Arcs, from Leder Games, turns a folkloric card game into a space opera

While it’s great to sit down for a concise and straightforward strategy game like Katan or Ticket to drivesometimes I prefer to explore a game that has a bit more ambition. I often turn to publisher Leder Games and designer Cole Wehrle to fill that need. This is the team responsible for the critically acclaimed Root: a game of might and law in the forestthat tries to model political violence under the guise of a fun romp in the woods. Then there is Vow: Chronicles of Empire and Exilea game about building a ruling dynasty based on mere myth and legend.

Arcs: Conflict and collapse within reach is yet another radical attempt at tabletop innovation. The end result, available at retail from October 1, is a unique approach to single-session wargaming that takes classics like Risk And Twilight Empire. But combined with a massive expansion on day one, Bows turns into a stunning three-session campaign game with evolving rules and curious in-fiction discoveries. It’s completely over-the-top in all the best ways, and nothing like it has been released yet.

The basic game of Bows is a fascinating exercise in subverting expectations. Players come to the table and take on the role of various interstellar factions fighting for their existence in the Reach, a sliver of space that offers opportunity yet fraught with conflict. While this may seem like a 4X-style sci-fi game at first glance, that’s actually just an illusion. Since there is no exploration and very little technological development, it is more accurate to think about it Bows becoming a more traditional strategic war game, one that requires manipulating clever but restrictive systems in pursuit of dynamic objectives.

But you also play a game very similar to hearts, or another trick-taking game like euchre or pinochle. And no, I’m not kidding.

When you sit down at the table, three to five players are each dealt a hand of cards of different suits and values. One player ‘leads’ with a card of a certain suit, and others either follow that suit or not.

This smart system is the whole of Bowsmechanism of action. It’s how you move around the board, attacking your enemies and taxing planets’ resources. The color determines what actions you can perform, while the power affects whether you get the full benefit of the card you played.

To complete a full turn and use your entire card, you must follow the leading suit with a card of higher value. However, you can play outside the suit and are not tied to the lead. It is less rigid than traditional trick takers in this regard. But if you play outside the suit, you are limited to just one action instead of the full power of the card. This creates an interesting dynamic through limitation, as you will often want to expand your empire or build infrastructure, but the game flow will push you towards other options, such as taking a card from the market and adding a new permanent ability to your faction . .

This deck can feel bureaucratic, and that’s by design. These trick mechanics serve as a stand-in for the political and economic machinations happening in the background, as if you were just off-screen talking to other galactic powers to negotiate and influence control of a particular region of the Reach. Action flows from these decisions, as you discard a card of the color of the Administration, which dictates that the prevailing political winds have turned towards taxation and recovery. But then an opponent grins and turns to Aggression, launching a small attack that turns the peacetime upside down and causes unrest. It’s alternately frustrating, dramatic and inspiring – just the way a good space opera should be.

All this latent narrative energy explodes out of the hand with cards dealt to you at the start of the round. Often your empire’s ambitions are undermined by the suits you receive, as this game is as much about earning what you have as it is about carrying out well-laid plans. You’ll often have to reshape your strategy based on the cards you have, which can sometimes make for some challenging hands – even entire games. This creates an underlying tension that is ubiquitous throughout.

One of the best parts of the card game is how the leader is determined each round. Bows has the traditional transfer of control to whoever plays the card with the highest strength of the LED suit, but there is also a way to throw a spanner in the works. Simply discard one extra card in addition to the one you play, giving you the chance to take another action that round in exchange for securing initiative. But that’s not all you earn as a main player.

The starting player may also choose an ambition each round that will earn victory points that round. Ambitions encourage players to behave in a certain way. Maybe they need to collect the most war trophies or the most resources of different types. This means that the gameplay is not just about collecting more points than your opponents, but about determining which types of actions can earn points in the first place. Just as players determine which actions are possible each round, the group will also determine which ambitions these actions are worth, and therefore which behavior is rewarded and encouraged. This is fascinating and unorthodox, as a given game can result in almost no victory points being scored for conflict. The atmosphere at the table is very different when it’s a game heavily focused on taxing and securing oil reserves, rather than plundering planets and destroying star fleets. All these nuances add a lot of weight to the card game and connect its meaning to the hustle and bustle of the activity on the board.

If this was all Bows is, that would be enough. It’s a satisfying strategy game that feels quirky and unique compared to its peers. But Bows is much more. Of The ruined range expansion, the game is transformed into a multi-session campaign with an emerging story and massive mechanical evolution.

You start the campaign with each player being given the choice of two tickets. These are functionally similar to the purpose of factions in most strategy games. Each lot is unique in tone and mechanical weight. Some are more interesting and introduce entirely new game systems that affect every player. The density of the rules increases significantly from the base game and everyone must participate fully in the experiment. There’s a lot going on and almost all of it could be classified as spoilers.

What’s especially interesting is that the board status is saved between each session. Your score also counts, with the aim of being the winner at the end of the third and final session. This memory element works extremely well to provide alternative stimuli in the first and second games of a campaign. Players can perform actions to improve their position for the future and move away from current objectives. It’s a whole new way to imagine interacting with people Bowsand it has a major influence on strategy.

But that fate also changes over time. Each subsequent session you can give up your destiny and choose a new one, or you may have earned the chance to move on and see what new systems and components are unlocked. It’s always a wonderful moment, similar to opening presents on Christmas morning.

This is an absolutely wild design. Elements of older games have been implemented, not in terms of permanently marking components, but in the way it radically changes the game with consequences that ripple throughout the game. The stakes are higher and the outcomes are richer. In this format it is a beautiful design that deserves recognition as one of the best releases of 2024.

A lot of the brilliance of Arcs: Conflict and collapse within reach is his imagination. Leather Games, due to the success of Roothas created the breathing space to absorb these large fluctuations. With care and great attention to detail, this group has continued to produce bizarre yet sophisticated board games that push the boundaries of the format and deliver experiences that are difficult to imagine. This is a brilliant game, which we will talk about and explore in the near future.

Arcs: Conflict and collapse within reach will be available October 1st for $60. The ruined range campaign extension is also available and costs $100 more.

Arcs: Conflict and collapse within reach was reviewed using a retail copy of Leder Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.