Navia Dratp

Navia Dratp ( ja, ナヴィア　ドラップ) is a collectible miniatures game with similarities to shogi, the Japanese equivalent of chess. See also chess variants for similar games.

Gameplay

Navia Dratp is unusual among collectible miniatures games in that it is a game of complete information, meaning that each player knows everything there is to know about the game state at any given time. The gameplay does not incorporate random elements of any kind (e.g. dice or a deck of cards), and all game pieces are visible to both players at all times.

Rules

What follows is a general overview of the mechanics of the game.

Navia Dratp is a board game, played on a 7-by-7 grid (by contrast, chess uses an 8-by-8 grid and shogi uses a 9-by-9 grid). Each player begins the game with seven Black ''Gulled'' Stones, and two Red ''Gulled'' Stones, which can be roughly equated with the pawns of chess or shogi. In addition, each player chooses a ''Navia'' and seven ''Maseitai'' from his or her collection of pieces. ''Navias'' are pre-painted miniatures of anime-style women. They serve roughly the same function as a chess or shogi king in that the capture of an opponent's ''Navia'' wins the game. ''Maseitai'' comprise the bulk of the collectible figures, and are generally more powerful than ''Gulled'' or ''Navias''. Each ''Maseitai'' and ''Navia'' figure has a plastic disc called the ''compass'' that indicates the piece's movement abilities. By paying ''Gyullas'' crystals, which are earned by moving ''Gulled'' stones or by capturing your opponent's ''Maseitai'', players can ''dratp'' ''Navia'' or ''Maseitai'' pieces, which allows the player to flip over the piece's ''compass'', granting it different movement capabilities or other abilities. In the ''Navia's'' case, ''dratping'' it wins the game. This flipping over of pieces to grant them additional powers is similar to promotion in the game of shogi or English draughts, checkers.

Players take turns moving and/or ''dratping'' pieces. Captures are made by moving onto a space occupied by an opponent's piece, as in chess and shogi. The ''Navia'' and ''Gulled'' begin the game already on the playfield, while ''Maseitai'' start in a special area called the ''keep'' and are brought into play through summoning, which means that a player spends his or her turn by placing a ''Maseitai'' from their keep onto one of eight ''summon squares''. The ''dratped'' form of some ''Maseitai'' have special ''invoke'' abilities that offer alternatives to the basic actions of moving, ''dratping'' and summoning. A player may not take their own ''Maseitai''.

The game can be won in one of five ways:

* Capturing an opponent's ''Navia''
* ''Dratping'' your own ''Navia''
* Performing a ''Navia Goal'' by emptying your ''keep'' of ''Maseitai'' and moving your ''Navia'' over the back line of the opponent's side of the board
* If a player's ''Navia'' is repeatedly put into check such that the same board position repeats itself three times, the player whose ''Navia'' was being put in check (not the player putting the ''Navia'' in check) wins
* A player may concede the game

Product line

Navia Dratp was manufactured by Bandai, and was sold as starter sets and booster packs. The starter sets contain a board and equipment for one person to play, including a predetermined ''Navia'', a set of ''Gulled'' Stones and ''Gyullas'' crystals, seven predetermined ''Maseitai'', and cards describing each ''Maseitai'' and the ''Navia''. Boosters contain three randomly selected ''Maseitai'' or ''Navia''.

Bandai has stopped manufacturing the game, with the website (formerly naviadratp.com) now defunct and the game considered out-of-print.

Each starter set contained:

*1 Navia (N-XX)
*7 Maseitai battle pieces (M-XX)
*9 Gulled battle pieces (7 black, 2 red)
*17 Gyullas stones (10 white, 6 blue, 1 yellow)
*8 character cards
*1 game board

The Red Starter (starter 1) included:

*N-01 Estelle
*M-01 Troll
*M-02 Agunilyos
*M-03 Hamlus Garuda
*M-04 Garrison
*M-05 Netol
*M-06 Gundrill
*M-07 Tiny Kiggoshi

The Blue Starter (starter 2) included:

*N-02 Debora
*M-08 Olip
*M-09 Gilgame
*M-10 Moses
*M-11 Nebguard
*M-12 Gyullas Turtle
*M-13 Kapinah
*M-14 Koma

Each booster contained:

*3 randomly-inserted figures
*3 corresponding character cards

The first expansion, ''Unleashed Darkness'', added 17 new figures to the game:

*N-03 Io
*N-04 Krra
*M-15 Schmidt
*M-16 Matogayu
*M-17 Midrah
*M-18 Kanaba
*M-19 Sungyullas
*M-20 Tanhoizer
*M-21 Kanimizo
*M-22 Billpentod
*M-23 Hansa
*M-24 Kapinahs
*M-25 Odd DD
*M-26 Coydrocomp
*M-27 Nemchant
*M-28 Lord Kiggoshi
*M-29 Chugyullas

The second expansion, ''Resurgence'', added another 17 figures along with some redone figures in a different design:

*N-05 Chakrapicky
*N-06 Hillgao
*M-30 Chakrabat
*M-31 Papillonera
*M-32 Tagu
*M-33 Viskunmateus
*M-34 Laynard
*M-35 Nergalgamesh
*M-36 Kairas
*M-37 Ghoramedusa
*M-38 Gyullasbon
*M-39 Wishborn
*M-40 Peojin
*M-41 Neso
*M-42 Gilgame III
*M-43 Oriondober
*M-44 Sabageo

There was also a limited new Navia N-007, ''Persephone'', which was available from Bandai. It was produced in a very small number of 300 pieces.

Fan-made content

When the game was discontinued, the community started to develop new content. There are currently four fan-made game expansions:
* Maelstorm (2008): 15 new Maseitai battle pieces
* Dynatmos Gulled Recruits (2018): seven new Gulled battle pieces
* Vengeance (2018): 15 new Maseitai battle pieces
* Arcanum (2020): 16 new Maseitai battle pieces

Three- and four-player versions of the board have been developed, removing the initial limitation of two players.

References

External links

Navia Dratp on BoardGameGeekNavia Dratp fansite

{{Chess variants

Miniatures games