After playing a game of BattleCON Online with JR Honeycutt for a hands-on review I wanted to give the actual card game itself a go to see how it played on the tabletop as well as the desktop. While we pretty much cover video games exclusively I thought that a look at the game that started the online version would be a great idea. And I have to say that if you’re at all into board or card games you should check Devastation of Indines, the first boxed set of BattleCON. As a side note, there are more products in the line, including War of Indines and the upcoming Fate of Indines.
So, I took the time and conscripted a couple friends to play through a few rounds of BattleCON and we had a fun time beating the crap out of each other. The game is fast paced and intense, and if you’re familiar with fighting games like Street Fighter then you should have at least a base understanding of how it works. If you read my piece on the online alpha then you already have a starting understanding of how to play. Obviously, the gameplay is pretty much the same so I won’t reiterate how to play and instead focus on my thoughts.
All right, so we were very much newcomers to BattleCON. Which meant that in order to be able to get through each game without too much frustration we each took fighters from the first “flight” and between each of us we tried out each one to get a feel for how each of the six styles of play worked out. I’ll be honest and say that I hated playing Marmelee the specialist, but I did enjoy how the others worked.
Aside from just the standard rules we also tried a couple variants. Doing the boss fight with Larimore Burman was a pain as none of us were able to figure out some of his attacks and special rules and in the end I wonder if we were even doing it right. Assuming we were it didn’t seem like much of a fun match. I’m sure the other boss scenarios are more enjoyable, but he was the lowest ranked one. I’m sure that if we understood his mechanics better we’d have had a better time of it.
The final variant that I wanted to try out was the solo mode dungeon. I brought in one fighter (Eligor because I like the way he plays) to comb the depths of Baroness Ancella’s Crypt. Outside of the one-on-one fights this is probably my favorite part of BattleCON. There are other dungeons that are “tag team” and co-op, which I’d love to play through eventually. Anyway, you start off with some gold to spend on upgrades then you go floor by floor clearing rooms until you hit the final boss. Kill it and you win. Simple. And fun.
I barely scratched the surface of what BattleCON has to offer and based on what I have seen this is a card game worth playing over and over. With somewhere around 30 fighters, each one with their own special abilities and attacks, several modes and variants, boss fights, and dungeon crawls there’s a lot to take in. And that’s just one set. War, Fate, and other releases add even more stuff to the stable. I highly recommend checking this one out if you’re a fan of board games, card games, or fighting games. And if you don’t have anyone to play with you can always wait for the online game to come out.
