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Quite often, when we do these top publisher and designer lists, they are kept separate. For understandable reasons, publishers like to have variety in their catalogues, which means they will often have commissioned several games from different designers. Similarly, designers might have developed a game that doesn’t necessarily fit the publisher they’re working with. This isn’t always the case though, because sometimes a game publisher is set up by the designer to print their own games. Stonemaier and Garphill are two that spring to mind, but even they have brought in outside talent to supplement their catalogues. Wingspan and Hadrian’s Wall are two immediate examples. However, today, we are looking at a designer owned publisher that we have to combine the lists because his games are synonymous with the company. He even does the artwork for his games! It’s an incredible feat, so let’s have a look at the top five Ryan Laukat and Red Raven Games.
Empires Of The Void 2 – Thom (Punk Meeple)
Back in the early years of my modern board gaming career, I remember Empires of the Void hitting the ‘new releases’ shelf of my friendly local game store. I loved the look of it but never picked it up and before long it was out of print. Such is the life of a board gamer.
Later on though, Empires of the Void 2 was announced. This sequel saw players piloting massive world ships into a new sector of the galaxy aiming to secure themselves a legacy. Now, while this game may look a lot like your Twilight Imperium and your Eclipse there is a very different focus here in Empires of the Void 2.
Ryan Laukat games tend to lean heavily into the story side of things and Empires of the Void 2 is no exception to this. Each game will have a randomized set of planets placed out in different locations on the board. These planets have their own events and action cards that are all shuffled up together, but they also bring their own unique units as well.
Now while I said the focus is on the story that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any fighting here. Players can fight each other or the indigenous people who live on these planets. But you don’t have to you could try and be more friendly towards the people of these planets. Afterall, they were here first. There are advantages to each approach.
As you wind your way through the galaxy, you’ll start completing missions and actions. These sort of make up the story beats for your civilization. You may end up being chased away from your only foothold, only to make deals with some underworld criminals and end up trying to help a lost race of aliens find their way home. There are a lot of stories in this box. And while they are not as coherent as his later games, and can sometimes come across a little too random, the rest of this game more than makes up for that. This is a quality 4x lite game that is a whole lot more approachable than some of the bigger games that occupy this genre.
Above And Below – Tom Harrod
Above and Below first hit tabletops back in 2015. It was the second of Ryan Laukat games to sit within the popular world Arzium (after City of Iron, in 2013). In comparison, Above and Below is an easier strategy game compared to the likes of Near and Far, and Now or Never. It’s a hybrid, since part of the gameplay – the ‘below’ bit – delves into the storytelling mechanism…
Theme-wise, you’ve had to flee your old village due to barbarians, and relocated to pastures new. Can you re-build a flourishing habitat, while exploring the subterranean caves beneath you? To begin, you start with one building (with three beds in it), and three villagers. It’s an action selection vibe over seven rounds, where players take turns activating villagers to do tasks.
Certain characters can perform particular things for you. Some are great at constructing buildings (which cost coins). Buildings are worth end-game points, but also act like a passive tableau/engine. Other folks can recruit more villagers – there’s always five to pick from in a public market. They also cost coins to ‘train and gain’ them, but they’re all better than your starter trio.
Having more villagers is great for action economy. But you need to have enough beds to allow them to sleep each night! Besides, how else will they feel revitalised to work for you again in the next round?
A huge part of the game is exploring down in the caves. You can send villagers down there, then you roll a die to determine which event triggers. There are 215 encounters in a separate ringbinder book, each a mini scenario. Often, they have an either-or choice for the player to make. (A harder goal or an easier one, with a corresponding reward upon success.) The villagers you send underground have numbers on them, attributed towards successes. If you meet or beat their number with a die roll, this counts towards triumphing over the encounter.
This injects a marvellous, light-hearted sense of tabletop role-playing into the proceedings. It sits alongside the set collection goals and simplistic tableau-building as a tasty tandem. Above and Below is a charming, non-intimidating entry into Red Raven Games.
