Beasts and Diplomacy
- Greg White
- 11 minutes ago
- 4 min read
In the warring land of Aterra, once a year at the Solstice festival the diplomats and knights of the kingdoms gather for a brief respite from their battles to participate in a sacred game. Each knight has three days to impress the diplomats by capturing and displaying the most impressive beasts...
Beasts and Diplomacy is a card drafting, set collection game with a dash of worker placement and a fair amount of player interaction. It's designed and beautifully illustrated by Mike Kribel, and published by Dragon Dawn Productions. The game is played over three 'days' (rounds), each of which is split into the various phases of the day from dawn to the day's end.
At dawn the players each receive a couple of quest cards; in turn order choosing one to keep and discarding the other face up on the board. Subsequent players can now if they desire choose that discarded card to be the one they keep. This continues until every player passes and keeps just one card. On Days 2 and 3 you have the option to swap out the cards you previously kept. It’s a fun little process and can really shape how you play the rest of the game and learn what your opponents may be up to.
Morning time is the real meat of the game. Players take turns placing one of their workers on one of the spots of the four different card pools. Each area has a number of spots that offer a bonus 'kings favour' that’s worth points at the game end, but even if these are all taken you can still take the action at that location: in this game players are never blocked off completely from any locations. Taking a spot allows you to claim a card from that pool, either a beast, a diplomat, a trader or personnel. When all your workers are gone you can continue to take actions by exhausting a worker and moving it to another spot. However, that is going to cost you discarded cards or money, both of which are scarce.
There are around 350 unique cards, each offering something different and in most games you are probably only ever going to get hold of six per round. Each can really spice up the game. So what is it you’ve been collecting? The beasts, each of them unique, have a wealth of information printed around the fantastically colourful art: their cost, habitat, species, diet, colour, associated element and activity, all represented by icons, most of which are self explanatory. The diplomats are all looking for certain attributes from the beasts on display, so each diplomat will have one or two icons that need to be matched to the beasts to score points and also receive money when the beasts are first exhibited. You’ll also receive money when your diplomats match opponents' beasts being exhibited. Traders let you sell unwanted beasts for varying amounts depending on how many icons you match on the trader card. Traders also score you points for each successful trade. Personnel cards allow you to manipulate your beasts, changing their colour for example or reducing their upkeep cost.
At Noon any new diplomats you’ve acquired are played down in front of you and then, in the afternoon, in turn order, you will build your tableau from your hand of cards. Beasts are added to habitats which have to be acquired from the board for a fee, and diplomats receive rewards if the newly displayed beasts match their icons. Personnel can be assigned to habitats or beasts or may have some unique special abilities that can be played in other phases of the game.
Once all players have played out their cards, the evening begins... Players must pay any upkeep costs - generally, the bigger the beast the more the upkeep - and if you can’t afford it then you have to sell some of your beasts, and that can be painful! The board is then refreshed with all new cards and the next day begins with a new turn order, the poorest player being the new first player, unless it’s the end of Day 3 and final scoring takes place. Points can be gained in a number of ways: quest cards, matching diplomats, the beasts themselves, kings favours, trades and personnel. The end-game bonus points for satisfying all your diplomats can help swing a game but go in big with diplomats and you risk punishing penalty points if you end the game with any of their requirements are left unmet.
We have found the game extremely enjoyable at all player counts but probably most exciting at four or five. There is also a slightly simplified family rules set recommended so that children can play. The solo variant works well but obviously misses out the key element of player interaction. Watching the only available card that you need to satisfy a diplomat be taken before your turn is infuriating; knowing they took it on purpose even more so! But that is the fun of the game. It may often look like your plans are dashed but sometimes a personnel card will allow you to pull off a neat trick so you can still satisfy the demands of your diplomat. Turn order is vital, especially if you are after a card with rarer specs, but going first comes at a cost: turn order is in reverse of wealth order, so the problem now is you may get that beast you need but will you be able to afford the upkeep? The choices at first can seem overwhelming, especially on your first play when presented with a full board of 30 cards and scores of different icons but you very quickly learn what you are looking for.
We've really enjoyed the theme, and the bright colourful cards, all with unique art, look fantastic on the table. The player aids are also very well thought out and even list the percentage chances of particular icons turning up.
Dragon Dawn Productions are bringing Beasts and Diplomacy to Kickstarter on 29 July. Click here to check it out. This is one Kickstarter that I am certainly looking forward to backing when it launches.
(Review by Greg White)
