Edit: The second patch fixed multiplayer, the only major isusue i had so far. The devs are actually trying to improve the game (I mentionned some quirks about the in game shop and they were fixed) and are actively playing with the community and listening to what it has to say, i can only hope the playerbase expands now.

As an avid CCG player, I feel Draconian Wars brings a refreshing twist to the card games genre, the mechanics are well thought of and quite fun. As they say, it's probably the most strategic card game out there. It's pretty hard to compare to other games and that's a good thing. The atmosphere reminds me a bit of Infinity wars, and the combat system and spell stacks are a little bit like MTG. There is much more management and thinkering to be done than in other card games IMO. I had a lot of fun playing the game so far.

Except for a couple of minor bugs on release (which were patched less than an hour or two after) the game runs well.

I played this for around two hours. This was only enough time to complete the tutorials and a single match against AI, as the tutorials and match were quite long. I have no recent experience playing card games like this e.g. Hearthstone or Magic the Gathering, so I don't know a lot about the Genre. But I had good fun playing this game.
- The battlefield is divided into areas accessible only by air units or by ground units, ground units can ride certain air units
- There is PVP online mode but no games were up when I played, however you can create a friends only game for a buddy to join

http://youtu.be/1iypjW8hLz0
http://youtu.be/PCuVImfqQ7E
To start you are given the choice between the Draconians and Technocrats. You are provided with a starter deck with cards aligned with your chosen faction as well as neutral cards. I chose Draconians because they are badass lol
-----So there is a series of in-depth tutorials. It took me about 45 minutes or more to get through them. There are five tutorials to complete. I actually was unable to complete the final one. This was because the tutorial instruction actually obstructed the card which I was supposed to click on and I was unable to proceed. Obviously that's a problem with the game. But I was still able to get a decent understanding of the game's mechanics. The game will always highlight the cards you are able to play each turn to help you anyway. But some of my understanding is still kind of fuzzy.
-----Each player has a deck of 50 cards. Players vie over six territories, three air and three land. Players in control of uncontested territories are able to 'extract' from those territories. The more territories you control and the more you extract and the more cards your opponent must discard. This is the major way to cause the an opponent to discard cards. Another way appears to be to over power units in battle, excess damage forces losers to discard cards. Once a player has run out of cards in their decks, they lose.
-----Players take turns, turns are divided into phases. Phases include extraction, summon units, combat, move and so on. Some cards allow you to disrupt the players turn at all or certain phases.
-----There are a few different types of cards, first 'unit' cards. These are divided into two main categories, air and ground. Ground units can only be place on ground territories while air units cannot and vice versa. Ground units can board and be carried by air units into air territories, also making them stronger as a whole. I really liked that feature.
-----All units have three basic stats represented by icons with a numeric value next to them representing their strength in each stat. There is attack and armor stats which is basically damage and health. I think the third stat contributes to fate which is dealt in the combat phase and combines with damage. I'm a little bit uncertain about this system. Then you seem to have the option to mitigate damage to your units dealt during the combat phase by discarding cards from your deck in order to save units. Losing combat will put a territory in control of the enemy if their units remain there.
-----'Weapon' cards can be applied to units. Some of the ones I saw buff your unit or units in territories. All weapons are supposed to able used target a specified enemy. Whereas usually I believe the enemy chooses which of their units takes damage or discards cards. The success of weapon use appears to be based on your total fate in a territory rather than damage. When I played I was actually confused about how to activate weapons, they never seemed to be highlighted or allow me to do what I thought they should have allowed me to do.
-----Certain 'gear' cards cards can also be applied to specific kinds of units for a benefit. But some gear cards are placed between you hand and the battlefield. The one that I used were able to be activated up to two times per turn. They all have different effects such as returning cards to your deck in order to draw a new one.
-----Disrupt cards can be used during any phase or a specific phase of your opponents turn. They do stuff like reduce the amount that they extract during their extraction phase or assist your units during the combat phase.
-----After playing the tutorial, I couldn't find a multi-player game. The server list was empty. This probably means not many people are playing the game or they just aren't looking for an online match. It would be nice if you could queue yourself for an online game in the background while you are playing against AI. Otherwise you have to just sit there and wait hoping that someone will become available to play against. Unfortunately I didn't have time to wait for a match. I did notice that you can host a friends only game, so you can set something up if a friend of yours also has the game. There is also an online leader-board, I was like 92nd with a score of 0.
-----So I played a match against the AI. This took around an hour and was fun. I was a bit confused about what was happening but I got more of a hang of it as the game progressed. I was able to form a bit of strategy and eventually won the match although early on I felt that I was going to lose.
-----Once completing a match you are awarded with cards. You also appear to be awarded cards if you concede even if it is early in the match which I thought was strange.
-----As well as being awarded cards you also gain currency which can be spent at the shop to purchase more cards. In the shop you are actually presented with eight random cards to choose from. You press a button to clear the selection and generate a different selection of random cards. I don't see anything stopping you from just hitting the button until you see the cards you want. This sounds like it could just end up being more tedious than just being able to search for a specified card.
-----Finally there is the deck-builder. This is where you create a custom deck. Draconian cards can only be put together with neutral cards but not with technocrat ones and vice versa. You can have a maximum of three of the same cards. Some cards will synergise well with each other e.g. certain cards have benefits when used with 'old one' dragon units and so on. So you will want to take advantage of that sort of stuff when you are building a deck.

