KARDS: Allegiance - New game mechanics explained
Hello friends!
Let's reveal the new game mechanics coming with the arrival of the two new ally nations France and Italy in the Allegiance expansion on December 10!
In true KARDS spirit, these new mechanics are rooted in history and continue our efforts to give KARDS a genuine WW2 feeling.
Are you ready?
The two new abilities in Allegiance are called Mobilize and Alpine.
Mobilize is mostly found on French units and Alpine is mostly found on Italian units, but there are a couple in other nations and going forward these keywords are considered available in any nation.
The Mobilize help bubble reads:
This means that as long as the unit with Mobilize hasn’t received any damage, it will grow by +1+1 at the start of every one of your turns. The units with Mobilize are generally priced in such a way that if they are damaged immediately, they are underwhelming for their cost, if they get the bonus once they are generally on par and if they get it two or more times they are starting punch above their weight.
Note that Mobilize is only lost on damage, not necessarily just combat. So a Bloody Sickle will remove the Mobilize, but a Mobilize unit with Heavy Armor could for instance fight and retain its Mobilize status as long as the Heavy Armor stops all combat damage. Upon losing the Mobilize status the unit will no longer gain +1+1 at the start of your turn, but it will retain any bonuses accrued so far.
The thematic idea with Mobilize reflects the general unready state of the French army at the outset of the war - they had plenty of manpower and some decent equipment, they just needed time to organize and gear up. Time was not what they got, which can be reflected in KARDS by fast blitz decks disrupting the Mobilize units before they can really get going. So when playing a Mobilize deck you want to delay and disrupt the enemy to give your Mobilize units time to grow into something fearsome.
Many of the Mobilize units have effects linked to maintaining the Mobilize status or losing it. Here is an example:
There are also cards that take units with Mobilize into account for play effects, restrictions, etc. Here is one example:
Note that a unit only counts as being Mobilized while it still has its Mobilize status, i.e. it hasn’t been damaged yet.
Another strong theme the French have is linked to the French Resistance, starting with the namesake card:
Resistance cards always go into the enemy hand.
There are several French cards that create Resistance cards when played, both units and orders. Resistance cards clutter up the enemy hand, the only way to get rid of them (apart from rare self-discard strategies) is by playing it, this both causes you to lose a kredit (for playing the card) and the top card of the your deck - if the resistance is strong enough it can even run you out of resources! This of course reflects the nuisance the French Resistance movement caused, tying up valuable men and resources.
Keeping the Resistance cards in hand can also be risky. Apart from the risk of losing a draw if you have a full hand, there are cards that become more effective the more Resistance cards the enemy has in hand. See for instance:
That’s it for France. Let’s take a look at the other new keyword, Alpine.
The help bubble for Alpine reads:
So the first one you play gets no bonus, the second one gets +1+1, the third one +2+2 and so on. This means that they can quickly snowball a basic unit into something very strong if left unchecked.
The thematic idea for Alpine is that while some Italian units performed at subpar level due to equipment and morale issues, there were many crack Italian units that fought extremely well during the war. The Alpini units were among those that performed well and the Alpine keyword reflects that on their own they are not that great, but if you manage to concentrate them they can become a very potent force. The reason for using the Alpine term is to allow other nations to dip their toes into this keyword, as most armies had some sort of mountaineer troops that can get the Alpine designation. Let’s take a look at a basic Alpine unit:
With just a single Alpine unit on the battlefield, this comes down as a 3/3 and draws you a card and it can be even bigger if you happen to have more - in other words, the mountaineers can snowball very quickly (pun intended).
There are also cards that support Alpine units or benefit Alpine units in some fashion. Some of these cards are Alpine themselves, others are not. Here is an example of the former:
Italy also has a strong theme of getting advantages while they are on the front foot. Many of their cards have effect boost or play restrictions based on battlefield position - if they are doing well, then these cards can be very powerful, but if they are behind they struggle. In addition, many of their cards start out strong, but can then become weaker the more opposition they face. So with Italy you want to seize the initiative and keep it. Here is one example of an Italian card that can be very strong while they have the upper hand:
There is one final mechanic we want to showcase. It is only found on two cards in the new expansion, but we expect those two cards to make a splash. Here is one of the two, you have to wait until the 10th to see the other:
Even as a 3/3 for 2 is a decent value due to the protection clause and in a dedicated Alpine deck it consistently is at least 4/4, which is very solid for 2 kredits.
Just to make sure there is no ambiguity regarding the ability - this stops orders that directly target a specific unit. It can still be affected by cards that don’t have specific targets like Naval Operation or Death From Above. So while it stops a lot of heat, it is not a blanket protection against all orders.
That’s it for the second part of the Allegiance mechanics.
Stay tuned for one more dev blog to discuss other general changes coming with our big update on December 10th. In the meantime, let us know what you think in the comments below!
Learn more about Allegiance and read the following articles Allegiance expansion announcement and pre-order deal Revealed! Two new nations with Allegiance Allegiance game mechanics - Part 1 Allegiance card reveals - Week 1 Allegiance card reveals - Week 2
Don't miss the live broadcast of the World Championship Finals on December 7 at 8pm UTC and December 8 at 7pm UTC!
Let's reveal the new game mechanics coming with the arrival of the two new ally nations France and Italy in the Allegiance expansion on December 10!
