The Joy of Soviet Dawn

An Appreciation after 2K+ plays

Recently, I got Soviet Dawn back on the table. Since the release of the original VPG edition in 2009, I have played an inordinate number of times. I stopped counting a few years ago after some 2000 plays. That’s right: two thousand times, at least. To be clear, I’m way beyond that now. I’ll concede more than 2000 plays is a ridiculous number of times. I read once that many gamers stop playing a game after only three times and then move onto a new game. Obviously, I am an exception. Let me explain.

Soviet Dawn VPG

Over the years, there has been three periods of intense gameplay. The first period was right after Soviet Dawn’s release by Victory Point Games in 2009 when I played 4-5 times daily, sometimes even more, for almost a year. The original folio edition was compact. Gameplay was quick and brutal. I could even sneak in a session at lunchtime at work. This was a dark time in my life. Playing the game so obsessively was akin to taking a lot of drugs or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. I later learned, what I was doing is called sublimation. This is where negative emotions are channeled into a creative endeavor.

I had no understanding of sublimation when this was happening, but it was a life-saving habit that paid long-term dividends. Prior this original bender of gameplay, I would characterize myself as a pretty typical gamer. Playing games was fun and that was that. When I was young, I tried my hand at creating games. Soon enough, I realized I had no talent or insight for game design. Even worse, I didn’t care. So like most folks, I moved on and just focused on the “fun” of playing boardgames.

In my early years of gaming, my primary skill was being an evangelist and getting people to play. This I was good at. Looking back, I’m amazed that I convinced so many unsuspecting friends to play so many complicated games. Those were simple and happy times when we had all the time in the world, or so it seemed.

That aside, my first long bender with Soviet Dawn stirred some latent creative instinct within me. It began to bubble and boil. I started to realize I saw things most people didn’t see. Patterns emerged. Ideas just started coming into my mind. The Muse began to speak to me. I listened and I liked it. I wrote things down and shared them on BGG.

Soon enough, because of my writing on BGG, I came to the attention of Victory Point Games. Bit by bit, I was pulled into playtesting some of the classics of VPG’s States of Siege – Ottoman Sunset, Hapsburg Eclipse, Cruel Necessity, The Lost Cause, to name a few. Eventually, I even got a job working at Victory Point Games, the publisher of Soviet Dawn!

Hacked Version

My next bender of Soviet Dawn gaming was a few years later on the cusp of the lockdown lunacy. I found myself unemployed. For some reason I cannot explain, I began hacking some of my favorite VPG designs. Of course, Soviet Dawn was one of them. What was so fun and even exhilarating was I had to build my own components. I had left my original copy at Fortress VPG after we parted ways. Fortunately, I had compiled spreadsheets listing out all the details of the Event cards. (Incidentally, these are still readily available here on BGG in the Files section of the game forums.) It was a blast. If you’ve ever dreamed of redesigning your favorite game or the board or the layout of cards, I was doing it. Loads of work, but here I was doing it out of necessity. Living the dream, so to speak.

Of course, the whole lockdown and subsequent economic grind-down of the past few years put an end to this project. Making a living and paying the rent took over. Oh yeah, my teenage children took-up a lot of energy at the time, too. As any parent will tell you, your kids are kinda challenging at that age.

Worthington

The third and final Soviet Dawn blitz was when Worthington published their deluxe edition in late 2021. How they pulled this off through the lockdown must have been tough. Good for them. Soviet Dawn was back and truly bigger and better. VPG’s edition had this DIY punk aesthetic coming off the laser printer. My own components were clearly home-brewed and one of a kind. Frankly, I loved my aesthetics and the tactile feel of using cubes instead of cardboard counters.

Worthington knows what they are doing. Their world-class quality components for Soviet Dawn are a refreshing change. The event cards themselves are visually superior and much more rugged. Just setting up the game is a real pleasure. It has some table presence, particularly since I changed my mind about the standees for the enemy fronts. This Worthington round of obsessive Soviet Dawn gameplay saw me writing a lot of strategy articles. Many were posted on BGG. A gaming magazine even published one of them. At this time, I really perfected my methodology of analyzing a States of Siege game. 

All this back story aside, why? Why does Soviet Dawn keep hitting the table and still prompt “joy” every time I play it? Here are a few reasons.

Consistency

For starters, Soviet Dawn plays quick. Set-up is fast. Gameplay is underway in minutes and a full game rarely takes more than an hour. Often much less, as defeat comes unexpectedly. Once the game is underway, there is consistency of the experience. Soviet Dawn is fun; always fun. Constantly, there are important decisions to make as you confront a succession of various crises. The gameplay is intense out of the gate and never lets up. Death tension is high. You’re seemingly always on the edge of defeat. I’ve learned, even when you are deep into the Dawn Deck and you feel like you’re “over the hump” and cruising to victory, the game still has bite. Your enemies can still kill you as you exhaust the Event Deck.

