The Trasamire Campaigns

[b]the trasamire campaigns[/b] is a strategy board game about conquering territories, not unlike [b]risk[/b], probably (never played it, couldn't tell you). the king is dying, you're part of his entourage, ready to take over the business. there are [b]5 story campaigns[/b], based on who you choose to impersonate, at which point the king dies, long live whoever you picked. [b]the game consists of multiple layers.[/b] the always available in-game help, as brief as it is, explains the basics with not entirely consistent terminology, but I'll sum things up. it is a period of civil war, but in a fantasy setting, no rebel spaceships striking from a hidden base. select the area to tackle from the [i]world map[/i] (it's the same every time), read journal entries and occasionally make decisions in your [i]diary[/i], then it's time for battle, either on the [i]region/campaign map[/i] or the more intimate [i]battlefield[/i], both of which are randomly generated every time. [b]the [i]battle map[/i] is a connection of nodes[/b], each color representing a faction, and [b]units act as dice[/b]. all you do is select one of yours and a neighboring node to take over. it has to be enemy-occupied, [b]can't combine forces, nor can a single soldier attack[/b], somebody has to stay on every node. when you're done, end the turn so enemies can do the same and everbody can get [b]reinforcements, based on the largest chain of conquered regions, but they're distributed randomly[/b], so might not help much or at all. one would think if your have 3 units, taking over a region with 1 or 2 enemies should be trivial, except [b]dice rolls are random, of course[/b], so who knows what will happen. it also means your 2 soldiers can technically win against the enemy's 3 if you're willing to risk it. there are [b]no difficulty settings[/b] (would be a nice addition), but [b]don't have to conquer every node on the board[/b], you can claim victory as soon as you've overwhelmed the opposition (thankfully, there's no penalty for trying a claim, as there's no indication of when it's ready to happen). you can also withdraw like a coward, counts as defeat, but [b]losing a battle isn't the end of the game[/b]. the final campaign rating won't be stellar but you can continue and try to make the best of the situation. and lose you will because rng is a harsh mistress, especially if it manifests in multiple forms. [b]no rpg elements and it's not a deckbuilder[/b] (thank god), but on your conquest you (and only you, not the enemy) can [b]acquire ability cards[/b] based on story decisions and general performance. they [b]can be used on the [i]region map[/i][/b] to fortify or weaken units, etc. it's a similar node-based situation to the battlefield, with even more back and forth between factions as they take over and lose areas. region and battle maps alternate until the mission goals are done (or you go above and beyond and wipe everybody out or surrender), then onto the next area, and so on. it's [b]mostly up to you how many world map locations you visit[/b]. it has to be at least 5, one from every 'vertical slice' on the world map, and you can't go back to already visited places, but otherwise do as you wish. even if you screw up royally and lose 'local forces', as it were, or possibly an entire region, the story goes on. I was told by the developer that the only true fail state is losing in the final region, but [b]reaching the end of the story is unavoidable, with the final outcome varying greatly[/b]. I thought story campaigns would be quick, that's why there are more than a couple and probably worth playing a few times for different choices and results (though I would've passed on that), but [b]finishing a story can take forever, depending once again on rng and how thorough you want to be[/b] (my advice is to move on from a region as soon as you control more than half, you can claim a win even if the goal is to destroy all enemies). my initial plan was to go through each story once, but by the time I finally finished the first (and by finished I mean gave up in the final area, too much back and forth), I was more than ready to move on. it's not entirely the game's fault, I'm just not entertained for long by random sameness, while it's often the biggest draw for many. for even more longevity, [b]custom campaign[/b] (single region) and [b]custom skirmish[/b] (single battle) are also available. you can set the [b]number of players (up to 12)[/b] and their factions, generate layouts of various sizes in any world map location, and even invite your friends over if you have any, as [b]these can be played against computer or meat-based opponents[/b]. [b]non-rebindable controls are mouse-based with hotkeys, often with alternatives.[/b] rebinds are always preferred but not much to complain about here, you'll be mostly using left click. wasd and arrows both work for scrolling, for instance, but it's not even necessary, boards are sized and positioned well automatically. [b]I'd like tooltips for the buttons[/b] though, not that there are many or hard to decipher or remember. [b]autosaving[/b] happens after battles but [b]manual saving over multiple slots is also possible outside combat[/b], can even name them, they show save date and time and there's overwrite confirmation. unexpected but I was very happy about it, even though most games should have this by default. [b]no mid-battle saving though[/b], which is unfortunate and bordering on being a dealbreaker. [b]excellent all-around presentation with great music[/b], and considering the amount of text, it's impressive that I only found a single typo (sure, I only played one path of one story, but some games can't pull off a 2-sentence tutorial without mistakes). settings are available anytime, resolutions, windowed mode, separate volume sliders, plus scroll speed slider, edge scrolling and mouse dragging toggles, as well as a game speed setting (between 0.5x and 5x) and another toggle for faster ai turns. [b]what's missing is a toggle for the annoying chatter during battle.[/b] speech bubbles keep appearing as leaders taunt each other and it gets old fast and covers the board. overall, [b]it's great stuff if you can tolerate or manage rng ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you over (and over and over and over)[/b], could've been called [i]the trasamire randomizer[/i]. the occasional (yeah, right) defeat adds flair and variety to the stories instead of blocking progress, so save-scumming isn't really necessary, but still, [b]it turned into a mostly frustrating experience for me[/b].

