2020Phil Eklund, Justin Grey, Jon Manker, Dom Rougier
- Videos
- 99
- Creators
- 37
Mainly how-to-play
1 - 5 players30 - 240 minVery heavy weight
Pax Porfiriana
2012Matt Eklund, Phil Eklund, Jim Gutt
- Videos
- 6
- Creators
- 4
Mostly playthroughs and reviews. Pax Porfiriana is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 2 reviews, 1 how-to-play guides, and 3 recorded sessions.
1 - 6 players
120 min
Heavy weight: Expect a long teach
From BoardGameGeek
Pax Porfiriana – Latin for "The Porfirian Peace" – refers to the 33-year reign of dictator Porfirio Díaz, who ruled Mexico with an iron hand until toppled by the 1910 Revolution. As a rich businessman (Hacendado) in the turbulent pre-revolutionary borderlands of the U.S. and Mexico, players compete to build business empires of ranches, mines, rails, troops, and banks while subverting opponents with bandidos, Native Americans, and lawsuits. Each turn goes as follows: 1. Action Phase: Perform three actions, such as play new cards, get new cards from the market, speculate on cards in the market, buy land, or redeploy troops. 2. Discard Headlines: Remove any Headlines (i.e. cards with the Bull-Bear icon) that have reached the leftmost position in the Market. 3. Restore Market: Restore the Market to twelve cards. 4. Income Phase: Collect one gold per Income, Extortion, and Connection Cube in play. If Depression, pay one gold for each card in play (includes Partners and Enterprises in your Row, and all of your Troops). Four "scoring" cards (Toppling) are in the game and their effect depends on the current form of government. The government can change if troops are played and as a result of other cards. The form of government also influences different production values of the game, such as how much mines produce. Players win by toppling Díaz, either by coup, succession, revolution, or annexation of Mexico by the U.S. If Díaz remains firmly seated at the end of the game, then the player with the most gold wins. Pax Porfiriana includes 220 cards, but only fifty cards (along with ten for each player) are used in a game, so no two games will be the same!
Watch first
Which Pax Porfiriana video should I watch?
Pax Porfiriana has 6 videos from 4 creators: 2 reviews, 1 how-to-play guide and 3 playthroughs. They date from 2022 to May 2025.
To learn the rules, start with "Pax Porfiriana - Game Teach and Playthrough" by Patrick's Tactics & Tutorials, which runs 1 h 23 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "Pax Porfiriana - Collective Review Podcast" by Homo Ludens. To see it played, watch "Pax Porfiriana Playthrough Part 1- A Solo Tabletop Session" by Tabletop Sessions, one of 3 playthroughs.
If you like it, try High Frontier 4 All, Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition and Pax Hispanica, also by Phil Eklund, or Stationfall, also by Matt Eklund.
All videos
Creators who cover this
Tabletop Sessions
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Homo Ludens
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Patrick's Tactics & Tutorials
1 video of this game
ShelfClutter
1 video of this game
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About Pax Porfiriana
From BoardGameGeek:
Pax Porfiriana – Latin for "The Porfirian Peace" – refers to the 33-year reign of dictator Porfirio Díaz, who ruled Mexico with an iron hand until toppled by the 1910 Revolution. As a rich businessman (Hacendado) in the turbulent pre-revolutionary borderlands of the U.S. and Mexico, players compete to build business empires of ranches, mines, rails, troops, and banks while subverting opponents with bandidos, Native Americans, and lawsuits. Each turn goes as follows: 1. Action Phase: Perform three actions, such as play new cards, get new cards from the market, speculate on cards in the market, buy land, or redeploy troops. 2. Discard Headlines: Remove any Headlines (i.e. cards with the Bull-Bear icon) that have reached the leftmost position in the Market. 3. Restore Market: Restore the Market to twelve cards. 4. Income Phase: Collect one gold per Income, Extortion, and Connection Cube in play. If Depression, pay one gold for each card in play (includes Partners and Enterprises in your Row, and all of your Troops). Four "scoring" cards (Toppling) are in the game and their effect depends on the current form of government. The government can change if troops are played and as a result of other cards. The form of government also influences different production values of the game, such as how much mines produce. Players win by toppling Díaz, either by coup, succession, revolution, or annexation of Mexico by the U.S. If Díaz remains firmly seated at the end of the game, then the player with the most gold wins. Pax Porfiriana includes 220 cards, but only fifty cards (along with ten for each player) are used in a game, so no two games will be the same!
Designers
Matt Eklund, Phil Eklund, Jim Gutt
Artist
Phil Eklund
Publisher
Sierra Madre Games
Mechanics