I was a late-comer to “Game of Thrones” as I typically don’t watch shows that try too hard to be adult-themed. Even when I did finally buckle down to watch it, it took me a few months of binging to get through it. Luckily, I won’t need a few months to play “Dragon Soul”, a game that you can currently buy over on the official website. Here, players will be tasked with holding a certain number of uncontested castles by doing battle with battalions and quite possibly, a dragon! Special thanks to Sebastian Baverstam, an independent board game designer, for sending a copy. I’m required by FTC regulations to disclose that I was paid to cover this game, however any and all opinions remain my own. As always, the only thing paid for here was my time and expertise.
2-4 Players, Ages 10+, Average Play Time = 30-90 Minutes
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Components & Setup
My copy of the game was comprised of a Deck of 104 Cards, 32 Castle Tokens, 24 Battalion Squares, 24 Battalion Tokens, 4 Reserves Tokens, 4 Dragon Tokens, 1 Dragon Attack Coin, 1 Battalion Defense Coin, 30 Double-Sided Hexes, 6 Frame Pieces, 4 Extenders, and 4 Cheat Sheets.
To set up, you’ll first find the included Book of Maps, pick one that best suits your group, and set it up within accordance to the related picture. A player’s starting castle goes on the X of their chosen color. Then, someone will shuffle the 104 cards thoroughly. The first player is chosen randomly.
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Gameplay Overview
The game is played over a series of turns until the victory condition is met (to be discussed later). On each turn, a player will perform the following three steps in order:
1. Draw one soldier card per castle owned -OR- Build another castle on the center of a grass tile containing a battalion they control. A player must observe the former option on their first turn.
2. Deploy soldiers onto the map.
Create New Battalion – The active player plays cards from their hand face-down near them as a group placing a battalion square token on top. The matching battalion token is placed on the board to represent that battalion’s current position. They cannot form a new one if the number of battalions currently deployed is equal to or greater than the number of uncontested castles they control. Any cards they choose not to play goes into a reserve stack under the reserve token.
Adding to an Existing Battalion – Players can always add more soldiers to an existing battalion if that battalion is on a castle they control. These cards can come from their reserve to from cards they drew this turn.
Soldiers can’t be removed from a battalion unless defeated.
3. Move Battalions – The active player moves their battalions in order from 1-6. They move one space each and a space is considered either a corner of a hex or the center of a hex. As such, a battalion can’t move from a center hex to another center hex.
Battalions cannot enter the center Dragon Boneyard space unless it contains a soul stone. When a battalion with a soul stone enters that space, all cards in that battalion are discarded to be replaced by a dragon token. Dragons move after all battalions have moved and can fly to any unoccupied location on the map except for castles. There are some other rule restrictions so please refer to the rulebook for specifics.
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Combat Overview
Combat can occur when dragons attack battalions or when a battalion attacks another battalion by being one space away from each other. A dragon that attacks another dragon results in both being wiped from the board.
Battalions can’t move and attack in the same turn and can’t attack dragons. Dragons can’t fly and attack in the same turn and can’t attack castles / battalions in castles.
Dragon vs Battalion – Secretly, the dragon picks a side from the dragon coin and other player secretly picks a side from the battalion coin. The chart in the rulebook will determine the outcome.
Battalion vs Battalion – Secretly, each player chooses a card from their battalion and reveals it. There is a rock/paper/scissors chart in the rulebook that determines the winner. This 1 vs 1 card battle will continue until the attacker ceases or the encounter is a win/loss. Defeated cards go into a dead pile face-up. The defender can re-use cards that were victorious, whereas the attacker has to use other cards in that battalion.
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Victory Overview
Battalions can contest an enemy castle if standing next to it. The owner of a contested castle can’t deploy to that castle, receive soldier cards, and won’t count toward the maximum battalion limit. Battalions in a castle must be defeated before the opposing player can move onto the castle and conquer it.
To win, a player must have a number of uncontested castles until the start of their next turn. That number is determined by the chosen map.
