Genre: Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Indie, Card & Board Game
Kards: The WWII Card Game
Operation Barbarossa: History for you in KARDS
Welcome to Operation Barbarossa in KARDS!
On June 22nd, 1941, Nazi Germany started the largest military operation in the history of mankind and attacked the Soviet Union. This attack is known as Operation Barbarossa and is the theme of our latest KARDS event - ready for you to join!
We have for you unlimited mini-tournaments and special operations with prizes such as national and officer card packs! These tournaments are for new players and veterans alike as only cards of standard and limited rarity are allowed. No special or elite cards!
Additionally, we introduce the famous Soviet "Pilotka" cap as a new board decoration and also offer you fantastic savings on some of the most popular KARDS bundles.
Read on for more details!
Historical background (in a nutshell)
At the start of the Second World War, the Soviet Union was relatively ready for offensive action and conquest of Eastern Europe. However, despite warnings and clear signs, the attack by Nazi Germany to conquer the western part of the Soviet Union came as a shock to the Soviet Union and revealed severe shortcomings. Inexperienced leadership, caused by the Great Purge before and during the war, lack of logistics, and lack of battle-ready equipment contributed to early massive losses by the Soviet Union.
Even though Operation Barbarossa brought some spectacular early results for the Germans, the Soviet leadership, and especially Stalin himself, was confident that the allied war machine would repel this attack and turn the tide in the long run. The plan was to slow down the advancing invasion, mobilize the vast reserves, ready existing hardware, develop and improve strategies, and establish a more experienced leadership.
With massive sacrifices of human lives, a ramp-up of industrial war production, and significant support from the USA (Lend-Lease program), the Soviet Union was able to turn the tide of the war. Pouring increasingly more hardware and whole armies into the frontlines, opened in the end the road to Berlin and the defeat of Hitler's troops.
Tournament details
The KARDS "Operation Barbarossa" tournaments are 4-player single-elimination tournaments for new players and veterans alike between June 24th and 27th: Allowed are only standard and limited cards, no specials or elite cards!
There are rewards to earn! You can get national card packs and even an officer pack: Complete the special operations assigned to you during this tournament and reap the rewards.
Select a deck with either Germany or Soviet as the main nation, only containing standard or limited cards, and fight for the top spot in these Operation Barbarossa-themed tournaments. You can select any ally nation.
Deck Construction Rules:
Germany or Soviet as main nation
Any ally nation
Only Standard or Limited cards
We hope you like this format and would love to hear your thoughts on this. Please let us know and use the comments below or chat with us on KARDS Discord.
Join Operation Barbarossa, and see you on the battlefield!
Announcing the next weekday skirmish! - Singleton!
Hello KARDS Community!
The Weekday Skirmish happens twice each month and is a one day Swiss format tournament. Each tournament will have a unique set of rules, challenging not only your play ability but deckbuilding as well!
We are extremely excited to announce the next weekday skirmish on June 23rd! This time it’s Singleton!
In this deck format, you will only be allowed to field decks that bring NO MORE THAN ONE copy of each card in the deck, making it a deck of 39 unique cards + the HQ.
Who will reign supreme as the ultimate limited format tactician? Start building your decks now as the action commences on June 23rd!
For questions and more information please join the 983 Discord: https://discord.gg/dAbfkYF
Format and Rules
Bring two decks from two different main nations
Decks can only contain ONE COPY of each card, so a total of 39 UNIQUE CARDS + HQ
Win with both of your decks to win the round. NO BANS.
Best of Three Conquest
Swiss Format
First round starts at 17:00 GMT
Top 8 get 100 Gold each
Sign up right now to play: https://battlefy.com/983-media/kards-weekday-skirmish-singleton/60c7703969dfb8761cf5dff9/info
The monthly KARDS Open series returns With Kards Open 7!
Hello Kards community!
Lace up your boots and put those helmets on, because it’s time for another KARDS Open!
1939 Games presents the KARDS Open VII, powered by 983 Media. In this open, you will compete in three levels of increased challenge - now presented all-in-one weekend!
STAGE ONE - Starting Saturday, June 26th with the swiss qualifiers, you will compete in a best of 3 free-for-all deck format. This means you can bring any deck you want and play it as many times as you'd like. No deck submissions and no deck restrictions!
