Welp, here we are! The big finale! The conclusion of our introductory series is here and we are excited for it. We get to talk about the best part of Wild Realms—playing it! In the event that you missed the first three parts of the series, here are some convenient links, learn about: Animals, Realms and Battles. All done reading? Now that you're all caught-up, let's get into it!
The Play Area (a.k.a. Your Kingdom)
As you already know, building your Kingdom is the winning objective in a game of Wild Realms. To aid in doing this and as a visual aid in general, Wild Realms includes 4-player boards. The board has plenty of room for your Deck, Discard, Four Realms and Alliance. Here is a prototype of the boards.
The Player Boards are a direct result of play-test feedback. After we added them to the game, the play-testers loved them. We found they are especially helpful while learning the game. There are four total, one for each of the Realms—Air, Land, Water, Fire. (Fire pictured above.)
The Name of the Game: Strategy
Originally, we thought that Wild Realms would rank as a light-weight game that kids as young as 7 or 8 years-old might be able to enjoy. However, once we started Beta play-testing, It quickly became apparent that Wild Realms was running at a solid middle weight. The reason was repeated over and over by play testers—strategy.
This was not exactly surprising, yet more and more it became clear that 12-year olds were the baseline for players that understood and enjoyed the game. Occasionally, a 10-year old really took to the game. Invariably though, they came from families that were active hobby gamers, and therefore well versed in strategic thinking.
So Many Options
At first glance, Wild Realms seems simple. You collect Animals in the correct combination, you find some Realms and you lock them to build your Kingdom. Easy. Until...
You realize that your opponents' are building their Kingdoms faster. LOL. At this time, you have some decisions to make. Do you attack your opponent's Kingdom? If so, what animals do you use? What are their special abilities? Should you use them now, or wait for a more profitable moment? Also, do you attack a Realm or their Alliance? The choices go beyond these few examples.
Techniques and Thinking Ahead
The result of choices is the opportunity for replay and generating techniques and strategies. Are there various strategies that we have found during play testing? Yes. Will I tell them to you here? No, I mean what's the fun in that? Ha! Let me just say that although there is a single way to win the game, there are multiple paths to achieving the win.
Good Fun Ahead
Thanks for hanging out with me here. I hope that you've enjoyed learning a bit more about Wild Realms in this four-part series. Seriously, all that's left is for you to play the game. In the next week, we will be publishing Wild Realms free-to-play online via Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator (requires Tabletop Simulator app). Sign-up for our email list to get notified when you can play the game. Until then, Stay Wild!