Brought to Ruins

Last year, when my company was previewing our new board game Dune: Imperium, much of the gaming community latched onto comparing it to another new game, Lost Ruins of Arnak. Ultimately, both games were well-received -- this was a case of "a rising tide lifting all boats" and not "there can be only one." But are the games really all that similar?

In Lost Ruins of Arnak, players trudge through a jungle in search of ancient ruins and the treasures inside -- facing fearsome guardians in the process. The game includes the two broad mechanisms also used in Dune: Imperium -- deck building and worker placement. But designers Mín & Elwen have used them in different ways and different proportions, and they've blending in other elements too.

There are only five rounds played in a game of Lost Ruins of Arnak, and this has a huge impact on how deck building operates in the game. A staff token inserted in the row of cards you can buy migrates to the right to serve as the round tracker, and also creates an intriguing dividing line. Cards on the left can be played immediately when you buy them (before they begin circulating as usual for a deck-building game)... and then each subsequent time you play them, you must pay 1 resource of a specific type to activate them. Cards on the right of the staff circulate in a more conventional way.... though you place them on the bottom of your deck when you buy them. Given the very small starting decks this game uses (relative to other deck builders), you're going to see any new buy soon.

The worker placement differs from most games in a number of small ways that really add up. You only ever get two workers; this is not a game that offers a method to get more. The number of spaces for workers is not fixed; as play unfolds and players discover various ruins, those become new spaces offering different kinds of actions that can focus the game on one particular aspect or another. But there are actions you can take with your turn that don't require a worker... including many of the new cards you'll buy.

One aspect of playing workers has also led to some of the comparisons between Lost Ruins of Arnak and Dune: Imperium -- you must play one or more cards to generate the "movement" necessary to reach the space for your worker. There are four types of moment, and they're arranged in a sort of hierarchy: boots are the lowest; ships and cars are called for to reach jungle locations (but can also be used as boots); planes are wild and can be used as anything. You do have to choose whether to use a card for the movement it allows or for the other effects it creates -- though this feels more like an accent on this game rather than the core element it is in Dune: Imperium.

You gather points mainly from exploring ruins (and defeating the guardians there), or advancing along a research track with two different tokens. These main sources of points are supplemented in a few places, including the handful of points you'll get on the cards in your deck. These methods all have their own particulars that come together to make the game distinct.

Indeed, I don't think there really is all that much in common between Lost Ruins of Arnak and Dune: Imperium. There's certainly room for both in the gaming world, which seems to be what BoardGameGeek users have concluded -- each game has its devotees, plenty of players are saying "why not both?", and both games have quickly risen to the top of the rankings.

I've played Lost Ruins of Arnak a few times now, and it's already been quite fun and different each time. I'd call it a B+ with room to grow if we continue to keep playing it. I also think there are plenty more ways that deck building and worker placement might be combined. If this game and Dune: Imperium encourage other designers to explore the possibilities, I'd wager we'll get some new and interesting games too.