What the hell has Asmodee done now?

Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2017/09/29/what-the-hell-has-asmodee-done-now/

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac •


We started Monday by learning that Asmodee Digital would be releasing a kid-oriented version of Ticket to Ride on the App Store later in the week. What they didn’t tell us was they’d be releasing another game as well, Harald: A Game of Influence. Not a peep. Not this week, not at Gen Con, not ever. What the hell is Harald and why is Asmodee keeping it under wraps?

First of all, I don’t think Asmodee is intentionally not sending us any Harald press materials. I’m sure they have very good reasons for not filling us in on this furry-filled strategy card game. You know, important things like revising their World Domination strategy, or getting the toilets in their volcanic lair working again. I certainly know they didn’t simply forget us. Nah, couldn’t be.

Harald is a 2-4 player card game featuring six sexy furries anthropomorphic animals who are vying for the king’s influence and just happen to all have special abilities. I don’t quite get the entire gist of the game, so I’m going to blurb this one:

BE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PLAYER TO WIN THE KING'S FAVOR: Harald is a card game of influence and majority. As the head of a village, each player will try to charm the most influential character of the realm to be noticed by the King and win his favor. But to win you will need to think and wisely use the abilities of each character.

LEARN HOW TO USE THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR POWERS!
Each turn, players execute three actions in order:

  • play one card in the King’s council
  • play one card in the player’s village
  • draw cards to replenish your hand
    There are six different characters, each with a different function and power. Discover the Wolf/scout, the Lynx/merchant, the Fox/bard, the Bear/warrior, the Goat/seafarer; the Boar/blacksmith. Discover each character’s ability and use them in order to overtake your opponents!
    Each animal will give you the ability to make a move at the end of your turn: you can steal cards from your adversary, try to exchange his or your cards with the council in order to play in your favor, return cards to erase their points or just place a good card on the top of the pile! Whatever you choose, decide wisely how to make the most of every move!

SCORE AS MANY POINTS AS YOU CAN!
The goal is simple: get the maximum number of points! In order to win, you need to pay attention to the cards’ associations and put together the ones that work best.
At the end of the game, each card in the village of a player counts as many points as the number of times the same card appears in the King’s council. Play smartly in both your village and the council and don’t forget to keep an eye on your opponents’ villages in order to win.


Whew, that might be the longest blurb I’ve ever blurbed. As we’ve come to expect from Asmodee, Harald has solo play as well as online multiplayer. What’s unusual about Harald is that it offers asynchronous online play, something Asmodee has been reluctant to add to their previous titles. Interesting…

Harald: A Game of Influence is available for iOS Universal, Android, and PC/Mac via Steam. It seems to be cheap right now, so maybe there’s a sale? I’m not sure…Asmodee didn’t contact us about this one. Yep, gonna keep bringing that up…

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