So the game contains plenty of unique artwork on the cards. I think it's overall well presented.
-----The main problem with the visuals was that cards on the table are basically eligible. You can't read them unless you zoom into them specifically. I thought that was a bit strange. Especially when it was the same case in higher resolutions. I think the cards need to be larger so that you can see all of your more clearly without zooming. Of course this will matter less as players get to know cards.

I really enjoyed play this game. Although I have no recent experience with the genre I do like turn based strategy games such as X-Com and Blood Bowl. So this game appealed to me. This is a game that I could see myself playing more of, if I can make time for it especially if had an opportunity to play against friends. Also unless the player base grows and it becomes easier to find an online match it would be nice if there was someway to continue playing single player while waiting for matchmaking.

Draconian Wars is a unique and very innovative experience in the niche world of CCG's. It takes place in the fictional world of HyperBorea - a world now ruled by dragons. After having been oppressed and forced from their homelands, humans return with a vengeance and many a technological wonder. In an attempt to take back that which was stolen the Draconian Wars begin.

The two factions, Dragons and Technocrats both have unique sets of cards that can be supplemented with the third Neutral faction to create interesting, synergistic deck combinations and strategies. Dragons feature large units, brute force and magical spells to overcome their foes in air and on land. The Technocrats on the other hand use their immense knowledge of engineering and technology to dominate their battles using fantastic weaponry.

The way you play the game will most likely be dictated by the kind of player you are in other video games and CCG's. If you are someone who enjoys playing aggressively and likes to have dominance over the board you will most likely enjoy the draconians. They have massive units and spells to pump up their creatures to make them even stronger. They also have a couple of tricks to weaken enemy units in combat with them, deal direct damage but ultimately have very straightforward and readable tactics.

If you are the kind of player who likes to look at a losing situation from all sides, manipulate the battlefield, the combatants and completely change the outcome of a game then the technocrats are for you. They sport slightly weaker units overall but they have incredible abilities and cards that played correctly make you feel as if you are always the one pulling your opponents puppet strings.

Your cards are everything in this game - literally. They act as your life total and resource count to play cards from your hand. The claim that this is one of the most strategic card games is not at all a lie - Having played my fair share of them, this is easily one of the top contenders. Everything you do in this game must be executed carefully and with great precision because knowing how to manage your resources properly while maintaining cards in your hand and board advantage calls for a balancing act that only experienced players will achieve.

There are some bugs that still need ironing out, but the the devs have been very active on the community hub and everything that was brought to them so far they have either acknowledged or fixed in a patch.

That said, Draconian Wars has a thoroughly steep learning curve and it will take many hours before you feel even remotely comfortable with all of the different mechanics. If you dedicate the time though, the game is quite rewarding!

Great game, great devs and a growing community of strategists, tinkerers and fun individuals!

A lot of reviewers are saying that this game is overly complicated and that even after hours of playtime they couldn't understand the rules, but I think that might be a problem with them, rather than the game. I played through the supplied tutorials (about 20 minutes of time commitment) and then played one actual game, and had a fairly solid grasp on the rules at that point. I've played a LOT of CCGs, and it sounds like the people who're having trouble may have only ever played Magic: the Gathering, and are trying to equate the mechanics in this game to MtG's.

The game itself is very complex, it's true, but the mechanics are fairly logical and manageable. The biggest 'wishlist item' I have with regards to the gameplay itself is that there needs to be some kind of easier to spot at a glance differentiation between card types; they have text telling you what they are, but the number of times I've mistaken a Gear for a Support card (which are played at completely different times but often have similar effects - think Sorcery vs Instant) is rather embarrassing.