For more detailed information, you can check out the digital rulebook here:
https://dragonsoulboardgame.com/rulebook-and-book-of-maps
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Review
Let’s start by getting my gripes out of the way. The rulebook could use a little work. For one, it isn’t organized like your standard rulebook…the components are listed on the last page, for example. Game setup mentions nothing about what to do with the cards. The components list what a “deck” is comprised of but the manual goes on to talk about “soldier cards”. Part of me questioned if there was something special I was supposed to with the soul stone cards since they aren’t really “soldiers”. Is there a reserve limit? When deploying a battalion, can you choose ANY number or do you have to start at 1? While I’m assuming based on the rest of the rules that soldier cards are played face-down into a battalion, the rulebook does not specify this in text form. These, among other little details, will leave some people scratching their heads and making assumptions.
There’s also a bit of luck…too much so…when engaging in combat. Dragon attacks involve picking a coin side. Battalion attacks involve picking 1 card to face off against 1 card and hoping your card wins on the chart. This game would benefit from some kind of spy ability that lets you permanently see the partial makeup of a battalion so you can plan ahead. This would open the door for fake-outs / mind-games that could really spice things up. I’m not a fan of memory games but you COULD include a variant were information is shared at that time only and then hidden again. “Stratego” (the Milton Bradley Edition), a childhood hit of mine, did this well.
There are also no cards that allow you to modify battle results. Terrain also plays no part in combat…typically trees provide a defense bonus or some such in other war games I’ve played. In this case, it seems trees only block the construction of castles. I would also think that castles would provide some kind of defensive bonus…they currently do not. Thematically, this makes no sense. Video games like “X-COM” and “Company of Heroes” recognize cover and war games like this one should too.
I know I harped on the rock-paper-scissors / coin choice thing…that’s because I’ve played thousands of games at this point and know what games are capable of. That said, I’m also well aware that sometimes developers purposely downplay certain mechanics to make it more accessible to the non-gamer family. While I don’t agree with the randomness of combat, I CAN see it appealing to a certain audience.
I certainly appreciate the book of maps and how adjustable you can make your setup. If you’re playing against a younger player it’s possible to setup the board in such a way in that they have more empty land for castle building, giving them an advantage. That little bit is not in the rulebook, but flexible minds should be able to be creative here. Some maps are meant for two players while others support a four player team game or free-for-all. Parents of kids playing this game should be mindful of free-for-alls in general…especially if a couple of players gang up on another for no reason. Some sort of attack cool-down protecting attacked players in a FFA setting might be an interesting addition to the game as an optional variant.
I do like the idea of building more castles to improve your economy…that is, increase your soldier card draw count during step 1. It would have been cool to introduce resources like in “Catan” for the purposes of building, but I suppose that may have added a whole layer that would be too complex for what this game is aiming to accomplish. What concerns me is the runaway leader issue…more castles = more cards = bigger battalions. As a losing economic player, unless you’re really lucky in combat, attrition would eventually win out.
Aidalee had a chance to give it a go and she’s by nature not a competitive person. She was hoping for some kind of co-op mode against an AI player or at least an automa to play against. Solo modes are pretty common nowadays and we both feel that they improve a game’s longevity and replayability. They also have the benefit of appealing to a wider audience. Crafted scenarios or possibly some automa behavior cards might work here.
For a $60 game (currently on sale for $40), the components were of good quality though I expected a bit more in terms of gameplay mechanisms (as listed above). There’s potential to make the game even better than what it is now and I feel like with more work it could be a $60 game…it’s just that there are others (War of Whispers) that do a better job all-around. I understand that making board games aren’t cheap as an indie developer, so perhaps some crowdfunding to bring it up to par would be an option.
“Dragon Soul” isn’t necessarily a bad game, I just feel like it’s the start of something that could be made better. Designing an ironclad rulebook would be a good, first start in this process. It simulates a medieval war game to some degree, but misses out on some mechanics that would probably enhance the game. The casual gamer family may not mind the randomness of combat outcomes and lack of alternate tactical options (spying, etc), though as an experienced critic and gamer I would probably introduce some house rules and variants before coming back to this title.
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Score: 5/10 (Average)
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