WHITE DOG GAMES
The Adventure of Board Game Development
"The Mission (is) a tremendous elaboration of the States of Siege system and as a synopsis of one thousand years of what-ifs. All the better that it’s Madison’s sharpest design by far, and ties together its disparate traditions and heresies into a single digestible bite. Plenty of historical games capture a moment. Few succeed so totally at representing the vital essence of a religion’s longue durée." from I Hope They Call Me on the MIssion (Space Biff)
"I received The Mission, boxed edition, last week and I absolutely love it. It consumed my whole weekend." - Micah J.
THE MISSION: Early Christianity from the Crucifixion to the Crusades
The Mission is a “grand strategy” solitaire game by Ben Madison (Gorbachev, N, The White Tribe, The First Jihad, and more) covering almost 1,300 years of Christian history. While the secular world of empires and politics plays out around you, your apostles and missionaries spread the faith, translating the Bible and converting areas of the map to Christianity. Each turn covers several decades. The flow of play teaches players about the expansion and doctrinal battles of early Christianity while you build institutions like universities, hospitals, and monasteries to educate, heal, and inspire the societies you touch.
Internally, heresies and schisms in the Church will try to thwart your plans while external forces threaten you. Pressing against you are barbarian hordes, some of which you may convert. And when the armies of Islam arrive, the game changes from one of missionary outreach to one of survival, as Christian communities hunker down under siege during the long Dark Ages. Perhaps you will rise again in a blaze of
glory as Christendom finally fights back, using the Crusades and the Spanish Reconquista to recover lost provinces!
Beginners and experienced gamers will find this an intriguing and very different kind of game. While certainly a war of ideas, it is still very much a war game, where victory depends upon managing scarce resources (including Holy Relics!) and making shrewd strategic decisions to benefit the Church. The Mission is a power-politics overview of the Early Church from its beginnings through the Crusades, but one that never loses sight of the importance of church-building
and pastoral ministry.
"Ordered The Mission, it was a fun and challenging game to playtest; quite possibly the richest SoS experience out there. A richly thematic and terrific game." - Steve C.
One of the top 20 games of 2020. Rated 97 percent by Armchair General.
I've been playing The Mission constantly since receiving it. What a great game! The canvas map looks and feels as if it was carried during that time period. I'm glad you increased the size of the map. I also added a dark die and a light die for the path/land selections. I've ordered some gold-colored coins for the game to add some heft to using the solidus. Congrats on a great game and a wonderful production.
Kirk S.
A beautiful 22"x17", one-piece canvas game map for The Mission is available as an additional game map. It can be purchased and shipped separately. See the drop down menu below to order for US domestic shipping. Email us if you would like Canada or international shipping.
"Received it (the canvas map) yesterday and it's awesome, really appreciate it!" - Jason B.
The Mission is available in boxed, folio and PnP formats and can be shipped to a domestic or international destination. Use one of the drop-down boxes below to order your copy of the game. Shipping and handling are included in the price. You will be notified by email when your order has been placed. Allow a week to ten days for shipping, a little more for international destinations. PnP orders will be sent by email delivery a day or two upon payment.
"This is my first game from White Dog & Ben Madison and I absolutely love it ! This is an amazing design on a very intriguing subject." - Marc P.
Each game sold now includes
a 22" x 17" paper game map.
GAME COMPONENTS
22" x 17" Game Map
176 5-8" Double-Sided Counters and Markers
16-Page Full Color Rule Book
1 Counter Tray Card
1 Acts Track Card
1 Sequence of Play Reference Card
1 Double-Side Set Up Sheet
"The Mission from White Dog Games by Ben Madison quickly become one of my favorite solitaire games." - The Boardgames Chronicle
"A splendidly unique game...unique subject matter, fun and challenging, lots of replay value...learned a lot about Christian history from this game." - from a review in Armchair General
"Good evening from the UK. I love the Mission. Having recently been playing GMT's Banish the Snakes I am drawn back into the far deeper and more interesting The Mission." - Dermot K.
"I have played the game twice now and really like it." - Grant, The Player's Aid
"The Mission as a tremendous elaboration of the States of Siege system and as a synopsis of one thousand years of what-ifs. All the better that it’s Madison’s sharpest design by far, and ties together its disparate traditions and heresies into a single digestible bite. Plenty of historical games capture a moment. Few succeed so totally at representing the vital essence of a religion’s longue durée." - Space-Biff
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The Mission rules in French.
The Mission will soon be available in Spanish with all game components in boxed and folio formats.
"I just want to throw an email to you about the quality of the boxed game I ordered. The box art and game description on the back are stellar. The quality of adhesion of the box art is on par with other small print on demand operations. The rules and player aids and map sheet are on par with larger publisher games, like GMT. The counters though. These are exceptional. The cut on them are excellent, not needing to clip the corners is a bonus. The rules are easy to read/follow and look to be easy to reference as well. I look forward to getting this game to the table and am already looking at a couple of other games in your gallery as future purchases." - Kevin B.
"Wow, the mounted map board (from a third party) turned out to be super cool, and they had it to me in less than a week!
The digital copy of the rules you provided is also a big plus, since I can do keyword searches to nail down rules questions.
Thanks again for the great games!"
- John M.
