Tell Your Own Space Opera With Leder Games’ Arcs In 2023

April 8, 2022 by brennon

Leder Games are turning their attention from the realm of Fantasy toward Sci-Fi in 2023. Arcs is a board game coming next year and will offer up the chance to play out your own space opera on the tabletop.

Arcs // Leder Games

Arcs has players taking on the role of regents of once-proud interstellar states that are facing down a blight that threatens not only the outer planets but also their homelands. Whilst each faction will begin more-or-less the same other the course of the game, things that you discover will start taking you in different directions. You could find yourself exploring militaristic aims and building mighty fleets or perhaps just adventuring on lost worlds, uncovering mysterious secrets.

Arcs Artwork // Leder Games

The game is card-driven and easy-to-learn, starting off by explaining the core systems at work in the mechanics. As games continue, more rules modules will be added that shift your objectives and have you thinking more about each turn you play. By the end, Leder Games hope that your faction might be as varied as the ones in Root and Vast.

Arcs Artwork // Leder Games

Leder Games have created some fascinating experiences in their past games and Arcs has certainly caught my eye. The artwork is, as always, stunning thanks to Kyle Ferrin and I am intrigued to see what Cole Wehrle does with the rules. Root's asymmetry is both engaging and yet often overwhelming whilst Vast provided players with a unique take on Fantasy storytelling in board game form.

It seems like Arcs has learned some lessons, especially hearing that it starts of easy-to-learn and slowly grows in complexity. With its campaign focus, this could well be one of those games that becomes the focal point for your group for a while.

Leder is working on said campaign system that evolves over dozens of games whilst also a two-session campaign option and a single session mode. It will be interesting to see if that single session mode gives the same game feel.

Are you a fan of Leder Games and their design philosophy? Could you be tempted by a board game based space opera?