Saturday, July 19, 2003
SO I was bored out of my mind and desperate for a new game. One with some strategy. I looked up some old links and found this: Spirit Wars
If you are familiar with Magic the Gathering, this game will seem extremely similar. Infact, I'd call it a 3rd party attempt at adapting MtG to a boardgame. It doesn't have the same vast variety of 'cards' as I was used to from MtG, but the hex board combat compensates for it.
The premise is that you're a god or a dead viking or something and you're in Valhala. In typical viking mythos, you play little war games with your fellow divine beings. You get a random battlefield and your Castle (the physical manifestation of the player Wizard from MtG) is randomly placed along with your opponent's. Your deck is called a "Dungeon" which you can freely alter to your taste, within some loose rules. Your card hand is your "Courtyard" and is filled with Spirits (monsters of various types), and Spells. You play them by paying their "energy" (same as mana) fee of the appropriate colour and take turns with your opponent. There are various phases, ofcourse.
Monsters come in all different kinds from Melee to Ranged to Casters to Walls and Energy Spirits which are similar to Land cards from MtG. Each hex on the board has a corrosponding terrain (flatlands, highlands, ect) and units of different colours get bonuses for those varied types. Monsters play a MUCH bigger role in this game than MtG since a lot of strat is based around positioning, and that pretty much the only sure way to kill a Castle is to beat it down with some angry spirits.
Spells have some interesting effects, but not nearly so much as MtG. There are very few cards that directly affect a castle, so don't get your hopes up for that 40 pt, game ending fireball. Most spells are healing or buff spells, with a few instant unit killers.
And now for the important info: The game is free (as in beer), and only a 14 meg download (you can pay for a slightly extended version, but it doesn't seem worth the difference). I'm pretty sure you could play it on a cellphone - the reqs are that low. Game matching is done via a chat lobby so its easy to randomly challenge other people, or spot your buddies when they come online. There's barely any sound effects, and no music so make sure to crank up some groovy tunes in you music player of choice.
And hey, if you don't want to wait in line at Fileplanet for the file or want someone to play with (please? I promise I won't be a vindictive ass as I was in MtG........okay, I promise to *try* not to, anyways......okay, at least this way you won't be able to hear me giggle), let me know and I can send you the file or jump in and play.
Side note! The artwork is this strange mesh of various great works depicting mostly greek, roman and norse mythology. It's good in that I haven't seen any I would descibe as 'sucks' (unlike a LOT of the MtG art) but the game lacks a coherent art style of its own. Ofcourse, occasionally you find a good one, like this dragon pic below, and it reminds you that it really doesn't matter since your playing a deep strategy game.
It's totally biting his face. Righteous!
If you are familiar with Magic the Gathering, this game will seem extremely similar. Infact, I'd call it a 3rd party attempt at adapting MtG to a boardgame. It doesn't have the same vast variety of 'cards' as I was used to from MtG, but the hex board combat compensates for it.
The premise is that you're a god or a dead viking or something and you're in Valhala. In typical viking mythos, you play little war games with your fellow divine beings. You get a random battlefield and your Castle (the physical manifestation of the player Wizard from MtG) is randomly placed along with your opponent's. Your deck is called a "Dungeon" which you can freely alter to your taste, within some loose rules. Your card hand is your "Courtyard" and is filled with Spirits (monsters of various types), and Spells. You play them by paying their "energy" (same as mana) fee of the appropriate colour and take turns with your opponent. There are various phases, ofcourse.
Monsters come in all different kinds from Melee to Ranged to Casters to Walls and Energy Spirits which are similar to Land cards from MtG. Each hex on the board has a corrosponding terrain (flatlands, highlands, ect) and units of different colours get bonuses for those varied types. Monsters play a MUCH bigger role in this game than MtG since a lot of strat is based around positioning, and that pretty much the only sure way to kill a Castle is to beat it down with some angry spirits.
Spells have some interesting effects, but not nearly so much as MtG. There are very few cards that directly affect a castle, so don't get your hopes up for that 40 pt, game ending fireball. Most spells are healing or buff spells, with a few instant unit killers.
And now for the important info: The game is free (as in beer), and only a 14 meg download (you can pay for a slightly extended version, but it doesn't seem worth the difference). I'm pretty sure you could play it on a cellphone - the reqs are that low. Game matching is done via a chat lobby so its easy to randomly challenge other people, or spot your buddies when they come online. There's barely any sound effects, and no music so make sure to crank up some groovy tunes in you music player of choice.
And hey, if you don't want to wait in line at Fileplanet for the file or want someone to play with (please? I promise I won't be a vindictive ass as I was in MtG........okay, I promise to *try* not to, anyways......okay, at least this way you won't be able to hear me giggle), let me know and I can send you the file or jump in and play.
Side note! The artwork is this strange mesh of various great works depicting mostly greek, roman and norse mythology. It's good in that I haven't seen any I would descibe as 'sucks' (unlike a LOT of the MtG art) but the game lacks a coherent art style of its own. Ofcourse, occasionally you find a good one, like this dragon pic below, and it reminds you that it really doesn't matter since your playing a deep strategy game.
It's totally biting his face. Righteous!
