Usurpers

The King is a formidable ruler, whose strength and cunning have not been matched in a generation. But he is away on a diplomatic visit to another realm... now is your chance to seize the throne!

Take control of his legion troops and he will be ill equipped to stand against you.

Master the dark arts and summon a demon and he dare not oppose you.

Infiltrate his court and turn his own advisors against him and he will be powerless to stand in your way.

But, if he returns before you accomplish one of those things, kiss your ambitions good-bye.

Will you have the best reputation among the guilds when the king returns?

Usurpers is a worker placement game where each of your workers have a type and a level. Many of the worker spaces care about one, the other, or both of those attributes. Blocking is a big dynamic in worker placement games, and in this one you are allowed to use a space as long as your worker is at least tied for the highest level there when you place it. This means there's not as much blocking at the beginning of the game, but as players level their workers up, blocking (and therefor placement tension) becomes more and more of a thing.

—description from the designer