Review: La Campaña Cardgame

I got my hands into the first edition of La Campaña, a medieval-inspired indie card game created by two Argentinians.

As a fan of medieval lore and games, it was love at first sight. It checks every square I‘d expect from a card game like this: recruit knights, archers or mages into your ranks, gain resources and use them to enable attacks, apply power ups to upgrade your army, and build your castle and siege your opponent‘s. There‘s even a dragon to wield or fight against.

A player wins by outliving their opponents or by completing their castle.

The game draws inspiration from Settlers of Catan, Age of Empires II, Spanish playing cards (naipes españolas), and uses mechanics from Pokemon Trading Cards and rock-paper-scissors. With a recipe for a potentially complex game, La Campaña boils down those concepts to their essence and delivers a game that’s simple to learn and fun to play.

I played tested the game in a three player, free-for-all match. One of the players used the dragon card, and I was thrilled with the dynamics it introduced. We instinctively teamed up to take down the dragon, creating a temporary alliance that shifted the balance of the game. I couldn’t stop thinking of a scene written by Tolkien.

The cards are beautifully designed, minimal, and with Tarot cards aesthetics.

As the first edition of an indie game it’s highly polished, and it gets my recommendation.