Barbarossa: The Card Game

You’ve probably seen anime girl versions of famous WWII officers and commanders while browsing through your favorite websites. Cute versions of Lil’ Hitler and Big Sis Stalin, if not you’re probably googling that right now as you’re letting your curiosity get the better of your thought control. Well, someone at Arclight games, the fine people of Japan that brought you Tanto Cuore, thought: “What would it be like if the Germany invasion of Russia was played out by Anime Girls?” So now you have Barbarossa, the deck building card game. 

“But what’s a deck building card game?”, you might be asking. Well, card games aren’t too popular with the ease of access of video games right on your computer, so the question isn’t too common unless you’ve played games like it. A deck building game means you start out with a minimal number of cards in your hand, in the case of this game, you get eight cards total. You gain supplies using supply cards which can be spent on cards that are both visible and purchasable to everyone playing. Now there’s much more to it, but we’re not here to bore you with the details. The game, as told before, centers around the invasion of the Soviet Union. Up to five players; all playing on the side of the invading German Army; are competing against each other and like most deck builders. Each play is collecting points, and the one with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Unlike most Deck Builders, Barbarossa introduced a new concept to the table for a game of its type, the combat system. To gain points, you must attack sites and cities. You do this by building up your forces and dealing with defending Russian units that are flipped with an event card when you attack. The game officially ends when Moscow is taken. All points are totaled up from the various cards that supply them. As stated previously, the player with the most points win

Now that we talked about how the game is played, let’s talk about the game itself. The first thing one will notice about the imagery of the cards is that it isn’t very kid friendly, nor that it’s a game you want to break out while visiting a very conservative pair of family members. Let’s not give grandpa a heart attack over finding the gender-bent and heavy chested General Rommel. These cards are clearly eye candy for the players as not only do they wear very skimpy clothing, but seem to enjoy poses that would get them into playboy magazine. Luckily, there is no nudity, so the common teen could play this game. But again, let’s not break it out for family game night unless you have some open-minded parents who can look past the anime girls and see it for the game.

If you’re a big fan of deck builders then you’ll most likely enjoy this one. As stated, it has a combat system that makes for good pacing later. It is still laid back, but when one of your friends/rivals go to attack the city, you secretly hope that event card they flip over with ruin their turn. But until you reach the combat phases, the games pacing early on may suffer. At the start, nobody will be attacking as it takes time to build up your units and deploy them. The more cards you get the longer it takes to attack and set things up. Each game may take some time to finish, expect a longer playtime than your typical card game.

Despite the flaws that come with the game, it is certainly worth a try for history buffs, card players, and strategist. And if you take the time to roam through the internet, Arclight did have a limited edition set that are Stock Photos. Not the cleanest of pictures with that old camera technology, but at least you’ll not have to explain why there’s a lot of half-naked anime girls on your gaming table.

For More On Barbarossa:
http://www.kamikaze-games.com/

-MCV Driver