1815, Scum of the Earth is live (Waterloo/couldn't escape if I wanted to)
Update: 1815, Scum of the Earth has launched on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 28 days. You may pledge for a copy of the game with or without the playmat. Previous games in the Historical Battles series are also available to order.
Our preview post below was published on March 13.
1815, Scum of the Earth is the third game in Tristan Hall's historical battles series after 1066, Tears to Many Mothers and 1565, St. Elmo's Pay. This is a 1-2 player card-driven game inspired by the battle of Waterloo between the army of Napoleon and the coalition of Wellington's army and the Prussian forces under marshal von Blücher. It will launch on Kickstarter on March 19.
In 1815, you play as either the Duke of Wellington or Napoleon. You win if you destroy your opponent's leader, or if you take out two wedges of enemy troops in the battle of Waterloo, or if your opponent runs out of cards. Each player deck consists of units, characters, a leader, as well as events, tactics and attachments. Players also get their own own deck of Objectives cards : these must be met one by one, until players reach the final objective which is to win the battle.
To play the game, you first set up three wedges in the middle of the table, defining the three columns of the battlefield, and place your leader adjacent to a wedge. Then, you shuffle the player deck and draw a hand of 4 cards. Each round has four phases: Preparation, Deployment, Wedge, and Objective.
In the Preparation phase, you draw 2 cards from the deck in your hand. In the Deployment phase, you either play a card from your hand, or sacrifice a card, or take an action, or pass. To play a card, you must pay its cost in resources. This means you have to discard another card from your hand, or exhaust one of the cards you have already played. Units and characters are played on your side of the battlefield. To execute an action, you must exhaust one of your already played cards and perform its ability, or perform the ability of an event card. You may also choose to sacrifice a deployed card from the battlefield.
The Wedge phase only takes place if either player has the Waterloo battle as their current objective, and is peformed by comparing the Total Battle Value of the two armies. In the Objective phase, each player compares their Total Battle Value against that of the current Objective card and destroys the Objective if they exceed it.
The solo game is played against an AI opponent. You set it up like a 2-player game, and follow the instructions on how to deploy the troops and take actions on the AI's behalf.
1815 is also compatible with the two previous games in the series in case you fancy historical mashups.
But that artwork, though..