If you’ve ever wondered what life is like at the top of government or wanted to try your hand at managing the country’s affairs, then Statecraft has come to scratch this political itch. Designed for two to four players, Statecraft sees players try to out manoeuvre each other as they strive to win the hearts and minds of the ever-fickle electorate. Each player will assemble (and often reassemble) their cabinet, reveal policies, and try to slander their opponents to take home the crown (well, more like keys to No 10).
Get (State) Crafty
At its core, Statecraft is a political hand management game, with players drawing and spending their cards to recruit new ministers, announce (or denounce) policies, and rustle up some support from the electorate. There are varied scenarios outlined for players to choose from, with many centred around the goal of securing the greatest number of supporters.
As is the case in the real world, the choices players take will impact on their overall ideology, tracked through four gauges on the player boards. This ideology Each new policy announcement or denouncement pulls the party in different directions. Across the different rounds, players will have to plan what sort of party they want to be, as players will have to meet supporters’ ideological requirements before they can win them over.
Players must then conduct a difficult balancing act of keeping existing supporters content whilst adapting to meet the needs of new supporters. Going too far beyond what voters will tolerate makes them easy pickings for opponents looking to entice them over to rival parties. With a vast number of different requirements and ideological configurations, pleasing everyone is quite literally an impossibility, and so planning ahead is essential to win over as many supporters as possible and surge to victory. However, even with the strongest base beneath them, the leading player can face unexpected emergency cards, throwing everyone into chaos and provide opportunity for rival parties to turn the tide.
The sheer volume of different permutations of ideologies and potential supporters ensures that each game of Statecraft feels fresh. Statecraft emulates the trials and tribulations of modern politics but manages to stay just far enough removed for it to feel fun for all, avoiding the trap of becoming just more politics in a box.
However, for all its variability, Statecraft does come unstuck a little with the choices available. Especially at lower player counts, play can feel cyclical due to the lower risk of supporter poaching. Given the limited number of supporters revealed at a time, there is a chance that players end up building parties with near identical ideological bases, as they try to become as appealing as possible. Also, as it is so free form and is so in the luck of the draw, some games can either end very early or drag on well beyond the enjoyable. This combined means that at lower player counts Statecraft is less standout than it could be, with players often ending stuck, unable to access the quick-fire change brought about with more players.
The House Rises
Overall, Statecraft is an enjoyable game that really pops off the table thanks to its vibrant design. It packs a lot of variation into a relatively small box and brings the world of politics to your table but without the stuffiness of needing a degree to understand the nuance. At lower player counts, gameplay can suffer due to players being stuck in a tit-for-tat with each other, reducing the potential for the diversity of tactics that makes Statecraft come to life. Whilst understandable, the desire to create some distance between the game and the real-life political system leaves the ministers, faction leaders, and parties themselves lacking in the real personality that would help Statecraft make a more of a splash.
