108 Outlaws

108 Outlaws is a game from Daryl Chow of Origame. It is based on the Chinese classic novel Water Margin. I have been designing games based on the four Chinese classics, including Water Margin, so I was certainly interested in seeing Daryl's take on the topic. 

108 Outlaws is a tableau building game. All 108 characters of Water Margin are in the game. They are divided into 36 primary characters and 72 secondary characters. In addition to these characters, you have major and minor campaigns. These are objectives you try to fulfil to score points. During the game, you will draft character cards from a pool of available characters. You will play them into your personal tableau. Characters give you resources and all sorts of abilities. You will be using these resources and abilities to claim those major and minor campaigns. The game is played until someone has 12 characters in their tableau. 

The designer himself taught me the game

Minor and major campaigns

One impressive thing about the game is how all 108 characters are different. The secondary characters are all free to play, but to play a primary character you need to spend resources. Primary characters have scoring conditions. If you fulfil the conditions well by having the right cards in your tableau, they will give you many points. Resources are printed in the top left corner of a character card. When you play a character, the resource on the card becomes available to you. When you spend the resource, you rotate the card to a horizontal position. Some cards allow you to reset other cards. When reset, the resource becomes available again. 

Many characters give you some bonus or ability when they are played. Although many of them can be played for free, you would want to play them only when you can fully utilise their powers. This is a game that requires a fair bit of planning. The core actions may be simple, but the variety of card abilities makes this a mid-weight strategy game that requires meticulous planning. You want to draft the right cards which synergise well. You also want to play them at the right times and in the right order to maximise their potential. For example some cards require that you have certain resources, but you don't need to spend them, while others can be played only when you do spend those resources. You want to play the first type before the second, otherwise you would have already exhausted your resources. 

Claiming a major campaign is not easy at all. You need to have many resources ready. Since these are public objectives, you have to watch out for other players who may be going for the same campaign. Scoring conditions of the primary characters is another aspect you must consider. You want to make good use of these. Timing can be critical. You don't want to be caught still halfway executing your plan when someone else triggers the game end. 

Playing this feels like building a pyramid. To put together the combination of resources for a major campaign, you need several characters in play. If some of these are primary characters, you will need to have some other resources available first to be able to play them. The game feels a little solitaire. You will be busy planning your own tableau. Interaction is in the form of drafting cards from the centre. Sometimes you fight over characters. Sometimes over campaigns.