ARCS

ARCS is a space opera but without the soap. It’s a brutal, spectacular and epic game with a mechanism that I just hate. That’s why I’m happy to invite you to a review of a new four-letter game from Leder Games.

2024 Space Odyssey

In a nutshell, ARCS will take us through 5 chapters (maybe less) of a battle for dominance in space. The fight will not only take place in space. Because in the main measure, here we will be fighting for initiative and for understanding of this rather specific trick-taking. In addition to spreading destruction, we will also have to expand our infrastructure, gain the support of card aliens and impose taxes on the inhabitants of planets. The most ambitious person, that is, the one who knows when to play his cards appropriately, will win.

Trick-taking done right

First of all, something I hate – trick-taking. Those who already know me know that I hate trick-taking. I hate trick-taking the way Anakin hates sand. Just like Coyote hates that Ostrich. Just like my wife when I play Amyl and Sniffers on the speakers. By the way, this is my musical discovery of the year because it proves to me that Punk is not Dead.

But let’s get back to this mechanic, the name of which I don’t even want to pronounce. The most important thing is that this Voldemort doesn’t look like that = I play card of value 1 and you play 2 you take my card(those chases and explosions). Because in ARCS we will be taking initiative.

First player will play a card and will be able to perform all actions from it. The others to do so will have to play a card of the same type but of higher value. Because otherwise they will face Ross pivoting without a couch, that is, playing a card of a different type from which we will perform only one action. We can also play a blind card to copy the type of the first player’s card, but we will still perform only one action from it. Because of this, all the time we have to wait for the right moment to play our cards.

Being first also allows us to choose what we will score for in a chapter. This is called determining ambition and we can only do it 3 times in a chapter. E.g. we have a lot of materials it would be nice to score for them. Suppose my wife had zero of them(such a hypothetical situation). Suddenly you get 9 points and she gets nothing. Considering that we are playing to 33 points this is of great importance. That’s why we keep trying to take back the initiative. It’s also such a mini game, inside this big game but it works just great.

Controlled risk

Another phenomenal aspect of this game is the combat. It’s dicey, it’s random, and it can  quite a surprise. Although, as the attacker, we decide the level of risk and what should happen in it. Because when starting a battle against, we choose dice according to our preference. The blue ones are the ones that are safe for us and theoretically for our opponent. Red dice by me called YOLO dice are those aggressive attacks with a lot of destruction for both sides. We also have orange dice, which we will use to attack the opponent’s buildings and steal things. The most important thing, however, is that we decide for ourselves whether we want to destroy or damage something. This is of great importance given the chosen ambitions in the chapter. I like the fact that the combat is simple, there are no defensive rolls, and as an attacker we manage everything ourselves. Battles can also be very devastating for both sides. That’s why you need to prepare for them well. Because destroying someone’s space fleet could just obliterate someone on the map.

Weak draw, weak capabilities?

In ARCS sometimes you get such a “weak draw” that sometimes you can’t do anything. Here is your mistake. Because the game offers us quite a few alternatives to perform actions. You just have to notice them. This will be especially difficult in the first few games.

Suppose you don’t have cards to start a battle. You can impose a tax on the city with weapons and in the next turn we can already cross lasers. It works similarly with the guild card we would like to acquire. By obtaining a relic from the tax, we can already perform a security action. The psionic token allows us to play the action from the card that the first player played. As you can see, we have quite a few options to play according to our plan. Although I do not hide the fact that there will be times where we will waste our action stars.

The brutal truth

I have already mentioned this many times but ARCS is a brutal game. It’s such a brutal game that there are no sudden comebacks or any rebuilding mechanism. If you get destroyed in the first few chapters then you can practically not play anymore. Even that option when you lose your entire fleet or all your shipyards doesn’t help you. Especially when your rivals have robbed you of everything they can. There will even be situations where you can’t place your ships because the rest will keep them on their boards.

However, it’s not like we can’t catch up with the leader. Thanks to the fact that the score increases from chapter to chapter, there have been situations where someone suddenly scored 10 points and jumped ahead. The point is that ARCS rewards us for being that aggressive player. Because, as I mentioned above, it’s the attacker who decides what is to happen in battle, and it’s always better to be him than the defender. That’s why it’s a real game about space conquest, not sitting somewhere in the corner.

At the end of this thread I left an example of how I smashed my wife in the first chapter.

