Taking a break from their more heavyweight games, Mindclash have brought us Ironwood: a card-driven two-player board game that's asymmetric but nonetheless relatively accessible. It's produced to the high standard we've come to expect from Mindclash but it doesn't impose as heavy a rules overhead as some of the publisher's previous titles. Tho' this certainly isn't a gateway game suitable for someone coming new to modern board games, experienced gamers can expect to have Ironwood up and running pretty much straight out of the box. The game is designed by Mael Brunet and Julien Chaput, with art by Villő Farkas and Qistina Khalidah,
Players each have their own decks of multi-use cards, and each turn you'll play three of them for their actions on the board; for example, to move your troops or collect resources. The Ironclad player will be drilling for resources to build three forges while the player controlling the Woodwalkers will be using their separate deck of 'vision cards' to locate and retrieve their three totems. The game is won by the player who is first to achieve their faction's third objective, and tho' it's first and foremost a two-player game, there are solo rules to facilitate solitaire play as either the Ironclad or Woodwalkers. The Ironclad need crystals to build their forges, and they'll be drilling for those, but the Woodwalkers also need crystals and to get them they'll want to raid Ironclad supplies. Each faction may also need to intervene to prevent the other from achieving objectives... You're bound, therefore, to end up in combat with your opponent; using the cards in your deck for their combat values rather than their usual actions. Combat is straightforward, comparing attack and defence symbols on the cards to determine casualties, but it is ultimately the 'dominance' (flag value) shown on the cards that determines victory: you may have more troops than your opponent, even after casualties have been determined, but if your opponent's card has a higher flag value, you'll be pushed out of your location.
The two factions in Ironwood don't just have asymmetric objectives and use asymmetric decks, their pieces move across the board in different ways and along different paths: this is the most asymmetric game we've played since we first encountered Root (Leder Games), tho' Ironwood imposes fewer less faction-specific rules than Root. The factions in Ironwood never actually occupy or access the same areas of the board; so combat is always between units in adjacent areas. And in a nice touch, all the Ironclad's pieces are moulded in metal while the Woodwalker's pieces are all made of wood.
Ironwood combines elements of wargame with mechanics more familiar in eurogames, and there's plenty of scope for bluff and misdirection in the way you move and deploy your forces. Players each have quite large decks, so there's an element of luck over which cards you draw. You may have a grand strategy but, as with Arcs (Leder Games), you may have to switch tactics to make best use of the cards you have to hand... And in Ironwood you're never completely at the mercy of a lucky or unlucky draw because each player has three core cards that are always available to them.
Tho' the two factions are very different, they are well balanced: in most games the winner will only just pip their opponent to the post - winning probably just a round ahead. You'll find the gameplay is brisk, and the alternating card play means there's really no down time. Our plays at Board's Eye View have so far all run to around 45-60 minutes: short enough to go for an instant replay with roles reversed...