STAGE TWO - Then, if you finish in the Top 16 from the swiss day, you will be qualified for the next stage - Sunday, June 27th to compete in the single elimination best of 3 conquest. In this stage, you will submit four of your best decks from four different main nations. (you will only use three of these decks for the first half of this bracket) You will ban one deck from your opponent and play a best of 3.
STAGE THREE - If you've made it to the Top 4 on Sunday, June 27th, you've made it to stage 3. In this stage you will break out your 4th submitted deck and play in a best of 5 single elimination with one ban. These games will be recorded for the main event stream taking place on Monday, June 28th.
Join the 983 Discord: https://discord.gg/dAbfkYF
FORMAT
Free-for-all decks for Saturday swiss day (stage one). No restrictions or submissions!
Play a best of three each swiss round
Day I: first rounds of Swiss play (7 rounds max, final number of rounds pending checked-in players)
Day II: Top 16 Single elimination bracket
Top 4 cuts will break out their 4th submitted deck for a best of 5 ban one.
Sign ups are open now! - https://battlefy.com/983-media/kards-open-vii/60c4d54a0332eb573b6eefee/info
Bunker Chat: Legions edition!
Hello soldiers!
It’s time for a special edition of the Bunker Chat where we talk about the recently released KARDS: Legions expansion and of course answer the burning questions you all have.
👉Join us this Friday, the 4th of June, at 16:00 UTC on www.twitch.tv/kardsccg
In this bunker chat we will start by quickly discussing the Legions expansion and the impact it has already had on the game before we move on and take a look at two new decks that utilize the new cards built by members of our dev team.
After we have learned about the decks it’s time to see them in action for a quick showmatch!
Once that is over with we will discuss the upcoming D-Day event and what players can expect there, before wrapping it up by taking your questions live in chat.
We look forward to chatting with you as always!
Join the KARDS D-Day event June 4th - 6th
Hello KARDS Players,
Fresh off launching the KARDS: Legions summer expansion on May 31st, we are rapidly approaching the anniversary of one of the most significant events of the second world war, D-Day.
D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history and started with the Normandy landings on June 6th, 1944. D-Day began the liberation of France (and later western Europe) and laid the foundation for the Allied victory on the Western Front.
To commemorate this historic date, we have prepared a special game event in KARDS this weekend. Join the KARDS D-Day event from 4th to June 6th!
👉 The event itself in-game will start in the evening on the 4th (UTC time). Use the time and get your decks ready!
Battle it out in D-Day inspired mini-tournaments
We invite you to join the heat of the battle and engage your opponents in special D-Day-inspired mini-tournaments in the KARDS client itself.
These mini-tournaments are single-elimination tournaments for four players. Select a deck that contains only cards from Britain, the USA, or Germany. Fight for the top spot - show your opponents that you have the upper hand!
To increase the stakes a bit, joining the tournaments requires a buy-in of 4 Gold. The winner takes 10 Gold, the second place gets 6 Gold. You can play as many tournaments throughout the event as you like.
But wait, there is more: Special Operations with special rewards!
Special operations to celebrate your success
We introduce a new type of time-limited mission with additional rewards for the D-Day event: Special Operations!
During the D-Day event, you can complete several Special Operations and earn some pretty neat additional rewards for your battlefield achievements.
IMPORTANT! These Operations expire at the end of the event, and no awards are given for half-finished missions. So, lace up your combat boots and get ready to finish them all before they disappear!
Additional to all these exciting events, we also have some brand-new, never-seen-before board items ready for you in the store.
D-Day Bundle - New Table Props
Expand your German or British collection and level up your battlefield appearance with brand new table props for Britain and Germany with our German and British D-Day bundles!
During this weekend, you can acquire the iconic gas mask canister that German soldiers used to store their necessities in or the paratrooper goggles used by the British airborne infantry along with German or British Officer packs. Head to the in-game store and use the opportunity to expand on your collection before storming the beaches, completing your mission, and reaping the rewards.
Join the D-Day commemorations and see you on the battlefield!
Legions - The KARDS summer expansion is live!
KARDS Legions, the fourth major expansion for KARDS, is live now! Legions introduces the Polish fighting forces as a new ally along with 84 unique playable cards and advanced new gameplay mechanics in a massive summer offensive.
