In the Spotlight - BattleCon : War of Indines

I love finding new games. The kind of games that don't make popular headlines, and don't already have a huge following. Some of them get a few outings with friends and then get put back in its box and bought out now and then when the time is right. Some of them, however, turn out to be real gems. The kind of game that, once you get your teeth into them, and see what they have to offer, you find yourself wanting to introduce everyone you know to it, because you think it will improve their gaming lives.

Good things come in small packages.

BattleCon, is one of those games.

It is essentially a card game interpretation of classic 2D fighting games such as Mortal Kombat or Tekken.

With a rule set that can be explained in 5 minutes, the mechanics of the game are simplicity itself, however there is a huge amount of hidden complexity underneath this streamlined rule set.

The box comes with all the cards to play any combination of the 21 characters, all of which come with their own background and story, and all the fighters have a very unique style of play, and special abilities and finishers. After trying some of the fighters, you will begin to see where their various strengths and weaknesses lie, but more importantly, you will find a fighter whose style and moves you just fall in love with.

Each fighter comes with a character stand up to represent you on the field of battle, along with unique cards, and tokens that you will use to represent your fighters abilities. These then combine with 6 generic "base" cards that every player has access to, and these cards form your hand.

Each fighter comes with their own kit.

Game play essentially comprises multiple rounds of combat where each player picks and plays "attack pairs" of a "base" (blue) and a "style" (red) card from their hand, and lays them face down on the table. Both players then have a chance to "ante" tokens to represent them using abilities before both players simultaneously reveal the attack pairs they have selected. The attacks and their effects are then resolved on the table, and the sequence is repeated for another turn. Each of these "beats" of combat last no more than 15 or 20 seconds to resolve, and the pace of the game is certainly fast and furious. This is a highly simplified explanation of how combat works, and to get a better idea, please follow the link at the end of this post to the quick start rules for the game.

An "attack pair"

The game is very versatile and can be played 1v1, 2v1 or 2v2.

Ive introduced this game to people aged 12-40 and every one of them has had a blast, and I'm constantly surprised to find which fighters people enjoy playing and why.

I got into this game after trying their online Free to Play version (see bottom of post) where you can try out 4 of the characters from the box set for free, as long as you have access to a printer. Within a day I had put in an order for the full game.

In July, the new stand alone expansion is coming out, offering another 30 new characters, and with it a whole host of new options, game modes, bosses and potential.

With more and more people showing an interest in the game, I'm looking to run a tournament with some of the local players soon, and I'll certainly let you all know how it goes. I cant wait.

Andy of Team Gambit.

Link to Print and Play Version (includes rules)
Comic Style Online Rules