1066, Tears to Many Mothers - RFY / WFY
Review copy provided by the publisher
Card games can be exceptional when supported with the right kind of content and developed with immersive art and satisfying mechanics. They are especially good for two-player scenarios in which you want a head-to-head gameplay experience.
Many of those games, however, fall into the category of collectible card games or living card games, entailing a significant amount of additional content or expansions being produced after the initial title. It inevitably leads to a hunt for all of the cards and goodies that have come out or a very intentional hunt for the extras that greatly improve a player’s chance of winning.
It’s the pursuit of the “meta” or the evolving strategy that comes with more and more stuff being released for a game. Similar to how online multiplayer games like Overwatch develop an ever-shifting landscape of what the best strategy means for the players.
And while that prospect might seem appealing to many in the gaming world, it’s a refreshing turn of events when a game comes out and doesn’t require anything else. A standalone experience.
That’s the case with 1066, Tears to Many Mothers, the first game in the Historic Epic Battle System series from Tristan Hall (of Hall or Nothing Productions). You might be wondering why I just complained about more content than just a game when this is the first of a series of games, but there is a difference.
Each other game—1565, St. Elmo’s Pay and the upcoming 1815, Scum of the Earth—is a separate entry in the series. Yes, you can mix and match asymmetric sides from these games in head-to-head fights apart from the individual games, but each title is a standalone purchase. You don’t have to have one to play the other. They are self-contained historical experiences.
I’ve already shared my initial thoughts on 1066, but it’s time to pull the bowstring back a little further, let loose a little snappier, and see how true the arrow flies as we explore the Battle of Hastings, its participants, and how well that translates to a conflict-heavy card game.
Overview
Whadda we got here?
1066, Tears to Many Mothers is a tactical card game. If you’ve played games like Magic: The Gathering, then the resource-spending, card-exhausting mechanisms at play in 1066 will be familiar.
It’s asymmetric, in that the two playable factions—Normans and Saxons—possess different card decks, objectives, and abilities to be experimented with and capitalized on by players.
And the competitive experience will conclude (unless one side is eliminated early) with the Battle of Hastings and the epic clash of cavalry and shield walls from that bloody encounter.
I’ll talk in-depth about the cards later, but it’s also worth noting that the cards, which are beautifully-illustrated, are inspired by real historical figures and events from the time period surrounding the Battle of Hastings. So you can learn some stuff along the way!
Theme
Card games sometimes suffer in the “theme” department or whatever trivial name you want to assign to the concept of visual immersion, world-building, and grounding of mechanics in a setting that allows players to suspend disbelief and jump into the game.
That’s not the case with 1066, mostly due to the extensive amount of time and effort put forth in creating realistic art that portrays the people and atmosphere of that wartime era in convincing detail and striking color. If that level of creative license had been applied to history textbooks, I think kids would have read a lot more.
Ania Kryczkowska has truly helped the game come alive.
What kind of world, though, is being realized with the design work of Tristan Hall and the artistic magic woven by Ania Kryczkowska?
A promise has been made and broken, an evil omen is in the sky, a crown is at stake, and history is about to be made. It is April 1066 and Harold Godwinson, King of England, faces a deadly challenge from William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy. William believes that Harold has broken his solemn oath by claiming the English crown, and the matter must be settled by force, in a battle the likes of which Europe has never seen...
Get ready for a showdown then because nothing says fighting tooth-and-nail like two Englishmen with competing claims to the throne.
Accessibility
Persuading someone to play a two-player card game, especially one based on real historical events, is much easier when it’s presented in the most appealing way possible.
How about a card game that doesn’t require deck-building, that condenses significant moments from that past into punchy gameplay, and that grabs your attention with lavish art?
Well, it will certainly make things easier. You’re also not going to need to learn new rules as more content comes out because what’s in the box is what you get. That’s all you need to play.
