Lords of War: Templars versus Undead (2014)

The third in the Lords of War: Fantasy Battles series from Black Box Games, Lords of War: Templars versus Undead is a dual-deck strategic card game for two-plus players. Like its award-winning predecessors Lords of War: Orcs versus Dwarves and Lords of War: Elves versus Lizardmen, the game sees fantasy races engage in dynamic tactical card battles, with the armies in this set having more heavy defense and the series’ first moving units.

During Lords of War battles, players use hands of six cards (called units) drawn from their army deck of 36 cards. A player turn starts with one card placed onto a gridded board. With the exception of ranged and spear units, cards must be placed adjacent to an enemy unit. An elimination phase follows in which you check for the elimination of opposing cards and the one you just placed. Cards have unique formations of attack arrows on their edges and corners signifying which adjacent cards they attack once played and the damage they will do. Each card also has a defense value which when exceeded by opposing cards sees that card defeated. Once combat has been resolved, the player can then either draw a new card from his army deck or retrieve a unit from the board that has not engaged in combat during that turn.

Play continues until one player has eliminated twenty units or four commanders.

The game is playable out of the box and contains two complete armies: the Templars and the Undead. These factions are differentiated by their unique cards and strategies; the Templar faction is based around a heavily armoured infantry and mobile palisades. The Undead army contains a stark range of defensive and offensive units, including zombies which roam across the battlefield.

Templars versus Undead is compatible with both Elves versus Lizardmen and Orcs versus Dwarves, meaning that all the Lords of War armies can be used to battle one another. The armies can also be blended together, using a strict ranking system, to create mercenary decks for tournament play.