Preview – War of the Worlds: The New Wave

Today we’re getting an early look at War of the Worlds: The New Wave. War of the Worlds is an asymmetric deck building game by Grey Fox Games that just launched on Kickstarter, and is already well past its initial goal – for very good reason. Before we get too far, I will give the disclaimer that this is technically a prototype version of the game, and as such may not completely reflect the final version of the game.

The art in this game is beautiful and thematic. Images for the human side are warm, and inspire courage and unity. In contrast, images on the alien side are cold, and depict mass destruction, fear, and hopelessness. The art is just the first in a long line of asymmetries that War of the Worlds nails.

Even for a prototype, the production quality is really good. All of the cards are centered and printed on good card stock, and the miniatures that come with the game look absolutely amazing. My copy was sent in a box for a different game, so I can’t comment on the quality of the box or the box art, but if the rest of the game is any indication, I’m not worried about it.

Setup is straightforward and explained relatively well in the rule book, with a visual aid. I will say that the rule book I received could have been improved by a rules editor. There were some oddly phrased sections, and some instances where the same component was referred to by multiple names (UK Civilian Tokens vs Great Britain Civilian Tokens). Aside from minor issues though, the rulebook did its job well. It includes references for every card that explain its function in detail, and each section of the rulebook has plenty of examples for both human and alien players. Any time we had a question, it was easy to find an answer quickly, which means more time playing and less time searching through the rules.

As I mentioned, War of the Worlds: The New Wave is an asymmetric deck builder, and it’s about as asymmetric as they come. Play as the aliens, and your goal is to completely wipe out the humans. None of your units or buildings can die, and some of them can’t even be attacked. Play as the humans, and your goal is to deal thirty damage to the alien forces. This involves a lot of running for your life and trying to mount a coordinated counter-attack before the aliens decimate you. The aliens start with two units on the board and can only ever get a maximum of five, whereas the humans start with thirty units on the board and can add five more as the game progresses.

In traditional deck builder fashion, each player starts with a pre-determined deck of ten cards, shuffles them, and draws five. At the end of every turn, any unused cards are discarded, and players draw back up to five for the next round. If a player ever runs out of cards to draw, they shuffle their discard pile back together, including any newly purchased cards from the previous rounds, and play continues.

Those of you familiar with deck builders might assume you will be purchasing those additional cards from a common market pool, but you’d be wrong. Even the Offer decks are asymmetric, meaning the humans and aliens have completely different pools of cards to purchase from to improve their decks. Everything you do on the board is driven by these cards, which allow you to buy more cards, move units, attack, or build buildings.

You may be thinking “Man the aliens sound overpowered – they can’t die?”, and I’ll be honest, the aliens are pretty stinking strong, especially if they can keep the humans retreating. The great part about this game is that, even though the alien player feels like they are wreaking havoc all game, the human player can and often does put together a winning strategy in the middle to end game. I’ve played the game multiple times now from both sides of the table, and I’ve won as often with the humans as I have with the aliens.

Honestly, I prefer playing as the humans, and I’ll tell you why. The tension. Imagine you’re going about your day, and suddenly aliens attack. People all over the continent are trying to group up, throw together some defenses, and mount a counterattack, all while realizing you really can’t hurt these invaders at all. That’s how playing as the humans feels – especially at the beginning of the game. When the human player does pull out a win, they feel a huge sense of accomplishment. By contrast, alien victories feel like you’ve just destroyed a mildly inconvenient hive of insects.

Don’t get me wrong though, the alien side is really fun to play. Your units are invincible. You can just rush into the middle of a bunch of human units and never worry that they will take you down. You get access to some really powerful buildings that also can’t die, and give you the ability to buy really powerful cards really quickly. It’s enough to make you overly confident and assume that the humans stand no chance at all. If you can manage to keep them divided, they really don’t.

War of the Worlds: The New Wave has managed to capture the feel of the hopelessly one-sided conflict depicted in the novel and movies, while giving both players a really good shot at victory. Somehow, what seems like a ridiculous power imbalance results in really tight, really close games full of tension and utter decimation. I always hesitate to make statements like this, but I really can’t think of anything that comes close in a two player experience. Even as light as it is, this just might be my favorite two player game ever. I really look forward to seeing this one succeed, and hope to get a chance to try the Irish Sea expansion when it becomes available. I’ll let you know if I do! In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out the Kickstarter campaign. If you want a fantastic two player experience, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend backing War of the Worlds: The New Wave.

Preview copy provided on loan by Grey Fox Games.

Publisher: Grey Fox Games
Number of Players: 2
Playtime: ~45 mins
Age: 10+
Price at time of Review: $40