Reviewed by Michael Peck
The Military Book Review
First there were miniature lead soldiers, then paper games and then computer games. Now a fourth domain of war gaming has appeared in recent years.
Cards used to be for Vegas casinos and couples playing bridge. But after collectible card games like "Magic" became a huge craze, war game designers realized there's a market for quick, fun card games with a military history theme.
A favorite of mine is "Star Fleet Battle Force" ($22.95), a card game based on Star Trek.
"Wait!" cry the war-gaming purists, "Star Trek is science fiction, not history!" Ah, but the Star Trek universe has become such a part of our culture that the Federation and Klingon histories might as well be reality. So it's no surprise that the folks at Amarillo Design Bureau have designed a popular starship combat board game called "Star Fleet Battles," of which "Star Fleet Battle Force" is the card version.
Play is fast and furious. Each player — up to six — randomly draws several ship cards, giving each a mixed fleet of races and ships, from Federation command cruisers (aka the USS Enterprise) to Klingon frigates and Gorn dreadnoughts. Each of the very attractive ship cards is printed with several weapons, depending on the race that built it and the size of the ship.
Players also draw action cards, which include offensive cards like photon torpedoes, plasma torpedoes and phasers. If your Klingon battle cruiser fires disruptors and your Romulan War Eagle shoots plasma torpedoes, then you'd better draw a disruptor or a plasma torpedo card, or sit helplessly while the opposition dematerializes you.
Fortunately, there are defensive cards such as electronic countermeasures and erratic maneuvering. To add a touch of (original series) flavor, there are event cards such as Organian Ceasefire (when the superbeings say shake hands, you shake hands). Ship damage accumulates gradually and is marked by plastic beads placed on destroyed system boxes on each ship card.
Even if you're not a Trek fan, it's fun to blast an opponent's space fleet into smithereens.
For those who prefer real history in their war games, Decision Games has released their "Lightning War" series of card games ($19.99). Designed by prolific card game designer Dan Verssen, a game can be finished in under 30 minutes. My opponent and I found the rules to "Midway" vague, which perhaps isn't surprising given that the rules are only a page long.
"D-Day" turned out to be fun. The German and Allied players each get a separate deck of action cards. Five beach cards, named for the historical invasion beaches, are placed in the center of the table. Each player then places cards representing the historical units that invaded or defended them on each beach.
Unit cards have strength values, and play involves each player committing additional action cards from his hand (artillery, paratroopers, etc.) that enhance the offensive or defensive value of the unit cards. Whoever has the highest total wins; the loser must remove one of his unit cards from the beach. The Allies capture a beach when the last German defender is gone. Otherwise, the Germans retain it.
The Allies have more firepower, but only five turns to capture the beaches. The Germans get cards that make them particularly strong on Omaha Beach (where the U.S. 1st Infantry Division was almost destroyed), while the British have an easier time on Gold. "D-Day" is a tense game that offers both sides a chance to attack and defend.
One benefit of card games is that they're easy to teach, and war-gaming newbies will find them less intimidating than a giant map with hundreds of little cardboard pieces. They're also great intro games to bring children into the hobby. Even experienced gamers who lack time and space for big cardboard simulations can appreciate these card games.