New features, like the Exile and Intel abilities, significantly expand the array of tactical options available and signal a new era for KARDS.
Legions delivers a total of 84 new cards, many of them with new effects seen for the first time. Clever new tools allow you to challenge your opponents and dominate the battlefield with tactical skills and strategic thinking.
Legions was published on May 31st and is an automatic update for all KARDS players.
A new nation for KARDS
Inspired by real-world WW2 history, Poland joins the front from exile along with its intelligence forces.
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Poland's unique style is inspired by Polish forces' significant role in WW2 when Polish troops fought both inside and outside Poland, serving across multiple campaigns with great distinction.
Intel is the new keyword in KARDS that allows you to get a peek into your opponent's hand and see which card(s) exactly your opponent has ready in hand.
Intel as a new keyword is inspired by the history of WW2. Before and during WW2, Polish intel gathering and crypto-analysis experts of the Polish Cipher Bureau significantly contributed to cracking the famous Enigma code. Cracking the Enigma code provided the Allies with a significant advantage in WW2; some even go so far and call it the deciding factor. We pay tribute to that important aspect with the introduction of Intel.
Exile - Get your cards into different nations
Exile cards can fight for two nations, their home nation Poland and their exile nation.
Exile allows you to add the card to a specific other nation when constructing a deck. This Exile nation is pre-determined for each Exile card. Exile considerably increases the card's flexibility; it dramatically expands its potential use without the need to lock down your deck to Poland as an ally nation.
This use of Exile has, of course, deep roots in Poland's WW2 history. When first overrun by Nazi Germany, Poland and their forces didn't stop the fight - quite the contrary. Many soldiers and intellectual capabilities went into exile, where they fought with a passionate vigor, providing awe-inspiring support to the ally nations in many areas.
New strategic options
Legions continues to deliver fresh frontline reinforcements for you to devise new strategies continually.
All of the existing nations receive exciting new cards. Whether it is further commando-support for Britain, smokescreen-themed cards for Japan, T-34 archetype decks for the Soviets, tools against early aggro for Germany, or new infantry for the US.
The new Legions cards also deliver for the existing nations a vast range of new opportunities. Now, you can develop brand-new deck strategies for months to come.
Be faster and be more innovative than your opponent. Now is the time to shine as a great mastermind and strategist - or simply enjoy all the new cards at your own speed. With Legions, the choice is yours!
KARDS is entirely free to play and stays like this. You can obtain the new Legions cards in multiple ways:
Open Legions packs. This is the fastest and easiest way to build up your set of Legions cards.
You can purchase Legions card packs with in-game currency (gold).
You can purchase Legions card packs and bundles for real money.
Use your wildcards to create the Legions card(s) you want.
You decide what best fits your style!
KARDS Legions Early Access - Available now!
Exciting news from the KARDS team: After a most thrilling spoiler season, KARDS Legions Early Access is available now!
Simply log in to your KARDS account on Steam and enjoy the fantastic new strategic and tactical opportunities, which are now available with Legions Early Access.
As a reminder, if you have purchased the Legions Early Access bundle, you have received Early Access packs on May 25th (10:00 UTC time):
1 Legions Officer Pack for the Standard Legions Pre-Order bundle
3 Legions Officer Packs for the Legions Pre-Order "Captain Edition" bundle
6 Legions Officer Packs for the Legions Pre-Order "General Edition" bundle
The remaining Legions Officer packs, together with the unique Legions card back and the special emote "First to Fight", will be delivered with the expansion itself on May 31st.
If you are wondering, you can still purchase pre-order bundles and receive the new Legions packs as outlined above.
KARDS Legions
KARDS Legions introduces the Polish fighting forces along with 84 new playable cards and advanced gameplay mechanics in this summer offensive.
Completely new on the battlefield is the unique Exile ability, which allows units to be played as part of their exiled nation. Intel is another new ability that enables you to get intelligence on your opponent's hand and see part of your opponent's card(s), providing an edge to the coming conflict.
KARDS: Legions also continues to deliver fresh frontline reinforcements for players to devise new strategies continually.
See you on the battlefields of KARDS.
Patch notes for KARDS Legions Early Access
Additional to the introduction of KARDS Legions Early Access, we have also a couple card changes and a sizable number of bug fixes. Check the patch notes below for details!
Card changes
Effects put on cards no longer stack (Mare Nostrum, Greater Purpose and Yamato).
The cost for Mare Nostrum has been increased to 2 Kredits.
Bug fixes
The countermeasure "Evasive Action" was sometimes triggered after "Panther A" was played. Fixed.
The "TYPE 89 Chi Ro" still had "Smokescreen" info text. Fixed.
The HQ still has "Smokescreen" after a stolen "F4F-4 Wildcat" is returned to the hand. Fixed.
An enemy unit is sometimes returned to the frontline after "Confusion" order effect, even if the frontline is already captured by another player. Fixed.
The passive effect of "Panzer III-F" is sometimes affecting ally units after "Panzer III-F" is destroyed. Fixed.
The trigger effect of "Type 89 Chi-Ro" is triggered even when HQ doesn't get defense due to "Kagoshima Regiment". Fixed.
"73e Regiment D'infanterie" gets a buff after HQ receives damage from "Type 89 Chi-Ro". Fixed.
In some cases the cost to deploy "34th Guards" is increasing by 1 each time a friendly card damages HQ after enemy "Raid" order is played. Fixed.
"Aichi D3A-2" gets additional buff when taken control of. Fixed.
The deployment effect of "H75-C1" sometimes triggered when "Petlyakov Pe-2FT" is on the game board. Fixed.
“RAF Ground Crew” sometimes buffs enemy Spitfires. Fixed.
The countermeasure "Dowding System" sometimes doesn't counter enemy order with increased cost. Fixed.
The damage from "Bombing Raid" to adjacent targets doesn't increase with the "Imperial Decree" order. Fixed.
A unit affected by the "Juggernaut" order sometimes isn’t destroyed at the end of a turn in which it doesn't attack. Fixed.
In some cases, HQ is still immune to damage after "15th Motor Rifles" is returned to the hand. Fixed.
In some cases "Ki-61-II Tony" was discarded from hand at the start of turn when it shouldn’t have been. Fixed.
In some cases, units affected by the "Long Range Desert Group" order don’t destroy enemy units that receive damage from it. Fixed.
"Seaforth Highlanders" attack buff is doubled after playing "Minority Recruits". Fixed.
Confirm/Cancel buttons sometimes had wrong text. Fixed
Effects added to cards were displayed incorrectly in some cases for languages other than English. Fixed.
Rewards were sometimes stuck on screen. Fixed.
The card count in decks was sometimes incorrect when choosing not to have gold cards on top. Fixed.
Visuals and UI improvements
Gold cards have received an overhaul. Their look is now much improved. Shiny!
A button has been added to switch between gold cards and regular cards when constructing a deck.
KARDS Legions - Second keyword reveal and new game mechanics
Hot news about the upcoming summer expansion KARDS Legions. It is time to reveal the second new keyword of KARDS Legions and unveil new game mechanics arriving on May 31st (Early Access starts on May 25th already).
In the previous weeks, you have seen new cards of all nations for the upcoming expansion and the new keyword Exile. Now is the time to go even bigger and reveal the second new keyword and new core game mechanics.
The expansion pre-orders are still available in-game to give you early access one week before the release. Don't miss out and pre-order now!
Now, let's dive right into the reveal! First, we explain the mechanics, then illustrate it with several card reveals.
Intel - Uncover your opponent's cards
Intel is the new keyword in KARDS that allows you to get a peek into your opponent's hand and see which card(s) exactly your opponent has ready in hand.
Intel comes in three different variations, Intel 1 to 3, which reveals one random card in the opponent's hand per Intel level. Intel 1 reveals 1 card, Intel 2 reveals 2 cards, and so on. Intel always selects from cards that are not yet known to you.
I know that you know - Intel mechanics
Once you have revealed enemy cards via Intel, a new eye icon below the enemy hand becomes accessible during your turn. Hovering over that icon will show the known cards in the enemy's hand. On the other side, if your cards have been revealed to the opponent, you will also see a symbol indicating the reveal. This way, you know that your secrets have been revealed.
Intelligent intel - Known cards revealed
Seeing known cards in enemy hands now goes beyond just Intel reveals: Any card added to the enemy hand that you know will be shown. For instance, Resistance cards, units sent back to hand, chosen research path cards, etc.
History revealed
This use of Intel as a new keyword has, of course, deep roots in the history of WW2. Before and during WW2, Polish intel gathering and crypto-analysis experts of the Polish Cipher Bureau significantly contributed to cracking the famous Enigma code. Cracking the Enigma code provided the Allies with a significant advantage in WW2; some even go so far and call it the deciding factor. We pay tribute to that important aspect with the introduction of Intel.
To illustrate the new Intel mechanic, let's have an exclusive look at two new cards arriving with Legions!
SECTION II
AGENCY AFRICA
Intel opens up entirely new areas of gameplay and interaction with your opponent during the battle itself. But that is not all; there is more to it! Have a look at the brand new LEGIONS units.
LEGIONS units - New spawnable-only units
In addition to the new Intel keyword and ability, we also introduce a new, spawnable-only Polish unit and thrilling new related gameplay: Welcome the new LEGIONS units.
A solid 2/2 Guard Infantry with 2 Kredits deployment cost and 1 Kredit operation costs. These units are tightly interwoven with Intel: When you play a card with Intel, your LEGIONS units will get +1+1.
LEGIONS units can be spawned only, similar to the Soviet LIGHT INFANTRY, but are considerably stronger and have much more potential.
Several new cards further strengthen this interaction between LEGIONS and Intel. Let's look at some of these cards now and discover potential synergies between Intel and LEGIONS.
PLAN WEST
PZL.23 KARAS
16th Tarnow Regiment
That's it for now! We hope you enjoy these new game mechanics and abilities. If you have any questions, please use the comments below and check out our KARDS Discord.
Stay tuned for more card reveals in the coming days and the start of KARDS Legions Early Access on May 25th.
The Weekday Skirmish happens twice each month and is a single elimination tournament in two timezones to accommodate as many players as possible. Each tournament will have a unique set of rules, challenging not only your play ability but deckbuilding as well!
We are extremely excited to announce the next weekday skirmish! This time it’s Main Nation only, no allied cards allowed!
👉 Start building your decks now as the action commences on May 26th!
In this tournament, you bring two of your best decks that only includes cards from the main nation from two different main nations to the battlefield and fight for the top for some gold.
Who will reign supreme as the ultimate limited format tactician?
Join the fight with two bracket start times. Join one, or join both for a chance to double profit!
Join the 983 Discord: https://discord.gg/dAbfkYF
What does Main nation only mean?
Main nation only means that when creating the deck the player has to put all the cards in from the main nation. No cards from the allied nation can be included in the deck. There is no restrictions on the rarity or number of copies for each card brought.
Format and Rules
Bring two decks from two different main nations
Decks must ONLY contain cards from the main nation
Win with both of your decks to win the round. NO BANS.
Best of Three Conquest
Bracket One starts at 1500 GMT on May 26th - Signup:
Announcing KARDS Open VI - Signups, prizes, dates, formats and more!
Hello Kards community!
The monthly KARDS Open series returns With Kards Open 6!
1939 Games presents the KARDS Open VI powered by our partner 983 Media. A $1000 open tournament for all KARDS Players to enter. This time around we are making some changes to the format of the Open tournament based on player feedback. These changes are aimed at making the whole process less time intensive and more entertaining for all. The addition of allowing free-for-all decks in the swiss stage means that newer players can jump into the competitive pool without having to pre-submit multiple decks. Entrance is free and it’s sure to be a lot of fun so we encourage everyone to play!
In this open, you will compete in three levels of increased challenge - now presented all-in-one weekend!
Starting Saturday, May 29th with the swiss qualifiers, you will compete in a best of 3 free-for-all deck format. This means you can bring any deck you want and play it as many times as you'd like. No deck submissions and no deck restrictions!
STAGE TWO
Then, if you finish in the Top 16 from the swiss day, you will be qualified for the next stage - Sunday, May 30th to compete in the single elimination best of 3 conquest. In this stage, you will submit four of your best decks from four different main nations. (you will only use three of these decks for the first half of this bracket) You will ban one deck from your opponent and play a best of 3.
STAGE THREE
If you've made it to the Top 4 on Sunday, May 30th, you've made it to stage 3. In this stage you will break out your 4th submitted deck and play in a best of 5 single elimination with one ban. These games will be recorded for the main event stream taking place on Monday, May 31st.
