Days of Ire: Budapest 1956

About this board game

Days of Ire: Budapest 1956 is a historically inspired card-driven game for 1–4 players, played in about 90 minutes. Set during the Hungarian Revolution of October 1956, it pits a Soviet commander against one to three players cooperatively leading the revolutionary forces.

The game unfolds over seven days, representing the last week of October. At the start of each turn, the Soviet commander plays headline cards, gathers Command Points, and triggers effects that may help or hinder the revolutionaries. This card play drives the game’s tempo and strategic direction.

On the revolutionary side, players take the roles of ringleaders working together across Budapest. They collect resources represented by icons on cards, recruit fighters, and resolve events to gain advantages while defending themselves against militia, snipers, soldiers, and Soviet tanks.

• Asymmetrical sides: one player commands the Soviet forces while the others cooperate as revolutionaries.
• Card-driven play: headline cards shape the struggle and create changing opportunities.
• Cooperative survival: revolutionary players must divide their actions, manage their positions, and watch their morale.
• Historical stakes: wounds and unresolved events can cause the revolution to fall.

Revolutionary players must spread across the city, gather the resources needed to resolve events, and keep their morale high enough to continue. If too many ringleaders suffer wounds or too few events are resolved by the end of the game, history changes and the uprising fails. If they keep Budapest’s streets free from oppression, the revolution lives on.

With its blend of cooperative teamwork and card-driven conflict, Days of Ire: Budapest 1956 presents a dramatic contest inspired by the events of 1956, when Hungary was free for less than a week before Soviet forces recaptured the country.