Against the Odds Magazine #48

Against the Odds magazine investigates military history from a broad perspective. The economic, political, religious and social aspects of warfare are examined in concert with events on the battlefield. Each issue of ATO features: Informative and insightful articles showcasing the history behind events, plus regular columns by noted game designers providing insight on the latest trends and events.

Game included in this issue — Apocalypse in the East: The Rise of the First Caliphate 646-656 A.D. One of the most provocative claims made by ISIS is to "restore the Caliphate". But what was the "caliphate?" The "caliph" was the "successor to the prophet," making him both a political leader and the spiritual head of the early transnational Islamic empire. This game studies the revolutionary rise of the First Caliphate, and its efforts to capture the "last bastion of Christianity" in the east—Constantinople. Can you take the helm of the Syrian army and navy and storm the greatest citadel on earth, or will you instead prevent it and maintain Byzantium’s role as Christendom’s eastern march?