MOBA isn't for Video Games only

Hello everybody!

Today I want to talk about a game I bought at last Years ESSEN - the fair about boardgames.
It is called "Guards of Atlantis" and is a MOBA boardgame for 2-10 players. "What" some of you will ask, followed by either ", how should that be possible?" or maybe "is a MOBA?"

So, for the latter of you (these that don't know what a MOBA is or maybe do know but never heard/read the term).
MOBA is an abbreviation for "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena", a video game subgenre where two teams of players compete against each other with the goal, to be the first to destroy the other teams main building (the actual name differs from game to game). The first MOBA games where actually Custom maps for Starcraft (and later Warcraft III) where players controlled mighty heroes, which are aided by weaker minions, which are (endlessly) send by the AI to fight off the minions and heroes of the other side and to destroy the opponents defense fortifications and ultimatle the main base.
What began as some custom maps for real time strategy games became something bigger. Actual MOBA standalone games were made, the most known are probably League of Legens or Heroes of the Storm, and MOBA games became more and more popular as ESport games.

So, now you know what a MOBA game is. But how should you translate a game concept like this to a boardgame?

There were already a couple of tries to bring the concept of a MOBA to a boardgame, but so far, nobody has been as successful with this as publisher Wolf Designa with their title Guards of Atlantis. To be honest: Yes, it is still an abstract version of the video games, but it comes close enough to say, that this is a very good transportation of the main idea!
In Guards of Atlantis players are divided in two teams and every player controls a hero. Each hero is represented by an very good sculpted miniature and a deck of cards. While the miniatue represents the hero on the gameboard, the deck of cards represent this heroes abilities, skills and equipment. Every hero has five cards: A basic attack, a "Hold" card and three upgradeable cards. Every time a hero gains a level he can chose one of these three cards and exchange it with a card of the same color from the next Tier (of there are always two). The card that is not chosen is added as an item, which gives the hero a permanent bonus.
Also, each team has a number of Minions, which "spawn" at fixed positions on the board and don't move by themself. Minions also don't attack heroes, but minions of the same team give some defense bonus and minions of the opposing team give some defense malus while standing next to them.

Goal of the game is to push the battle on the board to the opposing Base. The battle gets pushed forward if at any time one team has destroyed all minions of the other team. As soon as this happens the gameflow will be interrupted and minions spawn one field further toward the opposing team. Then the game continues.



The heroes are controlled by the five cards each players has for their hero. Each round of the game, four of these five cards are played. At the beginning of each turn of the four turns during a round each player chooses one card and puts it face down in his play area. After everybody has chosen a card all players turn their card and each action will be resolved in Initative-order. This can lead to situations where the hero, you wanted to attack moves away before you can strike, or that the minions you wanted to kill are no longer there, because the lane was pushed. Also you can interfere with the plans of your opponents by blocking pathes or move minions (an ability only a few heroes have), because you decide which card to play at the beginning of the turn, but as each card can be used in more than one way you choose in which way you weant to use it when its your turn in the Initiative order.

Another plus for this game is the fact, that all the heroes play differently. Each have their unique skill set and because you have two cards to chose when you gain a level, each hero can be played in at least two different ways. This allows for a lot of customization, which is always a good thing for games like this one.

So, if you like MOBA video games and have at least a bit interest in boardgames give this one a try. And if you are a boardgamer, that is not interested in video games at all, but you like strategic board games I also would recommend to give this one a try.
But be warned: As there is no random element involved you are alone responsible for everything bad happen to you in this game. If you loose, you probably will loose because you made mistakes, or at least because the other team played better than yours. No blaming the dice or a bad card draw.
I like this a lot, but there are people, that aren't into this kind of game. So, you have been warned!