Is this the banner of a new champion?
ORIFLAMME
Designer: Adrien and Axel Hesling | Publisher: Studio H
The ‘Oriflamme’ was the golden battle-standard of the King of France in the middle ages, and signified that no prisoners would be taken. Oriflamme – not to be confused with the banner or the French games company Oriflam of two decades ago – is the first major release from Studio H.
New games labels are two-a-euro right now but Studio H is part of Hachette, the third largest publishing company in the world, which has begun buying up games businesses and distributors in a way that looks very Asmodee circa 2010. The signs are that Hachette doesn’t plan to take any prisoners either, if Oriflamme is anything to judge by.
Oriflamme is a card game from two first-time designers that’s already picked up the As D’Or at the International Games Festival at Cannes. It’s set in an undefined medieval world where 3–5 families vie for influence after the sudden death of the king. In game terms, it comes on like Love Letter meets HBO’s Game of Thrones, on steroids, in a nice box.
Each player gets an identical ten-card deck, and discards three randomly before play starts. Then they take turns to add cards to the start or end of the ‘Influence Queue’, and then in the second phase they either reveal and activate each card in turn, or leave it face-down and add influence chips to it.
Each card has a unique character (which stay in the queue) or power (which are one-use), from lords, heirs, spies and shape-shifters to ambushes and assassinations. Placing and revealing them is a combination of guesswork, bluff, short-term and long-term tactics, plus trying to remember what the cards you played last turn are. Deciding what and when to reveal is deliciously enticing, and pulling off a combo or tricking someone into attacking an ambush has a sense of reward that goes far beyond an influence chip or two.
After all that, it’s almost a shame the game is a points-chase at its heart, and the battle of wits comes down to a scrabble for tokens. After six rounds the game’s done (your final card remains unplayed), and the player with the most influence chips wins. It’s a little bit of an anti-climax that diminishes the game’s atmosphere and weakens the story that’s built up from the interplay of the cards.
The gameplay is strong, tactical and enjoyable, but it’s not perfect. One curious rule gives influence points to players for eliminating their own cards from the queue, which let me grab a bizarre victory by destroying most of my own forces in the final turn. That’s easily house-ruled out, but it shouldn’t have been in there to start with.
But those are minor quibbles, like the slightly odd player counts or the occasional typo in the rules. Overall Oriflamme is a thoroughly engrossing mix of influences and play styles that hits all the sweet spots in a focused, fast-paced sixround blast of fun. It’s one of those games you pull out to start the evening, and look up to realise you’ve been playing all night.
A couple of rough edges can’t detract from the fact this is a hell of a debut by the Hesling brothers – and Studio H.
JAMES WALLIS
WE SAY
A small number of cleverly combined elements create complex gameplay and interesting tactical choices. Or you can just wing it, and it’ll still be a blast.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
◗ 50 Influence cards (5 sets)
◗ 70 Influence point tokens
◗ 1 First player tile
◗ 1 Resolution direction tile
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED LOVE LETTER…
Oriflamme is to Love Letter what Lord of the Rings is to the Hobbit, if George R R Martin had written them. Get in.