For decades, humans have lived peacefully, if uneasily, in the Valyance Vale. A large clan of goblins, the Firebrands, made their home in the mountains overlooking the Vale. The Valyance king worked together with the Firebrand king to keep the peace through the years. But, discontent has been brewing, and suddenly the status quo is shattered! Goblins and Wolf Riders stream down the hillsides, while Men-At-Arms unsheathe swords and Archers knock arrows. The time for war is now!

Welcome to Wartime, a 2-player tactical war game unlike any other: players engage in simultaneous play without turns! Players direct their units and attack enemies continuously in real time, without waiting for the opponent to finish his actions. The first player to achieve the goals of the scenario wins the game. Wartime resets the bar for “fast and furious” play as you control up to four units at a time and watch your opponent do the same! The rules have been streamlined so that players need never stop to look up anything. And with a game this action-packed, you wouldn’t want to stop anyway! Individual games rarely last more than 10-minutes, and we’ve seen many players ditch their chairs and stand throughout the game!

Here’s how it works: an army’s unit is represented by a stack of tokens – one for each health point – with stats printed on the tokens for easy reference. Game actions are managed by sand timers. In Wartime, a player can act whenever a drained sand timer is available. The player chooses one of his “available” units to take an action, resolve the action, and then flip the timer next to the unit to start the sand running. That unit is now ‘busy’ and cannot take any further actions until the timer drains. Once the timer drains, both are accessible again for a new action. Until then, a busy unit is a sitting duck, so pay close attention to your opponent’s forces!

Tokens for two factions are included on Wartime, enabling the Firebrand Goblins, Orcs, and Wolf Riders to square off against the Valyance Archers, Knights, and Men-At-Arms. The Battle Book presents a story-driven campaign that gradually introduces players to various elements of the game. In campaign mode, the result of one battle determines which scenario is played next.

Players typically begin the game with more units than they have timers, so they must choose wisely which units will act. Moreover, the timers have different lengths, ranging from 30 to 90 seconds. Deciding which unit gets which timer for which action will be a key strategic choice. And that choice must be made quickly because every second counts in Wartime!

Special abilities are handled by a hand of Action cards. Each faction also has some special units (heroes and spellcasters) that unlock Heroic Action and Spell Action cards. These cards grant powerful, one-time effects. For example, dealing a Critical Hit, throwing a Lightning Bolt, or even Confusing an enemy timer. At the start of battle, players choose from a set of available Action cards, allowing them to customize their options for each game. Remember that a well-timed maneuver can change history.

As Moltke the Elder once wrote, “no plan survives contact with the enemy.” The tension and chaos of real warfare emerges naturally from the Wartime system. With a new action occurring about every 30-seconds, both players constantly engage with their units all across the board. There are some nail-biting moments as you wait to see whose timer will drain first! The fast pace of gameplay can be overwhelming at first, but stick with it and within a few plays you’ll begin to read and anticipate your opponent’s moves. And at less than 10-minutes per game, it won’t take long to get the hang of it! Though fundamentally a 2-player game, Wartime is even engaging for spectators to watch. After all, in Wartime, it’s always your turn! Wartime will be available in friendly local game stores this June!