Announcing Landri The Board Game!

Landri The Board Game

Overview

This is a short overview article that I've written on the game-play and mechanics of the new upcoming board game called Landri which is a historical/fiction based game set in a historical colonial era with no specific scenario set in a certain year, battle or war that must be played out. The outcome of the game unfolds as you play and it's different every time. The theme of the game surrounds the discovery of new islands. Governments from the old world rush to claim as much land as possible. You are the governor sent from your country with a task set before you by your king to claim as much territory as possible and to establish colonies on these newly found lands.

At the start of the game each player begins with one island that he/she controls. This island has the player's main colony and smaller settlements with settlers living in these areas. Settlers provide gold through taxes to the governor (you), which can be used to purchase a military from the mainland. Each player's task is to capture and colonize as much territory as possible and defend that territory before other players claim it. Defending your captured territory doesn't always have to be through military action but can be done through peaceful diplomacy and possibly some compromise.

When the game ends each island that is claimed and colonized are added up for victory points and the player with the most points wins the game. Having the most victory points at the end of the game isn't the only way to win though. There are three ways a player can win the game. The first is having the most victory points at the end of the game which can only happen if all players involved in play declare a state of peace with each-other and want to end the game. The second way is to completely annihilate your opponents through military conquest. The third and final way to win the game is to assassinate any apposing governors. If this victory route is chosen then the game does not end if you have any neutral based players in the game until everyone declares a state of peace and the victory points are added to each player to determine the winner. Victory points aren't the only reason why a player would want to capture certain islands. When players claim islands and establish new colonies and settlements on them, the settlers living on these islands produce gold resources. The larger the island the more gold is produced which means a stronger military and better protection for your territories. Larger islands also produce more victory points then smaller ones and more players will be eager to capture them so it's best to colonize them early on in the game.

War is not the only way to capture and colonize new territory. At the beginning of the game each player's diplomatic stance starts out as neutral with the rest of the other players. Relations between players are always changing through-out the course of the game. Good or bad relations must be established during play. Diplomacy can be a key factor in winning the game. Establishing good relations can gain you allies who in turn can help defend your territory or defeat your enemies. Establishing bad relations can be potentially detrimental, so diplomatic negotiations are always an important part of the game if you wish to play a less aggressive strategy and avoid unnecessary confrontation.

Players can conduct commerce in the game to earn gold. Trading can be very profitable for any players involved and good relations are an important factor in establishing trade agreements. Piracy can also be a problem since other players can high-jack your merchant ships while they are traveling along trade routes back to your colony. This would be an act of war of course; however war is always an option for the player and is not involuntary at any time.

The game is very balanced and each player has roughly the same amount of gold income at the start of the game, although capturing and colonizing larger land masses and keeping them defended will earn you more gold which means you can purchase a larger military force that can potentially tip any wars in your favor. If a player has a much larger military force then another player he/she is at war with it doesn't necessarily mean that the player with the larger military force will win the conflict. Diplomatic negotiations can always change relations between warring colonies.

Players can hide their military forces on the map so no one can see them; this makes the game exciting and suspenseful not knowing where your enemy's battleships or troops might be positioned on the map and where they could strike at next. There are ways to find them which are fairly simple so hidden forces do not pose the greatest danger during war, however players with smaller forces don't necessarily get annihilated just because their opponent has a larger military force either.

The rules of war can help protect weaker players. The rules of war are not actual rules of the game but are simply a standard that players may want to keep so that if a player breaks this standard the players who prefer to keep it can ally themselves against anyone who does not respect this standard. The standard is for fair game-play which is supposed to reduce the brutality of war within the game. The standard of the rules of war are stated in the rules of the game and additional standards can also be agreed upon while playing as well. Players that do not follow this standard are considered to be inhumane tyrants who must be brought to justice. This usually entails forming some kind of a military alliance to force this player to meet the fair-play standard or to remove him/her from power if first peaceful negotiations should fail.

The theme of landri does not have a set path, war or battle that must take place. Each player is free to establish good relations with other players or to declare war on their colonies. The in-game theme stays the same but the outcome is different every time, it just depends on the players and how they like to play which makes this game have a lot of good re-play value.

The last time I played with my friend in a 1 vs. 1 game I broke the rules of war very early on in the game and suddenly attacked him without first declaring a state of war. I had a small advantage over him from the start and I slowly forced him off his original islands. It took a while to beat him since he did have a formidable military force and I had to pursue him across the map. He was also keeping his forces hidden from me. After a two hour game I finally assassinated his governor and I won. The game I played before the one I just mentioned was with two other players. After one player continuously broke the rules of war I convinced my friend to ally to a common cause and kick the tyrant of the board. We made swift progress working together against him since he had no allies of his own and he was unwilling to compromise to our demands. After he was defeated I and my ally decided to end the game, and since we were allied we both were the winning players.

Landri is a strategy/diplomacy genre game but since the theme doesn't focus solely on winning militarily and also involves other aspects such as money management and record keeping this game might also be classified as an RPG. Each player has one specially designed paper sheet used to keep track of his/her unit details and gold funds so if the game is paused it can be picked up at a later time.

Learning to play Landri is fairly easy and the game-play is simple.  No mess of game counters or tiny miniatures or cards, just the game map, paper sheet, a few game markers and a good understanding of the rules and you're ready to play.

Landri has many expansions; the game isn't limited to one map. There are many maps and we plan to have various themes to choose from. Right now the game is in its beginning stages and so far we only have two themes and ten maps. Theme one is the free for all theme where every player begins the game without a partner and allies must be made during play. Theme two is the team theme where players share islands and beginning the game with an ally is the best way to play on this style of map. We intend on designing several other themes and various maps in the near future.

Our blog is currently under construction but will be up soon. If you would like to be notified when our blog is complete please contact: LandriTheGame@yahoo.com