Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 150 min
Age requirements: 14+
Set-up time: 15 minutes

Warparty is part war game, part board game, part RPG and part RTS. There are four armies, the humans, dwarves, undead and goblins. Choose your side and lead them to victory.

Warparty Rules Description:

Warparty pits two good armies against two evil armies. If playing with two players you each control two of the aligned armies. With four players there are two teams of two and you control just one army.

The four different armies have some unique units and each plays differently. You win a complete victory by destroying one of your opponent’s capital cities. You can win a marginal victory by getting income that is 50 more than your opponents’ combined income, have more VPs after turn twelve, or by agreement. VPs are gained by having more satellite cities or destroying more enemy satellite cities than your opponents.

Turns have a simple structure. Each side moves, fights and then collects their income and places new units. It is up to the players which army in their camp goes first and this can change from round to round.

Combat is fairly straightforward. Each unit has an attack and defense value. The attacker rolls a six-sided die and must roll their attack value or less to hit. When they are hit, a defender gets a chance to roll their defense value or less to avoid the attack. Most units die in one hit. Defenders that are eliminated have a chance to strike an attacker using the same rules. Some units have bonuses that subtract from the values their opponent must roll to succeed for attacks and defense. Units are in row one, two or three and all units in the front of a battle must be destroyed before you can attack the next row.

You gain money by controlling more territories. Some areas on the board are worth more than others. Once armies start earning a bunch of income there is inflation and cost of all units and buildings doubles.

Building satellite cities earns you extra income and gives your units other entry points onto the map.

The armies have different tech trees and buildings they must have in their camp to recruit certain unit types. You can purchase heroes (fighter, priest or wizard) that collect experience, can cast spells and level up. They can even explore dungeons to fight monsters and gain treasure.

You start the game with a quest card and nine or ten infantry units (depending on if you go first). You only get one quest card for the game and it will reward you if you complete it.

From these humble beginnings you must amass an army capable of destroying your foes. Good luck!

Quick Review of Warparty:

Warparty is mainly a fantasy-themed war game. But it has aspects of other genres to create a unique and fun experience. There are elements from RTS games, board games and RPGs.

The components for Warparty are pretty good the counters, coins and cards are nice and heavy. The printing is a bit hit and miss as some of the human assets look blue and some look purple. The artwork is hit and miss. Some looks great but some of it is just ok. The game comes with plenty of baggies, but the box insert is restrictive. The rulebook looks good and is well-written and easy to follow.

I mentioned real-time strategy games and Warparty definitely has that feel. Early on you will decide the path your army will take just by what you decide to build and concentrate on. I like how the tech trees work and are different for each army.

The RPG aspects of the game are fun too. Purchasing heroes and customizing the spell casters is cool and again helps to determine your strategy. Do you explore dungeons or go attack enemy units? Which spells will help you do those things?

Though I am not sure on the overall longevity of Warparty I am sure it has a lot of replay value and hours of exploration in it. Each army plays different and you’ll want to try them all. Even within a specific army you can try different builds and strategies. There is a lot to try and experiment with in this game. I have not played enough to know how long it will take to find the best strategy for each army. I think it would take a while though.

Another thing I like is that the game allows up to four players. Most war games are two player affairs and it is nice to have a three or four player option. I am also a big fantasy fan. So having a war game in the genre is a pleasant change.

There are a couple things I wish were different about the game. The play time is pretty long and so I doubt it will hit the table often. There is a quick-start variant but the full game experience is better. The quests are rarely worth pursuing in and of themselves. The rewards just aren’t usually that good. I think you should get a new quest anytime you complete one. I also wish the printing was higher quality. It is not a big deal but it would look nicer.

Even with its flaws, Warparty is a very good war game. It creates a unique experience that pulls from other genres of games and is fun. It is fairly simple but has a good amount of depth for its complexity level. If you like war games and fantasy settings you should try this out. If you are a fan of RTS games or RPGs you might also enjoy Warparty.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 5 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6