Wyvern: The Card Game

Sometimes you can find rewarding and special things by looking in strange corners and asking questions like 'what's in the box?'. There has been a mystery box behind the counter at my local games store for ages, I wasn't sure if it held anything for sale because it was all closed up, but on the off-chance I asked if it contained any promo cards for board games. There were no promo cards inside but there was a collection of unopened decks and booster packs of the game Wyvern, an out of print two player card game that came out in 1994. This was one of the first collectable card games to pop up after the success of Magic; The Gathering, yet for some reason Wyvern has not stood the test of time as strongly as Magic. Magic cards are dominating the counters and Wyvern is shut up in a box, so it felt good releasing those decks from the box...and into my bag for a bargain price!

Wyvern is officially classified as a fantasy collectable trading card game, but I see elements of deck building and bluffing. You are, in essence, building a deck to play with and trying to trick your opponent into unearthing the hidden terrain whilst throwing gold at your dragons to tempt them into doing your bidding. The dragons represented on the cards are based on dragons from mythology, and the cards have a real 90s fantasy aesthetic pleasure.

I have been playing lots of friendly tournaments of this game. My dragons have been wiped out a lot, but they have held out for a long time and I've managed to get a couple of wins in. Maybe I would do better if I weren't so tight with my gold. It is a solid game, with lots of unexpected turns, you get really involved with your opponent - watching each other like hawks! Here is a little guide to the game play:

Players have 25 gold pieces and two decks of:

15 plus Dragon Lair draw pile

35 plus Action/Treasure cards

* terrain cards belong in the dragon lair

To set up the game players shuffle the dragon lair pile and the treasure horde pile separately. Both players take the top six dragon cards from their lair pile and look at them secretly, then arrange them face down to create the battlefield, putting them in two rows of three cards. Front row dragons can attack your opponent's first row, only flying dragons can fight over one row, and super flyers can attack over two rows - so bear that in mind when selecting where your dragons (and secret terrain) will go. Both players also draw a hand of seven cards from the treasure horde draw pile.

Terrain can be mischievously placed in the rows to deter your opponent, as terrain cards have negative effects for the other player if they reveal it, hurrah! Another bonus is that after your terrain card has been revealed and used, it can be replaced with a fresh card from your dragon lair. The new card is placed face down in your battlefield. However, if the terrain is revealed using a Scout dragon then the tables are turned and the terrain card is discarded with no effect.

There are seven phases of the game, it is turn-based but some phases allow both players to participate:

Phase One

Draw a card from the treasure horde pile.

Phase Two

Place a treasure card with special effects by one of your battlefield rows. If it costs gold then pay the price from your precious gold pile, depositing the spent gold into a collective 'gold mine' pile.

Phase Three

You may change positions of any two cards in the battlefield, including treasure. You can always peek at your own face down cards if you need to remind yourself what is hiding there, I do all the time!

Phase Four

Action! No matter whose turn it is, both players may play as many action cards as they wish starting with the player whose turn it is. Action cards are played one at a time. It is hard to reign in the greed here, as it is so tempting to bombard the round with action cards that pump up your dragons or weaken your opponent in advance but remember you only draw one card per turn, you don't draw back up to seven after your go. There are cards in the deck that allow you to draw more, but it is a gamble.    

Dragon Slayer Action cards may also be used during this phase, if it is your turn. These are handy and can be used to block your opponent from using certain dragons.

Phase Five

Battle it out or swap a dragon! You can either attack one of your opponent's dragons by paying one of your dragons to swoop in, or you can swap one of your dragons/terrain for a fresh one from your lair. When you awake a face down dragon you pay gold equal to its strength, plus any extra if the card shows the gold coin symbol. Once the dragon is face up, you don't need to pay for it again to fight (unless someone turns him over). Indicate to your opponent which one of their dragons you want to fight. If it is face down then they must pay the price to reveal it. Whoever has the highest strength, including any modifiers from treasure cards in play, is winning here. Battle Action cards may be played in this phase to help out, some cards add strength to your dragon or decrease your opponent's strength.

Phase Six

After the battle or terrain exposure is resolved, there is a second action phase.

Phase Seven

The player discards back down to seven cards, if they had more.

The game ends when one player has no dragon or terrain cards in their battlefield. The winner scores 25 points plus one point for every remaining dragon and terrain on the battlefield and one point per remaining gold pieces. The loser scores half of their leftover gold.

Wyvern is a great two player game, that gets even more in-depth when you start trading, adding extra cards and swapping out old ones. It is fun trying out the different set-ups and the deck content. As the decks don't seem to have a limit in cards, you can get pretty epic with this one. I think I do prefer it to Magic. I know there is more variation in themes in Magic (I have a vampire deck, woohoo!), and lots more scope for future deck building as the game is still going strong, but there is something satisfying about playing a retired dragon card game. Maybe I like feeling archaic.

