Brawl game
by Tom Warin
(Salem, MA)
The Brawl game is a brave attempt to merge card games and video games playing styles
Game
Brawl
Board game manufacturer:
James Earnest Games/Cheapass Games
Number of players:
2 (with the option of more)
Quick verdict
Brawl is a brave attempt to create a card game with the frenetic pace of a video game. It's an attractive game that's easy to learn and plays well, but it won't blow your socks off.
The Game
Brawl is a real time card game where cards are played whenever a player wants; there are no turns. Each player needs a Brawl deck to play.
Each deck represents a different character and contains a different mixture of cards to represent that character's unique strengths and weaknesses. The game works best with two players, although there is an optional multi-player variant.
The game was first released with six character decks of varying complexity: Hale (Easy), Chris (Easy), Darwin (Moderate), Morgan (Moderate), Bennett (Advanced) and Pearl (Advanced). This first set was illustrated by Ryan Kinnaird and has been out of print for a while.
Another set of six decks was released a year later, illustrated by Phil Foglio (of Girl Genius
The next release, Brawl: Catfight, was a set of three decks illustrated by Bryce Nakagawa (illustrator of San Angelo: City of Heroes
A one-off promotional deck based on Ting-Ting, a character from the Shadowfist card game, was released without a box or rules. The Ting-Ting deck introduced one new card type.
In general, the decks are nicely illustrated, good quality cards. They are a little thin and they will get beaten up through use. Each deck apart from Ting-Ting comes in its own box with a rule booklet.
All of the decks apart from the original six are sold by Paizo.
There are two gameplay modes. Training mode is turn-based and is intended to teach new players the game and get them familiar with their deck. It's recommended that you move quickly to Tournament mode, which is the real time mode without turns.
To begin, each player should remove the three Freeze cards and one of the Base cards (these are the cards with a full-frame portrait of their character) from their deck. The rest of the deck is shuffled and the three freeze cards are placed at the bottom.
Each player puts one base card on the table in front of them. The base cards define the field of play and there must be at least one and at most three of them in play at all times.
The object of the game is to play hits onto your side of the base cards. At the end of the game, the player who has more hits on their side of the base wins that base.
The player who wins the most bases wins the game. If there are equal numbers of hits on each side of a base, then the player who owns that base card wins the base.
In training mode, each player takes turns in which they can do one of the following: (1) deal one card from the top of your deck and either play that card or place it face up on top of their discard pile, or (2) play the card on the top of their discard pile.
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In tournament mode, the moves are the same except that players do not take turns, they can carry out either of these actions at any time. The only modification is that if a player takes a card off the top of their discard pile which they cannot subsequently play (because the other player has made a play that blocks that move), then they can return it to the top of the discard pile.
The basic gameplay revolves around the base, hit, block and clear cards. Base cards can be played to fill in the field of play up to a maximum of three in play at any one time. Hit cards are played onto a base card, or onto hit cards of the same color.
Blocks are played onto hits of the same color and prevent any more hit cards being played onto that chain. Clear cards can be used to clear a base and all the cards played onto that board out of the game. When a Freeze card is played onto a base, then no more cards can be played onto that base.
More advanced characters introduce special cards such as: Press, which allows you to break a block. Hit-2, which is worth two hits but which can only be played onto a regular Hit card. Reverse, which reverses the outcome of a base. Null, which nullifies a base.
The real time nature of the game does have an effect on strategy. When you're on top, do you burn through potentially valuable cards in order to get to the Freeze cards at the bottom and fix your position? Should you wait until your opponent's block card is buried deep in his discard pile before starting an attack?
Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your deck and that of your opponent can be key. This is made easier by the fact that each of the cards contains a number showing the number of cards of that type contained in that deck. If you know that your opponent is weak in red hits, then you can play one of your own red hits onto their side of the base before they have a chance to play a hit in one of their stronger colors. If you know that your opponent has already played their one and only blue block, then you can start a string of blue hits with impunity.
Pros and cons
The Brawl game sounds a lot harder than it really is. Most players will only need to run through one or two training games before they're ready for the full game. The first couple of games will be a little hectic until you work out how to use the space.
Playing with the easier decks can get a little frustrating as there is often no way to break out of a deadlock. Both players will burn cards like crazy trying to get something that will open the field up again.
The real time nature of the game can increase the effect of disparities in skill level. The luck of the draw evens these things out a little, but players with more experience will have to show patience until their opponents get up to speed on the game.
Although there is a multi-player version of the rules, the game works best with just two players.
The orange/purple background on the original character decks is hideous.
The verdict
The Brawl game pretty much succeeds in being a hybrid of card and video game sensibilities. It's fun to play for a few rounds, but it doesn't have the depth to satisfy for a very long time. The game never really took off in a huge way, so if you're looking for a large pool of existing players to challenge, you probably won't find too many.
