Along a Meandering, Floaty Path with an Oath Campaign
Journey through history in a storytelling campaign where each era tells its own tale that echoes through time in Oath.
I just can’t get enough of Oath! Devoting this much time to a single game is certainly a lot, yet I feel like I’m getting the most out of the experience. This world seems to be coming alive as chancellors come and go, but it is the persistent nature of the places and denizens that mean the most. And with a surprising twist in the last era, I had all new sites!
Game Overview
Game Name: Oath
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Cole Wehrle
Artist: Kyle Ferrin
Publisher: Leder Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game or Multi-Handed
This is a game about building a world through its stories. An era sees a chancellor try to hold onto power, while multiple exiles forge their own paths. Anything can change, and the way the world deck evolves throughout a campaign makes for all sorts of interesting narratives!
First Play
April 2, 2022
Complexity
4
Latest Play
March 1, 2025
Expansions
0
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
10
Play Time
2 Hours
High Score
N/A
Game Area
50" x 26"
Low Score
N/A
The Beginning of Magic
I was quite excited about this era, thanks to the surprise victory during the previous play! Magic and the arcane looked like they would be a dominant thread this time.
However, the world deck has evolved to favor the discord and nomad factions. What does that mean? Arcane cards have slowly been added in as a secondary element.
The process of ending an era is really, really neat… I might spend some more time on explaining it eventually!
Suffice to say that cards are added and removed without any knowledge of what they could be, which is so cool.
To the Drowned City!
In another time and place, I wrote about a whole lot of flooding in the land. This felt like a neat part of the story, but it played no crucial role. Just a little bit of fun!
Only as I set up this era with all new sites, a familiar city beneath the surface appeared. A-ha! I knew just which exiled family would return for an appearance this time.
That’s the beauty of this game: I didn’t need to get attached to these mysterious floods. Yet they returned.
I know these posts are very much about the story behind each era, but this is an amazing sort of game system.
Forged Relics?
Just one more quick tangent before I return to storyteller mode for this era! The ancient forge is an edifice card, sort of like a major landmark. Yet it fell into disrepair.
This artwork also reinforced the flooding aspect, but it brought up an interesting idea: What if an exile went against all this magic and forged relics? Oh… Forgeries?!
I was reminded of a castle in the swamps that sank. As did the next. The third one burned down, fell over, then sank.
But the fourth one? That stayed up! A bit of Monty Python and the Holy Grail humor that made me laugh. Ha ha!
Chancellor Amphillis
The House of Brudenell was a most powerful one, heavily steeped in the art of magic. Chancellor Amphillis led the wizard school into an unprecedented age of power.
All throughout the land, her rule went uncontested. She was heavily favored by all, and kept a close watch over all the magical secrets that might undo her throne.
None knew how old the chancellor was, for she seemed to never age. Whether by magic or not, she remained young.
Discovery was on her docket as she set out to bring magic into the deepest, darkest parts of this aging world.
A Reading Coincidence and… What is the End?
During this play, I came across a few new relics that made me pause out of possible recognition. An oracular pig? A horned mask? A truthful harp? Indeed, since the beginning of the year, I’ve been reading through The Chronicles of Prydain! I was delighted to find out that these books were an inspirational source for some cards. Awesome!
My slow reading pace means that it will take me awhile to reach the end of that series, although it made me think of this campaign. When will I read an ending? It’s very much a game system that creates an ongoing history that doesn’t really have an end point. I could sit here and play this for decades and keep telling stories about the adventures!
Realistically, though, I’m going to say that a proper end point is when I run out of new cards to add from a faction. This is still a ways off, even with the way I’ve heavily focused on a couple of factions. That just seems like the right time to end this campaign, at least if I’m looking for a reason to move onto something else. Which I am certainly not just yet.
I’ve also mentioned the upcoming expansion content, which may either call for a continuation of this campaign, or a full reset to explore something else. I’ll see how that pans out! For now, this campaign continues to be amazing.
Forged Secrets
Long ago, Thomasine Berdwell was one of the first to harness the power of the land’s magic. But time had passed, and her heir was a more eccentric sort of chap.
Edgar adopted the latest fashion in honor of the chancellor: A most outlandish hat, riddled with magic.
Yet his magic was tied to the ancient forge, which he swiftly repaired. He discovered it was not as it seemed…
Although it delivered interesting relics, the title of “forge” was more in line with forgeries. These relics held no magic of their own. Still, Edgar pressed on with his plotting.
A Nomadic Lifestyle
Drenched in its own magical qualities, the drowned city was the home of Frances Petley. She still lived, devoted to her study of the flooding that marred the landscape.
Together with her nephew, Duncan, she lived as a nomad. They traveled far and wide along the lapping waves that stretched from the provinces to the hinterland.
Neither Frances nor Duncan were especially after power, but they held a tight grasp on ancient magical knowledge.