As others have mentioned, there's a random element to combat, but like every other CCG that uses a "fate" style system wherein you reveal the top card of your deck to get the number, the pool of numbers you have available is determined by you when you build your deck. Naturally if you build it with drawing high fate in mind, you'll stack it with 5s and 6s and you'll be drawing consistently high numbers in exchange for a lower power of card overall. Additionally, there's a number of ways to 'stack your deck' and either see what your next fate draw will be, or influence it (either by re-ordering your deck or putting a card from your hand on top of your deck).

Another issue a number of reviewers have brought up is the combat system whereby 1 damage will kill any unit, and it's possible for units to die before the combat even starts. This all comes down to strategy; you can see clearly before the combat starts (with the exception of Support cards played during the combat) whether you're going to lose units or not, and knowing when you should and should not pick a fight is rather integral to the game. There's 6 battlegrounds, and units can be played at, moved to, and engage in fights in any of them, so if your opponent has an unwinnable board position at one, well... you have the ability to avoid that one entirely and focus on the others.

I don't know if I'd agree with their claim that this is the 'most strategic' CCG, but it's got a pretty solid set of mechanics and strategic possibilities. Right now, the lack of single player game options is its biggest weakness - there's 6 "skirmish" decks to play against (as well as the ability to play against one of your own decks), and 4 "challenge" scenarios that're akin to puzzles to solve, but that's it, and considering the AI is fairly poor (often making completely obvious bad plays - playing an expensive card that will, because of its own text and the board position it's played into, immediately be destroyed with no effect is a prime example). Finding a multiplayer game is a sketchy proposition, as there don't seem to be many people playing the game, and I feel they were kind of banking on the multiplayer being the main attraction (which it could be, but only if there's more players actually playing) when they designed the system.

Overall, it's a fun game, and for the price, it's worth the purchase if you enjoy CCG games. Complex rules and a generally enjoyable game.

Interesting game to say the least...

I would definitely recommend this game to any fan of card based battles and tactics.. Being new this game had some rough bugs but most have already been solved very fast from the devs.
I've played so many battles now. The mechanics of the game posed as a very steep learning curve, but it offers alot of strategy.

All the cards are available to the player from the start but cost in game gold which can easily be earned through battling the ai. The shop is all random and you can shuffle the options of cards available, free of charge, to find the card your searching for with the possibility of a unique, sparkling, more expensive version.

I have high hopes for this game. I feel that it offers a more controllable strategy than other card games. Whether you build up several large armies to slowly drain the land of resources or dedicate your resources to hit squads to severly wreck a small enemy army. Either way, Every turn brings more and more to the table to take notice of.

I've just started playing this game, but wow. This game is EXACTLY like Decipher's SWCCG. Even down to drawing battle destiny with 4 or more ability.

I'll post more as I play the game and form and opinion!

Draconian wars is a rewarding card gaming experience that will certainly scratch that the itch of your inner strategist. Unfortunately plagued by a couple of bugs at the time of this review but this and the games relatively small scope can be forgiven for its low price point ($5 at the time of this review).

You can watch me go through some of the game's features and game play here:
Check Out: Draconian Wars

The game might disappoint some who are hoping for another Magic The Gathering or Hearthstone analogue as, while it is a card game, it's gameplay and format differs from the relatively more fast paced aforementioned games. I myself am reminded more of two games when I play this: Smash Up and Battle Tech. Smash Up mainly for the objective based aspect of the game where you are playing for control of areas as a pathway to victory and Battle Tech (an old card game that is now out of print) for the two asymmetrical factions to build your deck with: One more strategic and tricky and one with more powerful units. In this case the Technocrats and the Draconians. You also have the ability to splash in the neutral mercenaries or natives for more varied play styles and more interesting deck building.

Like I mentioned before, the gameplay is a bit slower and more deliberate than Magic or Hearthstone while the difference is not so pronounced as this, I would use the difference between an RTS and a MOBA as an analogy between the two: both can be fast paced but in one there is a lot more factors to take into account and micromanagement to be done which will leave you finding that you spend a long time deliberating on the best course of action. This is exacerbated by the fact that the way combat resolves is hard to get your head around in the beginning.

This could just be my experience with the game but I find there is a couple of issues with the pacing; in my games the outcome of the match was often decided in the first few turns and I would find myself unable to do much more than slow the hemorrhaging for the rest of the match. Most of my cards felt largely impotent and I felt like I couldn't do anything to significantly alter the outcome of the game past the first couple of turns.

Don't get me wrong though, I still very much enjoy this game and I did have some legitimately close matches and most likely my inability to fight the opponents momentum is largely due to my inexperience with the mechanics of the game which leads nicely into the next section:

The tutorial is disappointingly bare bones and Kardfy appears to have gone with a very 'throw them in the water and they will learn how to swim' outlook for the most part. I found after completing the tutorials I still didn't understand many of the mechanics, and my first couple of matches with AI opponents I found frustratingly difficult and unable to follow what was happening.