This game is board-ception, and pretty addicting! There's not too many mechanics to get to know, so the game is pretty easy and fast to pick up. Maybe on the larger-scale commander battles with the cards. Not to mention there's a game-speed multiplier so you can choose how fast you want things to go. A good amount of story (and my favorite, skipping lol) and content, with RNG enough to shake up battles and larger missions and their experiences. It is a bit pricey and there does seem to be a momentum-heavy and RNG-focused element, so people who aren't a fan of RNG might not like it. It's a good level of randomization though. A few other cool tidbits: it's possible to game this with just your mouse so it's perfect for when you're eating or doing something else on the side/semi-idling. It's possible to save-scum if you're into getting favorably RNG. Game runs well on a Steam Deck/linux, so it's great to play on the go. If you're a fan of games like RISK, you will enjoy this one. Hoping the game gets achievements.

Terrible game. The RNG of where your troops show up is I'm positive weighted against you, I had 6-7 stacks in my back rows and my front lines were all 1-2.

This "game" calls itself a "strategy puzzler", but this sorry excuse for a time-waster is [u]not[/u] a puzzle game and it's [u]certainly not[/u] a strategy game: [list] [*]The outcome of the "battles" is determined randomly (by dice you never get to see) and there is only one single "strategy": [b]MORE GUYS WIN[/b]. [*]All you do is to select a unit and click on an adjacent enemy; sometimes you have to choose between two enemies... and if you're really lucky, there are even three -,- [*]The reinforcements are distributed by pure chance, so no strategy there either. [/list] The "game" doesn't look as bad as I expected, but a heap of cräp with sprinkles on it is still a heap of cräp and a [b]really boring[/b] one as well.. The game even encourages you to increase the game speed (which you can do to up to 500%) and [b]additionally[/b] even enable "fast enemy turns" so you don't have to wait through this snorefest for longer than necessary... [h3]... and "necessary" btw is exactly 0 seconds, because you shouldn't buy this piece of sheet![/h3]

A really good game that's surprisingly hard to describe. The ruleset is solid and the story is actually good. Absolutely zero cringe. I'm a strategy player first and it's weird to find myself coming back to see what will happen.

The Trasamire Campaigns is a board game-style strategy game with some similarities to Risk. The goal is to win a series of battlefields by controlling a dominating majority of spaces. A player can launch an attack from any space with at least two soldiers into any adjacent space, either capturing the space or losing all but one attacking soldier. Controlling a lot of contiguous land will then entitle the player to reinforcements - the more linked spaces, the more soldiers received at the end of the turn. All of this ties into the game's story. The player controls a pretender out to seize a royal throne left vacant after the previous king died without an heir. There are different paths to the throne, and the route taken - along with the player's record of success and various personal decisions - will determine the ending.

Do you like backgammon? Backgammon is a game played with dice. Yet, despite the randomness that dice impart, a good backgammon player nevertheless often makes money by playing with people who don't realize how skill can still play a role despite that randomness. This game reminds me of backgammon. As awareness dawns, performance improves. I do not sense that the game cheats. So I will lick my wounds and continue to improve at it. Slowly, it seems. But surely.

USER INTERFACE (UI): The overall UI is super easy to understand. The pre-game UI is awesome. Great information. The in-game UI is easy to understand and not confusing. GAMEPLAY / PLAYABILITY: The battle is very satisfying. I love the battle and it made me think a lot when making moves. You really have to be very strategic, but it’s not too difficult at the same time. However, my only concern is the RNG of the same battalion (and amount of soldiers). More likely I would lose and it seems like 95% won’t win the battle. The probability should be 50-50 when there are the same number of soldiers. This prevented me from making moves, and it’s predictable we won’t win. I believe there should be more detailed/in depth tutorials. The “help” page is ok, but was not helpful enough. CONTROLS: Controls are great. It’s easy to click and do what needs to be done. All characters (battalion) move without any issue and perfectly moving. GRAPHICS and SOUNDS: Incredible graphics and artworks. I love them. With amazing sound effects, it really makes it feels like you're really in the battle. PERFORMANCE: There is no issue with performance from loading the game, the menu and playing the game. All loaded and responded fairly quickly. CONCLUSION: I would for sure recommend this game to anyone. PRO: - Awesome gameplay - Easy to play - Amazing graphics CON: Needs better tutorial SCORE: 9 out of 10

Good minimalist strategy game.

Challenging but fun. Kept losing at first, which was frustrating but kept me playing. I find the little tiny soldiers cute. One of the destinations on the map does look like a toilet which makes me chuckle. You too could win the porcelain throne!