Photo by Christopher Paul High on Unsplash So.
What is an area control game? What are the pros and cons of this game play paradigm?
Area control games revolve around the concept of players taking control of board space, usually in such a way that the other player is disadvantaged by or barred from the usage of that controlled space. In other words its a game about taking land away from your opponent.
Consider the game Smallworld. In this game players choose fantasy races to play as which they then place on regions of the board to take control of them. As the game goes on the player's fantasy race will fade into obscurity causing their occupied regions to be cleared out. The player would then choose a new race of beings to play as and attempt to take over more regions of the board. Players can attack each others occupied regions if they are next to each other, removing the beings that are occupying the space before their race fades into obscurity. The way players gain money from occupying the
different regions with their selected races. The player who has the most money at the end wins.
In the case of Smallworld the core play of the game is occupying space and it is directly connected to the win condition of gaining more money than your opponent. This is amoung the most straight forward of the Area Control type games, as these games tend to have extra design layers of logistics and economics layered on top.
Consider Settlers of Catan, the OG of Area control games. In this game players take control of regions of the board so they can acquire the resources that the areas hold based on what dice numbers have been rolled for the turn. They then use these resources to develop settlements and roads, as well as acquire victory points through special cards.
While the region acquisition element of the game is a core driving aspect of the game's play it is of equal importance to victory as the resource gathering mechanics, as the player needs both to win the game.
In both scenarios, the basic aspect of "choose and area and take it" is bolstered by an additional mechanic. In the case of Smallworld it is the idea of combat and the sunsetting of races. In Catan it is the random nature by which resources are naturally gathered and the logistics of building roads and buildings with them.
This brings to note a similar point to that of Roll and Moves. The area control concept by itself is difficult to make engaging, but when combined with other elements of play, it gains a great deal of depth. This said many games in this space take that idea up to 11, adding all sorts of resource management, building, warring, and randomization game elements to the mix. In reality it is more likely that a player will find an Area Control game to be overwhelmingly complicated with all of the extra layers of design that they layer on top.
Games like Twilight Imperium, The War of the Ring and many other titles tend to have so much additional complexity that they alienate new and even intermediate players with their sheer scope and scale.
So as designers it is once again advised that we walk a fine line of design complexity, adding just enough to create engagement but not so much as to make the game impossible to understand. And to go ham when we know we're going for the hardcore audience ;}
What say you dear reader? Do you have a favorite Area Control game? What would you like to see be made in the space Comment below, inquiring minds want to know!
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