Civilization has been wiped out by multi-colored meteors of all things. Of the survivors, some had discovered that they had gained incredible superpowers. As you would expect, some used their powers for good while others used it for evil. In “Heroes & Villains”, a collectible/customizable deck-battle game that’s coming to Kickstarter October 12, 2021, you’ll be tasked with building a deck of superpowers and battling others for supremacy. It supports 2-6 players and ages 10+ with an average play time of 15 minutes per game.
Special thanks to Kate Arrington, General Manager at Neddy Games, for sending a prototype copy for promotional purposes. It’s important to stress that prototypes are typically not reflective of the finished product, making everything you see and read about here subject to change. Before we begin I’m required by FTC Regulations to disclose that I was paid to cover this game, but any and all opinions are my own.
First, I’d like to delve a little into deck construction because let’s face it…being able to customize and build a deck of powers and abilities is why we typically play these kinds of games in the first place. I’ve spent many hours pouring over lists on games like “Star Wars: Destiny” and “Star Wars: The Living Card Game” and I think I have more fun building lists than actually playing them, which may or may not seem odd. In the case of “Heroes & Villains”, you’ll choose either a hero or villain card, then a maximum of 24 others.
The cards in “Heroes & Villains” have different power types: assault, minion, tactics, and weapon. You can’t have more than 3 copies of the same assault, minion, tactic or weapon and for every different power type you include in your deck past the first type, you’ll reduce your maximum deck size of 24 by 1. For example, a deck using 3 different power card types will have a maximum deck size of 22. As mentioned above each player starts with a single hero or villain card. This card starts the game in play. Your hero/villain card is like a one-use special ability that is extremely powerful. They can’t be countered, depleted, stunned, purged, or anything of that nature. These one-time use abilities can help you change the course of the game if things start looking a little grim.
Setup is fairly easy in that players shuffle their deck and draw four cards to form their starting hand. Their hero/villain should be face-up on the table.
Turns play out similar to that of a deck-builder roguelike in that you’ll get 4 energy points on your turn to play cards that are in your hand. Unused energy doesn’t carry over. On a player’s turn, they’ll draw one card if able up to a maximum of 5 cards, discarding down if necessary. They’ll then play cards from their hand of their choosing observing their individual energy costs. They can also spend energy to activate cards that are already on the table. Unlike typical deck-building roguelikes, activating a card moves it to your stockpile. Players can play cards and activate cards in any order they wish.
The ultimate goal is deplete your opponent’s deck of cards. Common ways to do this is to play assault cards (a type of power card) that move cards from an opponent’s deck to their stockpile (a place where activated, countered, or discarded cards go after being used). Some card effects allow you to “restore” cards from the stockpile. Purged cards go into a separate void pile…these cards are typically gone forever. If there are no more cards in your opponent’s deck at the beginning of your turn, you win!
The above doesn’t cover every rule found in the rulebook, but should give you a general idea as to how the game is played.
As mentioned above I’m a big fan of customizable card games. I typically never have the time I’d like to spend on them, but I enjoy the theory crafting that goes along with it. Customizable deck builders allow you to shape a deck around YOUR preferred playstyle. Like turtling in popular/typical real time strategy games like “Starcraft”? There’s probably a defense build for your somewhere. Enjoy being sneaky or just want to destroy your opponent with brute force? There are typically deck builds for that too.
“Heroes & Villains” accomplishes this kind of customization via the use of their different power card types. Personally I’m fond of the minion power type cards that provide you with multiple options. Tactic cards are interesting as well as they let you do some crazy things that sometimes require specific situations to be really useful. Weapons are superpower specific cards that scale in power depending on the circumstances. Assault…well, the term Hulk Smash comes to mind. You can add different types to your deck or simply focus on one type. Remember, the more types you add, the lower your maximum deck size will be.
I’m of the opinion that deck-builders are great fun and “Heroes & Villains” is no exception. I consider it light-weight compared to other game’s I’ve played, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Gateway games exist to help introduce gamers to certain mechanics and genres so without the more accessible games, the brain crunchers might go unnoticed. I’ve discovered so many great and unique games by playing their simpler counterparts first (“Splendor” led me to “A Wonderful World” and “Spice Road”, for example).
Along those same lines the developers behind “Heroes & Villains” are developing a separate mobile app. It’s a free-to-play standalone game to where you can often try new cards/decks prior to their physical release. I often do this with “Tabletop Simulator” in that I try before I buy, so I personally think that this separate app is a great move. I’m a very busy person so having access to a digital counterpart to get my fix is very convenient. I imagine that some of you can relate.
The developer offered the following regarding the mobile app and Kickstarter Goals:
“A free to play mobile version of Heroes & Villains will be launching with the TableTop version. Use Cosmic Dust as currency to unlock new characters and backgrounds. Discover new Power Decks before they are available on store shelves. Don’t be limited by your devices. Mobile Games will be available on Android and iOS. Introductory levels on Kickstarter gets you Beta access and Cosmic Dust to begin molding your Perfect Power Deck!!!”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neddygames/heroes-and-villains-game
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