War of the Worlds: The New Wave

War of the Worlds is a competitive, asymmetric 2 player area control/deck builder combat.

 

These are early edition standees. The published game comes with miniatures. 

The game pits humans versus aliens in a race to annihilate the other. One player is the humans, the other is the aliens. Each player begins with a separate deck which they will improve throughout the game. That’s the deck builder aspect of the game. Many cards can be used in multiple ways. The more powerful effects typically require the card itself to be removed from the game. Using the powerful effects of those cards at the right time is crucial to victory.

The cards players will purchase are action cards they can take, but also units and buildings as well. The units and buildings will be placed on the game board to help with the second half of the gameplay, the area control aspects.

The goal of the alien player is to kill every human civilian. However, damage dealt by aliens has an order of operations. Buildings are dealt damage first, then military units, then finally civilians, represented by cubes on the board. As the civilians are killed, they are removed from the board. This gives the human player plenty of options to protect the civilians, although at a potentially pretty high cost. 

 Rather than looking for a full eradication of the enemy, the human player’s goal is to deal 30 total damage to the alien forces. This is tracked on the damage track on the side of the board. So while both sides are racing to deal 30 damage, they go about it in two pretty different ways. Additionally, the cards provided to each player are obviously pretty different. Not only the capability and theme, but also in strategy. The human player is much more protective and careful, versus the much more aggressive aliens. 

I’ve said time and time again, I love games that can provide a deep, strategic gameplay while maintaining a very simple instructional time. There are some additional rules to know, sure. But at this point, you could jump in with a good understanding of the game. Plus, I love deck builders and I’m super into any asymmetrical gameplay. Long story short: I’m real into this game, you guys. 

Matt Sall

From Grey Fox Games 

War of the Worlds: The New Wave – $39 on Kickstarter – Campaign ends Jan 31