WARVEIL - ERA CLASH - A Poker-card driven tactical skirmish game with an open-world co-op/solo crusades campaign

Warveil is a mini-agnostic, fast-paced, tactical, print-and-play skirmish game using poker cards for 1-4 players with a fail-forward open-world branching-path story set in the crusades. Designed to let you build armies using the miniatures you already own, Warveil offers an unmatched freedom and tactical variety. Whether you are fielding cybernetic soldiers, medieval knights or post-apocalyptic survivors, you can create a legal, balanced warband in minutes using our archetype cards or customize each of your miniatures' stats. 

Warveil is Warfall's cousin. It is designed to be faster and leaner with no cards in hand to manage and no conditions to keep track of. It offers a more cutthroat and exciting gameplay experience.  

You just need some red d6s and a few d10s, poker cards, and off you go.

Join the community: https://discord.gg/ZshMW7A5MZ

In Warveil, your poker cards are the core mechanic. Use them to attack, defend, determine initiative, move, and measure.  

• Unique Card-Driven mechanics: All core actions are resolved by playing standard poker cards, removing luck for calculated strategy. Cards even serve as a physical measurement tool for movement. Dice are only used to keep track of damage.
• Tactical depth: Features a ''push-your-luck'' blind bidding initiative system that ensures every turn is tense.
• Fast and easy to setup: Grab some poker cards, minis, dice, print the 2-page quickstart rules with the faction sheets, and you are all set to go. 
• Fully customizable warbands: Take your minis from any era. Their equipment will determine their stats, and give you access to roles (assault, command,etc.) Choose the abilities within the chosen role and fully optimize and synergize units within your warband.  

No Rulers. Just cards and war. One deck to rule your warband.

What is needed to play: 

• 1 poker deck per player 
• A few D10s & red d6s
• 2-page quickstart rules
• Some 3D terrain (you can use Jenga, Legos, cups, etc, the dollar store is great for that, what inspires you...), or print the provided terrain cards. I invite you to share your setups on the Discord (link at the end)

Player modes:

>Duel (1v1, 2v2): Challenge your friends to a fast and brutal skirmish of wits, card management, placement, and risk.

>Solo or team play (1 or 2 v AI): Take on tactical missions against the Warveil AI

>All-out war: 3-player skirmish (1 v 1 v 1) or 4-player skirmish (1 v 1 v 1 v1) 

>Unique Fog-of-war mode: Control traps and units, but in the form of threats. Your opponent won't know what hit him. 

>Unique Break-their-morale mode: Each player starts with 10 morale. There are AI controlled units on the battlefield, potential traps, etc. the first to reach 0 morale loses. 

>Campaign play: Warveil campaign is a massive, narrative-driven, fail-forward open world co-op PvE or PvP campaign for 1-4 players.  

• Undertake up to 43 contracts and 9 stories using a branching path adventure  format where your decisions and successes in battle will shape your own personal story. Will you end up as the King, a slave on a pirate boat, or worse?

• Contracts include Boss battles, dungeon crawls, infiltration, extraction, assassinations, explorations, etc.
• Experience the unique trap mechanics, adding a layer of threat and strategy to the battle maps
• You are free! Travel where you want, do what you want! Attack merchants, or steal for extra gold, but you might suffer the consequences.
• The test system uses a blackjack-inspired mini-game mechanic
• Experience fail-forward storytelling
• Earn gold to buy better gear, assets, train, and recruit new units in your warband
• Shop, gamble, bet on arena fights, purchase assets in different cities, each with unique interactions, contracts, and stories
• Manage your warband's resources like food, your deck itself, and gold, while exploring
• Your cards determine the outcome of events, and tests. No dice rolls
• Deal with random events as you travel

Fail too many missions and your campaign may end in defeat-but redemption is possible. Every choice leads you closer to glory...or collapse. 

Game structure: Fast, strategic, clutch decision moments. 

