Lords of Xidit

Lords of Xidit asks you to do something most board games don’t: plan your moves several turns in advance, then watch helplessly as your careful strategy collides with everyone else’s plans. It’s action programming at its core, and the simultaneous reveal of all players’ choices creates moments of both triumph and frustration in equal measure. The game wraps this mechanism in a colorful fantasy setting where lords traverse a kingdom recruiting soldiers, fighting monsters, and building their reputation.

Vibrant Planning and Clever Scoring

The production quality stands out immediately. Libellud filled the box with vibrant artwork and chunky plastic miniatures that give the game a table presence well beyond its weight class. The kingdom map feels alive with color, and the tiny soldier figures that you recruit along your journey add a satisfying tactile element to the experience.

What makes Lords of Xidit mechanically distinct is its elimination-based scoring system. At game’s end, players are compared across three different tracks, and the player with the least in each category is eliminated before the next is scored. This creates a fascinating tension where being excellent at one thing means nothing if you’ve neglected the others. It forces balanced play and prevents runaway victories, which keeps games tight and competitive right to the finish.

The simultaneous programming mechanism works well here too. Everyone secretly plans their movements and actions for the next six steps, then reveals simultaneously. Watching plans unfold creates a rollercoaster of emotions as you see whether your path will cross with another player headed to the same city, potentially scooping up the recruits you needed.

The Sting of Mistimed Movement

Lords of Xidit can be punishing, and that’s where it loses some players. A single mistimed move, arriving at a city just after someone else has taken what you needed, can cascade into multiple wasted turns. Since you’ve pre-programmed your next several actions, there’s no way to correct course once things go wrong. You simply watch the dominoes fall.

This rigidity means the game rewards familiarity. Experienced players have a significant edge over newcomers because they better understand the flow of the board and can anticipate where opponents are likely to go. First games can feel bewildering, and the learning curve is steeper than the rules complexity would suggest.

Downtime during the programming phase can also slow things down, particularly with five players or groups prone to overthinking their choices. While the simultaneous reveal is exciting, the planning phase that precedes it sometimes drags.

Reading the Board Is Everything

The single most important skill in Lords of Xidit is reading the board state and predicting where opponents will move. Every decision about which city to visit, which monsters to fight, and which rewards to claim depends on what you think others will do. This creates a metagame that deepens with repeated plays but can feel opaque during early sessions.

Players who enjoy the mental chess of outguessing opponents will find rich territory here. Those who prefer to build their own engine without worrying about what others are doing will find the programming mechanism more frustrating than fun.

Is Lords of Xidit Right for Your Table?

Groups that enjoy simultaneous action selection and can laugh off the occasional disaster will find a rewarding game here. It plays best with four players, where the board feels competitive without being overcrowded. Skip it if your group has low tolerance for plans falling apart or if new players are regularly joining, since the experience gap matters more than in most medium-weight games.

The Verdict on Lords of Xidit

Lords of Xidit carves out a distinctive space with its combination of action programming, elimination scoring, and colorful production. The highs are real, those moments where your planned route works perfectly and you sweep through cities collecting exactly what you need. The lows are equally real, watching helplessly as your carefully laid plans crumble because someone else got there first. That volatility is the game’s identity, and whether you love it depends entirely on your appetite for controlled chaos.