Stats:
No. of players: 2
Amount of time to play: 60-90 min
Age requirements: 13+
Set-up time: 5 minutes

Conquest Tactics Rules Description:

Conquest Tactics is a fantasy-themed, strategy card game. You must lead your units to attain three of your victory conditions before your opponent.

There are three factions included in the starter set, humans, the malice and kaborha. Each plays differently and has different strengths and weaknesses.

You and your opponent pick a faction deck and start the game with 20 points worth of low level units, spells, skills and your base. The rest of your 60 card deck is shuffled and becomes your draw pile. You also set aside your four victory conditions and three trophies.

The game takes place on a 5×5 grid map. The first two rows on your side is where you may deploy your units. After your initial units are deployed, you draw five cards and the game begins.

The seven steps of each turn in Conquest Tactics spell TRIUMPH. Here is a break down of each phase:

• T – Tactical Points: You start the game with 5 tactical points. Each round you gain two more. You spend these to bring units to the field and take actions with them.
• R – Resupply: Replenish your hand back up to five cards or draw one if already at five cards.
• I – Initiative: The initiative marker moves to the other player.
• U – Up the Field: Each unit has a chance to move one space forward. (play alternates)
• M – Mobilize: This is the phase where you deploy new units, spells, skills and equipment for tactical points. You may also upgrade a unit for one tactical point. You may also gain two additional tactical points to spend only on mobilization by discarding a card. Skills and spells put into play now are placed in your knowledge pool and may be used once each round.
• P – Play: Players take actions with their units. These actions cost tactical points and the player with the most tactical points acts. Initiative breaks ties. You may play skills and spells from your hand but they will go to your discard pile.
• H – Halt: Some end of round effects take place during this phase. You also check for victory conditions. If you meet a victory condition you can add one of your three trophies to your deck. If you have met three victory conditions you win the game.

The larger the disparity of victory conditions the winner has met over the loser the better the win.

Quick Review of Conquest Tactics:

Conquest Tactics is a fun and strategic card game with some depth. The learning curve is not too steep so after a few plays you should have most of the gameplay down. There are rules included for customizing your deck, but one starter set does not really give you much opportunity to use them.

The components for the game are hit and miss. Most of the artwork is good but some is not. The board is a bit bland but well put together. The box is a bit flimsy and is just open with no insert so the board has ample room to move around. The card boxes are just big enough to fit the decks and are very snug. The rules are pretty well written but there are some situations that may arise that you’ll have to house rule. None of these are huge issues but you should be aware of them.

The other thing that some might find annoying is the organization of the information on the cards. Keywords and stats are in different places on each card type and the text is centered. Again not a huge deal but some standardization of element placement and left-aligning the text would help the cards’ legibility.

That said there is a lot I like about this game. The fact it is expandable and not collectible is one thing. You can pick up the starter and get everything you need to play and enjoy the game.

The mechanics and gameplay are very good. The way tactical points are used and interact with the initiative is great. You really need to pay attention and there are many meaningful decisions. Even being able to discard cards to gain more tactical points to mobilize adds to this dynamic.

Another unique and interesting aspect of the game is being able to level your units. Leveling up will make units more powerful, but means you’ll have less units on the board. Each of your decisions will impact the game.

The factions are pretty balanced too. The humans suffer a bit from being generalists, but the malice and kaborha are very evenly matched.

If you are looking for a good, strategic card game, check out Conquest Tactics. It is like Summoner Wars without the dice.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 3 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 5 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6 (Once there is an expansion or two this should easily go up to a 5 out of 6.)