Because we're so used to sleeving card games we have a particular soft spot for games that add overlays to sleeved cards. It's not a new idea; AEG introduced 'card crafting' in 2016 with Mystic Vale, and modifying sleeves and overlays are used to excellent effect in Dead Reckoning (AEG) but it would be hard to find a game that uses the device for better thematic effect than Albi's Legion: The Siberian Story.
David Frantisek Wagner's game is set during the Russian Civil War following the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, where Russia concluded a peace treaty with Germany to end Russian involvement in the First World War. The 2-4 players each have a group of Czechoslovakian soldiers journeying across Siberia to get home. The soldiers all have their own specific strengths and weaknesses. Each players' group of soldiers is identified with one of the warring Russian factions and the journey home involves encounters and conflicts which will have their effect on the soldiers.
That's where the overlays come in: by using the overlays and sleeves, you modify each soldier's card as the game progresses, showing wounds and the effects, for example, of extreme cold. It's amazing how this brings the game, and your little platoon of combatants, to life: thanks to the overlays, you begin to think of them as real characters rather than mere cards in a board game. You send these characters off on a mission but they return to your hand bearing the scars of the injuries they suffered as a result of your decisions. Secure resources and you can add overlays to better equip your soldiers and upgrade their effectiveness in battle or merely in surviving the elements.
You send your soldiers on missions where they'll come into conflict with opponents, and you play the cards face up so other players know which soldiers are involved and what skills they have. However, players' orders for each soldier are via usually face-down tokens, so this is game with a high degree of bluff, counter-bluff and deduction...
It's a card game with a wargame theme and setting but which evokes much of the personal investment you normally only find in a role-playing game. That's quite an achievement. And Czech publishers Albi have done a fantastic job with the production.
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