Seeders from Sereis: Episode I - Exodus

“The Expanse” and “Battlestar Galactica” have fun technology, scheming and spaceships. I
happen to be a fan of all three items listed above and Seeders from Sereis: Exodus includes
them all. The booth rep at Gen Con pitched Seeders from Sereis: Exodus as a heavy card
drafting game. As I was reading the rules, I was feeling a little underwhelmed as I love a good
old fashion brain burner; however, after I started to play, Exodus really started to shine. Exodus
has a streamlined basic rule set, making it easy to teach, yet the options the Ark cards provide
and their interactions with one another encourage new tactics on subsequent playthroughs. Add
in the depth of choices of each phase and the strategies that they offer and you have some
good old fashion action-paralysis on your hands.

Adam “Ox” Wilson’s Rating: 8.5

Overview

When the Seeders’ home is on the brink of becoming uninhabitable, they build giant colony
ships, or Arks, to seek out a new home. You create an Ark through card drafting and bidding.
The game is played over four rounds of five phases.

Components

The game comes with a two-sided board. The side you play on is determined by the number of
players in the game. The main meat of the game is the 192 Ark cards broken down into the six
factions of the Seeders’ civilization. Each faction has its own units and crews you can integrate
into your Ark. You also receive a player board for your resource gems, six faction negotiators
and influence cubes.  

Phases of the Game

 Phase One: Preparation

 Phase Two: Card Drafting
 Phase Three: Bidding
 Phase Four: Actions
 Phase Five: Scoring

In phase one you untap any exhausted cards and the turn order is established for the round.
This is accomplished by the player with the lowest score getting first choice on where in the turn
order they wish to go. Then in reverse order of scores remaining players pick empty spots. This
mechanic makes for some interesting strategic choices. Going first might allow you to get ahead
on bidding for a specific card, but if you go last you can react to how everyone else plays cards.

The foundation phase is the card drafting aspect of the game. The first player deals four cards
to each person. Youkeep one and pass the rest until you are passed your last card. Do you take
the card that is better for your Ark, or the card that is really good for your opponent?

The negotiation phase and is the most involved part of your turn. You bid openly for cards on
the game board. Each player has one negotiator from each of the six factions on the game
board. Each negotiator places one influence cube on the cards on either side of it. If the
negotiator’s faction matches either of the cards it is adjacent to, you place an additional cube.
After all spots are filled winner is determined for each card.

When you win a card, you place it into your hand and remove one of your adjacent negotiator
chips. Any negotiators left on the board level up. That negotiator gets to place an additional
cube onto one of the adjacent cards. One negotiator can level up to four times, placing three
cubes on adjacent cards and a fourth if factions align. On the last turn of the game, the
remaining negotiators score points according to their level.

This by far is my favorite phase of the game. First you want to analyze if there are any must-
have cards on the board How is the best way to win that card? Will anybody else be trying to bid
for it? If the cards don’t float your boat, do you try to win some for resources or avoid winning to
level up your negotiators?

After the first-round people tend to start collecting one or two main faction types. There is no
way to really hide this. You may also see a card that would be really good for your opponent -
channel your inner Loki and cause some mischief. If there is a tie for the most negotiation cubes
on a card, it is discarded. I have seen a number of players use this tactic and it’s become an
important part of my strategy.

In the integration phase you use all the cards you drafted and won in bidding. In turn order you
will either recycle (discard) a card for its resources or integrate a card into your Ark. Each unit
you place into your Ark can hold up to two crew members. During this phase you are also
allowed to move current crew already from different units to allow for optimal placement of new
cards.

During this phase you will also activate as many Technical and Caste abilities on your
integrated cards. These abilities allow you to do a variety of actions like gathering resources,
stealing opponent's crew, destroying units and protecting your own assets. You are allowed to
carry over one card from your hand for the following turn. Once you run out of actions or choose
to move on, the next player will take their integration phase.
The first time I played the game I thought, ‘why wouldn’t you want to go first?’ The other people
are trying to destroy and steal your cards. If you go last you may not have anything left. This
isn’t always the case. For example, the deviant faction possesses a number of disruptive
abilities. The Arkiteks are composed of the engineers who specialize in destroying and
protecting units. Finding a good balance of aggressive and defensive abilities is crucial for your
path to victory. 

The final activation is the scoring phase of the game. You can reorganize any cards in your Ark.
Once optimized you score prestige abilities from your cards. The player who has the most
prestige points at the end of the game wins. 

Future of Seeders

You are only creating an Ark in Exodus. The hope to make a ten part game series where each
game explores a new adventure of the universe and the Seeders’ struggle for survival. In
France they have already released three expansions and episode two is in development.
Exodus is a popular hit over there and when I was talking to the publisher from Sweet Games,
they are hoping it will be a big hit in the United States as well. Wiz Kids is taking on the
publishing for the English copies and Sweet Games is anxiously awaiting to see the response. If
all goes well, Sweet Games fully intends on getting the three expansions pushed out through
Wiz Kids to the United States and wants to get them caught up in releases. This will allow for
Sweet Games to release future Seeders games both in the States and France simultaneously.

The Verdict:

Seeders from Sereis: Exodus is scheduled to launch sometime in the fourth quarter of 2020.
You can currently preorder the game from a variety of online retailers. I love every bit of this
game and I want more. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys heavier strategy games.