Originally for this part I was going to show every game screen that you would interact with, but as I thought about it if you are going to play this game then you’ll see everything in the manual. So instead I’m going to post screens that I can use to explain the game systems.
After divvying up my tribute it’s time to look at hell:
The red piece in the middle is my starting legion, due to my rank he is pretty badass for the start and also has infinite loyalty making it very hard for cunning rituals to work on him. The building directly south is my stronghold, if I lose it it’s game over, directly to the bottom left is the Pandemonium where the conclave rule which I’ll be talking about later. Near my bottom right is one of the AI players, whose starting legion is pathetic next to mine, meaning I’m going to “ask politely” for free stuff from him soon.
There are places of power or PoPs scattered around as you can see, these buildings once captured give the controlling player prestige. Of the 5 near me only 2 of them do I stand a shot at taking over. In the early turns of SI it is about taking real estate and setting up borders. If a hex or canton hasn’t been taken yet it is anyone’s game. For the first few turns I’m going to attempt to create a nicely sized kingdom for myself before I hunker down and start building my forces. I only have 2 orders I can give out for now so I’m going to try and take that PoP near the enemy.
Now this is an important screen for everyone to look at, as it is one you are going to see every turn:
As I mentioned I only have 2 orders I can give each turn for now, this screen shows everything I can do in a turn. Demand Tribute which I have selected now will order my demons to bring my tribute cards that I can select from next turn, the higher my charisma stat is the more they give me. I want to save up my resources for what I saw in the Bazaar, a lovely item that will increase my order limit by one. This is a great segway to talk about the Bazaar.
The Bazaar or as I call it the Hell Shopping Network is where you’ll find everything you need to rule hell. Any player can bid on anything they want as long as they have the resources, from the Bazaar you can buy the following:
Legions: Your troops in hell, each comes with their own abilities and stats.
Praetors: Hero Units that can either be attached to legions to provide bonuses or used in single combat vendettas (more on that later).
Artifacts and Relics: Artifacts are magical objects that can be given to legions to provide all kinds of benefits. While Relics will provide a benefit to your abilities, some require to be put in a PoP to get their full use.
Manuscripts: These tombs of ancient power can provide one of three benefits once you have assembled a complete set. A manual that can provide a praetor with a unique skill used in single combat, next the ability to increase the stats of a legion and lastly a machine that when it is assembled can increase your stats or decrease the stats of the other archfiends.
Now I’ve already played a few turns, up next I’ll talk about legion combat as it deserves an entire entry.
Josh.
