Worlds to Span, Factions to Fight
There is something exciting about a game with vision. I love when a designer has something they want to do, no matter how insane it may seem, and they execute it right there on the table. It is games like this that breed cults, inspire fanbases, and invite others to fall in love with games, and indeed with game design itself. Designing a game like this isn’t without its risks; for every devotee, there will be a naysayer, someone who simply won’t like it. But if you are one of those people, if you are on the same wavelength as the designer…well, that’s the kind of thing that keeps me in this hobby. And Worldspanner: Factions is one such game. It is somehow both a labor of love, and a shockingly playable design. And while I have many new games yet to play from last year, it is far and away my favorite game of 2024.
Worldspanner: Factions is the brainchild of designer Brett Murrell, who has been tinkering with this design for over twenty years now. Originally released as Duel of Ages in 2003 and in the updated Duel of Ages II in 2013, Factions feels like a culmination. If you have played either of the Duel of Ages games, this new game is very much in the same lineage. And yet it is a cleaner, more direct game, more approachable and tighter in its rules.
But perhaps I should explain what in the world is going on. The players are divided into teams of various characters. These might be historical characters like Spartacus, fantasy characters like Baba Yaga, or original creations like the ominously named Bladed Terror. These characters each have a series of stats, and all belong to one of the nine titular factions. The map is a splat of hexes, complete with domes (essentially spawn points), and bases for some of the factions. The main game involves visiting the faction bases to perform tasks to gain their favor. Along the way there is plenty of combat both melee and ranged. The game comes with an arsenal of loot that continues to shake things up. So don’t be surprised if Beowulf comes at you with a taser.
Not that this is a goof of a game, at least not entirely. While it has a silly coat of paint and it tends to generate bizarre situations, this is almost entirely a game of tactics. It is about assessing your team’s needs and present situation, and developing a plan that will then be adjusted as you go. Should you send your character to a market space to buy one of the face-up loot cards? If you get a good gun, should you find a good place to park and take potshots at the other team? What would that space look like? Should you run into the deep caves to rescue one of your teammates from the “Underpit”? Is it safe for you to face your opponent in melee combat, or will you be better served to run? And mercifully these decisions generally do not require system mastery to assess. When you decide what you want to do, it won’t be difficult to make it happen. It’s a game about what happens on the board, and not about its own mechanics.
Something that really seals these interesting decisions is the resolution system, which I appreciate more the more I play. Each team has a deck of cards that resolve anything that involves a stat. Let’s say your character has to defeat a Valor check of 5. Compare your own valor to the goal of five to get the difference between them, then draw a card and see where that difference puts you in terms of success. I’m normally a big advocate of dice over card-based resolution systems, but I think that these decks work really well. First of all, they are big enough that there will be big swings in luck. You can still have a catastrophic moment where everything goes wrong, and moments where you cheer an unlikely success. But as the game goes on you will likely go through your whole deck, and that luck will even out. Bad luck in the early game will even out by the end, and good luck will run out. It’s also just faster and cleaner than the amount of die rolling that would be required of this game otherwise.
It doesn’t always seem that way. Worldspanner: Factions does have its share of process to resolve. Combat checks involve two separate checks, one for hit success and another for damage. And then you need to think about things like line of site, cover, and firing on the other team’s turn. Such considerations add up after a while, and make it feel like nothing so much as a hex-and-counter wargame. But the dirty little secret is that Factions IS a wargame. It’s a pretty intuitive one as such things go, but when you are managing unit stats on a series of hexes, and making tactical decisions on the fly, well…if it quacks like a duck…
There are some fair knocks you can make on Worldspanner: Factions. The game is structured in such a way that you may not be doing a lot for some stretch of time. I’m personally of the opinion that downtime doesn’t need to be a bad thing, because I’m the kind of guy who talks a lot during games. But if you want to feel like you are always interacting with the mechanics, you will be frustrated here. Remember that this is not a game of mechanical mastery, and it simply isn’t that interested in keeping you busy with mechanical interaction. There is clearly an expectation that this time will be spent conferring with teammates about how best to proceed. The other possible issue is that of the goals. The game is won by attaining various goals around the board, and at times these can feel a little abstract. If you’re not careful, it can feel a little like you are just doing stuff until the game is over. This is actually broadcasted much better than in the Duel of Ages games, but it is nevertheless a criticism I’ve heard that I understand.
Worldspanner: Factions is available in three sets. Set 1, entitled Heroes, is the base experience. If you only have that box, you’ll be experiencing all the game has to offer in terms of scope, though not in terms of content. Set 2, Expanses, is a direct expansion to Heroes. It is simply more of everything. Set 3, Foes, is the odd one out, focusing primarily on solitaire and cooperative play. It even includes a surprisingly detailed campaign for those situations, which I have just scratched the surface of. This is a more specialized set, but I’ve been grateful for it. The “artificial intelligence” created for the game is pretty robust, and decently easy to internalize, especially if you are use to tussling with COIN games and the like. All three sets together represent a staggering amount of content, and if the side of the box is to be believed we are only a third of the way through.
Make no mistake, this is a massive game. In its full form it will demand a good 3-4 hours, though shorter games of around 2 hours are absolutely possible. But it is not an unreasonable design to learn, especially if you intend to dig into it a little and get your nails dirty. This is not a massive intimidating beast to climb. I played and love Duel of Ages II for years, but I was never able to fully keep the rules in my brain. I have had no such issues with Worldspanner: Factions. I feel like the things that made the old game a hassle to play have been sanded away. It is a big, generous game that continues to surprise and delight me, and I look forward to playing for years to come.
Nate bought Worldspanner: Factions through crowdfunding.
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