Chancellor Amphillis kept a careful watch over their progress, which was at a meandering, floaty sort of pace.
Magical Tidings
It was never a question of rulership. The chancellor was immensely popular and built up the sites she ruled with care. Every belief or citizen group had a purpose.
Many were installed to the greatest benefit of Chancellor Amphillis, yet she ruled quite fairly and ensured stability.
Warbands might have been perceived as a threat of conflict, but their powerful presence deterred any battles.
It would take a concerted effort from the exiles to take away the chancellorship. And there was no danger of that, until the last moment when Edgar and Frances struck.
Meeting in the Marshes
With stability that even stretched into the hinterland, there was little to do but keep a safe position. A garrison ensured that the chancellorship was safe from within.
Yet Edgar converged on Chancellor Amphillis with his dire forged relics and stole the very thing that protected her: The Circlet of Command, a real relic filled with magic.
Frances drifted through the marshes at this time, and had the power to steal the chancellorship with a little magic.
Only her magic was rather on the damp side, even with Duncan’s assistance, and the stable regime remained.
Session Overview
Play Number: 6
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game or Multi-Handed
Play Details: 3-Handed Solo
Outcome: Stable Regime Victory (Discord Faction Focus)
This played out with a practically unstoppable chancellor, up until I found a clever way to start draining power away. Alas, the dice were laughably always in favor of this magical cat! Desperate attempts to do something to steal away any banners or relics after the Circlet of Command were met with results that were never possible to beat. Definitely an era filled to the brim with all kinds of magic!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- The narrative gets better and better the further along a campaign goes, with returning stories and new aspects.
- An evolving world deck means that each campaign can feel very unique and different with each faction’s cards.
- Many elements may feel quite abstract, but this can be excellent at encouraging stories to develop on their own.
- New strategies seem to pop up during each era in surprising ways with the different assortment of denizens.
- Uncovering new sites and relics make for exciting moments, sometimes revealing a brand new path to victory.
- Each character, including the chancellor, must constantly find optimal actions to maintain or grow their power.
– Cons (Negatives)
- When all of the sites are full of denizen cards, it can be a lot to remember some of the special bonuses or actions.
- Dice rolls can be particularly cruel, although being able to sacrifice warbands often helps make attacks successful.
- A few edge cases with the rules usually come up during each play, although these don’t often break the immersion.
- Playing multi-handed solo is excellent for storytelling, although it can be hard not to play favorites each era.
Victory Conditions
None
- Overall Goal Progress 75%
Goals and Milestones
Achieve an Oathkeeper victory.
Achieve a Usurper victory.
Achieve a Vision victory.
Achieve a Successor victory.
Continue the Conversation
Do you have a favorite way to play Oath solo? I’m looking forward to the upcoming expansion content to see how that might play out! Are there any interesting features that have been persistent between eras? This campaign is like an exciting and wonderful set of stories that is slowly coming together in more and more ways. I am absolutely loving it!
Hi! Great posts about this game. I only played with the bot, and I’m on the fence to play multi handed.
One question I have, do you think with only two exiles that there could be the possibility to have a successor victory? I’m not an expert of the game and didn’t play a real multiplayer game. Only I’m think if it’s a real situation that it could happen in a real multiplayer with that number of player, or is it needed to have four or five exiles.
I’m asking because I don’t like to force situations only to explore them, but to reach all possible situations naturally.
Thanks, and good question! I’ve been looking at the whole citizen and successor element, too, as it doesn’t seem to come up that often in solo. However, I have an upcoming post about the next era that was absolutely unexpected in terms of citizenship, exile, and a moment when a successor victory almost happened!
With that said, I do think it’s going to be a rarity with just two exiles in play. If I could handle more exiles, both in terms of space and mentally planning each turn, the game likely would be even better with more possibilities for citizenship!
Multi-handed solo does limit some situations, and if you’re concerned about it, I think that it could be a potential issue regarding naturally exploring situations. The game continues to surprise me, though, and I’m starting to see a few more possible paths to explore. I’ve tended to play a certain way in a general sense, but as I learn more about the nuanced strategies, I’m finding that the optimal moves sometimes take me down other paths.
Not sure if that’s a helpful bit of musing or not, yet I hope you have fun playing either against the bot or multi-handed. All the best, and thanks for following along!
You’re welcome! The citizen aspect of this game is something I still find awesome. A game with written rules about how to influence enemies to your side.
Looking forward to see the final version of the new solo rules to see if it improves a lot the bot to at least have less players controlled by yourself.
I love every aspect of the game, especially as I keep finding new denizen cards in the mix. The way the world deck changes each era is fascinating, as are the allegiances that can be unexpectedly cutthroat. Once I get to a good end point in this campaign, I’ll look forward to waiting on the new solo content. Very excited to see how that all plays out!