Finally actually looking at Battle Card Series 1

 Last year, I tried out Battle Card Marker Garden, which effectively was the prototype for the Battle Card series. (Come to think it, it also made me look at the Postcards From the Front contest)

I bought the Battle Card Series 1 at the start of the year as part of my buying the Post Mark Games catalog but I’ve only now played the first game in the series, The Malaysian Campaign.

Okay, the Battle Card series is a set of simple PnP solitaire one-page war games, although you can print the map and the rules on separate sheets and make them a two-sheet war games. You use dice as counters, with the pips being the strength of the unit, as well as a die for the timer and another for actually rolling on the Combat Results Table.

(As a longtime D&D player, I am found of CRTs. (Yes, I know D&D doesn’t use CRTs) Take care of all the math and try to make it work in your favor before you roll the die)

Each map has its own rules so is basically a standalone game. And each one is about a specific military action from World War II. I put it that way because I’m not sure what the line between a battle and a campaign is. 

The Malaysian Campaign has reinforced the opinion I got from the Market Garden prototype.

Okay, negatives first. As far as actual game goes, I don’t think there’s a lot there. The decision trees have been fairly limited. There seems to be really one course of action in each map and the dice have to be really nice to you to pull it off.  

Which sounds like a complete condemnation but that’s not the whole picture.

As history lessons, the Battle Card series are very engaging. And that is one of the goals of historic war games in general and I’m pretty sure the Battle Card series in particular. From that standpoint, the series works and works well enough to make the games worth experiencing.

Yes, even though I am not even close to an expert on WW II history, I am sure they heavily simplify the events. They are five minute games that play out in a maximum of six turns. They are clearly showing history in broad strokes. And I am sure that historians can show where they are wrong.

However, the Battle Card series gives you an interactive overview of battles and campaigns, a Cliff Notes version. They are very accessible, even to someone like me whose war gaming experiences are limited. And they point me in the direction if I want to do more reading, research or  gaming.

I don’t know if people who are active war gamers would get much out of the Battle Card series. But I think they are ideal for casual gamers like me. I can honestly picture them as ideal for class room use.

I feel that the Battle Series is the weakest product from Post Mark Games. Because Voyages and Aquamarine and Waypoints are very good and very accessible games with a lot of nuance and replay value. However, I will also stand by my continued recommendation that folks should just buy their entire catalog.