Courtesy of Sam Elliott
The Elliott brothers designed their new game, Conquest of Nations, to be unique in the world of popular board games. For one thing, players will never play using the same map twice, meaning replayability is paramount. The duo also sought to minimize the effect of luck in favor of strategy.
Instead of dice, the game utilizes a downloadable app that performs battle simulations automatically, keeping the game moving at a faster pace than a traditional board game can offer.
“It has elements of both a video game and a board game, and it kind of draws from the best of those two things,” James says. “That’s probably one of the reasons I like it the most.”
Having an innovative game concept means having to think through myriad scenarios to prepare for anything a potential player might do, so the brothers have put a great deal of time and effort into ensuring the rules make sense.
“We have to be really, really precise with our language in the rule document, so (it’s) been kind of a big challenge to make sure everything makes sense, nothing’s broken, all the rules make sense – so somebody that reads that document understands exactly what they’re getting themselves into, and so everyone agrees on all the different rules,” James says.
Though it’s a great deal of work, developing those rules and figuring out how to implement them has been one of the most fun parts of the process, the brothers say.
“At first, players choose one nation that they want to control and different nations have different powers. You start in the ancient era, where you can build wonders and collect more science, and as you progress through the ages, you can get more science (and) build a rocket or can unlock airplanes and bombers,” Sam says. “So you can either destroy each other, or you can go to the moon and win peacefully.”
The game is designed to appeal to players of all ages and interests, Sam says, though lovers of strategy games such as Catan and Civilization will be especially interested.
“It’s a new game every single time,” he says.
The brothers are in discussions with manufacturers and hope to officially release the game in summer 2023, though the exact timeline is still to be determined.
Claire McLean is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
