Dawn of Ulos: Watching the Story of a World from Afar

Watch over a budding new world and carefully influence which factions rise to power through battles with Dawn of Ulos.
Much too long ago, Dawn of Ulos arrived and I promptly placed it on a shelf, still in shrink. Apparently, I had my own idea of when “dawn” was going to be for this game. Ha ha! I was intrigued by the concept of betting on factions and having a hand in their growth without playing as them. And a solo mode with a stock market mechanic? Hmm…
Game Overview
Game Name: Dawn of Ulos
Publication Year: 2023
Designer: Jason Lentz
Artist: Diego Sá
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
A set of 5 factions populate the world, and these can be mixed and matched. The landscape takes shape as camps are established and battles commence. The goal is to know when to benefit from a faction’s strength or spoils and take an interest in betting on the winners… And losers!
First Play
November 29, 2024
Complexity
3
Latest Play
November 29, 2024
Expansions
1
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
1
Play Time
1 Hour & 15 Minutes
High Score
192
Game Area
38" x 30"
Low Score
192
The Play Area
There was a lot of space required, but a lot of this stayed the same and didn’t spread out. In fact, the board involves stacking matching tiles on the different terrain.
Keeping up with the different factions is also central, so I put that board as close to me as possible! Very useful.
I’ll get into some more detail, yet I wasn’t sure what to make of this game. It felt like it made sense and had some really neat ideas at times, or I felt at a loss for the theme.
A lot of turns felt like I advanced the game state, but not in a way that made me understand what I was doing right.
Gods of… What?
Now, I should note that I tend to prefer more cute and cuddly graphics. Yet I will note that the character choices in this one are all gods and goddesses of darker things.
Halik was the god of darkness and hunger. Not all are as serious as this, but I was about to pick someone else…
Until I realized that these literally serve as player aids. There are no unique abilities for these characters, as the asymmetry comes from the factions. Rather surprising!
I figured my choice of character would have a big impact, but at least I could ignore Halik most of the time. Ha!
Ulrir, Solo Opponent
As a game that involves a stock market and blind bidding, I wasn’t sure how a solo mode would work out. However, there is a pretty good structure to running Ulrir!
I only wished for something that worked a little better with the slots for tucking cards, which were just visual indicators on a standard player board. This was still fine!
The sequence was easy to follow, but I wasn’t sure if it felt like an opponent or a randomized way to block my moves.
That was an ongoing thread: I don’t have any other games like this. It was a very unique and unusual play.
Rise and Fall of Goblins
What really came through were the stories of the strongest factions that either stayed out on the map and maintained their position, or who crept back time and time again.
The goblins were late to establish a camp, and I didn’t think much would come of them. But they started to battle others nearby and won many times in a row.
That is, until Ulrir expanded multiple times and triggered extra battles with the goblins at the center. Too much!
They disappeared from the world temporarily, then had an exciting run back to power near the very end of play.
The Intersection of Intrigue and Confusion
This was a strange solo session for me, but I mean that in a mostly positive way! Many part of the game were totally new to me and I didn’t have anything to compare it to. I think I’ve had bad luck with stock market games in the past, too, so I wasn’t expecting to like it. And I still can’t quite tell if I had a good strategy… Or just good luck!
All this is to say that walking away confused only helped fuel that intrigue. It’s been days since I played, and I keep looking at these photos and remembering some of the things I did. Will it play completely differently next time? It may not, and I’m not convinced that I’ll continue to play solo. But goodness: This one certainly has me thinking about it!
Watchful Sheki
Perhaps the most memorable faction, however, were the Sheki. They started off in the eastern mountains and grew their territory far and wide in practically no time.
Through some careful planning, I ensured they remained in a good position to defeat any other faction in battle.
Indeed, this camp was never removed! That may have been a foolish move, as it was quite expensive to pick up more Sheki cards later on to convert to victory points.
But this is part of why I was intrigued: I didn’t really see the mechanics flow together, yet there were stories!
Bidding for Power
In each battle, the solo opponent and me had a chance to play faction cards to affect the outcome. This was never a guarantee, especially with random card draws for Ulrir.
Despite the randomness, it was generally pretty fun! I liked seeing the factions expand across the map and the later rounds were more intense with less unclaimed hexes.
But my seemingly excellent score didn’t mirror good choices… I felt like I lucked into a win without any effort.
Granted, I tried the easiest difficulty level, yet I don’t know if I’ll return to play this one solo again. Maybe?
Session Overview
Play Number: 1
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Easy Difficulty Level
Outcome: 192-155 (Win)
Placing matching tiles on top of the map made sense, but it took a little bit for me to see the raised terrain. It might look obvious, especially with the white edges, but it didn’t click for me right away. Nor did a lot of what was going on, placing this in a sort of strange game group… Which isn’t always bad! I appreciated a lot of the new elements that this brought to my table, particularly the faction stories.
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
5
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
4
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- Different factions offer unique abilities, and only 5 of 10 are included with each play for plenty of variety.
- The component quality is excellent with very thick cardboard tiles and awesome faction camp miniatures.
- Investing in a faction is a nuanced strategy that involves knowing how to use each card, or save it up for later.
- Expanding the map to create conflicts involves some planning to make the most of each faction’s cards.
- Managing the solo opponent is generally pretty quick and simulates a lot of choices, although it can be predictable.
- Interesting stories pop up about a couple of the most important factions that play major roles in the battles.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The solo opponent works well, but can feel like a randomized way to block some moves at various times.
- Characters don’t offer unique abilities, which feels like a missed opportunity to lean into the theme some more.
- Seeing the play area and the stacked tiles can take a little time to get used to with the raised white edges.
- Gameplay can feel unusual at times with the way the factions are there to sort of be manipulated through battles.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game at the easy difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played Dawn of Ulos? What do you think of solo games that leave you thinking about them? I know I sound mixed on my rating, yet this game continues to be on my mind. Very interesting! Maybe it might be better suited to multiplayer with the stock market elements, yet the solo opponent was fun to play against. Hopefully, I shall return!
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