Playing cards: 

• You play up to 2 cards  from the top of your deck to attack, defend, move, and determine initiative
• Each unit has different values in these aspects and unique abilities
• Numbered cards are worth 1. Figure cards 2, jokers 3
• Suits: Spades: + 1 attack, clubs: + 1 move, Diamonds: + 1 initiative, Hearts: +1 defense
• The cards' total value is added to the activating unit's base stat value for the action (stats range from 0 to 5) to get the total action value.

Setup:

• Choose an era to play in (Fantasy, medieval, post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk, etc.)
• Each player builds a 30-point warband using pre-made unit cards and matches minis OR chooses minis he owns, and based on the miniature's equipment, using a chart, he determines its aspects' value and chooses its abilities.
• Build a 2 x 2 battlefield that inspires you using your own 3D models (including Jenga blocks, or Legos) or the provided printable terrain cards each with their unique interactions. 
• Once ready, go to the turn structure

Turn structure:

Initiative phase

1- Players play 1 or 2 cards face down next to each unit they control

2- Reveal all the cards, adding their value to the unit's initiative stat to get their initiative value

Activation phase

• Starting with the unit with the highest initiative value,  the player decides if he waits or activates the unit.

Waiting: If the player waits, go to the next unit with the highest initiative value,  then the controller decides if he waits or activates; repeat until one unit activates (lowest must activate)

Activating: A unit can do up to 3 different actions or 2 identical actions when it activates. Do one action, then decide what you do next, no need to call all actions at once. 

Actions include: Move, main-hand attack, off-hand attack, focus, anticipate, ability action

• Move: Play up to 2 cards from the top of your deck, add the values to your unit's move stat to receive that many movement points. Advance: spend 2 MP to advance the short side of a poker card, OR for a hex or square grid if you use pre-made maps. Movement points are used to nock arrows (1 MP), loot (4MP) an adjacent lootable terrain to receive a random consumable item or buff, reload (4MP), switch items (1 MP), peek (3 MP), etc.
• Attack: Play up to 2 cards from the top of your deck, adding the unit's attack stat, the defender plays up to 2 cards from the top of his deck, adding the unit's defense stat; the difference is the damage. If the unit suffers damage equal to its toughness, it dies. The attacks use back arc and flanking tactics. The defender, may move back 1MP;  if he does, apply +1 to the defense value, if he stays put, apply +0,  if he moves forward, apply -1 to his defense value. If the defender moved back, the attacker may follow for free. This creates movement and causes players to take advantage of the terrain to put an enemy in a bad position where he cannot move back.
• Focus: Call before an action, draw one more card for that action, keep the best 2 cards. You can use this prior to a defense if you have an initiative card assigned to your unit, or during the initiative phase (turn your initiative card 45D to show you used one action, so you will have one less when you activate)
  
• Anticipate: Draw the top X cards of your deck, where X is the unit's wits stat, then you may discard any of them or place them anywhere in your deck. You can use this during a defense or in the initiative phase. You can also focus and anticipate, drawing one more card on your anticipate action
• Off-hand attack: Considered a different attack action
• Ability action: Some units will have abilities that require the use of an actio

When you decide to end your unit's activation, declare it so then go back to the unit with the highest initiative card and repeat all units have activated

When all units have activated:

• The turn ends, go back to the initiative phase

• Repeat until one side achieves the win conditions

The order of your actions are key, will you anticipate before the attack to optimize your upcoming blow, or after to prepare your next unit's activation or defense, or will you wait because you have prepared a strong defense and want to attack your opponent without him having the ability to focus or anticipate during his defense because he already activated his unit.  Timing is key. 

Warveil adapts to how you want to play, casual or competitive, solo or with friends, quick fights or extended campaigns. 

Join the community on Discord to give feedback and optimize the game:https://discord.gg/ZshMW7A5MZ

Artist: Saad Irfan

Legal disclaimer: Warveil is an independent, fan-friendly tabletop game. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with any miniature or game company. Players are encouraged to use their personal miniature collection under fair use. All rules, archetypes, and materials provided are original creations unless otherwise stated. For non-commercial, personal use only.