Navia Dratp may be a weird name, but the game play is supposed to be top-notch.
Navia Dratp
So I cracked open the red and blue sets. Each set came with a game board, a set of 7 black Gulled and 2 red Gulled, and 60 Gyullas worth of crystals.
The terminology apparently comes from Anime (or is anime themed), but here's the skinny on what that stuff actually is:
1) Gulled are pawns. They come in two flavors: black and red. The black pawns can only move and capture by going strait forward one square. They sit in your second rank. The red pawns sit in your first rank, and can move forward strait or diagonally one square. When you move these guys, you get a single Gyullas crystal for the black, or 3 for the red. This is your primary method of getting Gyullas crystals moving your pawns.
2) Gyullas crystals are money/power/mana. Think of it as you will, these things let you juice up your other pieces the Maseitai.
3) Maseitai are your primary pieces. They've all got different names and models and powers. They're all different. The two players have teams composed of completely different Maseitai. Of course, only the Gulled are in play in the beginning. Your Maseitai are held in reserve in your "Maseitai Keep" (essentially just off board). If you pay enough Gyullas crystals, after you move a Maseitai you can "dratp" (pronounced "drap") it.
4) Dratping your Maseitai lets you change the way the piece moves, for some pieces. On other pieces, you active a special power, or give it a special ability. For example, one piece changes from just being able to move like a king to being able to move like a queen. Another piece is able to move one space diagonally in any direction by default, but when you dratp him he's able to add 2 spaces out orthogonally to that so it's like a diamond, but without the orthogonal squares one space away. In addition, this same guy (after dratping) gives you 10 Gyullas crystals if he gets killed.
So let's see how this plays out in an actual game. Last night, in the second game I played against my opponent (Will), I took the opportunity to bring this piece out (as it was one of the 7 I had cooling their heels in my Maseitai keep). My opponent brought out his Gyullas Turtle before too long, which (after dratping) moves like a red Gulled (one space forward in any direction), but gives you 6 Gyullas crystals. I knew that if I let this dude make a steady progression he'd be racking up the crystals (which could be deadly for me), so I busted out with my Troll (the one that can move in a diamond after dratping). I thought the Troll would be nice, because he only costs 4 Gyullas crystals to activate/dratp, but is given a quite nice flexibility with his movement thereafter. So I moved forward to stymie the progress of the Gyullas turtle on the right hand side of the board, partnering with the red Gulled on that side.
The red Gulled is pretty cool, because he's like a shield. The normal black Gulled aren't flexible at all in their movement (they can only move and capture strait ahead one square), but you get two uber-Gulled colored red, one on the left side, and one on the right. Paired with my Troll, I was in a position to at least slow the advance of the Gyullas Turtle.
Why was it important that I do that? Well, there are three real "victory conditions" to the game. The first is like Chess kill your opponents King (in this case, the Navia).
A Navia is like a king in Chess. Only she's a cute little anime girl. She moves just like a King (one space in any direction), and when she gets killed, you lose the game. Her dratp cost is 60 (all of your Gyullas crystals), but if you dratp her you win the game. That's the second win condition, and that's why I didn't want the Gyullas turtle to have unimpeded progress on the board. Paired with Gulled to protect him, my opponent might soon be at 60 Gyullas for the win.
The third win condition is called a "Navia Goal". This is when you're able to move your Navia the entire length of the game board. The game board is 7×7, and if you can make it to the other side of the board with her, you win.
So I figured I had to stop this Gyullas Turtle. I moved up with my red Gulled and my Troll, and (just like in Chess) used the interplay between the two pieces as protection. My opponent decided to bring his Navia up to protect the Gyullas Turtle. This was a weak move on his part, because you need to protect your Navia, and can't sacrifice her like you could a Maseitai battle piece. I was able to twist this to my advantage, keeping my Troll diagonally in front of my red Gulled, so that they protected each other. The troll ended up forking(when two pieces are attacked at the same time by the same piece) his Navia, his Gyullas Turtle, and his Red Gyullas (which had gotten behind the Troll). Since his Navia was endangered, and my red Gyullas was protecting my Troll, he had to either kill the Troll with the Gyullas Turtle (there by giving me 10 Gyullas, since when the Troll dies I get 10 Gyullas if the Troll has been dratped) or retreat his Navia. He chose to retreat his Navia, and so instead of taking the Gyullas Turtle, I took his red Gulled. I didn't like the fact that this guy had gotten behind me, and I would still be attacking the Gyullas Turtle with my Troll (since not only could I move diagonally in any direction one space, but I could jump 2 spaces out in any orthogonal direction as well). The Gyullas Turtle can't move backwards (only forwards, like a Gulled or a pawn in Chess), so he decided to suicide him by moving forward and claiming 6 more Gyullas crystals. I took him with my red Gulled.
Now taking pieces has two effects. Firstly, the piece is removed from the board and placed in your opponents Graveyard. That's where he keeps all of his dudes that have gotten killed, and sometimes you can pull guys out of there and bring them back to the keep or directly back to the board. Secondly, you get a number of Gyullas crystals equal to the dratp cost of the piece if you kill it. So, for example, since his Gyullas Turtle costs 5 to dratp, I took 5 crystals as my reward for knocking him out. In addition, since I moved my red Gulled to do it, I took 3 more (since you get 3 crystals when you move those guys forward).
Now I had this red Gulled pretty far up on the board, so I tried to pull a line over.
A Gulled Line Over is when you're able to move one of your Gulled to your opponents first rank (the farthest you can move on the board). It's kind of like pawn promotion in Chess, only you have a choice you can choose 10 Gyullas crystals as a reward, or take one of the guys that's been killed and put him into one of your open "summon squares".
On the board, there are Summon Squares for each player. Aside from the center square in your first rank (where the Navia goes), the rest of the squares on your first rank are available to bring your Maseitai battle pieces into the game. In addition to that first rank, the outermost spaces in the second rank are also summoning squares.
On each turn, you can either move a piece, move and dratp a piece, dratp a piece and not move, or summon a Maseitai battle piece from your Maseitai Keep onto a summon square (bringing him into play). You can't move one piece and dratp another (like say move a Gulled and dratp your Troll).
So I decide I'm going to go for the Gulled Line Over with my red Gulled, and I gleefully sacrifice my Troll to do so. By allowing my troll to be taken, my Gulled (which is no longer protected by the Troll) is able to take the piece that took him, move out of reach of the Navia (just moving forward wasn't going to cut it on that one), and get to my opponents second rank. I claimed 3 crystals for moving my red Gulled, and whatever I should have for killing his other Maseitai (the one protecting his Gyullas Turtle).
I'm starting to notice that I've racked up some serious crystal action. Moving this Gulled across the board, killing his guys, and getting my own Troll killed have set me up pretty nicely. Quite nicely indeed. I smell a Navia Dratp coming (60 crystals needed for the win). I decide to take 10 crystals instead of restoring my Troll when I do the Gulled Line Over, giving me 10 crystals (when you line over, you don't get your crystals for moving the Gulled). I see now that I was playing the Line Overs wrong. It's not when you get to your opponents first rank, it's when you move past it (into their Maseitai Keep area). No matter live and learn.
At this point, I was only maybe 10ish crystals short of victory, and so I started advancing my left red Gulled. My opponent busted out with one of his big dog pieces (after dratping, this guy gets to move like an inverted chess Knight jumping 1 or 2 squares in any direction, except the spaces a Knight would be able to move). Alas, that was not enough to save him, or even delay my inexorable advance. After a couple moves, I claimed my remaining crystals and was able to perform a Navia Dratp FTW!
Closing Thoughts
Navia Dratp is like Chess. Only better. In Chess, the game is static. People (and machines) memorize opening moves, and know how to reply to them. As players become more intimate with the game, they learn long strings of these advances and replies. This has no place in the world of Navia Dratp. You bring your pieces in where and when you want to bring them in. You can dratp them to change how they move, and effect change on the board.
The production quality of the pieces is outstanding. The models are just great very detailed. They're not painted, and look like they have a black wash effect on gray out of the blister. But I think they will look awesome once painted. Wishborn sure did!
The crystals are a nice touch. They're made out of a rubbery feeling plastic, and are translucent. I was thinking "I need to get some real gems, or at least glass crystals for this game" so we'll see. It's a nice touch, and they seem pretty durable. There are 10 smaller white/clear crystals worth 1 point, 6 larger blue crystals worth 5, and a single 20 point crystal for each team.
The Gulled look like little tombstones, and have a 7 sided star on them. They're actually kind of evil looking, and reminiscent of pentacles. I wouldn't mind finding some replacements for them in the future.
The board is the only area of the game that sucks. It's design is great, and it's got a good look to it, but the quality of the cardboard is poor. The board I played on (the red one) was a little warped. I'll have to find a way to flatten it out.
The gameplay is quite fun, and Gulled played a larger part than I expected. The black ones are wimpy but useful nonetheless, and the red ones are pretty powerful (especially coupled with the fact that they give you 3 Gyullas crystals each move). It's definitely a tactical abstract, but the pieces give it a nice flavor. I'm not a big fan of anime, but who doesn't love cute little anime girls? The Maseitai each have a unique look as well, and are so well crafted and large (2-3 inches in height) that the game is just fun to look at. I'm sure having painted pieces will just enhance that effect.
I've heard that Navia Dratp has a small but rabid fan-base. I can understand why. The game is fun, has multiple victory conditions, and variable player powers. I'm looking forward to playing some more!
Such a wonderful toy.It is very well built and is a toy I hope to pass down to future generations!
