Usurpers

USURPERS

At a Glance

The King of the realm is a formidable ruler, whose strength and cunning has not been matched in generations... but he is away on a diplomatic visit to another realm. Now is your chance to seize the throne! If you take control of his legion troops, he will be ill equipped to stand against you. If you master the dark arts and summon a demon, he dare not oppose you. If you infiltrate his court and turn his own advisors against him, he will be powerless to stand in your way. BUT, if he returns before you succeed, kiss your ambitions good-bye! Will you have the best reputation among the guilds when the king returns? Or will you seize the throne for your own?

Usurpers is a worker placement game in which you have a party of adventurers, each with a class and a level. In many placement locations, the level and class affect the value of the reward or action. Send your adventurers into town to prepare, and when you recall them they can go on an adventure, advancing you on the three victory tracks, and leveling up! The game ends when the king returns, or when you reach the last space of one of three tracks, usurping the throne.

Save the Kingdom. Claim It for Yourself. The King is a formidable ruler.

His strength and cunning have not been matched in a generation. His armies are loyal. His advisors are devoted. His enemies know better than to challenge him. But now, the King is away on a diplomatic visit to another realm.

And you've been waiting for this moment.

Seize Your Chance

You have only a short time to make your move. Take control of the King's legion troops, and he will be ill-equipped to stand against you. Master the dark arts and summon a demon, and even the King may think twice about opposing you. Infiltrate his court and turn his own advisors against him, and his power will begin to crumble from within.

But there's a problem. The King is coming back.

If he returns before you've established yourself as the rightful ruler, your ambitions will be crushed. The question isn't whether you want the throne. It's whether you can take it before the King returns.

Build Your Power

In Usurpers, you are an ambitious rival competing to become the most powerful force in the kingdom. Send your workers throughout the realm to gather resources, gain influence, recruit powerful allies, and advance your plans. But your workers are more than simple pawns. Each worker has a type and a level, and both can determine where they can be used—and how effectively they can compete with your opponents.

As your workers grow in power, so does your influence. And so does the competition.

A Different Kind of Worker Placement

Blocking is one of the defining tensions of worker placement games. In Usurpers, that tension grows throughout the game. When placing a worker, you can use a space as long as your worker is at least tied for the highest level already there. Early in the game, this means the kingdom is relatively open. But as your workers level up, the stakes rise. Powerful workers begin to shut others out. Spaces become contested.

Plans unravel. And suddenly, the action you needed is controlled by your opponent.

The more powerful you become, the harder it becomes to find a place to act.

The King Is Coming Back

Every turn brings you closer to the King's return. You won't have time to do everything.

Will you command the legions? Will you summon a demon? Will you turn the King's own court against him? Or will you find another path to power? The King is coming home. Make sure the throne is yours when he does.

Seth Jaffee on the game: 

Usurpers is a worker placement game where each of your workers have a type and a level. Many of the worker spaces care about one, the other, or both of those attributes. Blocking is a big dynamic in worker placement games, and in this one you are allowed to use a space as long as your worker is at least tied for the highest level there when you place it. This means there's not as much blocking at the beginning of the game, but as players level their workers up, blocking (and therefore placement tension) becomes more and more of a thing. I like that dynamic in this game.

Another uncommon (though not unheard of) twist on worker placement in Usurpers is that it's a race to the finish line. Doing adventures advances you up three victory tracks, and the first to reach the end of any one of them wins the game. Players can spend as much time as they want collecting resources and leveling up their workers, but if they are not focused on reaching the end of a track, they will lose to a player that is.

2–4 players

60–90 minutes

Worker placement; non-random use of dice 

Develop and level up your workers

Compete for control of valuable spaces

Multiple paths toward gaining power

Increasing placement tension as the game progresses

The Team

Designers: Katherine Boils & Patrick Gomes
Graphic Design: Katherine Boils Graphic Design
Initial Art: Patrick Gomes
Development: Christopher Paul High
Editing: Tim Densham & Jim Matt