Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7908662/the-anarchy

Designer: Bobby Hill
Publisher: Garphill Games
Artist: Sam Phillips

I’m not going to go through how to play on this one because there’s a lot going on and that would be a ridiculous number of “then this” statements, so we are just going to skip over that bit. In general, though, the basic idea is similar to that of Hadrian’s Wall where you use resources to fill in spaces on your player sheets to then perform other actions and/or gain other combinations to do as much as possible each round. I personally feel that The Anarchy is different enough from Hadrian’s Wall to warrant keeping both in our collection, but the general idea is still quite similar.

The solo game also plays well here, as it did with Hadrian’s, because it’s basically a multiplayer solitaire game with zero player interaction. The Anarchy comes with a solo campaign booklet which I love. I played around five or so of them and then put it aside for now; trying the different scenarios was enjoyable, but this game is much more time consuming and difficult (and frustrating), so it’s harder for me to want to play solo that many times. I do feel there are more avenues to explore in this one vs. Hadrian’s, which does help with overall replayability though.

The major change in this one is combat, how it works, and how players get punished from attacks. In my opinion, the combat in The Anarchy has the same level of luck as in Hadrian’s (it’s just different) but is significantly more challenging to fully succeed at.

Overall, this game has solid mechanics and is a very fun combo-driven game to play and experiment with, and there seems to be less repetitive play. It’s a deeper, richer, heavier experience that still offers that roll and write feel. I also enjoy the added 3D dimension to the tower defense aspect.

However, with this comes more to juggle, an increase in difficulty both in success and in remembering rules, a longer game length, and a larger luck factor. Like I said at the beginning, I plan to keep both The Anarchy and Hadrian’s Wall in the collection as they fit different niches. There are times I will want the more intense and thinky game of The Anarchy, and then other times when I still want something crunchy but less time consuming and a little more blasé (if you could even call it that), which is when I’ll pull out Hadrian’s Wall.

One other thing: I appreciate that Hadrian’s Wall plays over four players where The Anarchy only contains components for up to four players. If we play at more than two, it’s usually five, so Hadrian’s Wall wins in this category for us.