Oath: Chronicles of Empire & Exile

[droqen]

2022 Jan 3
Played the first official game of Oath with the crew.
The turn order was D, me, R, M, and J.

It was a bit rough going to start out with - the game is hard to explain! But as the afternoon progressed into evening, everyone started to get the mechanics and warm up to the whole thing. I think the last rule we explained was the rule that prevented M from taking the Darkest Secret from me... but he took it some other way.

The rule makes such beautiful thematic sense. It doesn't explain itself but I feel the need to explain for it. Fascinating stuff. I don't know how lucky we got with this game or whether the game itself is just incredible, but there were moments throughout when someone seemed to be getting the upper hand, and was a real contender for winning. Truly incredible.

Anyway, it helped that most of the time nobody was terribly concerned about winning or losing. Of course we tried to win, but the attitude around the table was jovial. We all were telling our little stories about the world, not just playing extreme tactics.

[droqen]

Things I've noticed about Oath:

The player who is behind always has options.
* Search the deck(s) for a lucky draw
---> Early on, this is a vision
---> Later on, this is a chance combo piece, or something to counter someone else
* Influence the result of the game
---> Due to Oath's legacy nature, I might not be able to win, but I can change who is the Chancellor next game
---> or change which denizens are in the winning player's Sites
---> Or, I might be able to knock the lead player down out of the running.
* Sow chaos among, or team up on, the top players
---> If everyone else sees someone in the lead, we can work together to drag them down.
* Become a Citizen, maybe? Strike a deal?

[droqen]

Back to that Jan 3 game. That, our first game, might have been a 5-hour game of Oath. That's nuts.

D got a strong start, so I took out his advisors: two nomads abandoned him and joined my ranks instead! I never even ended up using them, but it put him on the back foot for the rest of the game. RIP.

M bewitched D and joined thecommonwealth became a citizen, and quickly slurped up power.

R flipped grabbed the People's Favour and flipped the appropriate vision with seven favour -- it seemed like nobody had the resources to get it from him, but I helped D unseat him via the Tribunal. He just barely got it back from R.

J had been building up a ridiculous combo and suddenly claimed oathkeeper, and then became the usurper, and for a time it looked like she might be able to hold it and win...

I dug up M's discarded bewitch, became a citizen myself, and gathered enough relics that it looked like I had a shot at winning, if M unseated J...

M did unseat J, but also successfully stole the Darkest Secret from me and won, becoming next game's Chancellor.

Now part of the Cradle is last game's Tribunal and the Shrouded Wood with an Ancient Forge; the next game's oath is holding the most relics and banners, and the Ancient Forge allows you to draw relics straight from the relic deck; and in the Provinces, last game's Narrow Pass will keep people from exploring easily. Game 2 is going to be a good one.