     

Right now I am still playing around with the combos. Terrain cards are great traps unless a scout reveals them, but it's all part of the risky dragon business! Gold is my Achilles heel, The stronger the dragons are, the more expensive they are to field in battle, and I'm still trying to find a good balance between dragon strength and gold expenditure. I either rinse out my gold too early or hold onto it so it is too late to use it effectively. I will be playing this a lot more to find my groove!

If you like the sound of this game then ask your local shop keeper if they have any decks knocking about from the 90s :)

Marisa x

Interview with Brotherwise Games

In my early ventures into table top gaming last year I was introduced to Boss Monster; a dungeon-building card game that oozes references to 8-bit video games and other pop culture gems. Boss Monster was created by Brotherwise Games; an independent game publishers that was founded and brought to life by two brothers in the US, Chris and Johnny O'Neal. It was their mutual love of games that spurred them to their company and Boss Monster, perfecting it over time and then releasing it to be kickstarted back in 2013. I was fortunate enough to get my first interview for Tabletop Stop with the lovely guys at Brotherwise Games, and here it is! 

What were some of your first favourite board games?

We have very varied tastes, but we both got our start in gaming with D&D and some of the more fantasy-focused board games. Most of Chris's formative years were spent playing strategy games like Risk and Axis and Allies. Johnny was a big fan of HeroQuest and started playing Magic when he was in middle school.

What are some of your favourite games now?
 
Now we're quite partial to games like Seven Wonders, War of the Rings, Smallworld, and Ascension. But really we'll play just about anything. A friend recently introduced us to micro-games like Deep Sea Adventure. Loved 'em!


Your love of board games and video games led you both to creating Boss Monster. What things inspired you the most to create it?

Boss Monster evolved out of a very different game idea than what it currently looks like, so it had a LOT of influences. Originally a bidding game focused on popularity, it merged with another idea that used cards to build classic D&D-looking dungeon maps - thus the fantasy theme. After lots of play testing, and numerous failed attempts, Johnny finally hit on the bidding mechanic that currently drives the game: the construction of a dungeon with rooms that lure in particular heroes. As that game took form, Chris noticed the visual similarity to the old side-scrolling video games that we had loved so much as kids. After some more failed attempts at nailing the theme, Boss Monster morphed into its final form, a mix of retro gaming nostalgia and popular nerd culture. We could write a book listing all the nods and easter eggs in the game, but really it's more fun for our fans to find them on their own.

What did you find most challenging when setting up Brotherwise Games?

Setting up a gaming company is pretty easy, you just file with the Secretary of State and off you go. Getting a gaming company up and running is tough. The hardest thing was probably getting those first distributors to agree to carry Boss Monster and sell it to their retail customers. There was a lot of mistrust of Kickstarted games, and we had to offer a lot of reassurances and data suggesting that we were a good bet. After those first distributors got on board, the rest followed very quickly as stores began asking for Boss Monster.

The Kickstarter campaign for Boss Monster was a massive success, did you anticipate that it would be so popular?

Nope! We were very hopeful we'd make enough to produce a tiny print run of the game and be able to cross that particular goal off our bucket lists. We knew the game was fun and compelling, but we had no idea how big it would be, either on Kickstarter or in stores. We're so happy it was, however!


How important is Kickstarter in your business?

It's very possible that Boss Monster expansions going forward won't be launched on Kickstarter, but we absolutely have Kickstarter to thank for where we currently are as a business. Boss Monster NEVER would have happened without Kickstarter, and the same goes for Brotherwise Games. As family men who both had full-time jobs, we had put as much development money into Boss Monster as were able. We needed those Kickstarter backers to make our idea a reality. But the value of Kickstarter goes beyond those original starter funds. We also see the publicity boost that Kickstarter gives as a real boon to any game trying to get noticed on the market. For the new, non-Boss Monster titles that Brotherwise launches, Kickstarter (or some form of crowdfunding) is likely to be important tool in our toolkit.

Do you guys have a favourite Boss character in the game?

Chris is pretty partial to Cerebellus. Johnny loves the "cover" Bosses, King Croak and Porkus.

Brotherwise Games gives off the family unity vibe, do you believe that board games help bring families and friends together?

Without a doubt. In fact, we have to think that the huge growth that tabletop games have seen of the last five years reflects an overall tightness and comfort with the family unit. Families are playing together more than ever before. Different generations are hanging out more than they have in the last 20 years. Tabletop games offer a social experience like none other, certainly it's a far cry from the more anonymous virtual networks that video games create (not that that's bad, mind you). We LOVE hearing that families, partners, and friends are coming together over a night of Boss Monster.

Brotherwise Games

Torrance, CA

Thanks, guys! You can check out Brotherwise Games by clicking here

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx