More Fighting Card Games

It seems the fighting game simulation is getting more popular all the time in the board game world. There is currently a game in this genre on Kickstarter. It is called Way of the Fighter. It’s got some potentially interesting takes on the genre and some not so interesting ones.

The games focus is on arena positioning, your stance (crouch, standing, or jumping), hitboxes, and meter. Meter comes in the form of dice rolling and management so it has more luck then the previous fighting card/board games.

It has some Codex level of deck building which feels odd for a fighting game but I’m whatever about that. The biggest things that irk me are:

  1. Blocks are terrible
  2. Blocks being bad makes throws weak
  3. Fast attacks and starters seem to rule the game which makes all of the slow attacks lame
  4. KD is an advantage to the person that is on the floor (EDIT: I was wrong about this. Recanted)
  5. The game has too many catch up mechanics (EDIT: Potentially Recanted)

This game is being published by Ninja Division/Soda Pop Miniatures and it seems to follow their modus operandi of cool idea poor development. I’ve printed out the pnp and am in the process of cutting it up. I wonder if this will be the first game in the genre that I don’t like. I hope I’m wrong about it and/or things change to alleviate my concerns for the game.

Is any one else here following the game? Any thoughts on it? What do you think of the discussion that is currently happening in the comments section? Here’s a link to the game’s Kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sodapopminiatures/way-of-the-fighter/description

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Huh. First I’ve heard of this. Checked out the first gameplay video, and it does seem like blocking isn’t that great, but then, I didn’t get a strong sense that the players were playing the positional-yomi that seems like it might be the “real” way that defense is played? Then again, with the format of the video being a live play-by-play session, it might just not be apparent that they were.

Checking out the rules now. Curious why you think being knocked down is an advantage? Is it because it ends your opponent’s combo? Seems like it just prevents you from jumping. Am I missing someting?

you can’t be hit while you’re KD. EDIT: but you can still hit the standing guy. So while your movement is slowed it gives you complete freedom to go on the offense.

Yeah I’m also not sure how “skilled” these players were at the game but I was told they were the more experienced at the game of the two videos so that’s all I have to go on. I broke it down in the comments section of the Kickstarter but the long of the short is of the 18 cards played in that game 11 of them were speed 6 moves/attacks. From that video it just seems like fast attacks are so dominant. Also having your block poked out by a faster attack is just all kinds of odd to me. “What do you mean I wasn’t already holding down back before they started their attack?” I always hold down back.

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That’s not the impression I got at all. edit: I mean, I don’t think it means “you can’t be hit on your next turn.”

From the gameplay, it looked like KD meant you could no longer be hit (i.e. it ends the current combo). On the next turn, you’re just just prevented from jumping, I think? In the video he discards KD right after setting his position to crouching, which is before the “reveal your card” step.

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Lol, you’re right. Some one that has taken a quick glance at the page was able to correct my mistake where the publisher and designer were not after several posts of back and forth, haha. I should go recant what I said about KD in the game haha.

Yeah I was thinking it stayed on a character for an entire round giving them Mario Star Power.

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“Your worthless techniques are powerless against my Invincible Flopping Trout Style!”

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This is the best thing I’ve seen all week.

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/the opponent begins to do The Worm

“TREMBLE BEFORE ME, MORTAL, AND KNOW TRUE DESPAIR!”

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It does feel weird that blocking isn’t as “safe” as playing a high-priority attack - for instance, if you win with a block, you conserve some dice, and prevent the amount of damage you would take, but if you win with something that cancels moves (like a high priority strike), then you completely prevent the damage you would have taken?

idk - again, maybe the “way to defend yourself” in this game is actually to play jump/crouch games, based on an understanding of your opponent’s deck composition? You can’t really “dodge” with your movement though, because you choose your movement option BEFORE choosing your action card.

Taking damage = more dice to attack with = built in catch up mechanic

I’d be interested in play-testing a strategy where you just play high priority moves, and block when you have no 6s in hand, just to see how that works out.

Oh! Okay, no, the way you “play defensively” is by using your initiative card to crouch or jump or move back a space after they’ve committed a ton of dice to a move.

edit: this happens in the 2nd gameplay video.

Aaaaand the grappler won: I withdraw all previous reservations about the game. Spiel des jahres. GOTY. etc etc.

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Hey guys, have you heard of Exceed by lvl99 games? I think it has a similar feel with “Way of the Fighter” but with streamline rules

Is that the War of Undynes one? I’ve played a couple games, but the sense I got was that the balance was awful. Might be an impression based on severe lack of experience, but frankly the positional stuff just doesn’t interest me as much in abstractions of fighting games. Or better said, there hasn’t been a positioning system that has really made me excited to play footsies.

Yeah I’ve played EXCEED. It’s currently my second favorite game in the genre.

There might be some similarities but fighting game board/card games are my favorite genre and I enjoy seeing different takes on how to bring the video games (even though I’ve played very little fighting video games, lol) to life in card/board form.

There are some big differences though that EXCEED and WotF don’t need to necessarily cancel each other out. I’ll have a better idea about this after I play the PnP.

You might be thinking of BattleCON? Both games were made by the same company. Given how many fighters there are you might have been playing one of the really bad mu or you might have been playing a more complex character and your opponent played a simpler character or something.

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You’re right, it was BattleCON. I was playing the clockwork grappler (obviously), and the specific character I thought was BS is the pact character.

Luc Van Gott? If you were playing 1st edition then you were right in thinking he was broken. He got some pretty big changes in 2nd edition.

Never mind I read pact as past and was thinking of the time guy. I’m not sure about the robot vs pact fighter mu have never played it just like I’ve never played 99% of all mu because the fighter count is absurd.

No, it’s a witch character of some kind. Uh. Hepzibah Culotre.

In the Way of the Fighter, what if, instead of rolling dice, you can just pick the result??
In this way, going for a combo is more inviting because you get to choose a not so high priority.
High enough priority to strike first, but not so high priority that you have a chance of comboing.

Will it make a more tactical er, better game?