Some games take a while to win you over. Leaders did it almost immediately.
I went into this expecting a fairly simple two-player abstract game, but within my first few turns I was already thinking about how different pieces could work together, what my opponent was planning and how I could set up my next move. It's incredibly easy to learn, but there's a surprising amount of strategy packed into those simple rules.
At its heart, Leaders feels a little like chess. You're moving pieces around a board, trying to outmanoeuvre your opponent and capture their Leader. But instead of starting with a fixed set of pieces, you're drafting your champions as you play, with every character bringing their own abilities and changing what your team is capable of.
That combination of simple movement, clever positioning and drafting makes every game feel different, and it's quickly become one of those games where finishing a game makes me want to immediately play another.
Add in some genuinely fantastic production, a cast of unique characters and games that can be over in around 15 minutes, and Leaders manages to be both incredibly approachable and surprisingly deep.
And honestly, I really enjoy this game.
What Kind of Game Is It?
Leaders is a two-player abstract strategy game where you build your team of champions as you play, then use their different abilities to try and capture your opponent's Leader. The game takes around 15 minutes to play, with a very quick setup and rules that can be explained in less than five minutes.
At the start of the game, you only have your Leader. On your turn, you can move your pieces around the hexagonal board, using any special movement abilities they have, before recruiting another champion. You choose from three face-up champions, so while there is some randomness in which characters become available, you always have a choice over which one you bring onto your team.
The second player gets an additional recruitment opportunity at the beginning, helping to balance the advantage of going first.
The goal is simple: capture the opposing Leader. Normally, this means getting two of your champions adjacent to them, but there is another way to win. If the opposing Leader becomes completely surrounded, with no open spaces next to them, you win immediately. Importantly, those spaces can even be occupied by their own champions, meaning you can't simply box your Leader in with your own pieces and sit safely behind them for the rest of the game.
The different character abilities can also bend or even completely change the normal rules. The Assassin, for example, can capture the enemy Leader on his own, which immediately changes how your opponent has to think about positioning.
This creates some clever situations where you're not only trying to get your own pieces into position, but also trying to control the spaces around the opposing Leader. It also stops the game from becoming too defensive, as completely boxing your own Leader in can actually hand your opponent the win.
This is where the drafting really comes into its own. Every champion you recruit can have a huge effect on your strategy. Some provide support to your own pieces, others disrupt your opponent, while others are much more aggressive. You aren't just choosing the strongest-looking character; you need to think about how the champions you've drafted work together and how they can help you achieve your goal.
The basic rules are incredibly easy to understand, but the combination of limited pieces, drafting and variable powers gives the game considerably more depth than you might expect.
First Impressions
My initial reaction to Leaders was simply: wow, I really enjoy this.
The production immediately stood out to me. The box itself is gorgeous, both in the artwork and the way everything has been laid out. There is even a drawer that slides out from the side of the box, giving each character standee its own dedicated place. It is one of those little touches that makes the whole thing feel much more premium.
The standees are a good size and sit in solid wooden bases, the cards feel great and the artwork throughout is beautiful. The board and character cards also feature embossed foil elements, which really make them stand out on the table.
I particularly like the character designs. Every champion feels like they belong to the same world, but they are also visually distinct, and their designs often reflect what their abilities actually do. That makes the different characters easier to remember and gives the game a lot of personality despite being an abstract strategy game.
The board itself is relatively simple, but it looks great and provides a really clean space to play on. Nothing feels unnecessarily complicated.
I had no idea what to expect going into Leaders, but I was genuinely blown away by what the game delivers. The production gives you the impression that you're about to play something much bigger and more elaborate, only for you to discover that the game itself is incredibly easy to learn.
And that's probably the biggest surprise: you can learn this game in less than five minutes.
Gameplay Experience
Leaders feels incredibly push and pull. You make a move, see how your opponent reacts, then have to react to that in turn. You both have the same objective, but the way you approach it can change dramatically depending on which champions you've recruited.
There is a constant balance between offence and defence. You might see an opportunity to move towards your opponent's Leader, but doing so could leave an opening for your opponent to take the win. Likewise, sometimes the best move isn't to attack at all, but to block an important route or position yourself so that your opponent can't make the play they want.
This is where the drafting becomes so interesting.