Knight Fall – Nick Welford
Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone but I haven’t played many Red Raven Games. I’ve not been Above & Below, Near or Far, and certainly not woken any Sleeping Gods. Not because they aren’t good games, but because I’m quite fussy with story games. I like games where you make your own story and don’t have to read a lot. Where how you play is the story and I always got the impression the Red Raven collection were a bit more narrative than I’d like. But then Knight Fall was announced.
Knight Fall sees founder Ryan Laukat share both design and art duties and that’s not the only unusual thing - it’s also a skirmish game. There are a number of ways to play, solo, co-op and versus one on one or as two teams of up to three people each. The set up is knights vs demons and in the skirmish mode each side is trying to reach 10 points first. Knights get points more easily - at the end of the round and each time they kill a demon. Demons get one point for defeating a knight and two points for defeating one of the Elders on the map.
The game components are well illustrated and the use of full colour standees makes sense here. They are easy to tell apart and find, and look great. The elders actually have clips on the standees to track their health. There are loads of Demons and Knights and when one is defeated you simply draw another to spawn into the fight. Each one has its own card with its stats and special abilities listed clearly.
The variety here, admittedly within a skirmish context, is excellent. Games have a good cadence and don’t overstay their welcome at all. The ability to play co-op and ever campaign is nice, but I haven’t even used it yet as playing versus is just so much fun, thanks to a clever card system that I barely have time to mention! Look for a full review soon!
Islebound – Luke Pickles
If you like the taste of adventure and time at sea, with a smidge of democracy and/or conquering, you might want to consider Islebound. Ryan Laukat Islebound is a game where players are sailing through an archipelago of bustling towns, terrifying sea monsters, pirates and a plethora of points to be earned. On your turn, you can sail to a town to either take its action or attempt to wrest control from the citizens or your opponents. The actions vary, from gaining resources, hiring crew and mercenaries, commissioning buildings for your own capital, resting and several other options. The crew members power up your ship and give you different ways to mitigate luck and generally manipulate the board to your advantage.
If it sounds like there’s a whole lot of variability in this game with the different combinations of workers and buildings, then check out the board! With the exception of the central piece, the entire thing is modular and can be randomly set up so that what was beneficial and close last game is on the opposite side of the board in the next. There’s a whole lot of fun to be had, figuring out the best strategies in this game, and even better, you can combine certain components like the workers into Above and Below to continue their story.
Sleeping Gods – Kyle Gormley
Sleeping Gods might be my favourite board game of all time. I remember the first time I saw the front cover on BGG and read the description about a ship’s crew being ‘lost in the Wandering Sea’. I was playing Tainted Grail at the time and the idea of another story-driven exploration game made me very excited.
Jump forward a couple of years and I had sold Tainted Grail, after getting fed up with what I considered ‘the grind’ getting in the way of ‘the story’, and was feeling a bit jaded about my imminent Kickstarter delivery from Red Raven Games.
Suffice to say - I couldn’t have been more wrong. Sleeping Gods is, essentially, a world in a box and, within that world, you are free to do whatever you want. From the first turn of the game, you can go anywhere, talk to anyone, do anything. Will you run into situations you’re not ready for? Absolutely! Does it matter? Absolutely not.
The key difference here is that failure never gets in the way of the story. Sure, you might fail a check and lose some health, but the narrative continues and you still get to experience more of this weird and wonderful world. Where other games want you to succeed through planning, levelling up and honing your skills, Sleeping Gods champions adventures and exploration.
It’s also immensely replayable. There are over 200 locations to visit and you’ll probably see between 30 & 40 in a single playthrough (and that’s not including the expansion). There are whole sections of the map I never even visited!
This is all topped off with Ryan Laukat and his incredible artwork, genuinely brilliant writing and a gorgeous production all round. This is a world I can’t wait to get lost in again.