As I was writing this, I lost a couple of games in unexpected ways. In one, my legitimacy was destroyed by three consecutive events where I lost a Political point. Never seen this happen before. In the other game, I was cruising to victory: Western Allies gone; Southern front gone; Poles gone. Facing only Yudenich and Finland with a fortified Petrograd to bar the door, the Eastern front took me out with only 8 cards left. Ouch! The more you play, the wiser you get. But, the game still beats you. This danger keeps me coming back.

Simplicity

Soviet Dawn is not a complex game. States of Siege games are tower defense games. There is a central point to defend. In Soviet Dawn, the central point is Moscow and the Kremlin. There are six tracks leading to Moscow. Your mission is to defend it. If one of your enemies reaches Moscow, you lose.

There is an Event Deck driving the action. Every turn you reveal an event card and resolve it. Implement any one-time events on the card. Advance enemy fronts. Get a few Action Points and allocate them for Military, Political or Economic purposes. Resolution of these actions is easy. Roll higher than a relevant value. Do this a few times. Flip the next card. Survive all sixty events and you win. Of course, there are some unique rules. Fundamentally, the rules are straightforward. You spend your time making decisions, not figuring out how to play.

Structure of the Event Deck

This will sounds really geeky, but I love the structure of the Event Deck. There are three types of event cards: Twilight, Darkness, Dawn. I even love these terms differentiating the types of event cards. I love them because they convey the narrative arc of the story. Things get worse before they get better. The Darkness cards are the most dangerous. Survive them and things begin to get better with the Dawn events.

You start the game with the Twilight events. The design uses a trigger mechanism to shuffle the Darkness and Dawn event cards into the Event Deck. When certain events are revealed, the next set of Event cards are added. Specifically, when the “Treaty of Brest-Litovsk” event in the Twilight Deck is revealed, shuffle in the Darkness cards. When “Germany Capitulates” in the Darkness deck, shuffle in the Dawn event cards. It is simple and straightforward. The net effect is lots of variation in the order of the events between these trigger events.

At some point, you come to realize the implications. By the second event, all of the cards could be shuffled into the Event Deck. So the potential for absolute chaos is there. Given the historic setting of revolution, the narrative can move in unexpected directions. It is pitch-perfect for the setting. It creates a kind of exhilaration as the narrative takes unexpected twists. These, in turn, present the player with new challenges and opportunities for victory and defeat.

All this aside, one of the fun little details of Soviet Dawn is with the first trigger: “Treaty of Brest-Litovsk”. When this event is revealed, you get to choose. Do you sign the Treaty and say goodbye to Imperial Germany? Or do you choose the Bukharin Option and fight on against Imperial Germany? It is a fun little decision moment. Either option you choose, it sets up the second act with the Darkness cards. There are definite pros and cons to either choice. However, the state of the board really drives this decision. As a player, you have to love the agency.

Characters!

Historical events, particularly in our age of historical illiteracy, can feel dry or detached or impersonal facts on a page. Soviet Dawn is full of characters – the Czar, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Red Army generals like Frunze and Tukhachevsky, White Army generals like Kolchak, Denikin, Baron Wrangel, foreign generals like Hoffman, Mannerheim, Pilsudski. Even the Czech Legion, an important unit, takes on a persona of sorts. These individuals personify events in a way that headlines like “Spanish Flu Becomes Global Pandemic!” or “Critical Shortages Hindering Red Efforts!” don’t. As these characters move in and out of the narrative and it pulls you into the story.

Each enemy track is unique

There are six tracks leading to Moscow. In the north, you have the Imperial German Army and the Finns advancing on Petrograd. Later, when Germany capitulates, the Western Allies land in the far north at Murmansk. White armies come up from the south and the east. Lastly, the Poles come at you from the west towards Kiev. Each track is delightfully unique. This means you have to be thoughtful in handling each front differently.

Initially, Imperial Germany and the Finns are your biggest threat. With both advancing through Petrograd, they don’t even need to get to Moscow. They can crush you politically by repeatedly occupying Petrograd. Germany is a juggernaut. If the Finnish Civil War breaks out quickly, you really have your hands full because the Finns can be even friskier. Both advance more than 50% of the time in the Twilight Deck. You will be sorely tempted to use your Cheka resource to scotch the Finnish entry. Yes, it can get that bad. So if the Treaty comes out early, signing to remove Germany makes a lot of sense. But, if you’re deep in the Twilight events and the Finns haven’t entered, you may be tempted to choose the Bukharin option.

Regardless, you have a few other important issues to consider in the Twilight Deck. Executing the Czar is one. The other is the Czech Legion. With the Czar, seriously, you have to whack the guy or there will be trouble down the road. Given the politics, which you don’t have complete control over, you have to keep your options open and keep the Eastern front at arm’s length until you can take care of business. Lastly, the Czech Legion cannot be overlooked. Suppressing them early on is a major priority, if you can. As you can see, right out of the gate, you have your hands full with decisions and a To-Do List. The sooner you execute the Czar, the better. The longer you can suppress the Czech Legion, the better it is for you.