We were playing with asymmetry and I had chosen rebels, which allow me to roll two extra dice when attacking. However, they have the limitation that they can only move 2 ships with one movement action. I played the aggression card first with 3 stars and copied the battle ability thanks to the psionic token. I flew into my wife’s city and just trashed her fleet, and in another system I did the same thing. Because of this, she had trouble rebuilding throughout the whole game. In fact, by then I already knew she was done. That’s how brutal this ARCS is.

Guild Cards

Something we didn’t appreciate in our first game. That is, the card aliens that we can collect. Guild cards have very cool abilities that affect many aspects of the game and also help us deal with “weak draws.” Many of their abilities convert resources, count towards scoring and help us do clever tricks. I’ve already surprised someone many times by using their abilities to suddenly take the initiative or to retrieve a card for an extra move. Fighting for them is also such a mini-game because we have to assess the risk of whether it’s worth putting up so many of our folk and whether we’ll be able to take them over. Especially considering that someone might take advantage of it by choosing hostage ambition.

Although there are times with these guild cards that some of them are average, and some are so strong that you literally have to fight for them. Too bad there is no mechanism to reset the market. Also, because of the fact that these cards are walls of text, you sometimes have to ask your rivals what they have there to suddenly not be surprised.

Variety of asymmetry

After playing several games, we finally decided to introduce asymmetry into ARCS. It consists in the fact that at the beginning of the game we draft a leader and a lore card. The leader provides us with a different initial setting and a special ability. Lore cards give us additional actions or a strong passive ability.

The possibilities that these combinations offer us are vast. Although it’s not as asymmetrical as Root, but it also changes the way we play. Because all of a sudden we’ll be able to build a city on gates, we’ll be able to convert a construction action into taxes, and we can’t even get a prize for first place in some scoring. All these abilities can create really powerful combinations. That’s why we need to get the right cards at the beginning of the game. Because, for example, if our opponent has already taken the leader then you know you can focus on the lore card. Yes, this is another mini-game in ARCS.

In general I recommend playing with asymmetry because it’s just better and it nullifies those “poor draws”. Especially by those alternative actions we can do.

Graphics and components

Kyle Ferrin’s art, as always, works well in such games. Because it tempers all the brutality that ARCS drips with. As for the board itself, it has undergone quite a bit of change from the prototype and they decided to go for simplicity and clarity. I respect this solution and it looks good. I also really like the wooden ship models and overall I have nothing to complain about. On top of that, we still get quite extensive prompts with descriptions of all the actions.

Game time

On the game box it says from 60 to 120 minutes. I guess this is the playing time for two players. Because there’s no way we could fit in 2 hours playing time with four players. Set yourself up for at least 3 hours of intense gameplay. To reduce this time by even a little bit it’s necessary for everyone to know the game well.

“Why do you only choose games where you attack me”

ARCS works well with any squad. The game also has a scaling system that disables various systems and increases or decreases the fleet depending on the number of players. The most we’ve played is 2 players, and let me tell you, it’s even more brutal than I described earlier. The game does not forgive mistakes and you can quickly defeat someone.

I am sending a quote included in the instructions“ Sometimes, usually in games with 2 players, it can become clear that one of the players has won. You can then give up!” . This is how they scare us but it is as true. This game can be so destructive that divorce is guaranteed. That’s why even though the game works well for 2 people I prefer it as a four-player game. It’s just easier to control someone and take care of the balance in the space.

Summary

ARCS is a space opera but without the soap. It’s a brutal, spectacular and epic game with a mechanism that I just hate. However, everything works very well here. The rules of this game surprisingly are simple and easy to explain. On the other hand, understanding how to deal with conflict and how to play cards appropriately will require at least a few games. Then we will learn how to do all these tricks and finally feel the multitude of possibilities.

What I like most about ARCS is that each game will be a little different. Because even though we only have 6 scoring methods, we constantly have to react to what other players are doing and adapt to the situation on the board. We make everything even more interesting by building our own asymmetry.

Final verdict: ARCS is a brutal game that rewards aggressive players who are not afraid to make bold decisions.

Pros

• Kyle Ferrin
• Even good Trick-taking
• Alternative methods of “weak draws”
• Brutal gameplay
• Build your own asymmetry
• Identifying risks in combat

Cons

• More vegetables (It would be a shame to lose the entire fleet).
• What do you have on that card?

Coming to the end of this review, I can say that there was no divorce. We are still happily married. Although it was quite close. Especially after “THAT” attack. 

[Game provided by Leder Games]