Since Exia and GMT announced the digital adaptation of Mr. President, players have often observed that a lot has happened since 2020 (the end of the era Mr. President covers). Mr. President covers a recent time period, well within living memory, and all but the youngest players will vividly remember many of the real-life crises that challenged America at that time.

But players who haven’t gone deep on the tabletop version will rarely be able to appreciate the look-ahead in the design. Gene Billingsley, the designer of Mr. President on the tabletop, anticipated a wide variety of possibilities, making logical inferences about the state of the world, and about variations on events that didn’t occur prior to 2020 but might have. This card also puts Gene’s design philosophy on more subtle display: just as Mr. President emphasizes bipartisan cooperation as the key to lasting positive change, the design also emphasizes crises that Americans of all political persuasions can agree represent meaningful threats and risks to American interests.

One such case is card #45, Russian Hybrid War in Eastern Ukraine:

This is a Cascading Event that has the potential to cascade very steeply and quickly! The first time it occurs, the impact is mild: a single Tensions marker in Russia and one in NATO. But when it recurs the first time, the conflict can get out of hand.

Why? When Russia takes its actions, high Tension levels can increase its Conflict Tracks (it has two: one for Ukraine, and one for NATO). So, if you read the whole card, you’ll see that this is one of the few cards that can cause an auto-loss for the player. And the risk of auto-loss is even higher than it first appears, since a Russian war against NATO also ends the game. The card therefore poses multiple risks, and only the one on the card is obvious.

The situation is even riskier than that, though - high Tensions for NATO can also increase the Russia-NATO Conflict Track. They can also induce NATO to initiate a cyber attack against Russia, which likewise can drive Russian tensions even higher. And the play-around for this Crisis, to prevent Russian invasion of Ukraine, requires the US to keep Relations with Russia at 3 or higher or ensure its Influence in Eastern Europe remains low. That can be a tall order - there are many game events that place Russian Influence in Eastern Europe.

If a war does start, the card indicates Ukraine begins at strength 3; Russia’s base strength is 10, so unless the US intervenes, Russia will have a significant odds advantage whenever War Progress is resolved - and that happens immediately when the war starts as well as during the designated segments during the turn. And Russian victory over Ukraine might not seem that bad - just +1 Influence in Eastern Europe and a bonus Action in Russia’s next activation - but those are worse than they look, especially since there’s nothing to stop a subsequent Russia/Ukraine conflict.

ADDRESSING THE CRISIS

Timing is critical in Mr. President. In the 2nd Edition, allies with sufficiently high Tension levels will see their relations with the US degrade before they take unilateral or joint actions, and this card has the potential to put a lot of Tension on several US allies. So if this crisis materializes after NATO and the UK have already taken their actions, it’s likely to have less impact (at least prior to Stage 3, when an invasion can occur).

If this Crisis is in your pool, obviously a top priority will be to contain Russian influence and limit its ability to make war before the invasion occurs. You can also pursue stronger US relations with Russia to deter invasion, but with the 2nd Edition’s new limits on how frequently Summits can be called, that may be a tall order. You’ll want to prioritize keeping Regional Crises in Eastern Europe low and Alignment high, since those are the prerequisites for eliminating Russian Influence markers.

But don’t worry. No doubt the rest of the world is perfectly calm, and your domestic situation is tranquil and cooperative. Right?