So, it’s time for another development diary. It comes a bit later than we intended, since we have just come back from the biggest European board game event of the year, Spiel in Essen. As you may guess, we have been very busy with this lately. I said last time that we would take a closer look at one or two of the major powers, and I apologise for this, but we have to do that in the next diary instead I’m afraid.
In these two photos you can get an idea of how busy the booth was. All the demo tables were full, from Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon.
Box Artwork and Miniature Sculpt
© 2018 Tomasz Jedruszek & Aegir Games, All Rights Reserved
Even if we changed the content a little from what we had planned for this dev. diary, this doesn’t mean don’t have anything of interest to show you. Quite the contrary. First off, we hope that you are as excited as us to see the magnificent box artwork that Tomasz Jedruszek has created, in its full splendor. We think it really captures the spirit of Europa Universalis in a great way, both in the details and the composition as a whole. Tomasz has previously created box art for well-known board games, such as A Game of Thrones (2nd ed.) and Dominion, as well as a host of artwork for Magic the Gathering. Please check out more of his work over on ArtStation.
Miniature sculpt: digital render and 3D printed sample
In addition to this we also just received the first sculpt for one of the miniatures, and had a small test batch 3D printed. We think that these detailed soldier figurines will add a new level to the visual and tactile experience of playing the game. We hope you like it!
Close-up 3D render w/ miniatures
3D render of Box and board
Monarch Power
Now lets get into some more game play details. All EU4 players will be very familiar with the concept of Monarch Power. But since there may be a few reading this who haven’t played the video games or who’ve only played earlier versions of EU, we’ll try to explain the basics of it.
Monarch Power is a type of immaterial resource at the disposal of your nation. It is divided into three different categories; Administrative Power, Diplomatic Power and Military Power. These resources represent both a nation’s level of innovation and its capacity to perform actions related to each of these fields. The skills of your monarch and his/her advisors will be key factors in determining the rate at which these Monarch Points are renewed. We will talk more about advisors in another Development Diary.
So far it’s much the same as in the video game, but we are taking this concept a step further the board game. Monarch Power will be required to perform pretty much any type of action. If you want to perform a military action, like moving an army or playing a military card, you will need to pay for that action with Military Points and so on. Monarch Points will also be used to invest in the development of Ideas, recruiting military leaders, increasing diplomatic influence and much more.
Monarch Point Cubes
All Monarch Points are represented by the little cubes you see in the photo above. Where these cubes are located on your player mat determines what type of Monarch Power they belong to. When they are spent on actions, you return the cubes to your main supply. The sylinders in the photo indicate how many new cubes you would get in each of these fields at the end of each round. (When we have settled on the final layout for the player mats, they will of course get a nice design that fits with the theme of the game.)
Hiring the right advisors and investing these points in a clever manner will be key to the success of your realm. Your choices in these matters will also signal the priorities of your realm to other players.
The concept of Monarch Power is closely tied to the way the Action Cards in the game work. Thus, that is what we will take a closer look at next time.
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