Game designer Alec Cacheris had a dream: a strategy game like Civilization or Catan, with high interaction and where the luck factor doesn't interfere too much in the gameplay. The game shouldn't be too complex either. The dream became Hexes of Sygon. The game will launch on KickstarterWe were allowed to play the prototype and share in the following Crowdfunding preview our experiences with the game.
Note: We received the game prototype from Alec for preview purposes. The final product may therefore still contain various changes.
Sorcerers roam the land of Sygon. They seek to take control of the land and expand their power. However, they must beware of the volcanoes. If these erupt, they can destroy the conquered land.
Hexes of Sygon takes place over several rounds, during which we move our three so-called sorcerers around the board. On your turn, you can move your sorcerers to adjacent spaces or, for 3 gold, teleport to spaces two hexagons away. Walls can affect movement. These can block the path between two spaces using normal movement. To overcome these walls, you must then use teleport.
After you have moved your sorcerers, it is time to build. Here you can build cities, workshops, markets or walls. You pay the necessary resources and gold. For workshops and markets you also need your own city on the space where you want to erect these buildings. Each building comes with different effects that help you progress in the game. At the end of your turn, cities give you the resource the city is standing on and the amount of gold the space currently provides. Workshops produce one more resource in addition to the city at the end of the turn, while markets give an additional 2 gold. Walls protect against the actions of opposing sorcerers and block their movement. They are also a great protection against the raging volcanoes of Sygon.
In addition to their effects, all buildings provide important victory points. While cities award 3 victory points, players receive 2 for workshops and 1 for markets. Walls only award one victory point if you manage to completely protect a space with your own city. This means that all six sides must be either a wall or an area separated from the game (a volcano, destroyed spaces, or the outer edge of the playing field).
Simple actions
After the construction phase is over, the action phase begins for your witchers. In the basic mode of the game, there are three types of actions: Harvest, Steal, and Protect. Each of the three witchers may perform any of the three actions. To harvest The resource of the field on which the witcher is currently standing can be harvested. Each field can only be harvested twice; after that, the field no longer provides resources for players who do not have a city on the field.
With the campaign “Steal", a sorcerer can steal from all opposing sorcerers and cities. For each sorcerer and each city, the active sorcerer receives one gold from the respective player. One can protect oneself from being stolen by opposing sorcerers by building walls. Alternatively, this can be done with the third action "to protect“, which is used to mark whether you can be robbed or not by placing the respective miniature down.
After all Sorcerers have performed their actions, the effects of their buildings are activated and the corresponding resources are collected. Then it's the next player's turn.
Eruption of the volcano and the approaching end of the game
Once all players have taken their turns, the end of the round is signaled by a volcanic eruption. A die is rolled. This determines which of three volcanoes erupts and spreads its lava to surrounding spaces. Spaces protected by a wall facing the volcano simply lose the wall. Other spaces decrease or lose their gold value. If there is no more gold, the volcano destroys buildings; if there are no more buildings, it destroys the entire space.
The destruction of an entire field can happen faster than you might expect. However, they are also an important factor in the end of the game. The goal is to collect a certain number of points. The number of points is determined by the number of fields destroyed. With each destroyed field, the number of points that must be achieved decreases. This means that volcanic eruptions can also be an important tactical element, perhaps achieving victory early.
The better Catan?
Hexes of Sygon feels like the classic game Catan from Kosmos Just somehow an improved version. We had a lot of fun with the game, and if it had been released at the same time as Catan, we would say it could have been the one and only version of Catan. Unfortunately, it wasn't released at the same time as Catan, and therefore doesn't have the same cult status as the 30-year-old classic. Nevertheless, there were discussions in our group about which game we ultimately preferred.
One thing that was particularly emphasized in the discussions was that luck doesn't play such a large role. Of course, the volcanic eruption is a lucky factor, but you can also actively counteract it. Here, you don't have to worry about resources; you can actively gather them yourself. Good positioning of your witchers and your own cities also plays an important role. Overall, Hexes of Sygon felt much more tactical. You felt like you had more control over the game, and if you were behind, you always knew it was your own fault.
Tactical thanks to the influence of a tactical giant
Alec told us that the board game-like video game Civilization was also a major influence, and he'd already put thousands of hours into it. Influences from Catan and Civilization merged, and ideas for each other found their way into the game. Since September 2022, he's been working on the game over and over again, implementing new ideas and balancing the game to ultimately create a game that still follows simple rules but still offers plenty of room for tactics.
The game is aimed at players who love interactive resource management games and who enjoy elements of area control and worker placement games. Tacticians who are bothered by too much randomness but still want a gameplay loop that isn't overly complex will also enjoy the game. Due to the dynamic map layout, hardly any two games are alike. Constantly changing setups change what happens on the board game after game. Hexes of Sygon also aims to avoid many classic board game problems, such as those of Catan (randomness, deliberately weakening a single player, or the fact that you can hardly catch up with the leader in terms of points). In our test games, this worked quite well, and we had a lot of fun with Hexes of Sygon.
When exactly Hexes of Sygon on Kickstarter We cannot yet say exactly when the game will launch – also due to current global political events. However, if you are interested in the game, please follow the Kickstarter page or find out more on the Game websiteThere you can already find a first look at the rules of the game toss.
Information about Hexes of Sygon
| Number of players: 2 – 4 Age: from 14 years Playing time: 50 - 100 minutes Difficulty: expert game Classification: Resource Management, Area Control, Worker Movement Author: Alec Cacheris Illustrations: Tony Harrop, John Harrop Publisher: Hexes of Sygon LLC Official Website: Link Link to the campaign: Kickstarter Campaign start: 2025 End of campaign: 2025 |
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KOSMOS 684655 Catan - The Game, Basic Game Settlers of Catan,...* |
25,90 EUR |
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