Radlands a Quick and Fun Card Game Experience – Inexpensive Too!
There is a really nice deluxified version of Radlands, a somewhat binged out version with nice plastic tokens, and a standard version available. The standard version, specifically, is so inexpensive that even before this review is over I suggest you head out and pick it up if you enjoy two player card games! We got the middle of the road version from Roxley games, which includes plastic tokens and a nice storage box! But is the game any good? Let’s dive in!
Radlands, for some, may feel like a Trading Card Game experience without the trading cards. This is a game to the death! Well, not literally, but you are dueling back and forth with the ultimate goal of destroying your opponents three camps (chosen from 6 to start the game).
The game structure is pretty straight forward – resolve events, get back up to three water tokens and draw a card, and then take actions like playing cards, junking cards, etc. I want to stop here and note how easy it is to actually get Radlands to the table, but also how easy it is to play. With knowledgeable players, Radlands can be set up and going within just a few minutes. I do think the playmats would have been a nice option for myself, as it really does delineate between your columns and rows (more on this soon), as well as your event cycle. If you’ve picked up Radlands and are enjoying it, it could be a nice upgrade to purchase (if available).
In the game, the cards you want to play will have water costs, and while you can earn more water as the game goes on, you’ll only have access to three water tokens early on. These, as we noted, can be used to buy cards. They can also, however, be used to do a few other actions like drawing cards or pulling a water silo card into your hand for use later (gives you an extra water). Cards are placed into the columns above your three camps, and they generally will provide protection to your camps as attacks will need to move through the cards, top to bottom in the column (with your camp being on the bottom).
Some cards, of course, will have abilities that can trigger and provide a variety of benefits, but ultimately this is all there is to Radlands.
And as we said off the top, it’s the simplicity here that makes this so enjoyable. This can be taught to almost anyone, and the cool post-apocalypse theme (think Borderlands here folks) really shines in the various cards you can take into hand and ultimately play. As you use a shared draw deck, you never know which cards you might get, and which your opponent might get. Deciding when to get specific cards to the table could make or break your game, so there is a fair amount of strategy here as well.
Radlands was such a great experience, and one I’m happy to have in my collection for years to come. As someone who plays a lot of two-player games, I’m excited to play this one more!