Crowdfunding preview: Potions of Azerland from Warped Reality Games

Potions of Azerland is the debut work of the young game publisher Warped Reality Games consisting of game designer Gray Baker and game developer Tyler Hansen. At the The game will be on Kickstarter on August 29th get started. Warped Reality Games kindly provided us with a prototype of the retail version of the game that we were able to test extensively. You can find out what Potions of Azerland has to offer, who it is suitable for and what makes the game so special in this crowdfunding preview.

Info: We're covering the game's prototype here. The final product may therefore contain various changes.

The world of Azerland has a variety of regions and cities offering a diverse range of goods and services. One of these cities is particularly known for its magical potions and hosts an annual summer solstice festival. Travelers from all over the world come to the city to purchase potions for this special occasion. The perfect time to prove your skills and become the most prestigious potion brewer of all.

An interesting approach

Potions of Azerland, as you would expect from the name, is all about making potions! As a potion maker, we collect ingredients in the forest over 6 rounds, expand our knowledge, brew potions and fulfill orders from travelers who visit our city to gain prestige. Whoever has collected the most prestige at the end of the game wins.

The game relies on an interesting bidding mechanism that determines the order in which the respective actions are completed. Each end of the game has a so-called priority holder (hereinafter referred to as a priority holder) and 5 priority tiles that are numbered 1 - 5 (prio tiles). The priority holder shows, from left to right, the actions Forage, Study, Market, Brew and Fulfill. For each of these actions, the players must first assign a priority tile.

Then, in the action phase, the priority holders are revealed and the actions are carried out one after the other. Depending on the action, the person with the highest priority receives more resources and knowledge, can brew more potions, or can be the first to shop at the market and fulfill the travelers' wishes. Ties are resolved using numbered potion cauldrons, each player owning one. In the event of a tie, the person with the lower number receives the better bonus, but must swap his cauldron with the worse cauldron of the opponent who had the disadvantage.

Go into the rounds strengthened

The bidding mechanism means we have to plan our moves well in advance and anticipate what our opponents would do. Because the lower our priority is compared to those of our opponents, the less we can do with the current action. Or even worse, things that we absolutely needed are anticipated. If we don't pay close enough attention to what our opponents would do, it could be that, due to their higher priority, they are allowed to fulfill the travelers' wishes before us and thus snatch a traveler from under our noses along with their important victory points and bonuses.  

However, with the help of so-called Apprentice Tokens we can strengthen some actions a little. For example, if you are far behind in priority when it comes to collecting resources and are only allowed to collect 2 resources, you can spend as many apprentices as you want in order to be able to collect more resources. This gives additional tactical scope.

We can also choose to consume our potions ourselves and not give them to the travelers. This means that, depending on how high our knowledge of the magic potion we drink, we receive strong bonuses that help us achieve our goals. However, the potion consumed cannot be used to fulfill the travelers' wishes and thus generate victory points. It is therefore important to weigh up whether consuming is worth it or not.

Beautiful illustrations

Even the prototype is impressive in terms of appearance. Clear! None other than Andrew Bosley is responsible for the drawings. Bosley is known for illustrating several successful board games, most notably Everdell and its expansions. And here too he lets his charm flow into the illustrations. Each individual traveler card has its own character, which is decorated with small details and thereby gains a little personality. It's also nice that the game board shows how the travelers wander into the city and is also arranged in a playful way. The traveler cards are available on the way into the city. In the city, however, we find the market and its market cards, where we can purchase resources for our magic potions.

Kickstarter starts on August 29th

The idea for Potions of Azerland came to Gray one night about 4-5 years ago. Lying in bed, he thought about different mechanics he would like to implement into the game. That evening, Gray designed the core of the game, which then took some time to polish. Balancing the game while keeping the powers and effects interesting and fun was one of the biggest challenges in development.

Ultimately, in our eyes, Gray's efforts were completely worth it. Potions of Azerland is the type of game that is easy to learn but difficult to master. Even though there is a simple rule structure here that even players who rarely play board games can understand, Potions of Azerland has enough depth to captivate even those who play a lot. By planning the moves based on the priority holder at the beginning of a round, the question often arises: “What does my opponent need and how can I make my move as optimal as possible?” Because it may be that the opponent plays us or we them anticipate things. With a high priority in fulfilling the wishes of travelers, for example, because here the rule is “first come, first served”. The balancing act between using the potions for yourself or fulfilling orders is always a difficult decision. Do you gain an advantage or score important victory points?

All in all, we were very excited about the game and were really sad to have to give it back. Potions of Azerland gave us great pleasure in every single test game and is definitely worth a look. Especially considering that the game has something to offer for all types of players and therefore has the potential to end up on the table more often. Tacticians can let off steam, solo players can compete against their solo opponent and families can end the evening relaxing with their children.

On August 29th Potions of Azerland on Kickstarter get started. The Retail version The game will be available for a slim 50 dollars (around 45 euros). It will also cost around 85 dollars (around 78 euros). Deluxe version give. This includes double-layered player boards, metal coins, printed wooden resources and much more. Of course, there will also be various improvement goals for the game during the campaign that will improve the material or bring new elements into the game. We are definitely excited!

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