In the last article, we explored the four factions of Hammer and Sickle and their unique asymmetries. This time, we’ll cover how these factions relate to one another, and how victory is achieved.

Revolution and war are two different things. For someone who is not only trying to defeat a military opponent but also radically change the society in which they live, there is no clear-cut front line visibly separating friend from enemy. – Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Friend or Foe?

Hammer and Sickle presents an innovative “weak alliance” or “semi-team” dynamic. There are two alliances in play, a Revolutionary alliance of Anarchists and Bolsheviks, and a Counter-Revolutionary alliance of New Nations and White Army. However, unlike this designer’s previous game Land and Freedom, it is not necessary for a player’s alliance to win the war in order for that player to win the game. 

In fact, there is no way for an alliance to “win”; victory belongs to only one faction. All that matters is that a player scores enough Victory Points for their faction token to reach the target VP (purple star in the below image – note that all images are prototype art and are not final). Or, failing that, that their faction token is closest to the target VP at the end of the game (Season 6: Summer 1921).

The target VP is not static. The “alliance” dynamic pulls the target closer or further from your faction token throughout the game. Each time a territory on the map switches from one alliance to the other, the target score moves one space (two spaces in the case of Moscow). So if a White territory were taken by the Bolsheviks, the VP target would move to the left, and vice versa. Of course, if an Anarchist territory were taken by the Bolsheviks, the VP target would not be affected because the Revolutionary alliance would still control the same number of territories. 

In this way, both members of an alliance are incentivized to contribute to the tug-of-war to keep the target score as close as possible to their faction token. On the other hand, if your “ally” is ahead of you in the VP race, you may feel these comradely incentives diminish, and if you have an opportunity to score VP by betraying your “ally”, that’s an entirely different story.

Victory Points: Objectives

Each faction has two separate small decks of secret Objective cards – a deck of normal Objectives worth between 1 and 4 Victory Points, and a deck of Heroic Objectives worth between 7 and 9 VP. During the game, each player will hold a maximum of two secret Objectives at any time. When an Objective is completed (at the end of that player’s turn), they reveal their card and gain the VP, moving their token toward the center of the Victory track. If their token reaches the target, this immediately causes the end of the game.

Each Objective card has a reward in one of three resource suits – Food, Firepower, or an asymmetrical resource particular to that faction (e.g., Terror for the White Army). This reward is gained if the Objective card is discarded by the player, either from their hand or after the Objective is accomplished and the VP scored. Additionally, if a player completes a set of Objectives (i.e., one of each of the three types), they score a bonus 3 VP, so long as the three cards were not previously discarded for their resource rewards.

Objectives are not automatically replenished in a player’s hand after a card is discarded or scored. It is possible for a player to have no Objectives in hand. New Objectives can be drawn through Propaganda actions, certain Action cards, and specific Events. Because of the hand limit of two Objective cards, if a player gains more than two, they must discard down to two cards and take the resource rewards of the discarded Objectives.

Objectives are not 100% secret – each player must Claim a territory that they require to fulfill their most valuable Objective in hand. To Claim a territory, they place their Claim pawn in the territory on the board. This Claim also gives them a +1 if they are involved in Combat in that territory. Once the Claimed territory is fulfilled for the purpose of the player’s most valuable Objective, or if a more valuable Objective enters that player’s hand, they must immediately move their Claim.

Victory Points: Season Goals

The other way to score VP is through competition for public achievements called Season Goals. Each Season, a Goal is revealed, and the faction which performs the best in that Goal will acquire VP equal to the current Season – so the reward escalates from 1 VP to 6 VP if the game has not ended before the end of Summer 1921. 

The Season Goals range from such tokens as “Most Hammers Gained” to “Fewest Troops Lost”, thereby providing competitions in which players can attempt to deny VP to certain other factions, while simultaneously providing a bit of a “Hail Mary” strategy for players who have fallen behind on their Objectives.

When a faction achieves steps toward a Season Goal, they place a number of their troop tokens equal to the steps achieved in the Season box. For example, with the Season Goal “Most Hammers Gained,” if a player takes Petrograd, which has three Hammers, they place three of their troop tokens from supply into the current Season box. At the end of the Season, whoever has the most of their tokens in the box scores the Season Goal VP (In the case of a tie, the VP is divided equally).

Next time, we’ll explore the Event and Action cards, all unique to each faction, and we’ll see the bid that determines turn order as well as tie-breakers.

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Previous Article: The Four Factions of Hammer and Sickle