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Shadow Throne takes place in the Aclysmian empire, where the kingdom and royal family are torn apart in a bitter civil war. King Kyros clings on to power by any means necessary; his estranged Queen Eleftheria has joined a rebellion of conquered people; and their daughter, Princess Beatus, has rejected both of her parents to fight alongside the church.
The players, as members of a secret society, wield great influence over the destiny of Aclysmia, but their job is not to set things right. They just want be on the winning side when the fighting ends. By weaving Machiavellian alliances and determining the outcome of crucial battles, they accrue influence for when the war finally resolves.
Shadow Throne is played over the course of several battles. To start each battle, players gain control over characters from the warring factions by drafting a hand of cards. Next, players simultaneously play cards from their hands to determine which faction wins the battle. Players can freely switch alliances, playing cards from any faction. After the battle is fought, the faction with the most power wins, and players who played cards from that faction collect influence points. Once one player has collected enough influence, the game ends.
- great variety among the cards
- neat combos and interaction between drafting and conflict
- feels like you always have something you're working toward
- diverse card interactions allow surprising plays
- enjoyable playtesting experience
- art is incomplete in prototype with flux in some areas
- tokens will be thicker and nicer in final version
- faction warfare with drafting and hand management
- three factions (blue, yellow, red) whose strengths are tracked on a board during conflict phases
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card attributes and scoring — cards have strength, victory points, cost, and a consolation prize; decks are color-coded to factions (blue, yellow, red) with ranks commoner/elite/nobles.
- color-based cost penalty — playing two cards in a row of the same color incurs a one-gold penalty.
- combo potential — data points from playtesting reveal combos (e.g., king enabling another red card to allow five cards in a round) can create high point runs.
- conflict phase on a shared board — cards played influence a faction strength tracker on a central board; players pay the card's gold cost and adjust strengths as rounds resolve.
- Drafting — players draft cards through a passing process to build a seven-card hand; six cards dealt, then players pass and pick until seven cards are held.
- Faction-specific mechanics — blue buffs blues; yellow converts cards to yellow; red kills nobles of other factions and halves certain victory points.
- Hand Management — each round a player selects one card from their hand to play; cards are kept face-down and revealed; requires strategic hand composition.
- Turn structure and phases — each turn has three phases: drafting, conflict, and resolution; the game typically lasts four to five turns.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- shadow throne is a drafting and hand management card game consisting of a deck of cards some tokens and a single board which is used to track the strength values of the three factions as the game progresses
- this is a prototype version of the game
- i've really enjoyed myself playing this game through the play testing process
- please consider backing it on kickstarter
References (from this video)
- stunning cover
- art style that fits the aesthetic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the box cover on this is so epic you've got all these large faces of aliens and worlds and spaceships and stars flying all around it looks like an amazing science fiction movie
- it's a Space Opera epic kind of feel to it as you are invading a bunch of systems and customizing your Starships
- the cover to such a good good job of conveying all those different things in just this just really awesome way it really feels like it's about to tell you a story with that cover
- the cover on this game and all the art throughout the whole game it has that same aesthetic
- I just love this hard sci-fi aesthetic it really brings me back to my childhood when I just loved reading Isaac aoff and Arthur C Clark
- the art style and I know not everybody's going to like this art style but ultimately if we're talking about stuff to put on your wall you got to go with something that really appeals to your certain given aesthetic and this is just it for me I love love it
- it's just stunning
- I would love to see what your top three board game covers are for these three categories
- almost went with seven wonders duel but