Lords of Heaven - Deluxe Edition

The Holy Land at the end of the 11th century. Armies from the Latin West arrive at a region that already has its own rulers, its own quarrels and its own faith lines. You take command of the Crusaders, the Byzantine Empire, the Fatimid Caliphate or the Seljuks — four powers with different ambitions and good reason to distrust whoever stands beside them. Everyone claims Jerusalem; nobody holds it alone.

Game Mechanics

An area control and card placement game for 2–5 players. Each turn you play action cards that change the map and your standing inside your own bloc.

• Four fully asymmetric factions, each with its own abilities and route to victory.
• Card-driven actions — recruit units, raise fortresses and temples, move armies.
• Area majority control over the cities and locations of the Middle East.
• Battles and sieges that reward the winner with presence on the map, not just casualties.
• Semi-cooperative blocs — Christian and Islamic factions rise together, then turn on each other.
• Auctions, negotiation and bribery as a full alternative to conquest.

Combat is only one tool among several. A scenario runs 60–120 minutes, the campaign carries you across the Crusades, and the faction with the strongest claim on the Holy Land at the end takes it.

What Makes It Special

Most Crusades games are about winning battles. This one is about knowing when not to fight. You are locked into a bloc with a faction whose success partly carries you and partly buries you, so every alliance is temporary and every favour arrives with a bill attached. Designed and illustrated by Aleksander Jagodziński, published by PHALANX.

What's in the Box

• Lords of Heaven base game
• All campaign stretch goals — adds a 5th player, among other things
• Wooden faction meeples — campaign exclusive
• Wooden attacker and defender meeples — campaign exclusive
• Third Crusade expansion — Richard the Lionheart, Saladin and the rest of the Third Crusade, with new leader, action and location cards plus a scenario book for fresh set-ups.

Click the image below to see the original crowdfunding campaign: