War On Terror board game seized by police

A War On Terror board game designed in Cambridge has been seized by police who claim the balaclava in the set could be used in a criminal act.

The satirical board game was confiscated along with knives, chisels and bolt cutters, from climate protesters during a series of raids near Kingsnorth power station, in Kent, last week.

The game's creators, Andrew Sheerin and Andy Tompkins, web designers from Cambridge, have expressed total shock at the inclusion of their toy among "criminal" items.

Andrew, 32, said: "I saw pictures of the board game in papers and was absolutely baffled.

"Surely no member of the public is going to believe that a board game could be used as a weapon?"

War on Terror, similar to games like Risk, revolves around creating empires that compete and wage war.

But there is a twist - players can poke fun at the rhetoric of world leaders like George Bush and Tony Blair.

The game was born from the frustration of its creators as they sat watching the news in the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Each player starts as an empire filled with good intentions and a determination to liberate the world from terrorists and from each other.

Then the reality of world politics kicks and terrorist states emerge.

Andrew said: "The terrorists can win and quite often do and it's global anarchy. It sums up the randomness of geo-politics pretty well."

In their cardboard version of realpolitik George Bush's "Axis of Evil" is reduced to a spinner in the middle of the board, which determines which player is designated a terrorist state.

That person then has to wear a balaclava (included in the box set) with the word "Evil" stitched on to it.

Kent police said they had confiscated the game because the balaclava "could be used to conceal someone's identity or could be used in the course of a criminal act".

Andrew fumed: "It's absurd. A beard can conceal someone's identity. Are the police going to start banning beards?"

All High Street retailers declined to stock the controversial game. But more than 12,000 copies have been sold online or through independent stockists.

Distribution deals have been set up to sell the game in Europe and the United States. The creators hope to capitalise on war fatigue.

Rules of the game:

The game is for two to six players.

All players begin with fledgling empires on a world map which they expand through the acquisition of land, oil and cities.

At any time players can abandon the "pursuit of liberty and oil" in favour of becoming a terror state - or they are designated a terror state by a random "Axis of Evil" spinner.

Empires can also train their own terrorists to target rival empires, although these groups often turn on you later in the game.

Terrorists can use special cards such as "suicide bomber", "plane hijack" and "WMDs" to advance themselves.

:: War On Terror game makers in street protest

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