CONFLICT OF WILLS: Volumes III & IV

Since 2021, Conflict of Wills has asked the same question in a new theater with every volume: can a conventional power that holds the cities and roads actually pin down an irregular force that only has to survive? It started with Judean Hammer (2021), where the Maccabees ground down the Seleucid Greeks in ancient Judea. It grew with Arabian Struggle (2024), where three factions and two meddling empires fought for control of the Arabian Peninsula. Different designers, different eras, different maps — same core tension every time.

Now the system arrives in two more theaters at once:

• War of Giants — Volume III, a tight 2-player return to the system's roots, set in the 1793 Vendée uprising.
• Afghanistan — Decades of Strife — Volume IV, the system's deepest and longest volume yet, covering 2001 to the war's conclusion with full solo support.

Four volumes, four wars, one system — and it keeps finding new history to tell.

Volume I — Judean Hammer (2021)

Design by Robin David. Two players — the Maccabean rebels vs. the Seleucid Greek empire — fight for control of Judea in 167 BCE, introducing the system's signature "deck-burning" mechanic: the more special-ability cards you play, the weaker your side gets in combat. 

Volume II — Arabian Struggle (2024)

Design by Tim Uren and Nick Porter. Expanded the system to three factions — Hashemites, Rasheedis, and Saudis — plus two non-player empires (the Ottomans and British) contesting the early-20th-century unification of the Arabian Peninsula. Includes a 2-player variant. Praised on release as building "on the original system in really cool ways."

Why Bundle These Two?

• This is the system proving itself again. Two volumes, two different designer teams, four wars across 2,000+ years of history — Conflict of Wills keeps demonstrating it's a real system, not a one-off mechanic.
• Learn once, play four times. Rules invested in War of Giants transfer directly to Afghanistan's deeper systems (Troop Ceiling, Pakistan Influence, Civilian Casualties) — and both carry over what veteran players already know from Judean Hammer and Arabian Struggle.
• Efficient fulfillment. One shipping run, one campaign page, means lower overhead for you and me!
• Sets up Future Volumes. A successful two-volume launch is the strongest case that Conflict of Wills has room to keep growing.
• Tim D. Got Really Behind Last Year. OK, not a normal reason, but certainly plays into bundling!

It's 1793. The French Revolution has swept away the monarchy and the Church's power — but in the Vendée, south of the Loire, the social order never matched the rest of France. Priests were respected, not resented. When the Republic drafted 300,000 men and demanded priests renounce the Pope, the Vendéans rose up in what Napoleon himself would call "the War of Giants."

• Asymmetric factions: Rebels (white cubes) vs. Republicans (blue cubes), each with entirely different recruitment, movement, and supply rules.
• Card-driven: 26 cards, each playable for Operations Points or its printed Event — never both.
• Region control: 6 regions score 1 VP each at round's end for whoever holds more cities within them.
• Ambushes: The Rebel faction's signature mechanic — irregular units can halt and bloody conventional Republican columns before they even reach a target.
• Fast, tense endgame: First to 12 VP wins, or the game ends when the deck thins out — ties favor the Rebels, just as history would have it.

From 2001 to the war's conclusion, two very different forces fought for Afghanistan: a NATO-backed Coalition with overwhelming firepower but a ticking political clock, and a Taliban insurgency that only had to outlast it. Decades of Strife plays out across five (or six) Eras, each representing roughly four years of the war — the system's most ambitious scope yet.

• Deeply asymmetric: Coalition (blue + green Afghan-allied units) vs. Taliban (black units) — different recruitment, movement, sustainment, and combat-initiation rules for each side.
• The Troop Ceiling: A built-in "political will" clock — the Coalition's troop levels rise and fall based on the VP gap, forcing hard choices about where to commit.
• Pakistan Influence & Civilian Casualties tracks: Two interlocking pressure systems that reward — and punish — how the war is actually fought.
• Regional Commands: Five RCs, scored by area majority, drive the VP race.
• Full solo mode: Designed from the ground up for solitaire play, with adjustable difficulty (Easy through Very Hard) for human-vs-human games too.
• Optional Mission cards: A mini-expansion (cards 50–56) adding externally-imposed Coalition objectives for extra challenge.

Links to BGG pages:

War of Giants

Decades of Strife

Robin David is an educator and game designer, living in Berlin, Germany. He loves games in all shapes and styles - but especially if they do something a bit weird!

Tim Uren, co-designer of Arabian Struggle, is back for more with his sophomore design as well. 

Tim Densham dreamed up the idea for Decades of Strife but really, Tim Uren did most of the work. 

Ilya, War of Giants cartographer and graphic design. Graphic designer for Decades of Strife. 

Max, Decades of Strife cartographer.

Single Game: about $12

Bundle: about $15

Our friends in Canada (through Tadenac Games):

Single game: about $15 US

Bundle: about $18 US

Slava Ukraini! We'll figure it out.