TactDecks (2010)

TactDecks - A portable, expandable, easy to learn tactical combat game combining the best elements of card games and miniature-based wargames.

Build a heroic, customized fantasy party out of the included 10 Character cards, or feed your creativity by supplementing with the Series 1 TactDecks Boosters. All Characters have different sets of statistics and powers - find your own unique combination and lay waste to your opponent!

TactDecks is a two-player competitive game where the objective is to eliminate your opponent through a tactical combination of spells, troop movement, and light board manipulation. All components of the game - board, troops, terrain, mechanics - are represented by pocket-sized cards, making TactDecks highly portable and affordable.

Like many traditional miniature based wargames, TactDecks troops are selected based on a total army point value agreed upon prior to the start of the game. In addition to selecting troops, terrain is also chosen from this common point pool. Initial troop selection and terrain placement is considered a tactical component of the game, since some troops may not be fielded by both players.

Combat mechanics are based on Near (adjacent) and Far (ranged) attacks, modified by individual troop prowess. Degrees of attack success are determined by an "event deck."

In addition to physical attacks, TactDecks also features varying spell mechanics, trap placement (with expansion booster cards), and a light melee dueling system incorporating a feature called "Reserves," which also help determine initiative.

TactDecks is easy to learn and scales in complexity based on whatever additional booster sets the players bring to the table.

A single TactDecks Basic Set may be used as a competitive starter deck or split and used by two players with the included optional rules.

For thousands of years, a fragile harmony extended across the Land. Fostered by the diminished gods known as the OtherOnes, the kingdoms of Man flourished and prospered. Taught rudimentary sorcery and technology, Man excelled in many things, opening doors that surprised even his wise teachers. Though Man was occasionally fickle, a balance of power was often struck, partially by chance, partially by design, and Man’s feudal kingdoms changed and grew over time. Stone lead to wood, and in turn, iron and bronze lead to steel.

But this prosperity would not last.

Far removed from the earth of the Land, another universe was slowly dying. Threatened with both the end of their dominion and the collapse of space itself, the Anemetai struggled in vain to stop the decay of their home. Millions of envoys were dispatched though a host of worlds and universes, searching for a solution that the sciences of the Anemetai could not find. In a tiny pocket of the cosmos, on a world known only as the Land, one of the envoys found something. It was not science. It was not reason. It was something else entirely, something the Anemetai had never before encountered: Magic.

Obsessed with the intangible secrets of the undying OtherOnes, the Anemetai focused their studies on the Land. Determined to uncover the mysteries of magic, wave after wave of scientific envoys were sent to the Land, each one returning with no better results than the last. For all of the Anemetai’s concern with method, cataloging, and detail, their scrutiny yielded little.

Years passed. An uneasy truce existed between these machine envoys and the denizens of the Land. But after decades of routine, the sky suddenly shattered. No longer able to dwell in their own universe, a massive exodus of Anemetai rained down in fire and metal.

Billions of Anemetai struggled to escape their collapsing universe. Only thousands survived the journey. In what would become known as Starfal, the once-proud Anemetai dominion crashed to the earth, bringing their technology, ideals, and arrogance with it. Villages and cities were devastated, the countryside blighted for miles. The sky blackened with ash and soot as countless Anemetai thundered from the heavens, many consumed by fire before touching ground.

It was not long before the surviving Anemetai set their designs upon the Land. Wielding their salvaged technology, they entrenched themselves, winning alliances with petty trinkets and even pettier promises. As new kingdoms formed and others fell, the OtherOnes were outmatched, their influence diminished further. Centuries passed, and most OtherOnes became completely forgotten.

But now greed has ripped this foreign dominion apart. Anemetai warlords wage feudal battle over their own decrepit technology and the kingdoms forged with it. Ruled by fear, Man fights for the power and pathetic glory of his Anemetai masters, all the while reconsidering this decaying pact of fealty.

After years of spiritual exile, isolated OtherOnes have begun council, planning in secret to cleanse this Anemetai threat they foolishly allowed to build. Still others maintain loose alliances with these Anemetai lords, seeking to outwit and simply outlive the invaders. For while the Anemetai remain powerful, their strange technologies weaken as their kingdoms fracture.

It is a world saturated with hidden magic and wasted technology. The race of Man is caught between these two extremes, finding himself locked in an unending spiral of war. Now, the preludes to conquest have been set in motion, as three societies ally, spar, and scheme. The world is at times both bleak and wondrous, but the ultimate destiny of the Land is yet to be written.