Josh Sepos here--one of Jeremiah’s gaming buddies and rare contributor to this fine publication…err…blogication! When Jeremiah and I were at Origins, I found, in my opinion, the hidden gem of the show! Of all the games I demoed, this was my favorite: Castle Assault. It’s a solo or two-player “Battle Card Game” in which the players reveal and put into play cards that will march up the field to their opponent’s castle, meeting opposition along the way, in the ultimate goal of destroying their opponent’s castle.

TJ Dunbar is the creator, and  Momentum Volsk is the company behind the game. Castle Assault has a massive board, with a player castle at each end for defense. Each player controls a faction of cards, which march along the battlefield toward their opponent's castle. An interesting mechanic was that for many units once the unit is in play it marches on its own towards the enemy.  For me that meant less thinking about, "Oh, this unit could move here, or this one here," and I was able to really weigh the abilities of the card, what it would bring to the opponents units heading at me, or what it might do to their castle.

Some cards and units allow more granular control over moment, allowing some to move left to right when most can’t, or using a die role to determine movement, versus the card alone.

Combat is determined by abilities listed on the card for damage and defense. Something else that was great? The game already has five, yes FIVE, factions and they've already created an expansion with two more! Something else great? The creator, TJ Dunbar, had concept factions with him that were already in development! Awesome!

There are a variety of different styles of gameplay: solo, versus, and an RP variant to level up a hero (unique to each faction). The creators describe it as a "customizable card game" and NOT a collectible card game--meaning no boosters, starters, etc…  An expansion will have all the cards needed to play, and the game comes with all the GOOD cards needed to play, meaning no need to go buy more.

The artwork was killer, and the quality of the prototype was fantastic. Quite honestly it seemed finished for a Kickstarter, so if its getting better...holy cow, it's going to be a great game! Lastly, the other player and I were taught the game in all of 10-15 minutes and were able to dive in and feel confident playing on our own! All in all, the $50 it cost for me to immediately back this it was totally worth it, and I look forward to what is sure to become one of my favorite games, delivered in October!

You can check out the game on Kickstarter right now. Thanks for reading!