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Game Info
Year
2020
Players
2-4
Age
14+
Playtime
60 min
Collection
Your Tier
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Description
Shaolia is a board game filled with deadly strategy and countless possibilities to build your own kingdom.
Build your very own kingdom with various building & character cards
Utilize creative tactics to take the lead with highly dynamic game play
Dive into the world of Shaolia through fantastic artwork and storylines
There are two ways to win in Shaolia. You can either deal 12 damage to your opponent’s palace and destroy it, or you can achieve 18 culture score.
The game is played through multiple rounds.
A round consists of 3 different phases.
Purchase Phase: Purchase cards and resources.
Building Phase: Build the purchased cards on the territory board.
Action Phase: Roll the dice and activate cards built on the territory board, using dice.
-description from designer
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment:
pos 1 ·
mix 2 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video EKT6Zkdpvp8
3 Minute Board Games Other at 1:49:02 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 90494 · mention_pk 241862
Click to watch at 1:49:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- High degree of player interaction
- Mixes engine building and dice manipulation
- Old-school resource destruction
- Best suited for two players due to dueling focus
- Great art style
- Advanced cards offer many building and trick possibilities
Cons
- Sorting scenario cards can be a chore
- May not be the deepest or most replayable game
- Serious gamers might burn out quickly
Thematic elements
- Warlords building states, defending palaces, and promoting culture during a war
- The continent of Shaolia
- Players are warlords vying for dominance.
Comparison games
- Circadian's First Light
- Machi Koro
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card management — All buildings in this game are represented by cards.
- Combat — some cards like the infantry here do damage to opponents buildings.
- Dice allocation — allocating dice to buildings is the key to victory.
- Engine Building — it's how you build combos in your state that is really decisive.
- Resource Management — you'll always feel shorter resources which is a good thing.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
No quotes stored for this video.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video _HXkxo_OuUk
Meeple University Playthrough
video_pk 70345 · mention_pk 167275
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
none
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- one round playthrough for shalia warring states
- the palace has 12 health
- these are really cute like the little hearts
- to place an attack token on an attack card before rolling the dice
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video _HXkxo_OuUk
Meeple University Playthrough at 0:45 sentiment: positive
video_pk 70345 · mention_pk 243245
Click to watch at 0:45 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Deluxe components and cute artwork
- Two win conditions (culture or palace destruction)
- Engaging engine-building through level cards
- Market/trade system for strategic resource management
- Expansion introduces new mechanics like quests and house effects
Cons
- Gameplay can be heavily attack-focused, potentially less balanced for culture-building
- Early rounds can feel slow or hindered by card availability and resource constraints
- Rules and components may involve many moving parts; complexity could hinder new players
Thematic elements
- war and culture
- two-player duel in the Warring States module
- engine-building with combat and culture progression
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Attack tokens and gym — Certain cards place attack tokens to boost future attacks; gym can place an attack token before rolling.
- Card upgrade path — Three Level 1 cards are required to purchase one Level 2 card; players build an engine.
- combat and defense — There is combat with palace and other buildings; defenses like barricades can be damaged; pirate card ignores defense and can damage two cards.
- Dice activation and mitigation — Players roll dice to activate abilities; dice results can be modified by officers.
- Engine Building — Three Level 1 cards are required to purchase one Level 2 card; players build an engine.
- Market/trade actions — Players visit a market to trade for minerals and gold, and buy Level 1 cards from a discard pile.
- Multi-Use Cards — Expansion introduces quest cards and house effect tiles with persistent effects.
- Quest cards and house effects (expansion) — Expansion introduces quest cards and house effect tiles with persistent effects.
- Resource Management — Gold, minerals, life tokens, and other resources are spent to acquire cards and activate abilities.
- Three-phase round structure — Each round consists of Purchase phase, Building phase, and Action phase; phases are taken one player at a time.
- Variable Phase Order — Each round consists of Purchase phase, Building phase, and Action phase; phases are taken one player at a time.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- one round playthrough for shalia warring states
- the palace has 12 health
- these are really cute like the little hearts
- to place an attack token on an attack card before rolling the dice
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video akfSmRE5dus
3 Minute Board Games Review at 0:08 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 10765 · mention_pk 31761
Click to watch at 0:08 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- fast and fun with a high degree of interaction
- strong art style
- variety via advanced cards and combos
- engaging two-player duel focus
Cons
- replayability may be limited due to fixed card sets per scenario
- scenarios require card sorting, which can be tedious
- not as deep or heavy as some other games; could burn out for serious gamers
Thematic elements
- state-building, culture, education, palace defense
- continent of Shaolia amid inter-state warfare and state-building
- abstract/engineered theme; dice-driven resource management with optional narrative flavor
Comparison games
- Circadian's First Light
- Machi Koro
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area control / dueling interaction — aim to defeat opponent by damaging or destroying their palace/defend your own; high interaction
- Card Drafting — purchase basic blue cards or upgrade via face-up advanced cards replacing them
- card drafting / card management — purchase basic blue cards or upgrade via face-up advanced cards replacing them
- combat and health/damage — buildings have health; damage can be directed at opponent’s buildings; destruction ends threat
- Combat: Damage Based — buildings have health; damage can be directed at opponent’s buildings; destruction ends threat
- Dice Placement — allocate dice to buildings, activate bonuses; spaces are limited and some require prerequisites
- Engine Building — build combos across your state to generate resources and effects
- Resource Management — manage minerals, coins, and tokens; some tokens act as dice values
- Status tokens — tokens grant buffs or nerfs, affecting health, damage, or actions
- Turn structure — purchase phase -> building phase -> action phase with dice usage
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The best thing about this game is the art style I absolutely love it.
- it's fast and fun
- not the deepest and most replayable game
- this is a dice placement game with a high degree of interaction between players
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4