The Republic’s Struggle

About this board game

The Republic’s Struggle is a thematic card-driven game for 2–4 players, with games lasting about 240 minutes, set during Spain’s turbulent Second Republic from 1931 to 1936.

Players represent the Republican and National sides as they compete for political influence and control of the country. Through propaganda, troop or militia recruitment, revolts, assaults, diplomatic relations, and bombardments, each faction seeks to shape the destiny of Spain before the failed military uprising that led to the Spanish Civil War.

Cards can be used in different ways: resolve their historical events, or spend their action points and icons to carry out other available actions. This creates difficult choices as players balance immediate opportunities against the wider struggle for power.

• Increase support in localities through political propaganda.
• Recruit troops and militias, move armies between fronts, and establish armed roadblocks.
• Build diplomatic relations to seek international support.
• Compete for barracks, air bases, and naval bases, whose control provides important advantages.
• Generate uprisings, launch assaults, and bombard opposing positions.

Political support is only part of the contest. Armies can prevent propaganda from spreading, and defeating enemy forces may help secure regions even when their localities politically favor the opposing side. Control of key military locations can also influence the different fronts.

Inspired by the tensions of the interwar period and Spain’s connections with Europe, The Republic’s Struggle offers its own adaptation of this historical conflict. Its combination of card-driven decisions, political maneuvering, military movement, international diplomacy, and violent escalation presents a focused struggle over a nation on the brink of civil war.