Description

A self-published game that shares components with Aras An Uachtaran, with both games being themed to Irish politics.

From a review by Stuart Dagger in Sumo Magazine:

This is a 4 hour game, with each player taking the part of one of the groupings in the Irish parliament. Play is split into 15 rounds, in each of which players campaign and fight elections. Seats won translate into victory points (necessary, because this is a game in which the parties are not of equal strength and so each has its own conversion rate), and at the end the player with the highest number of victory points wins. Each party has a percentage share of the vote. At the start these range from 44 for Fianna Fail down to 3 for the Independents, but these will fluctuate during the game as a result of electoral successes and failures and the campaigning attentions of one's opponents. Each 5 per cent, or part thereof, that you have at the start of a round entitles you either to draw a constituency card or to place a marker on the board. Owning a constituency card enables you to decide when the election will be called for the seat, and having a marker in the constituency is necessary if you are to take part when it is.

An election can not be called if a constituency contains fewer than 3 markers. Markers once played can be moved, and there is a limit to the number of markers that can be in a constituency at any one time (with a Civilization-style combat mechanism for removing any surplus). All of which makes for a lot of tactical jostling. When an election is called, players with markers in the constituency collect votes equal to 1d6 plus the number of their markers. An overall majority is needed for victory, and votes of less successful candidates are reallocated until this is achieved. Reallocation is done using a preference list mechanism, which again offers a lot of scope for tactical maneuver.