Er kam, floh und siegte! – EN – Portfolio by Lukas Fritsch

Er kam, floh und siegte

I - Lukas Fritsch - developed this board game together with Gabriel von Münchow within one year as a side project.
It became a birthday present for two good friends and the story as well as the characters are based on persons from our circle of friends.
Many of the event cards and abilities of the characters therefore refer to inside jokes and peculiarities of our friends.

Gameplay

The game is designed for 5 players. 4 players take on the role of the heroes and play cooperatively while the fifth player takes on the role of the opponent (the nemesis). He controls all enemies and tries to prevent the heroes from achieving their goals.

The game consists of 5 scenarios that tell a self-contained story. To overcome the challenges and win, the heroes must work together well.

The game master introduces the scenario and presents the next tasks. At the beginning of each round, the sun wheel in the upper left corner is turned. This determines whether an event card is revealed, or whether the nemesis is allowed to bring another spiderbot into play.

Then it is the heroes turn to make their moves. After each of the heroes has had a turn, it is the nemesis’s turn to react to their action!

Is the nemesis done, a new round starts again.

Each hero starts with their base ability, to unlock more abilities the heroes must complete side quests. These are marked with a „?“ piece on the map.

Das Kaiserreich

The Bigtime Empire has always been a dangerous place. Once inhabited by a highly developed, but now disappeared culture, small villages first arose, from which the Bigtime Empire was built over time. Due to the abundance of raw materials and the technical skill of the Bigtimeians, the empire quickly became prosperous. However, due to the rise of industry, raw materials became increasingly scarce and the gap between rich and poor widened. It divided society into several classes: At the top were the nobles, who possessed privileges and immense wealth. They formed the upper class and shaped the lives of the wealthy through decadent excesses, politics and court intrigues.

Below them was the class of wealthy merchants and businessmen whose wealth and influence were mostly based on their work and their ownership of businesses and industries. They were highly respected in society and were allowed to associate with the nobility. However, they were not recognized by the latter as equals.

Third, there was the class of workers, the poorest but largest segment of the population, who worked in the factories and kept the empire alive. They led a simple life, but their quality of life deteriorated from year to year while the upper class became richer and richer.

At the bottom were the „dark ones“, those who did not work and did not participate in social life. They mostly lived underground and earned their living as thieves and beggars.

At the top of this society, however, stood Empress Anne, a proud and impressive woman who ruled over her kingdom and kept order.

You can also download the whole story:

Er kam floh und siegte (Story)

The Heroes

Our heroes come from different backgrounds, but due to their various unique talents, they all became the Empress‘ closest confidants. Always on hand to fight for her, protect her and fulfill her confidential orders. This honor guard consisted of 4 people.

Gabor von Muncovic

The leader Gabor of Munkovic a nobleman from one of the oldest noble families with excellent connections and a master of swordsmanship. He lost his right arm in a fight during a workers‘ revolt, but he hired the best engineers in the empire to build him an artificial machine arm. This was able to hold delicate ladies‘ hands as well as deliver deadly blows, plus it had a few surprises in store for each opponent.

Sahara Cosplaya

The healer Sahara Cosplaya was a genius physicist, she became the supreme court physician when all the other applicants died in a „strange“ way from a strange disease. Her research revolutionized the medicine of the empire, and even in battle she knew how to use her knowledge of anatomy and medicines skillfully to bring her opponents to the most painful end possible.

Flodo Strobopop

Her husband Flodo Strobopop, the empress’s chief equerry, was a gifted animal tamer. There was no living creature that did not buck under his whip and submit to his will. If necessary, he hounded enemies to death with his ravens and dogs. Together they were a formidable pair!

Lucky Luke

The youngest member was Lucky Luke, a revolver-wielding bandit who was accepted into the Guard because of his useful connections to the underground as well as his impressive precision with the Colt, even under the constant influence of whiskey. He was a bully in front of the Lord and did not care who or what he had to get out of the way to achieve his goal.

Die Gegner

Pipilord

He is the mysterious antagonist of our story and controls a large army of machine creatures that he invented himself.

What drives him is unclear at first, but his motivation to destroy the empire contains an exciting twist towards the end.

Spiderbot

The most common opponent in this game. Small and nimble, he makes life difficult for the heroes.

Although he is not difficult to defeat, you should not underestimate the Spiderbot in large numbers!

C3PAttentäter

A master of stealth and sabotage, were other machine creatures to harm the heroes primarily through physical attacks, this robot can increase the pressure by threatening villages on the map, forcing the heroes to react to it.

BOB

BOB is the tank among the machines! He is not too dangerous on the offensive, but it takes time to defeat him. With his passive ability he stays alive even after he is defeated and is therefore a constant thorn in the side of the heroes.

Fürstin Jennifer

A jealous vampire princess armed with an Infinity Arm. She inhabits a mysterious castle in the mountains where she holds her blood slaves captive and leads a life of luxury. She appears to the heroes in the lull of the story and must be defeated to get her weapon.

Event cards

If the sun wheel is on an event card symbol, the heroes must draw an event card. These can help or harm the heroes. In this version there are many jokes hidden in the event cards. For a marketable version one would have to exchange some event cards and make them more suitable for the masses.

Note

As I mentioned before, we have tailored this game very much to our circle of friends. However, I like the game principle and the design so well that I still wanted to include it here.

Especially the wooden design and the „minimalist“ look of the laser-cut figures is very well received. However, to market it, I would have to adapt the story and event cards for a wide range of players.

I would keep the humor though, I like that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously.

You would also have to come up with some features for the nemesis to make the game more exciting for them. For example, you could give them cards that allow them to react directly to the heroes‘ moves. In the current state, the player of the nemesis always has to wait a long time until the heroes have consulted and moved.