When I was a kid, our version of “war on cards” (to borrow Postmark Games’ tagline) was war. For those who haven’t had the fun (and I use that term loosely), both players flip over the top cards of their decks at the same time, and the top card steals the bottom card. Repeated nausea.
52 Duels clearly isn’t.
Instead, the good folks at Postmark Games (Matthew Dunstan and Rory Muldoon) took the basic idea from their successful Trump-driven solo dungeon crawler (52 Realms: Adventures) and created a head-to-head dueling game with real decision-making and clever mechanics.
And it all fits into a few pages of rules and a few print-and-play character sheets.
For those new to Postmark Games, all Postmark Games designs are printable and playable. In other words, you will be purchasing the right to print copies of various game elements for yourself and other players. The physical elements that must be provided are simple. For 52 Duels, you need two regular decks of playing cards. (While other games require a d6 and a pencil/pen, 52 Realms: Adventures requires a deck of cards and two small cubes.) You don’t have to cut out cards or build a board. Each game element is a piece of paper.
Additionally, each Postmark game has additional content released over time, including new maps for Voyage, Aquamarine, and Waypoints. New dungeons and characters in 52 Realms: Adventures. As a backer of all their projects, I can attest to the quality of the subsequent content.
So enough about Postmark’s business model and high quality, let’s talk about 52 Duels.
52 Duel: An Introduction
52 Duels can be fought directly against a live human opponent or a very powerful AI opponent/nemesis. (Each player mat is double-sided.) I tried both modes and each worked very well.
Each player has two discard piles. One is actually the discard pile (which is shuffled when the deck runs out of cards), and the other is the scar pile, where damaged cards are placed and are unlikely to return to the deck.
On your turn, you take a hand of five cards and use two actions to assign the cards to different positions on the player mat.
You can “level up” your fighter to gain passive buffs for the rest of the game. (What does it cost? Those cards never go back into the deck.) You can play cards of the same suit, same rank, run, full house, etc. with four attacks, essentially similar to a poker hand. When you play a card for an attack, you can trigger the attack if there are enough cards there. Some attacks can be triggered on multiple levels. Others require a set number. (Attack cards are discarded into the discard pile.) Based on suit, cards can be played as items. These can be used to heal, create wild cards for attacks, and even force opponents to discard cards from their player mats. (Items are also discarded to the discard pile.)
After completing the two actions, replenish your hand to five cards and wait for the enemy’s next sortie.
All characters have some kind of defensive ability that allows them to discard or reveal cards from their hand to reduce damage. If your opponent can generate more damage than you can block, you take that damage by discarding a card from the top of your draw deck into the Wounds pile.
As you’ve probably guessed, if you fail to replenish your hand to five cards at the end of your turn, or are injured and your deck is empty of cards, you lose. Victory is when it happens to the other person before it happens to you.
Unfortunately, my only head-to-head match (so far!) ended in an ignominious loss at the hands of my second son. I sigh. (A rematch is coming.)
52 Realm Solo
I’ve written a lot about solo play on the OG site…and I’m happy with how well each of Postmark Games works as a solo experience. The same goes for 52 Duel.
The back of each character is a nemesis version of that character with specific instructions on how to play your opponent’s hand. Face cards are used to level up, and other cards are categorized by suit of various attacks. If the appropriate number of cards are present, these attacks will be triggered after all cards have been played.
Nemesis can also protect itself. When you attack, you pick up their 5 card hand and use the applicable card to reduce damage. By looking into your opponent’s hand, you can also get information about how they will attack you on their turn. This is information you can use to your advantage.
I’m 1-on-1 against the AI so far. That means we’re not ready to increase the difficulty…but Matthew and Rory already have a suggestion in the rules to do that.
final thoughts
52 Duels is currently on Kickstarter…and 6-7 USD feels like a steal. This means that the Postmark team will have four characters in the initial release, with plans to release six more over the next year or so.
Like all Postmark Games, this is a great travel game. Especially suitable for people who end up staying in hotels for work. It’s easy to put a few sheets in a folder and toss them in your laptop bag (along with the necessary deck of cards and dice).
Finally, this is a game where paying attention to the cards is important. Have you ever seen a certain suit or rank remain in the scar pile? Did you throw in a bunch of face cards to level up? How does it affect your ability to perform certain attacks?
In other words, it’s a real game with real decisions. Well done, Postmark Games.
In order to write this article, I received a preview copy of the game, which includes just two characters…and when the Kickstarter went live yesterday, I immediately backed 52 Duels with my own money.
Note: If you want to jump down the rabbit hole, there are actually multiple versions of War. I would like to play 52 Duel. Thank you in advance.
Something like this:
Like loading…
About Mark Jackson
Followers of Jesus, Husbands, Fathers, Pastors, Board Gamers, Authors, Lego Enthusiasts, and Disney Fans Voted Most Likely to Have the Same Christmas Wish List When They Turn 60 as They Did When They Were Six
Source link
