KARDS Review: A Strategic And Fun Return To WWII

In-game content provided by 1939 Games

KARDS is a CCG set during WWII. Developed and published by 1939 Games, it’s a thematic and engaging deck-builder that adopts the winning formula of games like Hearthstone or Gwent and molds that potential into a fusion of traditional CCG gameplay and wargame mechanics. It introduces real battlefield tactics that anchor the setting, and it hearkens back to classic strategy games like chess while reinforcing the military theme with a visual and audio design that evokes memories of “the greatest generation.”

The game has been in Early Access on Steam for twelve months, but it officially released today after more than a million hours of playtesting from the passionate community.

1939 Games will continue the development of the game with free expansions, events, and updates that promise additional card sets, tournaments, and new game modes. So there’s a lot on the horizon for KARDS, including a mobile version for Android and iOS. So expect cross-platform play in the future.

To celebrate the release, let’s go back in time to a world at war and explore what makes KARDS a CCG worth playing.

STORY

It wouldn’t be a World War II game without the nations that fought in the global conflict. And KARDS lets you choose between seven world powers—Germany, the United States, Japan, Soviet Union, British Empire, France, and Italy.

The Heer, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine branches of the German Wehrmacht.

The well-oiled war machine of the USA.

The honor-bound and tenacious troops of the Japanese Imperial Army.

The unrelenting manpower of the Soviet Union.

The high-powered naval and airborne units of the British Empire.

The willful resistance of the Free French Forces.

The major military advances of the Italian armies.

Iconic nations in one of the most studied and revisited periods in history. In KARDS, you can play as all of them, and it’s just as entertaining and competitive to match up nations that never fought as it is to line up old adversaries.

GAMEPLAY

Check out some impressive players showcasing the depth and potential in KARDS. This is the final battle of the KARDS World Championship 2019.

I’ll be the first to admit. I’m woefully inadequate in CCGs. I imagine with more time and dedication, I could learn the intricacies, the strategies, and the techniques for building the best decks. And apply that strategy in real-time against opponents.

But I’m not there yet.

Thankfully, KARDS is an accessible game for newcomers and CCG veterans alike. The WWII setting makes the gameplay intuitive and replacing the high-fantasy lore of so many CCGs with the familiar wartime era of the 1940s means that the gameplay mechanics actually make more sense. It’s grounded in realism, and players build decks from historically-accurate infantry, tanks, artillery, and aircraft.

And as I mentioned, the period-appropriate art, sound effects, and music tie everything together.

Where to start?

You can’t talk about a CCG without talking about the cards. And there are a ton. Infantry, tanks, artillery, and aircraft. And those are just the military units. There are also event cards or support cards that can be used in tandem with the rest of your deck to reinforce your headquarters, bolster an attack, or counter enemy maneuvers.

And while players gain access to the base decks when starting the game, better cards can be incorporated into your library of potential cards with card packs. Other games lock the best cards behind painfully slow progression or paywalls that force players to spend real-world currency in order to unlock the strongest cards. KARDS, however, seems easier than most to play without having to invest money if you don’t want to.

It’s possible to get all of the cards in the game without paying. I’m hours and hours away from that achievement, but I like how KARDS makes it inviting for all players.

How to play?

Each player has a deck. From that deck, they draw their hand. Each player also possesses headquarters—with finite health—that must be defended. Using the customized mix of units and support cards, players will draw from their hands and put cards into play. Playing cards from the hand and activating units on the field both cost kredits. Kredits are the action points that each player can gather in order to execute their strategy on the battlefield. The battlefield is divided into the support line and the frontline. Each can hold five cards total and they serve different purposes. Units start at the support line, where the HQ is located. The frontline is the land between the opposing forces. Only one side can occupy it at a time. Infantry and tanks must be in the frontline to deal damage to the enemy’s support line and HQ. Play progresses until one player has defeated another player’s HQ.

It’s pretty straightforward, and it’s an engaging battle of defensive and offensive decisions as players try to undo the enemy’s progress and whittle down the strength of the opposing nation.

And if you’re new to CCGs, then KARDS will gradually ease you into the game. The tutorial requires players to fight each of the nations in order to unlock their decks. That process reveals the different strengths and weaknesses of the warring powers, and it grounds you in the gameplay by encouraging repetition. By the time you’re ready to face more skilled opponents, human or AI, you’ve played six times and you’ve seen what each nation has to offer in terms of tactical advantages.

The best part is when you can combine cards from different nations into one deck. Did you get some strong Japanese Imperial Army cards in a pack? Why don’t you use those in the British Commonwealth deck?

Or create a devastating combo with some United States and German cards inside of the Soviet Union deck.

That freedom to mix and match enhances the quality of a deck that can be compiled in KARDS.

Overall, KARDS captures the appeal of the WWII era and it implements CCG gameplay while innovating on the genre with the frontline mechanic. When the game expands to Android and iOS, the cross-platform play will open up opportunities for accessible play in an addictive thematic world.

VISUALS

The artwork on the cards is wonderful, and it feels like you’re looking in illustrated history books as each unit is depicted in the kind of propaganda imagery that would have been prevalent in the countries to support the war effort.

Along with the audio design, the visuals elevate the experience by making you enter a time machine back to “the greatest generation” and the massive events that shaped our history.

AUDIO

Machine-gun fire. Artillery shells. Bombing runs. All of the historical sounds of WWII emanate from the game when fighting in KARDS. It pulls you back into the 1940s and it makes you feel like your actions have consequences every time you hear the treads of the tank as armored units push to the frontline. As units and HQs suffer damage from enemy fire, players are drawn into the world in a time of global war.

1939 Games has done a good job of complementing the gameplay with smart design choices elsewhere, and the audio is a small but important part of the experience.

REPLAYABILITY

CCGs have remarkable replay value, and KARDS is no different. If you enjoy the strategy and the card-collecting, you’ll be able to sink hours into this game.

Once the cross-platform play is available, it could easily be a game that you sit down and play for twenty or thirty minutes at a time whenever you want to get a match in.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t sink hours at a time into KARDS. You can. Quite easily.

WHAT IT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

Including more special events or daily challenges that grant access to better cards might incentivize more players who don’t want to sink any money into the game. 1939 Games has already worked to ensure that this isn’t a pay-to-play game, but even more could be done.

And it would be nice to skip the tutorial. I didn’t get that option, and I would have liked to explore the game more fully at the outset without having to slug through six games once I’d learned the mechanics.

It will be interesting to see how development continues for the game now that it’s officially released, but the 12 months of Early Access and the volume of support from 1939 Games so far gives me hope that KARDS will only get better.

VERDICT

KARDS is an addictive CCG with a lot of possibilities for players to explore. The seven warring factions all have unique tactical cards, and finding the right combination of cards in a deck is rewarding when you handily beat an opponent.

You can enjoy it as a free-to-play game, and there is so much depth in learning how to develop strategies when fighting.

I recommend it wholeheartedly for fans of CCGs and for anyone who enjoys WWII games.