Defiant (2021)

The floating tribes of Typatia have lived under the tyrannical rule of The Empress for far too long. She has starved the people, abused the dinosaurs, and grown fat off the riches of the land.

As a Chief of Typatia, it is your duty to throw off the yoke of oppression and claim your tribe's rightful place as the leaders of Typatia.

Will you do this through economic prowess, scientific advancement, political negotiation, or pure military might? The choice is yours as you spread your influence across the floating lands.

Defiant is a 4X bag-building game set in a land of floating islands and battling dinosaurs.

Each turn you will use the cubes you drew (at the end of the previous turn) to activate actions. Each action requires 2 cubes and will increase in power if you are willing to spend your rare bronze, silver, or even gold cube to complete the action. Be sure to plan ahead or your previously placed cubes could end up wasted.

Air battles occur when 2 sets of flyers encounter each other. Transported raptors & rexes add nothing to these battles. Only the number & strength of each army's flyers matter. If the attacking flyers win, they may then drop their land units onto the island below.

These dropped units will then instigate a land battle if defenders are present. These battles are more tricky, with secret modifier cards influencing each side's strength.

A player may be strong in the air, but weak on land, unable to take over defended islands. Or a player may be strong on land, but weak in the air, unable to transport their raptors and rexes to new islands.

The game ends when a player has completed enough objectives. These include:
•Completing 1 of the 4 upgrade tracks.
•Winning an air battle.
•Winning a land battle.
•Defeating the Empress.
•Completing the special objective which is drawn at the beginning of the game.

Players then count up the points from their objectives, controlled hexes, and gold/silver/bronze cubes.

Defiant comes from our love of bag-building and 4X games. We aimed to build a 4X game that could be played quicker than a normal 4X game, yet still have the same scope and feel. The bag building element helps in this endeavor, as players can be planning their turns from 1 turn to the next (since they've already drawn the next turn's cubes).

Note: Hardcore 4X gamers can choose to play to a higher objective thresh-hold for an even more sprawling and vast game of Defiant.

-description from designer