Fantasy Realms: a card game with an addictive edge
1/2/2022
Translation: Katherine Martin
Thanks to its simple rules, you’ll pick up «Fantastic Realms» in next to no time. Not only that, but its competitive game mechanics make it highly addictive. It was rightly nominated for the 2021 «Kennerspiel des Jahres» («expert» game of the year).
Mount the warhorse with your empress. Use the sorceress to unleash a dragon on your enemies. Set bushfires, or wage war with your battle zeppelin. In «Fantasy Realms», you and up to five other players will rule over faraway lands. The goal? To build the mightiest realm in the world.
Every card is unique
If your realm is to become the most powerful in the world, you need to have the best possible hand of cards. Each card is unique and has either a positive or negative influence on the other cards in your hand.
The following three pieces of information on the cards are of critical importance:
1. Base strength
You’ll find the base strength at the top left-hand side of each playing card. This ranges from 0 to 40 points.
2. Card suit
In the game there are eleven different card suits: Army, Leader, Wizard, Weapon, Artefact, Beast, Land, Weather, Flood, Flame and Joker.
3. Bonus or penalty
Besides the base strength and card suit, each card has a bonus or penalty. Some also possess both. For example, the Empress gets a bonus of ten points for each Army in your hand. Watch out though – the Empress gets you a penalty of five points for each additional Leader in your hand.
Trade your way to the perfect hand
At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt seven cards. The remaining cards are then placed face down to form the draw pile. After that, play kicks off in a clockwise direction.
When it’s your turn, you have to do two things. First, you draw a card, then place one of the cards in your hand face up in the discard area. Preferably, this should be a card that doesn’t match well with the others in your hand. At the end of your turn, you need to have seven cards in your hand again. The next player can then decide whether they want to take a card from the draw pile or the discard area. At the end, though, they still need to lay one of their cards face up in the discard area.
As soon as there are ten cards in the discard area, it’s game over. After that, everybody tallies up the number of points they have on their cards. The player with the highest score wins, making their realm the most powerful in the world.
The scoring determines victory or defeat
In addition to the cards, the game includes a score pad for keeping track of everybody’s points. However, if you want my advice, I wouldn’t do this. Figuring out everybody’s scores with the notepad sometimes takes longer than the game itself. A better way to do it is via a web app. Here you just have to select the cards in your hand and the score will display automatically. The web app works seamlessly on all smartphones, tablets and PCs.
The verdict
I rarely master games as quickly as I picked up «Fantasy Realms». The rules are simple and self-explanatory, but because you have to constantly keep the various card combinations in mind during play, the game is still rigorous brain work. Every new card that you draw has to be woven into the tapestry of cards you’ve got already. Along with a bit of deliberation, having luck on your side plays an important role, too. Your realm and its strength can change depending on which card you draw next. This blend is what makes «Fantasy Realms» an exciting and addictive card game. It was rightly nominated for Kennerspiel des Jahres 2021.
Those who’re already familiar with «Fantasy Realms» and want to dive even deeper into the game can do so with the expansion pack, which is already available. In it, cursed artefacts and additional card suits are introduced to the game. This creates more variety without changing the game’s basic rules.
Riding my motorbike makes me feel free, fishing brings out my inner hunter, using my camera gets me creative. I make my money messing around with toys all day.
