Set in the worlds of "Roll Player" and "Cartographers", Dawn of Ulos: A Roll Player Tale is a competitive game where players represent Gods, placing wagers on the mortal factions, supporting and hindering them to shape the new world.
We first came across the world of "Roll Player" when we got Tenpenny Parks by Thunderworks Games and were looking through the catalog included in the box. We then got Cartographers Heroes before hearing about the (then upcoming) game Dawn of Ulos and after a small amount of research, decided that it would be a great game to move onto within the "Roll Player" world.
First Impressions
The box was slightly bigger than I was expecting, but upon opening, you can understand why, there is a huge array of components inside, with interlocking map tiles, 3D camp markers, and over 200 cards, tokens and tiles. The sheer number of components alongside the 20 page A4 rule book felt rather overwhelming initially but truth be told, once I started reading the rules and laying the pieces out, it all started falling into place and began feeling much more manageable. The artwork on the game box, continues onto the boards, maps and cards and really fulfills that fantasy themeing.
Game Play Overview
As I said earlier, in this game, players represent Gods from all across the planarverse, you'll use your powers to shape and manipulate both the landscape and the factions. Dawn of Ulos is played over a series of turns whereby each player will complete 3 steps before passing turn to the next player in clockwise order. On your turn you will play a development tile out onto the board, matching the terrain types it covers. When a tile is placed out, 1 of several events may occur and must be resolved immediately. Events range from establishing a camp, adjusting the factions power, initiating conflicts or collecting rift tiles. The player then has the option to either use an ability from a card in their hand or purchase new cards, paying favour equal to the factions strength at the time. Once complete, you will then draw a new development tile from the face down pool and add it into your hand, keeping it a secret from other players.
The game ends when either the supply of development tiles runs out, or 2 factions have reached legendary status by reaching their maximum strength. Scores are then calculated based on favour tokens earned during the game, factions strength multiplied by the number of cards in the players hand and unused rift tiles. The player with the most points is the winner.
Pros and Cons
This game has been really well thought out, each faction has their own symbol and artwork, making them really easy to tell apart, the terrain types are not only different colours but also show different artwork for each terrain type. Whilst each faction has their own ability, all 16 cards for each faction are identical, which at first I was a little dissapointed by, however once playing, I soon realised how beneficial this was and it made the cards much easier to manage and aided in learning the game. The box contains a well designed insert, but you'll need to make sure you don't throw out the punch boards after you've punched out the tokens, as these can be placed below the insert to ensure that everything stays secure in the box. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they were disposed of, but it certainly helps keep everything packaged up nicely between games. The game can swing quite significantly throughout and unless you're keeping an unscrupulous eye on your opponents, there really is no way of telling who will win right up until the very end!
Final Verdict
Overall, I really enjoyed this game, the gameplay was surprisingly easy to pick up but had plenty of complexity and strategic options available throughout which kept you guessing right up until the end as to who had won. I can't wait to share this game with more people.
In conclusion, we would rate this game a 9/10
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