Unforgiven: The Lincoln Assassination Trial | 2 Players | Strategy | Historical | Fun | Board Game for Couples | Ages 14 and up |

One of my favorite theatrical Westerns of all time is Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood. If you haven't seen it I'd highly recommend streaming. In case you haven't, the synopsis is one part damsel in distress, one part badass vigilante imposing frontier justice (the Wild West's Liam Neeson in modern parlance), but I digress.One of my favorite board games of all time, at least the two player variety, is 7 Wonders Duel (7WD). Much to my dismay this Unforgiven has nothing to do with its namesake movie, yet it can be seen as an iterative facsimile of Bauza's and Cathala's 7WD which really piqued my interest when I found this.Unforgiven was designed by Tom Butler of Green Feet Games (http://www.greenfeetgames.org/). I'm a big fan of his earlier swashbuckling adventure The Pirate Republic (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192296/pirate-republic) so I was curious to explore his latest design.What I found is an absolutely fabulous historically accurate two player court room themed tug-o-war that pits both sides vying to persaude a group of military jurors to exonerate or convict Mary Surrat for her role in the assassination of President Lincoln. The theme may not invite everyone's interest, but it should. This was quite literally the quintessential defining moment in U.S. history just as our fractured, fragile nation was exiting the Civil War yet few people have heard of this trial. The game utilizes historic personages, events and depictions to tell the duplicitous tale of the Confederacy conspirators who aided John Wilkes Booth.The prototype version I played already has truly exceptional components including vibrant artwork that brings the theme alive, heavyweight textured cards and tiles, high quality markers and a deep well box that would look equally at place in your non-fiction section as it does on your Kallax. Mechanically the game is not far from 7WD one of my all time favorite player versus player (PvP) grudge match games. In Unforgiven you'll find the familiar multiple card suites and victory conditions, a similar style draft tableau with partially hidden information, three trial phases, resource assemblages to reduce future card costs and juror persuasion that mimics wonder construction. Each of those elements, though reminiscent of Duel, comes together in a really novel and compelling way as you seek to sway jurors with your persuasive arguments. Unforgiven however incorporates a dice track that features resources you can aquire by spending the in game currency called sway. This aspect that is entirely absent in 7W Duel, favorably augments the decision space while adding an enticing press your luck aspect to play. As in 7W there are several paths to victory: achieve guilt or innocence on the reasonable doubt (akin to the Military track in 7WD) track before your opponent does, convince four jurors or compile the most trial points at the end of the 3rd phase of the trial.Unforgiven takes a little longer to play than Duel, but you probably won't mind the time investment since each turn is so rewarding. In fact, in all likelihood, you'll be looking for ways to extend play to give adequate time to make your argument the most convincing. Time will tell if this one stands toe to toe with Duel in terms of repeated plays and overall satisfaction. Right now it appears to be one of a select few serious contenders to the best PvP game of the modern board game era in my estimation... and that says a lot considering there's no Clint Eastwood in this Unforgiven.

great game, love the case--but not good quality and will break

The quality of this game is great. It has great colorized photos of old 1860's photos. However, the directions are impossible to follow!