Arcs from Leder Games — Review. I take a look at the trick taking area…

I take a look at the trick taking area control game set in a dark universe of war.

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Publisher — Leder Games

Designer — Cole Wehrle

Art Direction — Kyle Ferrin

Game Type — Area Control, Resource Management, and Trick Taking

Initial Year of Release — 2024

Age Range — 14+

Expected Playtime — 60–120 Minutes

Number of Players — 2–4

Theme and What is it?

In the far-flung future in the outer reaches of a galactic society warlords vie for control. Each of them pushes their agenda by taking the lead, copying the trends, surpassing their opponents, or pivoting to use their own plans. Who will be the first to amass enough power to cow the others into submission? Will it be you?

Arcs is a trick taking game of space exploration, exploitation, and politics. You’ll need to play the right cards and take the best actions to assure your dominance of the galaxy. Can you build up your fleet, expand your cites, and influence the guilds until you bring them under your control.

Initial Impressions

I went into this game knowing quite a bit about it. While I didn’t do an unboxing the way I normally do, this isn’t my copy, I was there when it was opened. I was impressed with the different bits that came in the box. The cards looked good and the art stood out. I thought the cardboard pieces looked nice and had a decent thickness. I was happy with the game and how it was put together. I went into this game pretty optimistic about how it would play.

Game Mechanics

I won’t be going into all of the mechanics and options here. This is going to be a high-level overview. That said, there aren’t really that many, but they interact in a way that helps if you have the game before you while learning.

This game is built around a typical trick tacking game. Each round one player will lead a card from their hand. There are four suits in the game numbered 1 through 7. Each other player will play a card and generate an effect based on if they played the same suit or not. who leads the next trick will be based on who wins the current one. Those are the basics of trick taking; there are a couple of new bits here.

When you play a card you’ll get a number of actions you can take on the game’s central board. Each suit offers a selection of actions you can take. The value of the card you play determines the number of actions you get with lower numbers rewarding more actions. The player who leads can set an ambition for the round by making the value of their card a 0. Setting an ambition creates an end round scoring effect.

Each other player will then play a card taking one of three effects based on the card suit and number they are playing. To Surpass you’ll play the same suit as the lead suit but with a higher number than any other one that is currently winning the trick. If you cannot Surpass then you can Copy by playing a card face down and getting one action from the lead suit. To Pivot you play a card of a different suit from the lead suit and take one action from the new cards suit.

Each suit offers certain actions. Administration allows you to Tax cities where you have a presence, Repair lets you fix damage to ships and structures you control, and influence lets you place minions of guild cards to ensure their loyalty.

Aggression lets you Battle other players’ ships and structures, Move your ships around the board, and Secure lets you claim any guild card where you have the most influence.

Construction lets you build ships and structures or repair damaged numbers of the same.

Mobilization lets you Move or Influence.

Once all tricks have been played, you’ll score any Ambitions that were set for this round. You’ll then check if any player has scored enough points to trigger the end game. If the end game is triggered, you’ll play the round and go for final points. If not, you’ll deal out a new hand of cards and go again.

Game Build and Quality

Everything in this game is very nice. The wooden ships are nice and work well. I like the quality and thickness of the cardboard pieces. The cards are all excellent quality. I would still sleeve them due to how much you shuffle the game.

I think the rules are well put together and easy to use and reference.

Artistic Direction

I like the art. It has a nice quality that lets you know what you’re looking at but still has a decently bizarre look that feeds into the theme of a corrupt far future society. It has an air of Warhammer 40K through a cracked lens.

Fun Factor

This is a deeply strategic game with lots of decisions and interaction. You might not be fighting every round or at all, but it is a part of the game and you might end up with it as your only option based on the cards you’ve drawn. There is a lot of player interaction here and it’s hard to avoid unless you are all actively trying not to go down that route.

Age Range and Weight

The box says 14+ and I think that is pretty close. I think 14 might be a bit young, but I might be wrong about that. I think younger than 14 should be avoided. The amount of decisions you need to make might be a bit much for younger players.

Conclusions

I like this game a lot. I think the card play is interesting and how you interact with one another is a nice bonus. Every decision you make feels impactful. You’re always moving forward and accomplishing something.

Combat is pretty easy; you roll dice based on how many ships you have in an area and choose different types of dice based on what you want to accomplish. Losing never feels that debilitating and you always feel like you can recover from a bad round.

There’s strategy in what Ambitions you set for a round. You can only have up to three each round and can use the same one multiple times in a turn banking on getting more points.

The guild cards all give you a special ability and a symbol that can be used for ambition scoring making them all valuable even if you can’t use the power right away.

The one drawback I see in the game is you can have a bad round where the suits in your hand are never led making it impossible for you to get more than one action a trick. This can feel rough, but you can use a couple of tricks to seize the lead and bring your cards back to the forefront.

Something I didn’t talk about in the Mechanics are the Leaders. This is a module that adds new boosts for each player. Each leader is fun because they have both a positive and negative quality that effect you as the game goes on. This adds a fun level of strategy to the game.

I will say the first few games you play will be a bit tough. As you play it and get a bit more experience with the system, you’ll be better able to manipulate what’s going on. I think the game is worth putting in the extra plays to get that solid with it.

Overall, I like this game. I’m glad I’ve had a chance to play it and look forward to playing again. You have a lot of nice, rewarding decisions that all feel impactful. You never feel out of the game and always feel like there is a path to victory.

If you’re interested in the game and would like to pick up a copy you can follow this link to Amazon and pick one up for yourself. If you do, it helps us out at Meeple Gamers, and we would appreciate it.

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Until next time, stay safe and be well.

Overall Rating — 9/10