A steep mountain to climb, but the peak awaiting is beautiful.
Review:
People have always enjoyed playing card games to relax, but also take them seriously as more than a hobby. They invest time, money, and energy to mastering their deck. The same goes for the fighting game for people who love playing against different characters but also wanted to dig deeper into the mechanics. Training and learning matchups, they do their best to prepare for anything a player may throw at them. Enter Battle Con: War of Indines which combines the two into a card fighting game. Card games and fighting games has always rewarded those who invest their time in them. Battle Con: War of Indines is no different, especially with its learning curve. If you’re willing to endure the curve, this game will definitely have a lot going on to keep you playing.
War of Indines Has a very straightforward objective. Using your character your goal is to reduce the health counter to zero. First-person to reduce the counter to zero wins the round. A pre-determined amount of rounds determines the match, for example, Best 2 out of 3. The game has multiple different modes of playing. The mode that I chose to play with the two-player format.
Using the two-player format the game starts you off with a hand of 5 bases and 3 style cards which can be matched to create an attack pair. Two attack pairs will be in the first and second card discard slots. The life counter for players each starts at 20. Under normal conditions, players will rotate through cards, discarding attack pairs into the second slot, moving the second slot cards to the first card discard slot. The first discard slot cards are picked up ready for use. Certain characters may have actions that activate before, during, or after a turn, which Battle Con named them “Beat”. That actions may activate because of cards played, or the character’s abilities. As you work your way through the board game, you must strategize what cards to use in which scenario in order to beat your opponent.
This game is all about strategizing. As you’re working through each beat, you’re thinking about what your character can do in order to advance your goals for winning. You’re also thinking about what cards a player has in their hand that might hinder you. Negative effects, attacks within range, and what you may have to give up one be in order to be successful the next one all will run through your mind playing the game. War of Indines emphasizes strategic thinking in order to be the best player of the match and rewards you with decisive victories. To ensure rewarding strategic winning, the rule books are clear in terms of directions and actions. Furthermore, the game works to balance each character as to not give characters certain edges over the other.
At times though the game can become a bit complicated. Working through the different characters their quirks and playing through the game, new players found it difficult to grasp what I was playing. While the rules were on the board, it felt complicated when figuring out the flow of the game. For instance, unlike with less complicated board games, Battle Con: War of Indines felt as if we had to pause each action to understand what steps we could take, rather than focusing on strategic maneuvering. While playing multiple different rounds with the same character improve performance, it still left something to be desired.
This complication also lead for a sense of balancing issues. Right off the bat, War of Indines prides itself on being a balanced game to play. While this is the case for experienced players who can delve into the strategies of each character, for new players it can be overwhelming. Certain attack combinations feel overwhelming as it can take them out without any response. Other times attacks that stun feel as if there is no response mechanism to combat it, even though stun immunity and stun guard exist.
Despite some of these issues, it plays very well. Learning how to counter each character and having a card dedicated to character descriptions allows for strategic planning. Players for each match learn countering weaknesses within your character and exploit other character weaknesses. For those who want to be character specialists, it becomes rewarding learning and improving on your strengths to win rounds. Like mixing it up, War of Indines gives you a sense of challenge and reward for being able to be situational given the player.
Summary:
Battle Con: War of Indines is a no-nonsense, no holds bar card-based fighting game that really wants to value fighting game situational awareness. With that knowledge known, the learning curve is rough to get to that point. Many people are going to need to take their time to learn the system, and it’s not going to click for everyone including your more relaxed board game players. But, for those that want to discipline themselves, take the time to enjoy the game, they will find a lot to love. Unique characters, different fighting styles, and situations will reel you into the game. Battle Con: War of Indines is definitely a game to check out for those who want to enjoy a tough but fair card-based game.
Grade: B
