I'm writing this at 4:17am because I stayed up that late playing. My wife will come kill me soon, I'm sure.

This game is brilliant. The 4X portion of the game would be serviceable on its own, with interesting gathering/crafting mechanics for feeding your populace and equipping your fighters. The writing does an excellent job of giving you an otherworldly feel; it makes me want to read the mythology its based on.

The combat card game is amazing. I'd play the card game even without the 4X game. The mechanics involved in that one I think would be deep enough to support even a living/expandable card game implementation. The fact that it's tied to a whole plethora of hero stats for 6-7 different types of challenges (social, physical, combat, tactics, hex, etc.) that all play out in "combat" is what really makes the game shine. The connection between your units leveling and equipment, the writing and events that get you wrapped up in various sorts of contests, and this "combat" system that provides the test of skill for resolving all of the conflicts is why the sum of the two decent games (the 4X game and the card game) becomes something amazing.

The designers behind this are geniuses. I'm so impressed with this that I already want to buy their next game.
Its worth the your time and money.

I'm writing this at 4:17am because I stayed up that late playing. My wife will come kill me soon, I'm sure. This game is brilliant. The 4X portion of the game would be serviceable on its own, with interesting gathering/crafting mechanics for feeding your populace and equipping your fighters. The writing does an excellent job of giving you an otherworldly feel; it makes me want to read the mythology its based on. The combat card game is amazing. I'd play the card game even without the 4X game. The mechanics involved in that one I think would be deep enough to support even a living/expandable card game implementation. The fact that it's tied to a whole plethora of hero stats for 6-7 different types of challenges (social, physical, combat, tactics, hex, etc.) that all play out in "combat" is what really makes the game shine. The connection between your units leveling and equipment, the writing and events that get you wrapped up in various sorts of contests, and this "combat" system that provides the test of skill for resolving all of the conflicts is why the sum of the two decent games (the 4X game and the card game) becomes something amazing. The designers behind this are geniuses. I'm so impressed with this that I already want to buy their next game. Its worth the your time and money.