Your team has a massive effect on your strategy, and you need to play around what you get. The randomness is really limited to which champions become available from the deck. Because you get to choose from the available options, it never feels like the game is simply deciding your strategy for you. I've found the champions to be really well balanced, too, so there isn't one character that feels like an automatic choice.
At the beginning of a game, it can be difficult to plan too far ahead because you don't yet know which champions are going to appear. As more pieces enter the board, though, you start to understand what your team can actually do and can begin building a plan around it.
Short-term positioning is important, but I think the players who get the most out of Leaders are the ones who start thinking several moves ahead. You need to understand not only where your pieces are now, but where they can go, what abilities they can use and how your opponent might respond.
That gives the game a feeling similar to chess. You're moving around a board with the ultimate goal of capturing the opposing Leader, but the drafting, limited number of pieces and unique abilities make every game feel different.
It's a very tactical game, but there is also a strategic layer underneath it. The better you become at recognising how your drafted team can work together, the more depth you start to find.
And despite all of that, games remain fast-paced. A typical game has that constant back-and-forth feeling without dragging on, which makes it incredibly easy to finish a game and immediately say, "Let's go again."
Who Is It For?
I would absolutely recommend Leaders to fans of chess or other abstract strategy games. The similarities are easy to recognise: you're moving pieces around a board, considering positioning and trying to capture the opposing Leader. But the drafting, limited pieces and variable powers give it a very different feel.
It's also reasonably accessible to non-gamers because the core rules are so simple. The part that may take a little longer to pick up is understanding the different abilities and figuring out how to use them effectively. Knowing what a champion does is easy; knowing when and where to use them is where the game starts becoming more interesting.
It's also a fantastic filler game, but I don't really think of it as just a filler. I found myself wanting to play multiple games in a row, partly because the games are so quick and partly because the champions make each game different.
That makes it easy to get to the table with friends, family or dedicated gamers. There is enough going on for experienced players to dig into, while the basic rules are simple enough that you don't need to be a dedicated board gamer to understand what you're doing.
Ultimately, Leaders sits somewhere between a tactical abstract game and a drafting game with variable powers. If you enjoy either side of that combination, there is plenty here to get stuck into.
Highlights & Drawbacks
Highlights
- Excellent premium production and beautiful artwork
- Extremely easy to learn and quick to set up
- The drafting adds a surprising amount of strategy
- Champions feel distinct and meaningfully affect the game
- Very replayable thanks to the variety of recruits
- The push-and-pull creates a strong competitive feeling
- Short playtime makes it very easy to play multiple games
- The different abilities create plenty of tactical possibilities
- The champions all feel well balanced
Drawbacks
- The draft can occasionally leave you with the same options appearing repeatedly
- The box takes up a little more space than I expected for such a small and quick game
- While the rules are simple, understanding how to make the most of every champion can take a few games
- Players looking for something much heavier may eventually want something meatier to sink their teeth into
The box footprint is probably my most minor criticism. It isn't particularly large, and the internal design does an excellent job of making use of the space, but for such a quick game it does take up more room than you might expect. At the same time, I think the quality of the production and the thought that has gone into the storage go a long way towards justifying it.
Final Thoughts
Leaders is a game I can see myself reaching for regularly.
What impressed me most is how much strategy it manages to pack into such a small package. The rules are simple, the setup is quick and games are short, but once you start paying attention to how the champions work together and planning several moves ahead, there is much more here than the first five minutes might suggest.
The drafting is the real star for me. Building your team as the game progresses means you aren't simply playing the same abstract puzzle over and over. The different champions can push you towards completely different strategies, and that gives the game a huge amount of replayability.
It's also a game that feels competitive without becoming unnecessarily complicated. You're constantly watching what your opponent is doing, looking for openings, trying to block their plans and working out how to make the most of your own team.
And with another Leader and more champions already announced for an expansion, it feels like there is plenty of room for the system to grow.
You might eventually want something with more rules, more components or a longer playtime if you're looking for a heavier strategic experience. But Leaders can actually give you more depth than its short playtime suggests, particularly if you start getting competitive with it.
For me, it's simple: it's different, it's fun, it's incredibly easy to get to the table, and the variety of champions gives me plenty of reasons to keep coming back to it.
