For decades, the French had their eye on the bountiful resources in the coasts and mountains of Algeria as well as their desire to eliminate one of the primary strongholds of the Barbary pirates. Beginning in 1830, the French began their invasion. During this time, a young girl, Fatma N’Soumer, was born. Fatma would grow up to not only join the fight with her fellow Kabyles but, eventually, she would lead them! The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857 is an AI vs everyone board game. As with the Berber villages in Algeria working together to stave off the invasion of the French, players will need to act in kind to keep history from repeating itself.

The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857 was co-designed by Roberta Taylor and Matt Shoemaker. Taylor’s previously released titles include Octopus’ Garden and the upcoming release of Creature Comforts. The Red Burnoose is Shoemaker’s second game after publishing Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer in 2018. In addition to having Karim Ouaras as a cultural consultant, Hit ‘Em With A Shoe hired a Kabyle artist to provide the illustrations for the game: Ahcene Blibek. Blibek’s art included in the prototype we received really blew us away. The portraits and scenic compositions are absolutely stunning! We are looking forward to seeing more of Blibek’s art as well as what other surprises the upcoming Kickstarter campaign will hold!

As with most deck-building games, players of The Red Burnoose will start with a basic starter deck of specific cards. Other, purchasable cards are sorted into their respective decks and set beside the board for recruitment later in the game. Players will also receive village cards matching the locations they control in their territory as well as any starting resources listed on those cards. They will next select one of two random leader cards and their starting items and/or units. All starting items from leaders and villages are added to the respective player’s deck and shuffled. Next, each player will draw an opening hand of five cards, and then it is time to set up the French automa. Their deck, represented by horizontal cards with the French flag on the back, is shuffled and set face down beside the board. The army markers are set on their respective army spaces with a randomly selected Army Start Location token placed face down in its designated space on the board. To deploy the French, reveal one automa card per player and add the units as shown, but ignore the text.

The Red Burnoose is played in turn order starting with the Berber players taking their actions and then the French getting their turn. On a player’s turn, they may take any combination of up to four actions: Play A Card, Reserve, Ambush, or Mobilize. Any unplayed cards can then be spent for their purchasing power to buy up to two new recruitable cards. These recruitable cards can include weaponry, fighters such as sharpshooters and guerillas known as Moudjahidine/Moudjahidate, defenses, or various orchards and resources. Once all players have taken their turns, the French automa will go. The top card of the automa deck is flipped and resolved. Any new armies that have reached their threshold will deploy and then all deployed armies will move according to the automa rules. When the French move and enter a Berber village, combat ensues and is resolved in order of army number as explained in the rulebook, but, if they have not entered a village, the automa turn ends. If at any point, the French manage to defeat two of the Berber factions or they defeat one and another uses the retreat token, the game ends, and the French win. Should the Berbers manage to outlast the entire automa deck before either of the French win conditions are triggered, they win.

Designers Roberta Taylor and Matt Shoemaker set out to design a game full of history, proper representation, and a blend between board gaming and wargaming, and, in our opinion, they not only hit their mark but did so in an impressive fashion! When it comes to deck-building games, Ryan is usually not a fan because so many of them are “the same,” but this fusion of well-known mechanics and strategy created a unique product and experience that we both were able to enjoy. The Red Burnoose is a game that bridges the gap between board gamers and wargamers and is something we feel would appeal to both crowds. This being said, there is a bit of a learning curve for the first couple of games. A lot of that is getting used to the wording and how to properly maneuver all of the components on the board. Once a player manages to make it over the hill that is the learning curve, the game is quite enjoyable and actually teaches you a lot. Though we are unsure if it was luck of the draw or if the game itself is just that stacked against the players, we did find that most of our games were lost to the French, much like the actual battles themselves in the 1800s. The inclusion of actual historical figures, such as Fatma N’Soumer and Omar Oussaid, alongside those whose names and faces are lost to history really added to the appeal and had us wanting to learn more about the history of these events and people. This game launches on Kickstarter soon, and if you would also like to delve into the struggles of Algeria against their French invaders check out the campaign when it launches on September 14th!

All photos for this review were taken and edited by Krista.