In true KARDS spirit, these new mechanics are rooted in history and continue our efforts to give KARDS a genuine WW2 feeling.
Are you ready?
The two new abilities in Allegiance are called Mobilize and Alpine.
Mobilize is mostly found on French units and Alpine is mostly found on Italian units, but there are a couple in other nations and going forward these keywords are considered available in any nation.
Vive la France
The Mobilize help bubble reads:
Unit gets +1+1 at start of its turn. Unit loses Mobilize when damaged.
This means that as long as the unit with Mobilize hasn’t received any damage, it will grow by +1+1 at the start of every one of your turns. The units with Mobilize are generally priced in such a way that if they are damaged immediately, they are underwhelming for their cost, if they get the bonus once they are generally on par and if they get it two or more times they are starting punch above their weight.
Note that Mobilize is only lost on damage, not necessarily just combat. So a Bloody Sickle will remove the Mobilize, but a Mobilize unit with Heavy Armor could for instance fight and retain its Mobilize status as long as the Heavy Armor stops all combat damage. Upon losing the Mobilize status the unit will no longer gain +1+1 at the start of your turn, but it will retain any bonuses accrued so far.
The thematic idea with Mobilize reflects the general unready state of the French army at the outset of the war - they had plenty of manpower and some decent equipment, they just needed time to organize and gear up. Time was not what they got, which can be reflected in KARDS by fast blitz decks disrupting the Mobilize units before they can really get going. So when playing a Mobilize deck you want to delay and disrupt the enemy to give your Mobilize units time to grow into something fearsome.
Many of the Mobilize units have effects linked to maintaining the Mobilize status or losing it. Here is an example:
There are also cards that take units with Mobilize into account for play effects, restrictions, etc. Here is one example:
Note that a unit only counts as being Mobilized while it still has its Mobilize status, i.e. it hasn’t been damaged yet.
Another strong theme the French have is linked to the French Resistance, starting with the namesake card:
Resistance cards always go into the enemy hand.
There are several French cards that create Resistance cards when played, both units and orders. Resistance cards clutter up the enemy hand, the only way to get rid of them (apart from rare self-discard strategies) is by playing it, this both causes you to lose a kredit (for playing the card) and the top card of the your deck - if the resistance is strong enough it can even run you out of resources! This of course reflects the nuisance the French Resistance movement caused, tying up valuable men and resources.
Keeping the Resistance cards in hand can also be risky. Apart from the risk of losing a draw if you have a full hand, there are cards that become more effective the more Resistance cards the enemy has in hand. See for instance:
That’s it for France. Let’s take a look at the other new keyword, Alpine.
Italian Renaissance
The help bubble for Alpine reads:
When an Alpine unit is deployed or added it gets +1+1 for each other Alpine unit you control.
So the first one you play gets no bonus, the second one gets +1+1, the third one +2+2 and so on. This means that they can quickly snowball a basic unit into something very strong if left unchecked.
The thematic idea for Alpine is that while some Italian units performed at subpar level due to equipment and morale issues, there were many crack Italian units that fought extremely well during the war. The Alpini units were among those that performed well and the Alpine keyword reflects that on their own they are not that great, but if you manage to concentrate them they can become a very potent force. The reason for using the Alpine term is to allow other nations to dip their toes into this keyword, as most armies had some sort of mountaineer troops that can get the Alpine designation. Let’s take a look at a basic Alpine unit:
With just a single Alpine unit on the battlefield, this comes down as a 3/3 and draws you a card and it can be even bigger if you happen to have more - in other words, the mountaineers can snowball very quickly (pun intended).
There are also cards that support Alpine units or benefit Alpine units in some fashion. Some of these cards are Alpine themselves, others are not. Here is an example of the former:
Italy also has a strong theme of getting advantages while they are on the front foot. Many of their cards have effect boost or play restrictions based on battlefield position - if they are doing well, then these cards can be very powerful, but if they are behind they struggle. In addition, many of their cards start out strong, but can then become weaker the more opposition they face. So with Italy you want to seize the initiative and keep it. Here is one example of an Italian card that can be very strong while they have the upper hand:
Can’t Touch This
There is one final mechanic we want to showcase. It is only found on two cards in the new expansion, but we expect those two cards to make a splash. Here is one of the two, you have to wait until the 10th to see the other:
Even as a 3/3 for 2 is a decent value due to the protection clause and in a dedicated Alpine deck it consistently is at least 4/4, which is very solid for 2 kredits.
Just to make sure there is no ambiguity regarding the ability - this stops orders that directly target a specific unit. It can still be affected by cards that don’t have specific targets like Naval Operation or Death From Above. So while it stops a lot of heat, it is not a blanket protection against all orders.
That’s it for the second part of the Allegiance mechanics.
Stay tuned for one more dev blog to discuss other general changes coming with our big update on December 10th. In the meantime, let us know what you think in the comments below!
Learn more about Allegiance and read the following articles Allegiance expansion announcement and pre-order deal Revealed! Two new nations with Allegiance Allegiance game mechanics - Part 1 Allegiance card reveals - Week 1 Allegiance card reveals - Week 2
Don't miss the live broadcast of the World Championship Finals on December 7 at 8pm UTC and December 8 at 7pm UTC!