Will Oath Be 2020's Breakout Tabletop Game?

A recently announced tabletop board game could be the breakout hit of 2020. Earlier this month, Cole Wehrle and Leder Games announced Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile. The new strategy game is described as a pseudo-legacy game, in which the rules and objectives change after every session based on what happened during the previous game. Unlike other traditional "legacy" games in which pieces are destroyed or irrevocably altered, Oath can be reset at any time and players can enjoy a radically different path should they ever decide to start their Oath experience over.

In Oath, players will take the role of a figure near the ruling class of society that will try to either push rulers towards their own aim or topple those rulers entirely. The result of one game will determine the starting conditions of the next game, as well as shift the goals and strategies for player. The map will also change after every play, which will provide players with different actions and capabilities.

Fans are already talking about Oath, driven mainly by the innovative descriptions of the game and the strength of the designing team. Wehrle and Leder Games previously released Root, a popular asymmetric strategy game in which players battle for control of a woodland forest using different unique animal factions. Root earned a ton of awards when it was released in 2018 and led to several expansions and a digital version. Wehrle has also been remarkably open about his design process for Oath, releasing multiple long designer diaries explaining the game's origins and his thought process behind the designs of the new game. The artwork released for Oath also looks incredibly gorgeous and unique, providing the sort of aesthetic that helped Root stand out back in 2018.

It'll still be a while until Oath comes out, but it will be on the minds of a lot of tabletop fans as 2020 approaches. To follow the progress of Oath, be sure to follow Leder Games and Wehrle on Twitter.