- Publisher : Sorry We Are French
- Designer(s) : Pierrick Libralesso, Renaud Libralesso, Yoel Sayada
- Artist(s) : David Sitbon
- Players : 2
- Playing time : 30 Min
- Weight BGG : 2.40
What's this?
Designed by Pierrick & Renaud Libralesso and Yoel Sayada, and published by Sorry We Are French, LEDA is a highly tactical combat game exclusively for two-player duels . By shaping a dynamic 4×4 grid of tiles and leveraging the unique gameplay of each animal clan, you must optimize your activations to win the military race or fulfill your people’s specific victory condition.
How do you play?
1. Activation Phase
The active player draws and reveals the top Action tile from the pile . This tile indicates a specific geometric pattern to be applied to the 4×4 grid (a row, a column, a 2×2 square, or the four corners/center) .
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The active player chooses the zone to activate and resolves the effect of each tile and/or clan card present in those 4 spaces, in the order of their choice .
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Then, his opponent in turn activates the same geographical area within his own grid !
The spaces may contain:
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Permanent tiles: Always activatable, they can be upgraded to become twice as powerful in subsequent turns .
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Temporary tiles: Once activated, they turn over to their Desert side and cannot be reused until they have been restored .
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Clan cards: These provide unique actions and synergies depending on the people played .
2. Military Conflict Phase
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The player with the highest military value wins the battle and draws the first Military Victory token from the reserve .
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These tokens provide you with symbols of ultimate victory as well as valuable immediate bonuses.
3. Organization Phase
In turn, each player can perform one action of their choice from two possibilities to prepare for future turns:
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To play a clan card: Pay its Food cost and place it on a space on your grid .
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Reorganize your grid: Swap the positions of any two cards or tiles in your grid, then collect 1 Emergency Food .
End of the game and Victory Conditions
The game ends immediately as soon as a player fulfills one of the following two conditions :
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Military Victory
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Clan Victory (Asymmetrical)
Is it good?
LEDA offers an asymmetrical card game for 2 players where each animal clan develops its own 4×4 grid and game engine. One of the major innovations lies in its zone activation system : even if the choice may sometimes seem obvious, you will regularly glance at your opponent’s board to limit their opportunities and optimize your own actions.
The card table itself remains more classic, with different effects to activate allowing you to recover resources, draw cards, improve your engine or activate swords to gain military tokens , which are also a victory condition that should not be neglected.
What truly makes LEDA so appealing are its different clans. The asymmetry provides excellent replayability, as each faction requires a completely different strategy. Playing the Sharks , which rely on adjacency and the concept of packs, is nothing like piloting the Cats , which requires manipulating cards with 180° rotations, or the Pandas , based on creative card replacement via the Awakening system. You’ll quickly want to try each clan to discover how they work and their unique characteristics.
The rules remain accessible, but there will still be a learning curve before fully mastering the intricacies of each faction and making games flow more smoothly. Early encounters can also be slightly unbalanced when one player knows their clan better than their opponent.
The components are generally of good quality, although the box insert is far from perfect. Some card manipulations, tile flipping, and effect activations can also be criticized for lacking intuitiveness. Some games can also drag on a bit, with a sense of repetition that may appear after several rounds.
Ultimately, LEDA succeeds in its endeavor, offering a truly effective, tactical, and asymmetrical duel game . Its replayability stems primarily from the richness of its different clans, naturally encouraging players to play game after game and seek revenge with a new faction. This is a particularly appealing proposition for fans of two-player games.
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LEDA review
Positives
- The asymmetry between the different clans
- Each faction offers a completely different way to play.
- Overall, the equipment is of good quality.
- A zone activation system
- High replayability thanks to the different clans
Negatives
- A learning curve is necessary to master each clan
- Some manipulations (cards, tiles, effects) sometimes lack intuitiveness.
- The box insert is impractical
- Some parts may seem long or repetitive.
