rolls in the game should balance out over time
  • there's really no such thing as luck there's just probability
  • get better and stop blaming the dice when you lose
  • friction is all the random things that happen in war that turn it from a mathematical challenge into the messy chaotic experience
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video p5zgI1W_Jgk Dice Tower general_discussion at 12:42 sentiment: positive
video_pk 6836 · mention_pk 20264
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Click to watch at 12:42 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • nostalgic appeal and epic feel
  • satisfying for fans of classic war games
Cons
  • long playtime
  • older components/media may feel dated
Thematic elements
  • world domination through large-scale military action
  • Cold War era global conflict with superpowers vying for dominance
  • asymmetric, battleground-style warfare across a global map
Comparison games
  • Axis & Allies
  • Fortress America (itself a point of comparison in the discussion)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • area_control — players vie for control of territories on a world-map board.
  • combat_resolution — conflicts are resolved using predefined combat mechanics and units.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • There are so many good games.
  • There's a lot of iconography. I wish there were sheets that tell you what icons do.
  • The new Cichlades Legendary Edition is absolutely amazing.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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