Battle Line- Draw Your Battle Lines and Get Ready for the War!

Knizia is back and this time with a BANG! If you read my previous post on Lost Cities I've mentioned about Knizia and his games- prolific game designer is all that I'm going to reiterate.

Well for the 1st time since I started writing my reviews this is not a Kosmos-Rio Grande combination! This one is by GMT games another company that produces some very interesting, retro styled games- Commands & Colors: Ancients being one of their most popular works (I'll be writing about this game much later though). You can identify GMT games by their typical cards- hard, with a parchment coat on it, most of the text are in a retro styled font, pretty basic pieces- not that they are of bad quality, but just that compared to Fantasy Slight Games, Days of Wonder or Rio Grande games, their pieces and materials may not be that appealing (I feel it that way, anyway!)

But make no mistake folks, this is one game I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO HAVE! Awesome, awesome game. Again a 2-player card game; I would say one of the best card games designed by Knizia!

This game also happens to be the 1st one that I'm reviewing that is ranked in the top 100 games on Boardgame geek- 61 in fact. Tom Vasel (A very popular game reviewer) who rates his top 100 games every year (thedicetower.com) rates it at a very high 29th in his list.

Now, don't assume that I'm raving about this game because of all these rankings, you know that I really like Odin's ravens or Balloon Cup in spite of not being raked high! It is just that this game deserves all the accolades.

Knizia originally brought this game out by the name Schotten-Totten. This was further expanded and revamped to provide more tactical options; basically make it more exciting!

Battle Line- By Dr. Reiner Knizia

This is not a war game! Yes this is just the preparation for the war i.e. you build your troops to show off strength before the war begins to gain tactical and psychological advantage. Well that is what the theme is supposed to be. But as with most Knizia's games the theme is relatively weak or in fact non-existent! Yes it is about battle line formations, but seriously it is just putting down a set of cards- numbers, colors of cards and tactical special cards- this is what this game is all about. Again don't stop reading because it sounds so simple, because here in lies the paradox of great tactical depth and very simple mechanics!

As I've already told you about Knizia, I'll straight away jump into the next section on the game components.

What do you get in the Box?


This game come with Cards and 9 small wooden pegs and that's it.

• 60 Troop cards- numbered 1-10 in 6 different colors
• 10 Tactics cards- Special cards that provide variety, depth and brings in the uncertainty element to the game
• 9 wooden pegs- 9 flags for which players fight for!

The dsign on the cards and the graphics are a little retro (which btw I like). The cards are thick and hard with a coat of parchment on them, which I don't like.

How does it Play?

This works in a very simple way. On your turn you play a card from your hand and draw a card from either the 'Troop card' deck or the 'Tactic card' deck that's it!

The objective of the game is to make formations of 3 cards on each side of the flag and the most powerful combination of 3 cards wins the flag (one of the pegs). If a player wins 3 adjacent pegs the game finishes immediately (called a breakthrough) else player winning 5 out of the 9 pegs wins the game (called envelopment).

• There are various combinations that work in the game like- 3 cards of consecutive value and of the same color called the wedge is the most powerful combination (but unlike Lost Cities, you don't need to play these cards in the ascending order)>3 cards of the same value but of different colors (obvious as each number is unique to its color)>3 cards of same color but not consecutive>Consecutive numbers of any colors>Any other formation
• To make this interesting we have 10 tactics cards each affecting the game in a different way- e.g. A leader card can be used to represent any number and any value, A traitor cards enables a player to discard one card from the opponent's formation etc.
• Once the cards pack run out, you play with the cards in hand (7 cards is what you are dealt with and that is the maximum number)

What makes this game so fascinating is the fact that you don't remove cards that have been played and leave it as is. It is just the peg that is taken. This means all the information you need to place your card is available in front of you- This is very important as there is a provision in the game to prove that your opponent cannot win no matter what card he plays even before all the cards are played on both the sides (3 on each side)- so for example a player has completed his formation of 3 cards can use the available information by the face up cards lying to prove it to his opponent who has played just 2 cards that he cannot win no matter what card he plays. But the really interesting part is the fact that players cannot use the information from their hand to prove this!

This unique mechanic, coupled with the 10 tactics cards makes the game play, very tense and enjoyable.

How long does this play?

Usually a close game should go on for about 30-40 mins, but if the player is careless or naive to let you win 3 adjacent pegs, then you can finish the game in less than 20 min (very unlikely). Throughout the game it requires the players to be ery attentive and smart about playing their cards and because people play just one card at a time, you can do some bit of planning (little strategy element here)

Who would I recommend it to?

I would say everyone should have it. This is a game which is right up there in terma of tactics, doesn't play too long, easy to learn but offers good depth to keep coming back.

Any Downsides?

As mentioned above the materils may not be the greatest out there (pretty decent ones though). A little lapse in concentration or careless gameplay will see a very quick and one sided game. Sometimes and I really mean sometimes (rather some players) tend to over analyze the situation which might make some players impatient. A little learning curve (1-2 games), just to understand the tactics cards and when to use them to your advantage may be required.

Also as I said before you draw cards from the face down pile, so randomness and luck is going to be there. This is not one of those 'no luck' pure strategy games out there- but this is high on tactics (there is definitely a method to play and win games) and very high on fun!

Final Thoughts!

Everyone who has played this have come back to play it again (more than Odin's Ravens). This hits the deck far more often than most other card games that I have. I wouldn't say this is exactly an introductory game nor a filler game (but because it is so short, you can use this as a filler if you will), but definitely can be used as one due to its simple mechanics. Just discard the box and you can carry it easily to any place- so a great get away game. Due to the tactical depth that this game provides offers very high replayability. Knizia has got a winner here!! Go get your copy now!


For more detailed reviews please visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/63/thing/760