The Course of War

The battles in Battlecards roughly represent those fought historically, but they occur in a sequence that is based upon their order in a shuffled deck. There are a few exceptions where certain prerequisites must be met before a battle can take place. In some cases, certain battles must have already been resolved, sometimes with a specific winner, before the drawn battle may take place. A few other battles have prerequisites that specify that certain units be present before the battle can take place. In cases where prerequisites exist, they follow the general circumstances surrounding the historical engagement. For instance, for the Battlecard The Invasion of Normandy to be playable, the German player must have won the Invasion of France & Belgium Battlecard, and the Allied player must hold more Battle of the North Atlantic Battlecard(s) than the German player (there are three Battle of the North Atlantic cards in the game deck). In addition, the Allied player must have at least one non-artillery ground unit before the Invasion of Normandy can take place. This is perhaps the card with the most prerequisites, but it is illustrative of the care taken by the game's designer to have as much historical fidelity in a card game as is possible, at least in one with such simple mechanics. It succeeds in this, and while Battlecards may not be the best tool for teaching history, it's a fun way to spend an afternoon and might serve as a good entree into any such discussion. 

Rules of Engagement

As previously noted, the documentation for the game was very modest. For the most part it was clear, but my game partner and I did have a couple of questions that weren't addressed by it, including some concerning gameplay. The questions we had centered on the status of "kept cards," those not played in a battle, and the status of withdrawn cards, which appear to return to the kept card pile, and thus left us with a similar question as to their status in the next battle. Since both of us have scheduling conflicts that made it difficult to get together routinely, and since we played on a Sunday evening, we elected to resolve the issue ourselves rather than call the developer, and it was decided that kept cards would be discarded after a battle and that we would draw six new cards before proceeding with the game. Whether correct or not, our decision worked, and from there the war was on. DG Associates clearly intended for gamers to contact them with questions, and a phone number, email, and snail mail address was provided in the documentation with a clear invitation to contact the developer on questions. If it hadn't been Sunday evening, we probably would have called. But the nice thing about games where the rules aren't encoded into a game console or PC is that players can change things they mutually agree upon, and while I would have liked to have seen another sentence or two added to the rules for the sake of clarity, the issue wasn't insurmountable and only held us up for a couple of minutes while we discussed it.

There is a website where players can obtain further information on optional rules, clarifications, and expansions to the game. The website is easy to navigate, and players should have no trouble finding useful information.

One thing that might have been useful would have been an example of play. Battlecards is not a complex game, but an introductory round or two might be useful to players new to card-based combat games, and it probably would have cleared up the minor confusion my partner and I experienced in the early rounds of play.

Graphics

Even a cursory examination of the cards will reveal the impression that great care was placed in the creation and design of each card. The cards themselves are made out of high-quality matte-finish card stock. They are printed in full color which echoes those on the box and the D&G Associates website: fiery orange for ground units, a water-like aqua for naval units, and a sky-like blue for air units. In the center of each unit card is a black and white photo that appears to be an authentic photo form World War II. The level of detail goes deeper than just a stock photo. Many units have more than just a generic designation of "fighter" or "cruiser." For instance, one air card represents the German Junkers Ju-87 dive bomber, and the photo on the card is the trademark airplane with fixed landing gear. Some units are generically represented; there are cards designated generically as a German Nurnberg-class Cruiser or British 25-pound field gun. There are also a few unique cards representing leaders, such as Erwin Rommel and Winston Churchill, with corresponding photos. 

Here are some examples of the leader cards. I even managed to assassinate Hitler during our game, though it had little effect on the outcome.

The reverse of each side's unit cards has a respective Union Jack or Nazi swastika flag for easy identification, and both are printed in color. A third Conflict Deck is also printed in color, with most of the cards printed with appropriately historical photos used in the background. The Sabotage card, which allows for the player to select a card from his opponent's hand and "destroy" it by forcing him to discard it, has a map printed on it which appears to be an airfield and a building targeted for destruction crossed out in bright red. The Invasion of France & Belgium Battlecard has a photo of a mechanized column moving down a road, while the Misinformation card, which forces the attacking player to fight a different battle than the one he drew, has a background of some kind of document written in Russian with what might be an English translation printed lightly behind it. I have no idea what it says, but the feel of all of these cards lends as much authenticity to the game as can be done with the material at hand.

An example of the front and back of the German cards.	An example of the front and back of the British cards.
The graphic design of these cards is well done and helps to set the mood for gameplay. Note the numbers 18 and 12; these cards are substituted for dice, as I mention below.