Current favorite two player game - Sekigahara

Sekigahara - The Unification of Japan.

So let's set the scene (briefly).  The year is 1598, the current emperor of Japan dies, leaving his 5 year old son as heir.  A 'Council of Five Elders' is created to assist the boy emperor in ruling.  One of the most powerful of the five, Tokugawa, sees this as an opportunity to seize power for himself.

Japan eventually descends into civil war with the various clans either siding with the boy emperor, or supporting Tokugawa.  In October 1600 the future of Japan is finally decided at the Battle of Sekigahara.

At it's core, Sekigahara is a fairly standard block based wargame.  Units are represented by rectangular blocks with the army strength and type only visible to the controlling player.  So your opponent might have an idea of where your forces are, but not exactly what they are.  You move your army across the board to capture various locations and battle the opposing army.  However just as it was at the time, just because you bring troops to a battle, doesn't mean they will fight for you.

Each player also controls a deck of cards, and your army will only fight for you in battle if you have their 'loyalty' which is achieved by playing a card from your hand with their matching symbol.  Having the largest army on the field means nothing if they refuse to fight for you.  This adds an element of bluffing to the game.  There are also 'Loyalty' challenge cards, which you can play against your opponent in an attempt to turn one of their armies against them.

After 7 turns the winner is decided based on the total number of victory points held.  These are gained by controlling the various Castles, Cities and Resource Locations on the map.  Each army also contains a 'leader' block which if killed, will deliver an instant victory to your opponent.