On my way to watch a friend in the Kings of War tournament at Adepticon 2019, I couldn’t help but notice one of the most eye-catching display pieces at the convention. The board belonged to Shawn, a Chicagoan who is promoting the Drowned Earth Miniatures Game, a successfully Kickstarted and delivered game by James Baldwin. The board heavily featured water elements, bright and tropical looking trees, as well as a central tower structure. I was able to sit down with him and one other person to play three rounds of Drowned Earth.
That the game board featured water so heavily is integral to the setting of Drowned Earth. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, one which has seen the fall of a previous civilization (The Fall), and massive flooding in its wake. As the world is flooded and only bits and pieces of the old structures and higher ground sit above the waterline a miniature relies more heavily on athletic ability and rolling to move around, rather than getting that movement for free.
The game itself as a similar philosophy to Infinity, a sci-fi skirmish wargame famous both for the quality of the miniatures as well as the simultinaity of play. While a little more structured, miniatures in Drowned Earth each have a number of actions available to them. The miniature can act as many times as it has activations (with the possibility of getting one back for rolling a Feat, explained later). Those activations can also be banked so the miniature can react to movement or attacks from the opposing player. There are also some more RPG elements in that the characters have different skills they are good at, such as repairing, healing, or fighting.
Each player has 3-7 figures per side. Judging by the website, there are currently several ‘factions’ or brands that players can choose from. The minis themselves are of great quality and very well detailed. I choose the faction that had a bird-person for my play through. The mechanics are based on a d10 system, need to roll below or meet the target number. There were two d10s a player would roll to see if an action was successful. One of the die was rolled to see if the action was successful at all, and the second confirmed if it worked or if the player ‘nailed it’. Nailing it means a player can move their full distance, complete their full jump, or does max damage based on the weapon. Because my opponent and I both played Infinity, we ended up calling the just succeeding a “short success” to differentiate it in our heads from “nailing it”.
Overall the game is designed with more of a narrative structure in mind. The scenarios build upon each other, and our demo game moved fairly quickly even though we were just learning it. I could see a group stringing multiple scenarios together over the course of an afternoon.
After a day of demoing different games, I was delighted at how easy it was to get into Drowned Earth. The rulebook is really a work of art. It’s obvious the creator paid attention to the narrative elements as well. My only real hesitation about going full bore into the game is the usual time restrictions, but also the terrain. Terrain is (or at least appears to be) an integral part of the gameplay experience. I talked with Shawn about my concern. He showed me how several of the pieces he had created were mostly made from old medicine bottles, broken bits of plastic, and some judicious spray painting. Getting a group together to play at a local hobby store (Dice Dojo for you Chicago residents) might also alleviate the terrain concern if extra terrain is available.
I see Drowned Earth as being great for players who enjoy the simultaneous aspect of Infinity and who also like playing a game where terrain drives a lot of tactical decisions. For those hungry for different post-apocalyptic settings this is deserves a look. Finally, there are dinosaurs.
Ross Blythe is a Chicago based gamer interested in all things tabletop. He enjoys reading history as well as fiction, and so has a soft spot for historical wargames like Pike & Shotte. For the campaigns he runs as a DM he often looks to history for inspiration, for the lessons of the past to challenge the players at his table.