A little perseverance however and I started to feel a more and more rewarding sense of achievement when I managed to make a plan and see the outcome actually turn out how I expected! So for people looking to play this game I say this: Don't let the difficulty curve turn you off, as the complexity of the game only belies the potential for meaty meta game and a high level of strategic possibilities!

At the time of this review there is only 140 cards, so with a deck of 50 cards and two factions precluding each other in a deck means that at the moment there is less option for deck building than I would like to see. But the game is $5... so still a good deal...

At the time of this review there is very few people playing online, I didn't see any matches taking place any time I have checked it, but as the game has only just been green-lit hopefully this will increase!

THERE ARE NO REAL MONEY MICRO TRANSACTIONS.
You can buy all the cards with in game credits won from playing matches.

They chose a strange model for the shop where you are shown 10 random cards, and can then press 'more' to see another ten random cards. You can click 'more' as much as you want and eventually you will come across the cards you were looking for... which begs the question: Why don't they just let you search through all the cards to buy what you want, after all, currently the only barrier to you not getting that card is a little patience and needless frustration.


While it may seem like I complain about a lot of elements of the game I must say all things considered I did enjoy it and there are some things that it does do 'right'.

I would describe Draconian Wars as a rough diamond, currently it isn't as polished as it could be, but there is great potential for them to increase the scope of the game, add more cards and tighten up the issues. You will find $5 is definitely a worthy price for the current amount of content, and an great investment in the potential for the future of this game.

Feels a lot like I'm playing MTG but with the mechanics spelled out a bit more clearly!

The tutorials are great and walk you through the gameplay really easily.

Looking forward to exploring more of the cards!

Totally recommend this game. Is it hard? Yes! Is it fun? Absolutely! Is it worth my time? Well, if you like deckbuilding, awesome combo plays, and strategy that resembles chess then YES this game is for you. Did I mention this is a hard game??? Of course it is. If you make a few mistakes you will NOT win even the simplest skirmish. The AI is not stupid and it tries to make the best plays possible. I am enjoying the game thoroughly and now that I have finished the skirmishes I am off to the 1v1.

First of all, this is a great game! I don't understand all the moaning about how difficult this game is. It requires a different approach, because it feels more like a board game than a card game.
Everything in Draconian Wars is a decision. Where to deploy my units? Should I spread them or concentrate on one area?Should I draw some cards, or maybe save them for next turn? Should I discard from my hand or from one of my piles? Which units should I damage in combat? Throw in all the cool abilities, the combos and the randomness of fate and you have a pretty thorough game.
I hope to see this game growing with more cards, skirmishes and challenges.

I played this game a lot when it was released on desura. And the steam version has been greatly improved.
Being a fan of old CCGs, I love this game, as it picks up the old SWCCG mechanics adding some new twists to it.
The art on the cards is great, and there is a decent amount of them. And they have even added some new cards after the release.
So if you enjoyed the mighty golden era of classical CCGs, you gonna enjoy this game.

Draconian Wars is a preaty complex CCG. There is a lot of rules to remember but once I got the hang of it, it was preaty fun and challenging game. It also has alot of stratagy involved with some luck too.

As a longtime player of Magic The Gathering I bought this thinking it would be a nice diversion. There are certainly aspects of Draconian Wars that I can respect, but it is hindered by some major problems.

First of all it is graphically well made. The cards look nice, the battlefield is well thought out, and the music is decent.

I can't really say much more about the things I like about this game as the problems far outweigh the good. To get right to it, the first thing that really turns me off is the translation (I assume it is translation) is riddled with logical errors that should absolutely not exist in a game that depends heavily on card abilities & effect rulings. Getting past the translation issues is a major hurdle in learning to play the game, and I could get behind spending the time to do so if the core game wasn't so... overly complicated.

The thing about card games like Magic The Gathering is that their complexity should not come from the basic game mechanics but from the card effects and how they directly influence how you play the game. Draconian wars sits on a very complex core game and throws in the poorly translated card effects to muddle up the whole experience. It honestly feels like I'm playing a game developed by three different people with vastly different opinions of how the game ought to be played, and instead of deciding on one thing they mashed all of their opinions together into some sort of technical mess.

I really wanted to like this game because it looks really cool from the videos and screenshots, but it is so different-so utterly over complicated- that it appeals only to the most hardcore players. If you're hoping for a casual card game to pick up and play this absolutely is not for you.

