Rather, good play involves gathering resources and completing quests in ways that put you in position to complete further quests more efficiently. In both games, the key to winning isn’t just in completing quests. It definitely put me in the same worker placement headspace that Lords of Waterdeep did. In terms of gameplay, I found it to be really solid. “Reverse the Rotation of the Earth” is a clear Superman 4 reference which drew a guffaw, and “Replace Real Journalism with Clickbait Lists” hit very close to home in our current era of “fake news”. However, I listed it here in my likes because I did find some cards that made me laugh. I think the writers went for volume as opposed to finely tuned bits of humor, so I’m betting they know how stupid some of the jokes are.

The humor in the game is… well, it’s there. I admit to this game making me smile before I even opened the box, just at the thought of the theme. You can find that in smaller card games, but not so much in bigger, light-medium weight games like this one. What I liked about Overlords of InfamyĪs I said in the introduction, I feel that the larger world of board games under-represents the genre of cartoony overlord. The player’s goal in solo is to earn a set amount of points before the Hero completes three hero cards. In solo mode, the adventurer follows a simple priority system which animates his movement. If an Overlord so chose, they could raid Hero’s larders for basic resources, but also for relics which will help Overlords complete the most dastardly quests.Īt five players, someone can actually play the hero! The hero player has their own set of quest cards which, when completed, will affect the overlords in some way. The Hero has a home base at the center of the board called the Kingdom of Good. The world event cards change the game in various ways – they can either benefit or harm players, provide a catch-up mechanism for players lagging behind, or even prematurely end the game! More on that one later.įinally, what game about Evil Overlord villainy would be complete without an Adventuring Hero to screw everything up? At basic player counts for this game (2 – 4), players take turns moving the Hero around so that he hinders the efforts of their Overlord opponents. Much of the humor of the game comes from the quest cards, but it also comes from World Events that strike whenever too many nefarious deeds pile up. Players can use espionage actions to peep at other people’s quest cards, chop at their resources, and eventually assassinate their lackeys. Also unlike LoW, Overlords invites more significant player interaction. I found that the various player powers had minor yet frequent effects on strategy, usually helping gather and/ or manipulate resources. Unlike LoW, each Overlord has unique player powers rather than scoring conditions. The overlord who earns the most points via completed quests wins the game. Here, you “Organize the Event of the Century, but Make Parking Impossible.” As you accomplish small acts of villainy, you will rise along an infamy track which will allow you to take on greater, more destructive acts, like “Make Earthquake Machine” (yeah, buddy!!!). In Lords of Waterdeep, the quests were named stuff like “Clear Out Witches Coven,” or something like that. Whatever water, wood, cows, or other resources you gather then serve to fuel your nefarious plans. You spend most of your turns either revealing and laying resource tiles, or moving your lackeys to pillage said resources. The lair has a barracks for your evil lackeys, and also gets you started towards gathering resources. Lords of Waterdeep with some tongue-in-cheek humor? I hope it’s good!Įvery player starts with a lair, represented by a three-hex tile in their corner of the board. Mechanically, Overlords promises an experience akin to Lords of Waterdeep or Settlers of Catan. Every player commands an Evil overlord who seeks to “Play an Awful Pop Tune 24/7,” “Fill Pinatas with Ornery Bees,” or accomplish other acts of high villainy in their quest to score victory points. Overlords of Infamy proposes to fill that shameful void in our gaming lives. What I’m talking about, though, is a game where EVERY player must twirl their moustaches, raise their eyebrows menacingly, torture the hero, and out-Bond villain everyone else to achieve victory.

Why aren’t there more games that let you play as the Bad Guy? A few games let one player play the Bad Guy while others play the good guys, like in Fury of Dracula or any of the Star Wars games. Overlords of Infamy is a 1 – 5 player worker placement game, designed by David Zuckman and Christian Olsen, published by Obscure Reference Games.

Quest for infamy scoring