Rising Lords

Rising Lords

Medieval turn-based strategy inspired by board games 

D eveloped by two brothers, Chris and
Manu Fernholz, Rising Lords is a
turn-based strategy game with a
medieval twist. The Fernholz brothers
have a history in developing pen-and-paper and
board games, and some aspects of that type of
design have made their way into this, their first big
videogame venture. It’s an intriguing project, and
the brothers’ mission is to, in their words, shake up
existing game genres and infuse them with new
ideas. Well, you can’t fault their ambition.

I’m immediately struck by how nice Rising
Lords looks and feels. It’s like a medieval
tapestry come to life, with bold, chunky
art and smooth animation. I’m playing an
early alpha version of the battle system
and I’m commanding a group of knights,
squashing a peasant uprising. It’s a fairly
typical 4X turn-based strategy game, with
terrain affecting your troops’ movement
speed and other factors – but the addition
of cards makes things more interesting.
You’re dealt a hand at the beginning of a
battle and these can be used on your
knights to apply buffs and other effects.
Use a card called First Strike on a
soldier and the next time they’re attacked,
they strike first. Another card, Shields Up,
ensures a target only takes five per cent
damage from the next ranged attack.
Then there’s Formation, which grants a
unit a +3 bonus to a stat called Retaliation,
which determines the likelihood of a
counter-attack. The game’s fusion of
turn-based strategy, CCGs, and board
games is confidently done, although the
build I’m playing is bare-bones compared
to what’s being touted for the final game.
The social division of the time period
will apparently play into the strategy and
systems, letting you, for example, throw
untrained serfs into battle as cannon
fodder – but at the risk of causing a revolt
in your cities. You’ll collect taxes, forge
weapons, build strongholds and raise
armies. The brothers are also promising
resource gathering, diplomacy, treason,
tax, and managing production, which
sounds phenomenally ambitious for such
a small team.
CAMPAIGN FOR DAYS
Rising Lords will feature a singleplayer
story and multiplayer for up to four
people, which can either be a quick match
or a campaign that lasts several days. It
has hints of grand strategy games such as
Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis,
but a relatively minimalist interface, and
that slick, fast-paced card-based combat,
mean it could be a much more
immediately accessible way to role-play as
a feudal medieval lord. I also like that I’ll
have the chance to play as a tyrant or a
benevolent ruler. Rising Lords is still a way
off, and more pre-release alphas are
planned to fine-tune its systems, but it
has a lot of potential.