When the Western Allied enters the game, they are a powerful 4-strength front. Fortunately, their Achilles heal is the Political Track. You can stop them cold (pun intended) by driving up your Political Level to “Allies Indecisive”. Gain enough political legitimacy, support for their mission erodes back home. Yes, you want them freezing in Murmansk until the Brits mutiny. That’s how you break them.

The Southern front seems to be the most unremarkable of your enemies. Don’t be deceived. The Southern front is persistent. It often advances when major events happen. You need to anticipate these moments and make sure you’re prepared. Otherwise, they will slip in and catch you by surprise. The other significant event on this front is “Denikin Unstoppable?” This sees a sustained drive from the South. They keep advancing until you stop them or they advance into Moscow. So you need to keep them closer to Crimea to help you survive this event. Again, be prepared or you’ll end up hanging from a lamppost.

The Polish front has Kiev. It is like Petrograd and is an important political space. If it falls to the Poles, you lose a Political point. If the Western Allies are still in the game, this can cause headaches with keeping them Indecisive. However, it gets worse. Eventually, the Western Allies recognize Polish independence and establish an international border. When this happens, the Curzon Line comes into play. Every time you cross it, again your Political Level gets dinged. Late in the game, this can be a real problem, particularly if the Western Allies are still fighting you. One more thing, the Poles have the only double-move in the entire Event Deck. So, you have to keep not only out of Kiev, but also at arm’s length or they could get the drop on you.

As I said, each of the tracks has its unique characteristics. The interplay of all these fronts is a big part of the game. I have found the more I play, the more I appreciate the interplay of each front’s unique qualities in the context of each session’s unique sequence of events. It is a delicious mix.

Reorganization Chits

To win the game, you really need to upgrade the Red Army with tanks, armored trains, better leadership, etc. Historically, Trotsky made major changes to improve the quality of the Red Army. The Reorganization markers handle this dynamic. Most of your Action points will be allocated to Offensives to push back your enemies and build up your Political legitimacy. However, to have any hope of victory, you need to acquire some Reorganization chits. They give you more firepower to battle the White Armies and other options like Subversion and Comintern to help win the game.

Curiously, the most common rookie mistake is to ignore the Reorganization Action. Rookie players do so because it is difficult to acquire them. Successful Reorg Actions require a 6 result on a d6. With only a 16% chance of success, players reasonable choose other Actions like Offensives or Political Actions that generally have a higher chance of success. Big mistake. From the very beginning of the game, the player must methodically allocate some Actions to Reorganization and expect to fail most of them.

It goes without saying; every successful Reorg Action is a huge morale boost. The narrative arc sees you aboard an apparently sinking ship, as the enemies of the Revolution multiply and advance towards Moscow. When you snag a Reorg chit, it is a definite “Yes!” moment. It gives you some real hope that somehow you can pull this out. Needless to say, it is a lot of fun.

You have to think Offensively

Soviet Dawn is a States of Siege tower defense kind of game. So you’re playing defense all the time, right? Nope, wrong. To win, you have to think offensively. Thinking offensively means trying to “shape the board” to maximize your opportunities. As I noted earlier, each front has its own unique qualities. However, one common quality that five of the six tracks share is the ability to remove the front.* This is a big deal. This is how you win. The best way to fight an enemy front in a States of Siege game is to not fight them.

If you have the opportunities to remove enemy fronts, it behooves you to pay attention and note when these opportunities arise. Duly noted, it behooves you to be ready when these opportunities arise. Being ready means being mindful of when this is likely to happen for each front; to be in a position to strike; and have the necessary resources ready to seal the deal. As any drill sergeant knows, look sharp and be ready. As you pick off your enemies and remove them from play, you know you are on the path to victory. At least, it feels that way.

Theme, theme, theme!

Soviet Dawn oozes theme. The story is filled with historic and, in some cases, iconic characters like Lenin and Trotsky; others are more obscure like Mannerheim, Hoffman, Bukharin, Makhno, Denikin, Frunze, Curzon. All the era’s political factions play their part: Bolsheviks, Communists, Socialists, Nationalists, Anarchists, Kulaks, Anti-Semites, Cossacks, and Monarchists. The Event cards announce coups, mutinies, executions, treaties, armistices, abdications, epidemics, diplomatic conferences, uprisings, and revolts.

The resources at hand are Cheka, Comintern, subversion, tanks, armored trains, Imperial gold, reserve offensives, political decrees, fortifications, political dissent, commissars. Throughout the design and the components, these thematic elements are visually present. So as the narrative is told and theme is presented vividly. The game is filled with thoughtful details like the box’s lid with a scene of Lenin addressing a crowd. It serves as an obvious place to roll the red die included with the game. All of these factors set the scene that, without a doubt, you are in the chaos of Revolutionary Russia. Kudos to Worthington for putting together the package!

For me, all of these qualities explain the joy of Soviet Dawn. For a small package, it punches way above its weight. It is a consistent delight. I consider myself fortunate to have known and played this game for so many years. I invite all gamers to share this joy with me.

* Yudenich in the Baltic is the only front where there is no opportunity to remove him. Thus, once the Revolution is victorious and the Kremlin secure, Cheka and Comintern can turn their attention to him. They will kill Yudenich last.