“Today is the day when the lands of our ancestors will be free of their invaders. Knights! Let us return these monsters to their rightful place.
Joanna’s speech to her hosts before the battle of Eagle’s Peak
Set in a fantasy world, Drums of War puts each player in charge of an army represented by an asymmetrical deck of cards, led by a commanding hero.
Cards are deployed on the battlefield, in the form of units, equipment or tactics, which decimate the deck for each action they perform.
In two-player or solo games, Drums of War offers fast-paced, tactical games lasting 30 minutes.
The cards
The cards that form our army show customized values for each type of unit, tactic, equipment and hero, as well as special abilities that are used at different moments of the game.
How to play
To win the game you must cause the opponent’s hero as many wounds as his life value indicates, before running out of cards to recover your hand.
To achieve this, each player has a deck of 38 cards, from which we will have to draw a certain number, according to the hero we are going to use in the battle. Some heroes force us to draw them at random, while others allow us to choose them.
Along the game, we alternatively deploy cards from our hand to the battlefield with the particularity that, to deploy a card, we will have to pay its cost with other cards from our hand.
Retired cards, except for specific ability effects, do not return to play during the game… you will have to choose wisely!
Once both players pass, combat takes place between the units deployed on the battlefield.
The Combat
In Drums of War the placement of units on the front line of the battlefield is very important.
Some units can only attack enemies directly in front of them. Others can perform a ranged attack and are not required to fight their facing opponent.
Once it is determined who attacks whom, the combat is resolved simultaneously for both sides.
We compare the attack and defense values, which can be modified by equipment, tactics, hero’s skills or the units themselves.
In addition, you can attack the enemy hero with your units, in order to win the game by causing wounds until you surpass the life represented on his card.
Units suffering more hits than their life value are eliminated, although they may return to battle later when the game deck is exhausted and the discard pile is shuffled.
With the units that are not facing opponents, or using the ability of some units, you can attack the enemy hero directly. If your attack value exceeds his defense, he will lose a point of life.
But heroes also defend themselves! Some of your units may not return to the battlefield after attacking the enemy hero.
Card Abilities
Each unit in Drums of War has special and unique abilities, which increase the depth of the game.
These abilities are activated at different times: when deploying the unit on the battlefield, when units of the same type are present, when other units are killed, for fighting a specific type of enemy, etc.
All cards count, and you must choose each turn which one to remove to put the cards in your hand into play.
Ending the game
When a player has no cards in his deck or discarded cards, he loses. You can also make your opponent lose by causing him more wounds than the number of life points shown on his card.
Rulebook
You can download the rulebook at this link. (We are working on it)
Videos
Gameplay and tutorial videos will be available soon.
Solitaire
We wanted Drums of War to be enjoyed also in single player games, including a booklet for solo play with easy guides that, using the rules of the game, allow you to enjoy the game experience with just a simple diagram:
In this way, our enemy will oppose our units with his own, looking for the advantage in a simple and affordable way, which allows us to enjoy the experience without a complicated management of the “artificial intelligence” of the game.
In the same way, during combat, he will seek to gain an advantage against our units, always trying to annihilate our troops while keeping his own.
Online play
You can play the game for free at Tabletopia. You don’t need to download or install anything, not even register on the site, as you can play as a guest.
Skirmish, duel and campaign
Drums of War offers several game modes:
- Skirmish: a single game between two heroes.
- Duel: a challenge to two battles, one with each army and with the heroes chosen at random in each one. In case of a tie in victories, the player who has used the lower colored heroes wins.
- Campaign: three consecutive battles, with the same army and a different color hero each time, gold, silver and bronze, without repeating them. Players score points according to the color difference between their heroes, when they win the game.
Game components
Human army:
- 3 Hero cards.
- 29 Unit cards.
- 4 Equipment cards.
- 2 Tactics cards.
Orc army:
- 3 Hero cards.
- 29 Unit cards.
- 4 Equipment cards.
- 2 Tactics cards.
Tokens:
- Starting player.
- Wound.
- Active abitly.
Rulebooks:
- Game rules.
- Solitaire play.