The Poor Mans Magic The Gathering, But not neccasarilly a Bad thing.

This game is great for the price of £4, yes it maybe a card game that uses similar mechanics to Magic The Gathering, Hearthstone etc but that does not mean the game is poor. The interface/card playing arena has really nice graphics and I was able to start picking up the rules relatively fast. I did have some trouble in that an AI opponent seemed to freeze and I had to abandon the game however this has not happened since a 1mb update I downloaded. The main focus of the game will hopefully be the online play but this will only work if more people are playing online because no one was on the other night when I wanted a game. If you want to see some footage have a Uganda my Lets Funk King Play of Draconian Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCVTj63GiF8

Worth a try to see if you like it.

I salute the people who have mastered this program and find it enjoyable. I found it gratuitously complicated and more akin to mastering the latest corporation productivity software than playing a game. I went into the program with high hopes. The artwork on the cards is good, the presenting lore was engaging and I've enjoyed other fantasy-based card games on Steam such as Magic the Gathering and Spectromancer. In fact the layout is very reminiscent of MTG which may have helped lull me into a false sense of familiarity. My first trepidation came during the tutorials. Guidance such as "Moreover, your Life Drainer here has 'Extract 2' and the Albino Sorcerer has 'Extract 1'. The Extract X modifier allows you to increase the effect of your extractions." is the norm as variables are abruptly piled on top of other variables in a triumph of complexity over depth. There's no drawing you in in small doses. It's quantum field theory from the first hello. I still might have given the program a qualified thumbs up but then after persevering through to a modicum of proficiency and investing a few nights, I realized the fun factor was just not there for me. So props to the folks who've mastered Draconian Wars and find it a deep strategic card game. Alas, I'm not one of them.

very interesting mechanics if you are in to card games i reccomend this, also for any one who can not get it to work frankly it is scary how dumb this generation is and the future of human's does not look so good. Simply right click the game in the games tab go to properties local files, browse local files right click the games exe go to porperties compatabillity and run it in windows 7 mode and run as admin. keep in mind this will fix 100% of launch problem's for all games unless the exe is missing.

Edit: This is my updated review after i have finally understood how the game works, and after the "freeze" bug, that prevented players from finishing a game, is fixed.

To say, that this game is the most strategic would be one way. To say that it is very complicated and confusing would be the other.
First of all, the game is extremely hard to learn. It took me hours of playtime, in which i played the tutorials over and over, to really understand the mechanics behind the game.
And even now, i still have my difficulties with understanding what is going on on the board. There are so many cards, effects, game mechanics and instants triggered all the time, that i have troubles with keeping the overview, and lose my fun over it.
Unlike other CCGs, players may draw a lot of cards per turn- you start with 4 mana per turn, can sacrifice 1 card per turn to increase your base mana by one, and may use all unspent mana at the end of your turn to draw a card for each mana- so that a lot is going on all the time, and so that the possibilities reach a point beneath where one could still realistically control the situation tactically.

Additionaly, i dont like the combat system. Its difficult, leaves the player to little control and contains a good portion of luck:
To the beginning of a fight, each player that controls units that combine a certain minimum number of strategy value, draws a card, which's "fate" value (between 0 and 6) is the total damage that is dealt to enemy units before the combat even starts. If this damage exceeds the defense of the unit the damage is assigned to by its owner, the player has to choose one or more others, until the total defense is equal to- or higher than the damage. And all units damaged this way will be killed at the end of the fight-
A single damage will kill the strongest unit in the game, which i find not only unrealistic, but annoying as well...

Generally, there is too little motivation to play this game:
In single player, there are only two game modes:
Playing vs the Ai, which has only one level of strenght and plays pretty bad, or solving one of 4 challenges.
And the multiplayer is completely dead so far, and i dont think this will change, for the reasons i mentioned above.

This game might as well be in early access. It is incredibly buggy, to the point where it is nearly unplayable. Constant match-ending hiccups and weird flubs with card-zooming in multiplayer, coupled with easily abusable multiplayer match-quitting, make this game a must-pass. If you want to play this game in a version that doesn't suck so badly, try playing the old Star Wars card game, or the reboot Wars. The rules of this game are essentially stolen completely from that game anyway.

Tries for depth and fails to achieve, falling instead into the trap of believing depth and complexity are one and the same. The game is very complex and simply tries to do too much. Whether its adding random chance where its not needed or trying to use the same cards for too many ends, the game adds one too many layers on its way to depth and simply muddies the waters instead. Hard to understand, difficult to learn, slow and uninteresting to play, Draconian Wars is a customer friendly business model in need of a fun card game.