A trick-taking wargame?

🛸Arcs, the “Sci-Fi Root”. With the track record of @ledergames the bar was set really high for this game, but it seems like it met (or rather exceeded) expectations. The reception of Arcs is overwhelmingly positive, which is why we were especially curious to see it for ourselves. 😉 It won’t be easy to convey everything, so let’s start! 

The backbone of the game is its action selection, which is a never-before-seen system. It is inspired by trick-taking 🃏, but it is its own thing. Basically the player with the initiative will play a card and get to do actions. The pips on the card determine how many actions they get, and its suit color tells what actions are available. Then other players will play a card in turn order - here 3 different thing could happen:
1️⃣You play the same suit but of a higher number: you can also do as many actions as you have pips. You get the initiative at the end of the round if your value isn’t beaten.
2️⃣You play a card facedown: you can copy the main card but only do 1 action.
3️⃣You play another suit: you can only do 1 action, but of your card’s suit.

Initiative plays a huge role in the game. ☝️ The player that has it could get 2-4 actions depending on pips, while others possibly only 1. That’s a huge tempo difference. That’s why there is an additional mechanic that lets you discard an additional card on your turn to “seize” the initiative. It’s very powerful, but losing a card is a huge downside. 🙉

The game is a race for points, and scoring is very intriguing too. 🧐 There are 5 scoring categories called ambitions, but each round only those get scored that were also declared. To make initiative even more important, only the player with it can declare an ambition. However when you declare an ambition your card’s number is set to zero, so you probably will lose initiative - and you won’t necessarily be the one who wins that ambition at the end of the round ‼️

This action selection is pretty nuanced and it opens up a lot as you play and start to understand it. 😊 It requires careful planning and skillful play. You can also never be sure what cards the other players have, so be prepared for everything!