A simple, elegant design that is very clear and offers lots of tactical flexibility. I think it's interesting that the player with initiative can choose to give up their initial draw to the opponent for the sake of a better hand for themselves.
My only real gripe is that the presence of 4 clan decks, while cool, slightly undermines the simplicity of the rest of the design. Ideally, in a game involving playing cards, I would want to be able to memorize what each card does within a short time of playing. But with four factions all slightly varied of each other, this becomes a much more difficult task.
If you had told me that a 5+ was a stagger, a 9+ was a deathblow, etc. it would essentially be the same game but with less of a need to constantly look up values on the table. Perhaps if just the face cards varied between clans, it would be easier to keep track? It would probably also be easier to balance.
All in all, this game looks like a great deal of fun and makes me wish I had some nice vampire miniatures to represent my coterie on the table! Great execution and implementation of theme.
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VAMPIRE: Gehenna Wars's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #3 | 4.018 | 4.018 |
| Mechanics & Clarity | #3 | 4.105 | 4.105 |
| Adherence to the Theme | #5 | 3.789 | 3.789 |
| Concept & Originality | #5 | 4.158 | 4.158 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
I like the idea that different clans can use the cards they've been dealt in different ways.
I find the card mechanic interesting but can't help but wonder how broken is it, some cards seem way better than others. It's hard to balance things.
The deathblow+stagger requirement seems interesting too. It probably makes miniatures gang up on each other and jump to defend others by... Staggering too. Cool
Yo, Tremere have a 9+ entry both before and after the 10+ entry.
The sun darkens. Vampires grow fat on the blood of elders. The Sabbat and the Camarilla clash in the cradles of civilization. Ancients from before the Flood rise, and they call childer to their side.
Fights spill from boardrooms to streets as vitae spills to the earth. Now is the time of monsters.
Who will end as masters? Who will be blood for the ticks?
Vampire: Gehenna Wars is a short tabletop wargame for short skirmishes between coteries. It uses four miniatures, minimal terrain and table space, and is designed to facilitate elegant lightning-fast brawls between opposing coteries.
Several design iterations removed complicated rules on initiative, range, combat, and building one's own coterie. The only thing that remains is initiative; to strike lightning-fast and win.
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