麻豆视频

There are games which at first look you pass on, and then something changes, you take a chance, and find you had been missing out on something rather good.

Such was the case with Battle Line.

The game is from noted designer Reiner Knizia, so it had pedigree, although first published in 2000, I had never had it on my high interest list.

Then one day wandering through pages at www.boardgamegeek.com I came upon a re-themed card set for Battle Line. The new card design highlighted Star Wars artwork, and was available as a download for personal print and play use.

Interesting Battle Line itself is a re-themed version of Schotten-Totten. Game play is identical, except the cards run from 1 to 10 (not 9), you hold seven cards in your hand (not 6), and the rule that stones may only be claimed at the start of your turn is presented as an "advanced variant".

The artwork was amazing, and while not a diehard Star Wars fan, it drew me in enough to print the card set.

A little scissors work, and the printed material was ready to slip into card sleeves, using a cheap standard deck of cards as backing for strength.

The set looks awesome.

But what of game play?

Well the first real play was at a McDonald's in Dauphin during some downtime at this year's Western Canada Cup tournament.

The game plays rather quickly, and is the sort that win, or lose, you feel eager to play again. There is always a feeling you might have won had you only made a better decision here, or there, or if you had had just a bit more luck in terms of the draw of the cards.

The desire to replay the game is a definite selling point.

With Battle Line two opponents face off across a 'battle line' and attempt to win the battle by taking five of nine worlds (in the Star Wars re-theme) or three worlds adjacent to each other. I use wooden chips to signify the worlds.

Worlds are battled for by placing cards into three card poker-type hands on either side of a world.

A player plays a card to any world he wishes then the opponent responds. No world can have more than three cards played to it by a player.

In laying out the cards a player is hoping to create a poker-style hand -- straight flush, three of a kind, straight, flush, etc).

The side with the highest 'formation' of cards wins the flag.

There are tactics cards which can bend some of the standard rules, adding some added strategy to Battle Line in terms of what to play, and when.

Overall Battle Line is light, maybe a bit limited in depth, but easy to learn, and quick, so that it makes a great little filler game.