Additionally, if you’re interested in the Historic Epic Battle System (HEBS), then there are two potential outcomes for playing 1066. If you’ve played one or both of the other games in the series, then understanding the rules and mechanics of 1066 will be a simple affair. Or, if you haven’t played any of the games, then learning this first one will make approaching the other titles in the series that much easier.
Gameplay
There are three things going on in a game of 1066, Tears to Many Mothers.
Players move through an objective deck, gradually wearing down the “health” of the card with either Might or Zeal until it’s depleted, the effects are resolved, and the next objective is drawn.
Each combatant draws cards from their respective decks, resulting in cards played out on the battlefield, tactics reserved in their player space, or events triggered. All three of these actions cost resources, in the form of discarded cards from a player's hand or exhausted cards already in play.
Placement of troops and activation of card abilities on the battlefield will result in players attacking each other, which is a slower struggle that ramps up once one or both of the players reach the Battle of Hastings objective, in which case full-fledged fighting breaks out.
Placement of troops is in one of three different wedges (or lanes), similar to MOBA games online or titles like small-box game Crimson Company.
Because there is no deck-building, players just jump into it. Though that lack of control over the deck does mean that there is an element of luck as to what a player might get and how it might integrate with the cards already in play or the other potential tactics that could be extrapolated from a player’s hand.
Some games will end before the Battle of Hastings, with one player’s leader killed through continual pressure on the battlefield. Some games will be a lopsided and brutal dismantling of one player’s forces as the other’s mightier engine kicks into gear. And the best games will be the ones that come down to the wire with tense combat and a bloody contest of Might and Zeal, representing the physical prowess and religious ardor of the armies involved.
It’s possible that some games can be intuited and appreciated right off the bat as their mechanics and full potential are realized after few plays. 1066, Tears to Many Mothers can definitely be appreciated upon first playing the game, but players will want to keep plugging away at it in order to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the Normans and the Saxons. Only then will you be able to more efficiently avoid the more lopsided fights. It will mitigate the swinginess that can occur due to the cards pulled from the deck.
An important factor in the gameplay, though, is the accessibility of this as a wargame. This is not a chit-laden monstrosity. It’s not a dice-rolling nightmare. It’s not any of those feverish apparitions that some gamers fear wargames to be. It’s an approachable, gorgeous game that can even be played solo if you can’t find someone to take on the mantle of an Anglo-Saxon warmonger across the table from you.
Modes of Play
If you’re just talking about 1066, then you have two options: solo play or the standard two-player gameplay.
But if you’re considering the entire HEBS series, then you’ve got more replayability because the Normans and the Saxons from 1066 could be matched up against the Ottoman Turks or Knights of St John from 1565. Once 1815, Scum of the Earth fulfills its Kickstarter campaign, you’ll also be able to add the French emperor Napoleon and the British Duke of Wellington to the fray.
Innovation
Let’s talk about that art.
The gameplay in 1066, Tears to Many Mothers is well-crafted. The mechanics there work efficiently—especially when you contemplate each HEBS game’s compatibility with its sister titles.
But let’s talk about that art. It’s what drew me in. It’s what gives most people pause. It is a remarkable level of detail and style and swag that many historical games don’t have. Many card games or board games in general don’t have that caliber of illustration.
Tristan Hall has given people something to drool over. The bar that Ania Kryczkowska has set here and in the Kilforth games (also from Tristan Hall) is exceptional.
If I was to think of the best decision that Tristan and his team made for these asymmetric tactical card games, it’s the vivid color and sharp images that have given depth and nuance to what could easily have been a lackluster visual world.
Pricing
Even though it’s all in British pounds, everything on the Hall or Nothing Productions website seems reasonably priced. Base games from the Historic Epic Battle System series are £35.00. Playmats are £30.00. Those accessories aren’t necessary, but I’ve found that I enjoy having playmats for card games as it gives them a space to exist on the table without moving around as much.
Obviously compare it to other games that you’re interested in, but it’s definitely worth a look.