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The first player with a palace to amass 12 victory points (VP) in constructed buildings and captive Emperors in Ekö wins the game. To set up, fill the board with all the pawns, placed at random. Before starting the game, each player can exchange their Emperor pawn with another of their pawns elsewhere on the board. On your turn, you must do both phases in this order: the action phase, then the reinforcements phase. During the action phase, you must perform one single action: Move: Move to an empty space, regroup or attack; you can attack only a stack of enemy pieces that contains strictly fewer pieces than the attacking stack — except that a stack of four pieces can be attacked and destroyed by a stack of one piece. Construct: You can construct only one building per space; subsequent construction on the same space replaces the existing building. Each terrain type allows specific types of construction. In order to construct a building on an empty space or on a space already containing one of your buildings, you must sacrifice pieces from a single stack adjacent to this construction space. Once per turn, you can take an extra action by sacrificing three stackable pieces. A stack that contains the Emperor can attack an enemy stack even if it contains an equal number of pieces, and even if it contains another Emperor. Each enemy Emperor you have captive is worth 3 VP. During the reinforcements phase, if you have pieces in your reserve, you must return at least one piece to play if you can. You can place up to three pieces onto a single stack of your color on the board (never on an empty space), respecting the following rule: You cannot place reinforcements on a stack if it is adjacent to another player's building. The game ends immediately when a player has amassed 12 VP by adding up the values of his buildings on the board and any Emperors they have captured — each village is worth 1VP, each tower 2VP, and each castle and captured Emperor 3VP — and they have at least one palace. Alternatively, if a player is the only one with pieces remaining on the board (making reinforcement impossible for the other players), they win.
| Year | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Designers | Henri Kermarrec |
| Artists | Lucy Mazel |
| Publishers | FoxGames, Sit Down!, Dude Games |
| Players | 2–4 |
| Time | 30–60 min |
| Status | Played or rated only |
| BGG Rating | 6.7 |
| Categories | Abstract Strategy, Territory Building, Fantasy |
| Mechanics | Modular Board, Grid Movement |
| BGG Rank | 4015 |
| Complexity | 2.61 / 5 |
| Language | No necessary in-game text |
| Date | Location | Duration | Qty | Players | Scores | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2015-10-09 | – | 1 | – | – | – |
My BGG Comment
An abstract strategy game for 2 to 4 players. We played with 2 and in that setup it becomes extremely strategic. There are a lot of different moves in the beginning and I didn't see immediately what kind of strategy I could possibly pursue to win the game. There are two victory conditions: last man standing or victory points. Victory points are awarded for building houses, or towers or the castle or capturing opposing emperors. Building happens on special building sites that can accommodate up to level 1 (houses), level 2 (towers) or level 3 (palace) buildings. You have to move through a series of upgrades and spend playing pieces on it. Player pieces are eliminated from the board by attacking opposing stacks. Max stack size is 4. You need to be taller to beat a stack. To beat a stack with the special emperor piece you need to be 2 taller. So the emperor is best protected in a large stack. But beware the Kamikaze move. A 4-stack can be removed by a single piece that is itself removed from the game. After each move a player can re-introduce as many as three pieces all placed on a single stack. Or he can sacrifice three pieces (remove completely from the game) to gain another turn. Towards the end of the game the many small stacks coalesce into a few bigger stacks. Because while pieces can be re-introduced on top of other stacks, it is very hard to make smaller stacks (by building) and it is impossible to start new stacks. Houses block neighboring enemy pieces from receiving upgrades. I knew I had lost when I lost my last few single stacks. That was the point where the opponent stopped being afraid of Kamikazes, upgraded to size 4 stacks, captured my emperor and proceeded to sweep me off the board. And I am not sure my opponent really knew what he was doing either. The game is well done, the play mechanism smooth, the art pretty, and yet I floundered through it all, so despite no randomness in the mechanics the result felt random to me. Abstract games tend to sit in our game stack forever and no matter how good they are they do not get played. If you really like abstract board games give it a try.