Futuristic game fights against radiation

Well after a few weeks of trying to offer game activities to get us all out in the summer sunshine, it's time to get back to the more traditional gaming table.

This week I'm going to take a quick look at a game we may never see available to the public.

War Command: The Physical Edition is one of those interesting cross-over games which pop up on occasion these days.

The physical card game had its roots in a computer version.

"War Command has always been planned and budgeted for exclusively as an IOS project. Recently we've gone through some internal shuffling in the programming side of the project, which resulted in our release ultimately being pushed back but with the possibility of releasing to multiple platforms much faster, and that got us thinking about our user feedback," detailed the Kickstarter campaign page launched by Fringe Games as a means of trying to raise funds for the actual cards. "The thing is, while many people were as psyched as we were for a card game in a convenient, electronic format where you need never fear losing your cards or, god forbid, spilling coffee on them, our most consistent request by far was that we also release the game in a physical edition."

As a reviewer I contacted company rep Rusty Hayes and was sent pdfs of the cards, in full colour no less, which afforded me the opportunity to do a print 'n' play set.

The Kickstarter page explained the game as "a card game that plays out like a Tactical Board Game or Tabletop RPG. It combines the deck building elements of a Trading Card Game with the strategic positioning of a battle field environment. Players move character cards around on a board, playing support cards from their hand in concert with character movements and attacks in a mad race to destroy the other player's commander card first."

The artwork for the set, while perhaps not a stunning attraction, is solid and fits the science fiction theme, which again is explained on the Kickstarter campaign. "The game takes place in the far future on the planet Haven, which, due to a cataclysmic wave of radiation, will soon be the last livable planet in the galaxy. Upon learning of the impending disaster, Humanity quickly scrapped what civilization remained on earth and took to the stars; arriving at the shielded planet just in time to survive the interstellar catastrophe. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't planned on its pulsing gravity field or violent magnetic storms. Doubly unfortunate for them, they weren't the only ones."

The decks are tight, only 31 cards per player, so each one has some importance in terms of how your strategy will work in head-to-head play. That is a good thing. Card games can get bogged down in too many card options which ultimately reduces the chance you will get the key cards you need at the time you need them.

This is a game that if you are already a fan of Summoner Wars, or Mage Wars, (a more distant cousin), would have found War Command a worthy sci-fi addition.

But you notice I said would have.

The Kickstarter campaign had a goal of $25,000, and it fell significantly short of hitting that mark.

As a result War Command: The Physical Edition is a game left in limbo, at least for the time being. Some failed Kickstarter games rise from the ashes in time, other get put away in some designer's closet and left there.

If anyone is interested feel free to contact [email protected]