Varrelia: Kingdoms at War (2022)

I know some of you might be saying, another "dudes on a map" game, a "Risklike", but Verralia: Kingdoms at War stands out for several reasons. One, its sheer simplicity, the core rules is summarised in just two pages, while the Special Ability Keywords, one can say the meat of the game, is summarised in a single page. The game itself plays rather fast for the genre of game it is, as a strategy board game, not in the least due to its simplicity. You get your finances at the start of the game, you build Units to fight and explore with, then you build further Cities and Forts, Cities for monetary income, and Forts for advanced positional deployment of your men. It is as simple as it gets for a strategy board game, with games taking from 40 minutes to an hour, even with a 10 Rounds system.

At present, there are six Kingdoms in the game, each with their themes and strengths. Elindrian have strong defence and good ranged support, Zhongdi are all-rounded, Yishitarian are a glass cannon, Morlain win through attrition, Sarcrean have the cheapest and most numerous troops, with the strongest economy, and the Golgorth, who are very fast and have strong staying power.

Each Kingdom has two Technological Upgrades they can pursue, as well as having certain Special Actions that can be taken for four of the Kingdoms, the Spells of the Elindrian Wizards, the Chants of the Yishitarian Sohei, the Commands of the Morlain Centurions, and the Prayers of the Golgorth Sacred Clowns. There are also rules for alliances and terrain, and Units can begin concealed, with so called Hidden Movement, so the game is both tactical and strategic.

We feel that how Verralia: Kingdoms at War stands out on is its simplicity, with a low entry level, and despite that, a rich strategic and tactical depth to your decisions, as you attempt to conquer the lands of Verralia. Add on to that Kingdom-specific technology you can research, and the varied unit special abilities, what which framework is a very simplified system, becomes complex. Verralia: Kingdoms at War uses a simple rules system that relies on unique asymmetric unit abilities to provide a challenging experience every game.

—description from designer