New War Cards Out There?

[gloriousbattle]

Unlike many, it seems, I enjoy the war card system, though I have played many Birthright battles with Battlesystem and even City State Warfare http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17345/city-state-warfare

Still, the war card system has its charm, and anyone who thinks it is not tactical has either not played it often or not read the rules closely enough. No, stacking all of your units in one area DOES NOT work. In fact, it is a very good way for a novice general to get chopped up by a Hannibal or a Caesar. Check out the morale rules on pages 71-72 of the rulebook to see why.

In any case, I am always interested in discussion of the war card system and in new cards. I found these http://hastur.net/abbe/birthright/cardbattles/newCards/masetians.html which are quite nice, but it pisses me off that the most fantastic card this guy made, http://hastur.net/abbe/birthright/cardbattles/battle-frame.html the Order of the Sun Griffon Riders, is not, in fact, available. You click on the icon, and you get a crossbowman instead.

Anyway, anybody know of any other cards on the web, or just want to talk war cards in general?

[Delazar]

I would love to discuss about War Cards, because I really want to love them, but experience in game has pushed me away from them.

Yes, my players were always stacking cards in one area, now my memory is a bit foggy, but I remember some favorable spells applying to "everyone in the area where the spell is cast".

While if the opposition stacked in one area, they would punish them with some spell also affecting the whole area.

In general, I think my experience was spoiled by the use of magic in battle.

Also, when so many cards were stacked in the same area, I had difficulties sorting out who was engaged with who, who was not engaged, etc.

I remember at the end of the campaign, I just ruled that every area could only contain one troop from each side, but I expanded the battlefield.

[AndrewTall]

http://www.birthright.net/forums/showthread.php?3986-Custom-Warcards&highlight=cards

If you use the search function you should find several threads on new war-cards. Sadly some pictures got lost in various over-hauls but some members might be able to re-post them if you are interested.

[Birthright-L]

At 06:59 AM 12/18/2013, Delazar wrote:

>I would love to discuss about War Cards, because I really want to
>love them, but experience in game has pushed me away from them.
>
>Yes, my players were always stacking cards in one area, now my
>memoriy is a bit foggy, but I remember some spells applying to
>"everyone in the area where the spell is cast".
>
>While if the opposition stacked in one area, they would punish them
>with some spell also affecting the whole area.
>
>In general, I think my experience was spoiled by the use of magic in battle.
>
>Also, when so many cards were stacked in the same area, I had
>difficulties sorting out who was engaged with who, who was not engaged, etc.
>
>I remember at the end of the campaign, I just ruled that every are
>could only contain on troop from each side, but I expanded the battlefield.

It`s been an awful long time since I tried to use the warcards, but
it seems to me that the first thing that I did was throw out that
battlefield layout map. It just makes for an awkward system of
play--and it`s not really either a good war game or a good card game,
so it needed to go. I also got rid of stacking as it just seemed
illogical and made it difficult to play.

You can play things out using the warcards on a larger grid. I found
the size of the grid depended on the number of cards being used on
either side and how the players wanted to lay them out. You need
enough room for an empty square on the flanks of each side after
players have laid out their formation. You might find two works
better. That gives room to maneuver and requires a bit of space to
"flee" the battlefield.

After a little experimentation, though, we dropped warcards and went
with various large scale combat systems to resolve that aspect of
play, but there`s no reason you couldn`t use warcards if you really
want. They aren`t a particularly good or useful system, though, so I
wouldn`t worry too much about sticking to them.

Gary