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Capture kingdoms, build your armies, and conquer the world in this intense medieval anthropomorphic card game from Half-Monster Games.
As one of the Animal Monarchs, you gain and army to deploy to a vast undiscovered world of kingdoms ready to be brought into your Empire. The other players are attempting to build their empires too, and friends can become enemies and vice versa in the blink of an eye. Each Army has one of four special abilities relating to their species, as well, so the strategic depth of the game gets richer every time you play.
Explore a rich world with lore, secrets, alliances, battle, betrayal, and conquer your friends to make them fight for your side as Vassals.
Be wary though: conquered Vassals still control their own Kingdoms and Armies, and can rebel against you at any time. You can punish and reward your subjugated underlings by taking or giving kingdoms, but this takes up valuable actions... how will you rule?
Put your strategic, diplomatic, and command skills to the ultimate test in Animal Empire: Conquer or be Conquered!
—description from the designer
- Interesting political dynamic due to vassal system.
- Can go up to eight players.
- Players are animal monarchs leading kingdoms with matching armies (lions, foxes, etc.) to siege, explore, and capture the majority of kingdoms to be crowned Emperor or Empress.
- A world where humans are dead.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Players use armies to siege and capture kingdoms.
- Negotiation — Negotiating tricky military and political problems is a key aspect.
- player interaction — Players can capture friends who become vassals, leading to political dynamics.
- Worker Placement — Implied through sending armies and workers.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We are a pack of crooks, we're all working together kind of, we're getting through some security but essentially we also whilst we're doing this, we're working out who gets the loot, so we're a semi coop type of deal going on here.
- It's a micro economic game where you get to play a florist trying to fill orders from a floral market but it's a little bit cutthroat.
- Rolling with the Waves is a high interaction rollin right, so something that not a lot of rolling rights have.
- Rat catcher is a solo board game based in Victorian England where you will be a rat catcher hunting down magical cheese and rescuing it from a horde of magically imbued rats.
- Animal Empire is a game about being animal monarchs in a world where all the humans are dead.
- It is an awesome card game that accidentally teaches you music theory.
- Runecax is a game kind of like a young adult fiction set in a fantasy world.
- Scuffin it's an all-you-can-eat diner set in the 80s it's a bit dodgy.
- I Have the Biggest Sword is about building the biggest sword.
- It's a battle royale game for about two to six players.
- It's absolutely a party game it sort of falls in the same vein it's like because against humanity' kind of thing but very quick play very quick to set up I'm very quick to play.
- We're more than happy to speak to those over the top door but until then we're happy to being the bottom of the barrel.