A War of Whispers Collector's Edition

This game has a great unique spin. Rather than everyone having their own units and armies to use, the units in this game are shared. Every player has certain "preferred" armies they want to win territory and others they want to lose. You can accomplish this goal by influencing armies to expand their territory, or sabotage the ones you dislike. Works really well at a variety of player counts 2-4 as well.The collectors edition doesn't add a ton to the game, but having the plastic cities, towers, and farms is a beneficial visual when playing, and the added cards can keep things fresh if you play alot.

I'm not a fan of overcomplicated games that take WAY too long to setup, so this game made me very happy. Easy to setup, easy to learn, and allows a variety of different strategy options to outwit your opponents and control the board in your favor.

Very fun game, you play as a secret society running the game for all the colored nations. You have nations you want to do well and some not so much. All players have a randomized secret order of favorites to help.

I initially saw this on ks awhile ago. After seeing reviews since it came out, thought I would give it a try. I wouldn't have gone with the collector's edition had it not been on sale for 9 more than standard, a little extra bought the expansive in the collector's box. I think the cubes are better than the flags. I have not played it yet. For a collector's edition I feel like it is as half as good as could have been. The sculptures are okay, but the other pieces are still cardboard punch outs. I think for a little more, wooden pieces would have been nicer to go with and to be paired with the minis. The cards seem really cheap. The game looks enjoyable.

This game hits the ultimate sweet spot in gaming - low in complexity but very strong in gameplay depth.An excellent game.

Great strategy game worth the price. Challenging and interesting mechanics.All players may control each nation which creates a tug of war scenario.

Does the idea of ruling from the shadows intrigue you, or do you ever find yourself identifying with the villains sometimes in your favorite shows and movies? If so this is absolutely a game for you, or if you just happen to like fast and smooth playing area control war games this is also for you. Are you drawn in by the box art or the round board, hey I’m not going to fault you on that either, I’m a sucker for those things as well and because of all of these things I found a great game in A War of Whispers.There are five great empires at war across the board each trying to invade and secure the cities of their rivals. You though are not one of these empires, you are those that seek power by infiltration, misguidance, treachery, and manipulation; you are one of four more sinister roles who will use their power of influence to guide those at war to an outcome that is most favorable for them. As players you will take up seats of power in the empires each turn and from there guide the placement of workers, start battles, conquer cities and help spread control of the board towards your own goals. Allegiances may change, you may see profit in later rounds and abandon one empire to then help try and champion another. You do this all from behind the scenes in secrecy!Each player begins the game setting up their board by arranging the five empire tokens in an order that will award victory points at the end of the game for cities controlled. Players can receive x4, x3, or x2 points for the first three tokens in their secret arrangement, then 0 and -1 points for the last two. So for each city the empire controls at your x4 location you’ll multiply for your score. With their being a -1 scoring location you’ll have to balance you turns to try and sabotage that empire into having no cities, at the same time another player may have chosen that same empire as their x4 location so you will be in constant battle to manipulate the board.I love this secret element of the game, you will start off knowing almost nothing about what other players are doing but in four simple and fast rounds you will begin to notice patterns or where some opponents may be hedging their bets. Each empire has four action spaces and on subsequent turns you will recall one of your agents from the board and then add two new ones in player order. While your opponents might be trying to lead you into a false trap in round one or two, by rounds three and four you can almost read the board and make educated bets as to where everyone is trying to win their points. The use of drawn ability cards on turns may also point to who an opponent is supporting.For everything I love, it does lend itself to being predictable the more you play and there can be times when players have chosen almost identical boards setups and are all working toward similar goals. There is less actual war going on and more open cooperation. Luckily there are officially released variants for the game that familiar players can add and randomize some of the coincidental scoring opportunities, and provide other scoring incentives. A War of Whispers has won a permanent spot on my game shelf.

After playing a dozen games, my group agreed that we wish this game would last more rounds.

Great version of this great game.Sadly it is overpriced so if you’re not into blinging up your game stick to the standard box issue.As a collector I am pleased with the purchase.