A new chapter in the “Absent Superpowers” Series

Predicting the imminent collapse of the United States is a journalistic and academic commonplace as old as the republic itself. In fact, the first op-ed pieces on that theme began appearing in newspapers–both within the country itself and elsewhere around the world–before the ink on the first copy of the constitution was even properly dry back in 1787. The genre even had a name: “declinism.”

Similarly, the reasons given for that supposedly inescapable fall have generally always–from the late-18th century to the present–been divided into three categories: ethno-racial conflict, class conflict, or some mixture of the two. America Falling enables two players to simulate the entire first year of a hypothesized near-future civil war–brought on by whatever is your own favorite reason–across all of the lower-48 states.

Specifics:

• Complexity: 6 out of 10
• Solitaire Suitability: 8 out of 10
• Time Scale: six two-month turns
• Map Scale: 33 miles (54 km) per hex
• Unit Scale: brigades, with abstracted air & naval power
• Players: one or two, best with two
• Playing Time: four to six hours