Tips & Strategy

Tips & Strategy for 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962.

How to teach it

Start with the prestige tug of war and the two ways to trigger nuclear war. Then show one command, one event and one opposing event. Explain secret agendas before players draw their first cards.

Your first game

Treat the agenda flags as possibilities rather than promises. A late move can score the opponent’s agenda, but it can also waste cubes on a bluff. Keep some reserve influence available instead of filling arenas that may not matter this round.

Managing risk

Plan for the next round’s automatic escalation as well as this round’s war check. Removing influence can recover cubes and lower tension at the same time. Consider the value of Television before committing your last card.

Playing the USA

Television can give you room to lower tension before agendas resolve. Consider protecting your opening positions in Italy and Turkey, but avoid spending every cube defending an arena that may not score. Heavy Cardboard’s 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis 2p Play-through, Teaching, & Roundtable by Heavy Cardboard illustrates the tension between maintaining a presence and keeping DEFCON manageable.

Playing the USSR

When prestige is tied, your initiative choice gives you control over who commits first. Going second can preserve a response to the opponent’s final move. Contesting United Nations may also secure the Personal Letter for an extra command or final tie-break. The 13 Tage: Die Kubakrise 1962 (frosted Games) Gameplay & Review lang, by cliquenabend, demonstrates initiative choices during play.

The aftermath

When deciding which card to keep, consider its faction and command value as well as its event. A card you cannot afford to trigger now may still give the opponent an aftermath advantage later.

Videos versus the rulebook

Use the rulebook for timing and card limits. In Heavy Cardboard’s playthrough, distinguish possession of the Personal Letter from scoring its agenda: United Nations does not grant 2 prestige as its world-opinion bonus. It grants the letter; only a revealed Personal Letter agenda awards those points. In particular, resolve an accepted opposing event before command, and check for nuclear war only after agendas.

Sources

• 13 Days how to play video, papskubber.
• 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis 2p Play-through, Teaching, & Roundtable by Heavy Cardboard, Heavy Cardboard.
• 13 GIORNI - Giochi per due - Tutorial 52, Miss Meeple.
• 13 Tage: Die Kubakrise 1962 (frosted Games) Gameplay & Review lang, cliquenabend.
• 175.2.- 13 Días (Ludonova): explicación de reglas, Wargame Reviewer.

13 Days on BoardGameGeek and its rules files. See Videos for teaching demonstrations.