Allegiance: War of Factions

Allegiance: War of Factions
Designer(s) Andrew Grierson
Publisher(s) Lucid Raven Productions
Players 2-6
Age range 12+
Playing time Approx 1 hour
Random chance Some
Skill(s) required Card playing
Arithmetic
Basic Reading Ability

Allegiance: War of Factions is a social/political collectible card game set in a medieval city-state undergoing political turmoil due to the death of its king. It was created by Andrew Grierson and published by Lucid Raven Productions in 2004.

Game summary

Two or more players attempt to gain the support of influential individuals within the city in order to assume the throne. Players can alternatively mount armies and eliminate opponents militarily. Defenses are also necessary due to a card type called Wanderers, randomly controlled elements (usually in the guise of monsters) that occasionally attack players. If at any point during the game the wanderers equal more than three times the number of players, all players immediately lose the game.

In order to win the game through influence, a player must start a round with Victory Influence equal to or greater than the amount agreed on before the game (normally 25). This Influence usually comes from personalities, but can come from other sources as well.

Play sequence

Allegiance uses rounds instead of turns, meaning that all players perform the same phase before moving on to the next. A full round consist of five phases, defined as follows:

  1. City Maintenance Phase - Immediately upon beginning this phase, a check for victory is performed to see if any players have reached the target amount of Victory Influence. Next, the player with the most influence tokens is declared the Lead Player for that round. Finally, players draw until they hold seven cards in their hand, ready all cards and can move cards around between certain areas of the game.
  2. Action and Development Phase - Beginning with the Lead Player, players take turns performing a single action. Actions include playing one card from the player's hand, or using one ability of one card in play. When all players have passed consecutively, the phase ends.
  3. Military Phase - Beginning with the Lead Player, each player may declare one military attack, either against another player or against any or all Wanderers in one player's play area.
  4. Wanderer Phase - Beginning with the Lead Player, an Aggression Check must be made for all wanderers. This is done by rolling a die for each and comparing it to the Agronssion printed on the card, with a die roll that is equal to or higher causing the wanderer to attack a random player. Once this is done, a new wanderer is brought into play by the active player. The next player clockwise then performs this phase, and the phase ends when all players have done so.
  5. Discard Phase - Players may optionally discard up to three cards of their choice.

Card types

Unique Aspects of Allegiance

Allegiance uses a number of concepts and gameplay mechanics that make it quite different from other collectable and trading card games on the market. These include:

Additionally, the game was designed for multi-player play, a rarity in the CCG world. Games also last an average of an hour to an hour and a half, which is more similar to a board game than other CCGs.

Deck composition

Each player's Personality and Structure decks must contain at least 15 cards each, with no more than two of any one card. The 15 card minimum for Structure Decks is after players have chosen what cards they will begin play with, effectively making the minimum 16 (as each player must begin play with a Stronghold). The Wanderer Deck must contain 3 Wanderers per player. There is no upper limit to any of the decks, though players may not play with more than one Stronghold card in their deck.

Additionally, players may have cards from up to three factions in their decks: one political faction, one economic/military faction, and one religious faction.

Products

Cards are available both in a one-player starter set and in booster packs. The starter set includes 55 cards (4 rares, 10 uncommons, 30 commons, and 11 fixed commons), 20 gems, 1 die, and a rule sheet. Booster packs include 12 cardsincluding 1 rare, 2 uncommons, and 9 commons, including 10 which are exclusive to the starter. An expansion set, titled The Undercity, was originally scheduled for release in 2005 in a booster-only format, but has not been released yet.

Factions

Currently, there are three fully playable factions, with a fourth set to become playable in the first expansion:

Guild Darkmoor was also featured on one promo card released by Lucid Raven. Two additional factions have been seen on promo cards, but have not been identified.

Award Nominations

Allegiance was nominated for Nominated for Best Collectible Card Game or Expansion, as well as the People's Choice Award in the Origins Awards in 2005.

External links