Warriors of God

Steve and I got together to put the new game Warriors of God through the paces. We played some learning turns Tues night, then we played out a game tonight.

This game captures the chaotic period around the 100 years war. I use the term "chaotic" deliberately. Leaders and their armies arrive suddenly (but on a fixed schedule) then exit unexpectedly, and the action swirls around the board.

The game has a lot of short term tactics as you respond to the changing board condition. I suspect that over repeated plays, a certain amount of longer term planning would arise based around the known appearance of certain leaders.

One great feature of this game is the asymmetry. The English have a significant military advantage due to the long bow, but the French have a positional advantage due to home field and interior lines. Late in the game, Joan of Arc appears, and she's got some special rules that make her fierce on the battlefield.

After a few games, I think the play time should be in the 3 hr range, which is reasonable for an evening.

After Steve and I got the mechanics down, we played a full game. I took the English, and Steve took the French. The English have an advantage early on, and I put up a small lead. By about turn 4, however, Steve had pulled back to even with a large stretch of interior France under his dominion. This connected domain together with a strong leader helped him loosen my grasp on French soil, and he never looked back after that. I believe his instant victory occurred on turn 9 out of 12.

One interesting thing is that we both lost our home territories about the same time. I launched a major offensive in France, and I gambled that I would be able to hold England by hiding in my castle. Unfortunately, the luck of that die roll went to Steve. My offensive was impressive, but ultimate it netted me few points.

Oh, yeah, victory points...I tend to forget about those...

Anyway, this looks like a fun game. I would say it's "a good game", and "probably I'll suggest it". However, I'm not sure I'd go as far as "will never turn down a game." This puts it around 7-8 on the BGG ratings.