The Big Push

The year 1914 passed. France survived the Schlieffen Plan with the Miracle on the Marne and the Race to the Sea ended in a stalemate. Unable to outflank its opponent, each side entrenched. A new type of warfare began that would claim the lives of many millions: trench warfare.

The Big Push is a WWI card game from designer Renaud Verlaque (Age of Napoleon). Players attempt to make breakthroughs (and prevent their opponents from doing the same) with limited resources and even more limited information. Bluff and deception factor highly, and both players must make strategic decisions about the entire front before zooming in to contest specific areas with dynamic back-and-forth, tit-for-tat card play.

The game is simple enough to teach and to play in under two hours, yet still has everything you'd expect in a strategic game on this topic: naval blockades, drains on German manpower from the Eastern Front, the entry of the US, deadly gas attacks, new and innovative technologies and tactics, and political pressure urging you to make attacks you're not quite ready to make.

Both players must balance risk and reward in an uncertain and hostile landscape. The Big Push is a fast-playing and competitive strategic card game layered with tactical nuance.

• (1) 22" x 17" mapsheet
• 24 counters
• 1 Game Turn Record track
• 112 cards
• 8-page rulebook

Game design: Renaud Verlaque
Art: Ilya Kudriashov
Hex number: 29
Duration: 90 minutes
Players: 2
Solitaire Suitability: Low
Weight: Medium
Theme: World War I