Since then, the United States has gone through (another) exciting presidential race, culminating in the historic election of Barack Obama. Although the race between then-Senator Obama and Senator John McCain ended with a convincing win for Obama (he earned 365 electoral votes to McCain's 173), it was a hard-fought contest and a natural topic for a new game from Leonhard and Matthews.
Campaign Manager 2008, published by Z-Man Games in early 2010, gives players a chance to replay the 2008 election in 20 of the hardest-fought states, including Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Gameplay starts with players creating a 15-card deck by selecting from the 45 cards available for each candidate -- essentially choosing a campaign strategy for the game. Players draw cards from their deck three at a time, choosing one to keep while discarding the other two.
That creative deck-building system is one of the elements Leonhard hopes players -- Democrats, Republicans and others -- will take pleasure in. "Regardless of your position on the political spectrum or your relative interest in politics at all, I think you'll find Campaign Manager to be a very engaging strategic challenge," he said. "And I hope people enjoy exploring the possibilities offered by the deck-building aspect of the game."
Matthews said the game is less complex than 1960 or Twilight Struggle, a board game about the Cold War he also co-designed. "If 1960 was an entrée point to Twilight Struggle, I think players will find Campaign Manager as an entrée point to 1960," he said. "Now you have a way to take your reluctant significant other all the way up the chain of complexity."
Leonhard and Matthews answered a few more questions about Campaign Manager 2008.
Although this is another election game, it is quite different than 1960. Why did you decide to make such a different game?
Jason Matthews: I don't think either of us were eager to cover the same ground twice, at least not quite so soon. We were also working on a tight timeline, so we needed something cleaner than 1960, that we could playtest and get into decent shape quickly.
Christian Leonhard: Yes. I think, too, that we're both primarily interested in making something that we really want to play. 1960 was largely a product of our desire to play a game like that, but it didn't exist at the time. Well, now it does, so we turned instead to our interest in a faster-playing game which still offered a comparable level of strategy and (most importantly) tension.
Will fans of 1960 see any similarities to Campaign Manager 2008?
Leonhard: With 1960, we really strived to capture a lot of detailed historical flavor while remaining approachable to those who knew nothing about the period. Obviously, most players will bring a bit more knowledge about the 2008 election with them, but we still wanted to provide a very flavorful experience without presupposing any kind of political expertise on the part of players.
Matthews: Yes, of course, there are the thematics. But ultimately, this is also a struggle for influence over a particular set of states. Because players are just competing over battleground states in this game, it may feel a bit like a more focused experience.
What are your favorite cards in Campaign Manager 2008?
Leonhard: I'm partial to the ones which allow you to discard additional cards from your hand to "fuel" various effects, as these give you a great deal of flexibility in how to play your deck.
Matthews: I really like the interaction of the Clean Campaign cards with a "going negative" deck-building strategy.
