Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Deus lo Vult is a board game for two to four treacherous and greedy marauders and murderers.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Deck / Bag Building
Add new pieces during play to improve the cards, tokens, or dice drawn later.
Area Movement
Move pieces between connected regions rather than along individual spaces.
Grid Movement
Move pieces between adjacent spaces on a regular grid.
Pick Up and Deliver
Collect goods at one location and transport them to another for rewards.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
Read the full game description
Deus lo Vult is a board game for two to four treacherous and greedy marauders and murderers. Based on opulent European manuscripts of the 12th to 15th centuries, the game draws heavily on the military games played by the medieval aristocracy all over the world: shogi, xiangqi, chaturanga, and backgammon. You control an army of crusaders trying to loot as much treasure from the Holy Land as possible. At the same time, you hinder the progress of other players using the mutually shared army of the Saracens. God is watching the Crusades closely and often intervenes with Divine Will events that you may use to your advantage. But don’t forget to maintain your camp’s amenities, or when the moment comes, your troops may be too busy fighting diarrhea. Features Quick setup (less than five minutes) Language-independent game assets (illiterate-friendly) Easy to learn, hard to master Adjustable gameplay Shared control over enemy units (collective AI) Unique movement and combat mechanics Army building Camp management God-sent Divine Will events Plundering-centered gameplay —description from the publisher