Board and card games are a vital part of my family’s communication. As we’ve learned this and developed our collection, one thing we’ve noticed is that games designed by people who think more like us are the ones we gravitate towards. Writing that feels a bit like a “duh” moment, but it took us a couple hundred games to recognize that for ourselves.
When my family was at Gen Con in August 2022, we spoke with Randall Bills of Catalyst Game Labs for a while about my favorite tabletop game Battletech (which I’ve covered at length) as well as Catalyst’s other offerings. Up on one shelf, not available for purchase yet but tantalizing nonetheless, was a game I am excited to help Catalyst announce. Overlords in Training is the brainchild of one of Randall’s kids, who happens to share most of my family’s neurodivergence and who created the game to use his best coping mechanism, imagination. Overlords in Training is being announced alongside Catalyst’s new Board Game Division, dedicated to bringing us more awesome games by excellent game developers.
Why Is Catalyst’s Announcement Exciting?
Catalyst has taken the reins of multiple games like Shadowrun and BattleTech and revived them over the last several years, ushering in a new golden age of gaming for both titles. The talent and commitment to quality gaming at Catalyst has at every level from executive leadership to line developers and demo team members gives me all the hope in the world that board gaming will receive the same care and treatment.
Catalyst already has a couple of great board games out there like Shadowrun: Crossfire and its mechanics sibling Dragonfire, The Duke, and Super Camelot. An entire division devoted to this kind of gaming means we’ll continue to see new and exciting games, developed with the same care and attention to detail as everything else I’ve played from the company.
I’m excited about this announcement, and I hope you are too. I am looking forward to seeing what Catalyst can bring to my gaming table, starting with Overlords in Training!
What Is Overlords in Training?
Overlords in Training is a fast-paced card game where the players are being tested by the final boss, Mike, to become his favorite overlord and do his bidding. Along the way, you collect minions, hunt for items to help you, and fight each other to become stronger.
Each player gets a player mat that shows what you can do. In order to win, a player needs to beat every other overlord (player) before the 150-card deck runs out. If, however, the deck does run out before anyone finishes their competitors off, Mike’s going to get impatient and come out. The strategy here is that you’ve got to fight each other, but also save cards for fighting Mike if he’s annoyed and comes out to get you.
I was able to see some of these cards in person at Gen Con, and I saved up some money to support the crowdfunding campaign because as simple and easy to learn as the game is, the mechanics are brilliant and I will absolutely bring it to game nights.
Why Get Overlords in Training?
This truly is a game by a geek family for geek families. Randall has raised his kids to love grand high geekery like any good GeekDad, and in the process his kids have developed games with him. Having met Randall and his kids, I can confirm that the creativity of this family is off the charts, and I can’t wait to benefit from that in yet another cool way.
If supporting generational geeks isn’t enough, Overlords in Training just looks… FUN. It’s a quick play, and the artwork is the perfect blend of creepy and adorable. It’s one of those games that will probably have a spot on the shelf where the top faces out instead of a side. I love that the artwork by Kenyon has such life behind it – when I look at it, I swear I can see the drawings animate if I close my eyes.
Yet another reason to pick up Overlords in Training is that it’s designed from the ground up with neurodivergence at its core. It’s the brainchild born of coping methods of a neurodivergent human supported by their parents, and for me that means there’s a better chance that MY neurodivergent humans will enjoy the game because it’ll make sense to them (and me too). From the words of Randall, “for nearly a decade, starting when he was ten, my neurodivergent son Kenyon has been crafting a massive, dynamic universe of the strange, the sublime, and the creepy.” Drawing has been Kenyon’s means of connecting with the world around him, and what a beautiful universe he’s created in the process. I’m giddy that he can now share it with us thanks to his creativity and the fantastic ability of his supportive family to help him design this game.
How to Get Overlords in Training
Overlords in Training will launch a crowdfunding campaign later this month, and I highly recommend getting in on it. In the meantime, it’s pretty exciting to see that Catalyst has announced their Board Game Division, and I am watching their news for other releases too.
If you want to see more about the characters in the Doodle Realms universe Kenyon created while you wait for the campaign to launch, you can do that at The Doodle Realms website.
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