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The Dancing Congress

by Brian Cameron

22 Mar 2025

Anerley Town Hall

Although not yet open for payment, you can book now to hold a place on the waiting list. When it is open, then you will receive an email.
Game fee is £35.00

A lot of interest has been expressed in another run of my 2019 game, The Dancing Congress, so it will run again on 22nd March 2025. The game is about the Congress of Vienna which met in 1814 and 1815 to map out Europe following the defeat if Napoleon. The player teams represent the countries attending, each with their own agenda for regaining territory lost / gaining new territory while ensuring that no power is in a position to dominate Europe. Please note that there are no military operations in the game, this is a meeting of statesmen and women to negotiate a settlement through a mixture of open, honest exchanges and dodgy deals made in back rooms. If you've played and enjoyed Washington Congress you may well enjoy this game.

Designer's Comments

Dirty deeds in Renaissance Italy

Oh, look, it’s another game with a political background providing reasons for conflict! I’ve long been deeply interested in the renaissance period and the French invasion of the Italian states Page 2 of 7(there wasn’t a unified ‘Italy’ then). It provides an interesting dynamic of a group of states in an uneasy piece but with tensions building that then have to respond to the appearance of a third party. All the Italian states teams had an internal game which could give rise to varying and changeable responses to the French intervention.

A particularly interesting aspect that arose during the first run of the game was the desire by players to explore the glories of the renaissance in terms of painting and buildings which would build the prestige of the state and particular players. I was happy to run with this and various ‘artworks’ and paper buildings soon decorated team tables. For the second run of the game I bought several old art books and separated the pages to produce suitable props for the game (this was, of course, pre-internet. It’s the only time in my life I’ve ‘vandalised’ a book and it took some willpower to actually do!). This cultural aspect has since been a theme in many of my games (megagames and ‘club-sized’ games) and is one that proves popular.

Downloads

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