Prime Minister already offers a highly thematic gameplay experience in its standard format, but if you want to take that experience to a higher level, you can try one of the twelve scenarios planned for the game. In this fifth InsideGMT article for Prime Minister, we’ll take a closer look at those scenarios, starting with an overview and then delving into some examples.

Each scenario presents a different thematic situation, with modifications to setup, game rules, and/or victory conditions. All these scenarios will be included in the game’s playbook and will use the standard game’s existing components. Some scenarios are built for a specific number of players ranging from one to four, and some involve team play with joint victory conditions. The scenarios offer a mix of different playing times, including some that are much shorter than the standard version. There’s something in here for everyone. If there’s an aspect of the standard game you don’t care for, you’re likely to find something more to your taste in one of the scenarios.

Now let’s zoom in on some specific scenarios, starting with the 4-player tournament-length scenario A Nation in Crisis. This game is limited to 8 rounds so that an experienced group of players can finish a game in about 60 to 90 minutes. It uses detailed adjustments to setup including a modified events deck to create an exciting endgame showdown, where each player has victory closely in reach. There are no adjustments to rules or victory conditions, allowing you to focus on honing your strategy, without learning any new mechanics. As captured by its especially challenging events deck, this scenario presents a “nation in crisis”: the Prime Minister contends with famines, floods, cholera outbreaks, riots, and even attempts on Her Majesty’s life. In a desperate attempt to restore order, the Earl of Derby’s Conservative ministry has introduced a series of repressive bills, already placed on the board during setup. It’s not clear if Derby can pass these partisan, controversial bills and survive the following election. Earl Russell, leader of the Liberal Opposition, is eager to prove he can do better, but no one yet knows if he intends to follow a partisan or moderate strategy. Both party leaders have to contend with powerful and potentially disloyal backbenchers, while the backbenchers themselves are faced with their own dilemmas–should they emphasize personal ambition over loyalty, risking disaster for their party? Or should they play it safe by supporting their party leader, foregoing their own moment in the sun? If you haven’t yet discovered the importance of intraparty conflict in Prime Minister, you’ll have a new experience in A Nation in Crisis.

Gladstone Liberates Ireland is a 2-player scenario that simulates a more specific historical situation: Gladstone’s attempt in the 1880s and 90s to pass a home rule bill for Ireland. This scenario is tournament-length (limited to 9 rounds), but if you’re looking for a fair fight, you’ll have to look elsewhere–this is the one scenario that’s intentionally lopsided. Irish home rule was a tough sell in the Victorian-era Parliament and despite all his talents, the real-life Gladstone failed to pull it off. Think you can do better? Gladstone’s victory conditions in this scenario are achievable, but very challenging. His Conservative opponent, Benjamin Disraeli, has the easier task of maintaining the status quo.

Disraeli was Gladstone’s archrival, but he actually wasn’t around to oppose Gladstone’s home rule bill, having died in 1881. We resurrect Disraeli in this scenario not only to pay homage to their famous rivalry, but also because his politician card happens to be the one best suited to the Conservative side of this scenario. The game opens with Disraeli as Prime Minister, but his defeat in the upcoming election is almost inevitable–the first few rounds of the game are really about jockeying for the best starting position in Gladstone’s upcoming Liberal ministry. Once in office, Gladstone has a maximum of six rounds to liberate long-suffering Ireland through three key bills culminating in home rule. He must contend not only with Disraeli’s counter maneuvers, but also with opposition from moderates in his own Liberal Party. Even if he succeeds in passing his agenda, he’ll have to prevail against a Conservative backlash in the game’s final election. Gladstone Liberates Ireland will teach both players the importance of timing and the intraparty moderate/partisan split. This scenario is a great choice for a novice to take Disraeli’s position against a veteran Gladstone player, or for any Gladstone player who wants to test their mastery of the game.

Next, we have the Second Reform Act scenario. The British electorate went through a significant evolution during the long Victorian era, shifting the relative voting strength of different social groups and forcing political parties to adjust to new realities. Unfortunately, this dynamic gets lost in Prime Minister’s standard version: the game board captures the relative strength of different “sectors” of the electorate during the Victorian period, but the weight given to each sector is printed directly on the board and can’t change during regular gameplay. Thus, unlike real life, Prime Minister’s electorate normally remains static. Early in the design process, I considered making these weights changeable in the standard version of the game, but rejected the idea as too complex and unbalanced. Instead I reserved the idea for a scenario, in order to control balance more carefully and allow players to choose whether to explore or avoid this scenario’s added complexity.

The Second Reform Act is a standard-length scenario that can be played with two, three, or four players. It’s set in the 1860s, but it really continues a story that began in 1832. In that year, Britain took a leap forward in its transition from an oligarchy to a modern democracy with the First Reform Act, officially called the Representation of the People Act. The 1832 Act expanded the electorate to about one in five adult males, but further progress stalled in the following decades. In the 1860s, the vast majority of working-class men remained disenfranchised and were running out of patience.

As the scenario opens, mass protests in London become more ominous by the day. In Parliament, the nation’s political leaders jostle with one another to craft a solution. The Representation of the People Act sits to the side of the game board, ready for any Prime Minister who wants to attempt its passage. The Act is normally assigned to the Liberal bills deck owing to its undoubtedly progressive philosophy, but it was actually Disraeli who rallied moderates to enact it under a Conservative government in 1867. In this scenario, it’s available to either party–a Liberal PM needs to line up partisan Liberal MPs to pass the bill, while a Conservative PM needs the support of moderate Conservative MPs. If the bill passes, it immediately doubles the weight of the “workers” sector, suddenly making it the most valuable sector on the board. Meanwhile, inaction risks violence in the streets. Any Prime Minister who fails to introduce the bill risks the Rioting in the East End event, with doubled penalties.

