Balance of Terror on the Red Sea

Balance of Terror on the Red Sea is a stand-alone card game for two players based on Balance of Terror. The year is 1974, and the Soviet Union and the United States are embroiled in a global battle to the death. As so often during the Cold War, a relatively obscure region of the world suddenly took centre stage. Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, a staunch US ally in Africa, had grown old and increasingly dictatorial. In 1974, a group of young Marxist officers staged a coup and took the reins of power. This revolutionary leadership set off a chain of events that disrupted the regional balance of power and unleashed all the familiar elements of Cold War competition in the Horn of Africa.

Balance of Terror in the Red Sea challenges the players to take up arms once again and carry the burden of a duel, this time over East Africa, the Arabian Gulf and the vital sea lanes that stretch between them. Balance of Terror on the Red Sea is an addition to GMT’s Lunchtime series, packing deep decision making into a time frame that allows players to jump into a quick game or explore different strategies multiple times in one session. With a more limited scope and a much shorter play time, Balance of Terror on the Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to the Balance of Terror system. And yet this game retains all the excitement, decision making and theme of the original classic.

As an added bonus to a longer game, cards from Balance of Terror can be integrated into Balance of Terror on the Red Sea, and players can add new decisions and Cold War events to their Balance of Terror games by integrating cards from Balance of Terror on the Red Sea.