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So if you are looking for a hyped game – this is it. Arcs not only arrived via KS (initially) from the heady combination of Cole Wehrle and Leder Games, but then launched to a SU&SD review that suggested it was the best game ever made since the beginning of time – or some such. Cue a bunch of tit-for-tat commentary about whether this was a revealed truth / absolute balderdash / somewhere in-between.... Wow – what a game to have to then write a review on... Here we go.
The Arcs base game is a space themed, area control game with variable scoring conditions and a card driven, action selection mechanism. The card mechanics have heralded some to call it a trick-taking game – which it isn’t really. It has some similarities – a lead card which players choose to follow or not and affects the number and type of actions they can take. But there’s no tricks taken for scoring and no trump, so arguably it’s more of a card auction.
Cards played will have you building ships, moving them and fighting; building bases and taxing them for resources; acquiring court cards with special powers, and activating scoring conditions for the chapter. The latter point is key – the lead player, depending on the number of the card played, can trigger one of the table wide scoring conditions, which are either about acquiring the most of a certain resource/s or capturing the most of a particular kind of piece/s.
It’s the card play that has really driven the controversy surrounding Arcs. Four suits, each valued 1-7, each with a different number of action pips, but the higher the numerical initiative value the lower the number of action pips. Different suits provide a different range of actions to choose from. The kicker is how the card-play mechanics work, though. If the lead plays a card, others can follow with anything, but unless they follow suit with a higher value they only get one action from the card they play. Combine this with the lead player being the one that controls whether scoring criteria are activated and being the lead becomes really significant.
However, there are wrinkles to this. If you are not the lead, there is always the choice to play two cards of any suit/value which again (based on the above) may only give you one action, but guarantees you seizing the lead for the next round of card play. It does mean though that on the last round of the chapter you are going to be doing nothing. Also, should the lead trigger a scoring condition the initiative value of the card drops to zero, leaving it much easier for those that follow.
The result of interplay of these mechanics, and the fact that each chapter you are randomly dealt a hand of 6, has sufficient consequences that some have rejected Arcs outright, frustrated, as they would claim, that they can have to play an entire chapter of the game denied the suit of cards enabling them to take the actions they had planned for, like fighting or taxing, two actions which each only appear on one (different) suit of cards. ‘Pah’ counter the fans – you simply aren’t playing the game right – use the prelude actions, or court cards. Stop being such a fixed-mindset strategist!’
Which brings us on to resources and prelude actions. Resources can not only be collected to help score against victory conditions, but they can be burnt for prelude actions, which trigger after you have played an action card but before you have used its actions. Some are simple – Materials allow you to take a build actions, while others are more nuanced: Weapons allow you to treat your card as having the battle action on it too, or Psionics give an extra action of the lead card suit.
Now is also a good time to talk about court cards, which might trigger an instant effect, or could sit in front of you offering a powerful enduring effect, potentially breaking the rules in a specific way. They also depict a resource symbol too, which in most cases you can use in counting up for victory condition fulfillment.
And it’s true – the additional spice these mechanisms add do give options if you don’t quite like what you have drawn. Doesn’t silence the haters though...”The dice based combat system make the game far too swingy!” they can be heard to cry.
But what a smorgasbord the combat is: three different types of dice, all with a different flavour. The blue dice are a safe bet – used against ships or cities/starports they offer little damage but zero chance of the attacker being damaged. Red dice are high risk, high reward – you can dish it out, but you may take a bunch of damage too. Finally, orange dice, which can only be used for raiding buildings – these again have a higher damage output than blue but with the risks of taking damage; however, they also allow you to raid another player, which provides the chance to steal resources and/or court cards from their player board.
All this makes for a surprisingly lean rules set, once you get your head around a few of the interlocking mechanisms – and it also makes for some brain burning decisions, as hand management becomes king. How am I going to play this hand of cards (and gather/use resources) with an eye to the actions they offer, the need/timing of seizing initiative and the possibility of triggering the scoring condition I might want, before others beat me to it? Plenty to keep you thinking...and...
Once you have one or two base games under your belt you can add in the additional leaders and lore cards – there are 8 and 14 respectively in the base game and the same amount again in the inexpensive and excellent Leaders and Lore expansion. These create a degree of asymmetry – less than Root, but enough to provide a few more well-considered wrinkles.
Leaders provide a change to the game set-up, two enduring benefits and one disadvantage: this might affect your card play, the way you access/manage resources, battle mechanics – the range is varied’ Lore cards simply provide a unique advantage – a similar breadth of range in the scope of these advantages but a slightly different feeling to the advantages offered by leaders. The combinations are myriad - some far more effective than others, so as you become more experienced the draft for these can be really important to the way the game plays out. Nonetheless, once you know what you are basically doing, I can’t imagine playing Arcs without them.
And that pretty much wraps the core box.... but that, while very much a complete game is only one part of the story. This is the lean, brain-burning, ‘knife fight in a phone booth’ of card play and area control. Add the expansion, and while the core mechanics largely remain you get to transform this into a sweeping, 3-game campaign of vastly increased asymmetry, narrative possibilities and careful scheming and diploming. But the review of that is for another time.
So what do I think of Arcs? Am I a lover or a hater? Hit or miss?
Well, first thing is first – I generally loathe trick taking games when they don’t involve a regular 52 card deck. But then, given this isn’t one that’s all to the good. In fact, I find the card play really satisfying in the main – the puzzle I outlined above about hand management I find super interesting. Yes, getting a hand of cards denuded of a suit you want is a pain, and I am not prepared to brush that off with the, “Your not playing the game right.” dismissal, although the mitigations I outlined about do make a big difference. Arcs is an opportunistic game – leaders and lore can give you a nudge towards directions you might lean into, but I don’t think you can set your strategy from the outset, and if you are good with that then you should enjoy it too. But then given Arcs has cards and dice that shouldn’t be a surprise either – there is the element of chance in this particular wargame. Again, this is something I like, but if you want deterministic mechanisms this may well not be for you. I think Arcs can be prone to a bit of AP and if that happens too frequently then it I do think it can drag a little in the late game; however, if you can play it as pacey wargame, intuit a little, and roll with the punches when you miscalculate, then it can crack along at a satisfying rate. Do I like it – yes. Do I think it does something different – mechanically, yes. Will I keep it and keep coming back to it – yes. Game of the millennium, or my favourite board game – no, not really. I said I found the whole card/action mechanics interesting, but I am not sure I find it satisfying – and somehow that is different. But then it is up against some stiff competition – I like it better than its two most immediate siblings, Root and Oath, but for me it can’t beat the richer experience of its bigger Werhle cousins, Pax Pamir (2nd ed.) or John Company. Though perhaps that’s more a reflection of my tastes than the overall merit of the excellent game that is Arcs. Arcs remains an innovative, mean, crunchy little beast, with the enormous potential of explanding it into something a whole lot more. It is a great addition to my collection and I suggest you check it out too.