In real life, Disraeli calculated that newly-enfranchised workers would be grateful to the Conservative Party for passing the Second Reform Act, but things didn’t turn out as he expected. Instead, more votes went to the Liberals in the next election, and in the long run the expansion of the electorate led to the emergence of the Labour Party. But in this scenario, history is ready to be rewritten. With the right strategy, either party can capture new support.

During early playtesting, some players suggested introducing additional political parties to Prime Minister and allowing 3- or 4-way competition between completely independent players. I felt that this idea, like the idea of variable weighting in the sectors, was too complex for the standard version of the game, but suitable for a scenario. Thus we arrive at the 3-player scenario The Liberal Unionist. This is the most complex scenario in the game, with extensive modifications to the game rules. It’s almost a different game altogether. 

The star of this scenario is Spencer Compton Cavendish, the 8th Duke of Devonshire and one of the most influential peers in late Victorian Britain. He normally resides in the game’s “supporter” deck, but now he’s been pulled out of his usual place and turned into a playable politician. By the 1880s, Devonshire is one of the leading figures in the Liberal Party and a potential Prime Minister himself, but he now finds himself clashing with his party leader W.E. Gladstone over Irish home rule. After his brother’s assassination by Irish nationalists in 1882, Devonshire has firmly planted himself on the side of the Unionists. As Gladstone prepares to introduce his Government of Ireland Act, Devonshire contemplates leaving the Liberal Party to form a new Liberal Unionist Party, which would allow him to hold the balance of power in Parliament and perhaps enable a Conservative Government under the Marquis of Salisbury. With the Conservatives in power, Devonshire might be able to tighten Westminster’s grip on Ireland through the Irish Coercion Act; but Salisbury has his own plan to calm the situation with his Party Processions Act. Each politician in this three-way contest has his own agenda and path to victory, with party alignments open to change.

In a major departure from the game’s standard victory condition, Devonshire’s goal in this scenario is not to become Prime Minister, but rather to achieve his policy goal of precluding Irish home rule–and he can do so only by manipulating Gladstone and Salisbury. As usual, he measures his progress through victory points. Like Gladstone and Salisbury, he needs to reach 100 VP to win–but he can win as a Government Backbencher (in either party) or as an independent Liberal Unionist, and he wins any tie if he and the current Prime Minister reach 100 VP simultaneously.

Devonshire begins his journey as a backbencher in Gladstone’s Liberal government, where he can try to stymie Irish home rule from within the party by shifting the party towards a moderate stance. If Gladstone can outmaneuver Devonshire and pass the Government of Ireland Act, only Gladstone takes the bill’s VP, giving him a lead over Devonshire. If Devonshire decides he can’t stop home rule from within the Liberal party, he can leave the party and become an independent Liberal Unionist. At this point, his opportunity to earn VP is limited, but with the right timing, he might be able to cross the finish line first. If he chooses to form a pact with Salisbury under a Conservative government, he’ll have the opportunity to force the introduction of the Irish Coercion Act–a bill which earns VP only for him. Salisbury can try to stop the Irish Coercion Act at the risk of losing his own standing in Parliament, or he can try to introduce his own Party Processions Act, which earns VP only for him. For experienced players, The Liberal Unionist presents a compelling and historically relevant challenge, with many different outcomes possible.

Other multiplayer scenarios include Repealing the Corn Laws (a historical simulation centered on the Importation Act of 1846), the Queen’s Favour (featuring a more general theme focused on Queen Victoria), and Fractured Parliament (introducing the concept of non-playable third parties that make it more difficult for players to form majority Governments). But the fun is not limited to multiplayer games only. As discussed in the game’s third InsideGMT article, Prime Minister ships with a built-in bot system for solitaire play called the “Clockwork” and we’re planning five “Clockwork Scenarios” to go with it.

In Climbing the Greasy Pole, solo players get the chance to explore the backbencher’s role while two Clockwork players face off against each other as party leaders. Starting as an opposition backbencher, your goal is to help your Clockwork leader take control of government, and then oust him from the PM’s seat and take the top job for yourself. In Law and Order, you play the Conservative Earl of Derby tasked with passing a series of divisive bills to restore order in the streets. Morality Play allows two human players to team up and seek a joint victory against a Clockwork opponent in a showdown of liberal vs. conservative values. An as-yet- untitled scenario will employ the simpler Clockwork System I for the shortest gameplay experience, and finally a Clockwork variant of The Liberal Unionist scenario allows a solo player to play Devonshire against the Clockwork versions of Gladstone and Salisbury.

Prime Minister’s scenarios enhance the game’s realism and versatility at no extra cost, and demonstrate the strength of this completely new gaming engine. With its scenarios and built-in solitaire system, Prime Minister delivers the equivalent of several games in one box–and it’s flexible enough for players to create additional scenarios of their own design.

---

Please note that none of the above card images are final art.

Previous Articles:

The Analog Computer Inside Prime Minister

Roles and Relationships in Prime Minister

Solitaire Play in Prime Minister: The “Clockwork” System

Victorian Britain Comes to Life in Prime Minister