The First 4X Bag-Builder

Players: 1-6 | Time: 20 minutes per player

Defiant is a bag building game, meaning you are drawing meeples (of various colors) from your bag in order to take actions in the game. Using these meeples, you are eXploring, eXploiting, eXpanding, and possibly even eXterminating the other players, which is why it is a “4X” game. For a long time, people have been wanting a shorter 4X game that still felt very rewarding, strategic, and satisfying. It has the feel of Scythe, Eclipse, and Hyperborea all rolled into one.

The Story

The Empress has stood too long on the necks of your people, on the necks of all people. The floating islands desperately need new leadership. It is time for you as a chieftain of your clan to step forward, showing the masses that you deserve to rule.

But how will you achieve this?

  • Through diplomacy with the other tribes, granting benefits to all involved?
  • Through a strong military force brimming with trained rex and raptor riders, mercilessly cutting through any opposition found on the floating islands?
  • Through a powerful flying squadron, incapable of being defeated in the skies?
  • Through a strong economic engine that only grows more and more powerful to your rivals’ dismay?
  • Through technological advancements, allowing you to hit harder, fly further, negotiate better?

There are many ways to show you’re fit to rule, but be sure you’re the other chieftains don’t get the better of you.

How It Plays

Each turn you’ll be drawing meeples from your bag. The amount of meeples you draw can be upgraded, but you start the game only drawing 3 meeples. Each meeple has a color and symbol (we are working hard to make this game color-blind friendly) which shows what sort of worker it is. These meeples get put onto your player-board. However, a single meeple won’t do anything, only 2 meeples in the same action space will produce an action.

This is where things get interesting, because there are stronger and weaker actions depending on whether you use the highest tier “gold” meeple, a “high color” meeple (silver/bronze), or a regular meeple (any color) as the secondary meeple doing the action.

This makes your gold and high color meeples extremely important. Are you going to use your gold meeple this turn to put harvesters on an island and produce a lot of income? Or are you going to forgo income this round and instead gain a Rex and a permanent Land Battle upgrade? Maybe instead you’ll use it to attack another player’s island, hoping to take over the harvesters they’ve already placed there?

Combat

As a 4X game, combat is extremely important. There are 2 types of combat, land and air.

Air combat always happens first (if applicable). Land units cannot be dropped onto an enemy island unless you first survive air combat against any flyers in that hex. If you lose the air combat, your transported land units are instantly destroyed as well.

Luckily, air combat is extremely straight forward. Soarers (the larger flying beasts) have 2 Strength. Gliders (the smaller flyers) have 1 Strength. Land units add no benefit to air battles unless an upgrade card says otherwise.

Land combat gets a bit more complicated. Rex units are worth 2 Strength while Raptor units are 1 Strength. However, if you have a Rex unit in battle you can add 1 Rex Tactic card to the battle (3-5 Strength), and if you have a Raptor unit in battle you can add 1 Raptor Tactic card to the battle (1-3 Strength).

What We Love About It

Defiant is a passion project for us. We think it produces so many interesting decisions and trade-offs!

Is an opponent continuously upgrading their land forces? You can build up your squadron strength so their land units can’t make it to your islands.

Is an opponent strong in economy at the expense of military might? Take over their island so that their harvesters now work for you!

Is an opponent growing rich on the back of diplomatic ties? Backstab them diplomatically, negating their trade contracts with you, but only after gaining huge bonuses at their expense.

Worried an opponent may be considering dropping 3 Rexes on your island? Glance over at his player area to see if he has any red (move and drop) meeples available to him. If not, you have at least another turn before he can make his move. Use them wisely

Defiant has the feel of a heavier 4X game, but since everyone has drawn their cubes the previous turn (allowing them to plan ahead) and since the cubes limit your options (and your opponents’ as well) you aren’t left with infinite options for what to do. This keeps the game moving quickly and efficiently, while still producing the amazingly crunchy decisions you expect from a 4X game.

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