[REVIEW] Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398

Vijayanagara is a 1-3 player board game depicting the dynamics of the Indian subcontinent during the years 1290-1398. The game spans the Khalji & Tughlaq dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, while showing the birth of two upstart powers in the Deccan Plateau, the Bahmani Kingdom and the Vijayanagara Empire. The game closes with the historical invasion of Delhi by Timur in 1398, though a careful Delhi Sultanate player might be able to avoid this fate.

The Delhi Sultanate is trying to maintain its grip on the south of India. Its victory points are equal to the total Prosperity of Tributary Provinces, adjusted up or down according to how well Delhi fares against Timur’s final Mongol invasion at the end of the game. The Bahmani Kingdom and Vijayanagara Empire are both seeking to establish their own independent Control over Provinces dividing the Indian subcontinent, solidify their positions with the construction of Forts (Bahmanis) and Temples (Vijayanagara), and to ensure the propagation of their Influence throughout the Deccan region.

Regular play is also periodically interrupted by the actions of the non-player Mongol Invaders, who threaten Delhi from the northwest, and the game ends with the climactic arrival of the great Mongol warlord Timur. All of those dynamics make for a great experience, with every faction sometimes on rise and sometimes – in decline. The system of interdependencies helps both to hurt your opponents as well as to come back in case of disasters..

So would you stand-up to the task and manage to crush your opponents, gaining the eternal fame on India subcontinent or perish while trying?

There are truly few dedicated, balanced and playable three-player games. And this is one of the best I have ever played. Of course there is a solo module or possibility to play with one bot and two human players – still, this game simply shines with the full squad!

That COIN-adjacent game is not only lighter than regular titles form the series but also much quicker. The time is more or less predictable as there is no sudden victory here, and you should be able to finish it easily within two hours.

If you compare with other COIN games (yes, I know this is not COIN but COIN-adjacent title) that one will be much, much lighter and streamlined. If we want to look from general perspective, this is a medium-complexity wargame.

• This is truly a very fresh design among all COIN or COIN-related titles; while Volko Ruhnke moved to his new Levy & Campaign series, a lot of new authors continue the COIN genre. But rarely every those deviated from the well established, know and pretty procedural solutions we have seen in Cuba Libre, Fire in the Lake or Falling Sky. Not in Vijayanagara. How is that so? First of all, thanks to the dynamics of the four eras divided by Successions; each is different, each has small tweaks, like when rebellion can occur; each of them requires from players different approach. This is very strongly reinforced by the Mongols, especially with their final, climatic Timur assault on Delhi Sultanate! They are unpredictable, you know they will attack during each of four game phases but the exact time is unknown. And instead of creating complex decision mechanism what exactly they should do, they are operated by one of the rebellious factions (which depends on Mongol card).
• I truly appreciate also how the battles resolution procedure is constructed. Both sides roll dices – depending on whether they are attacker or defender a different number – and then score hits. But the final outcome might be influenced by cavalry (which you need to hire in advance!). What adds another taste, is that in the battles between insurgent factions (Bahmani Kingdom and the Vijayanagara Empire) there is also important influence shift. In the end, there can be only one rebel leader!
• Based on what I saw, this is a very balanced 3-player design. This is not easy feat to achieve as usually in such games two players gang-up against third, only to settle victory score between them later on. Not here – there are interactions between all sides, they can really hurt each other and they have mechanisms to keep others in check.
• Another factor which might attract new players to this title is very reasonable time to play. I believe that with the explanation, it took us no more than 2.5 hours to play the game end to end. Definitely, with experience, can be reduced to under 2 hours. Also, you probably seen above box cover as well as pictures from the sessions. So this is not a surprise that I appreciate very much the astonishingly beautiful components and graphics. GMT did a fantastic job in that aspect!

• It is hard to find a true minuses in this game; for sure it shines with 3 players, so I rather not recommend 2 player variant; solo is fine, however far from the full game experience.

• There might be situations when Mongols invade in two consecutive turns; this is painful for Sultanate and might be seen as luck dependent. But do not despair – if they attacked, that means you have at least several turns of peace!

If you heard about those long, complicated, asymmetrical COunter INsurgency games and never had a courage to try them – this will be a perfect title for a first step. However, if you are experienced COIN player (like I deem myself) and you would like to see something new, something fresh and invigorating, bring Vijayanagara to the table!

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