The time for negotiations is over. In this game, you and your opponent must select and lead one of several armies in search of supremacy. You must defend your palace from waves of incoming enemy troops by building bases, which can block the paths that lead to your kingdom.

The bases will also recruit different kinds of troops - light and heavy infantry, shooters, cavalry and siege weapons - that have abilities unique to each individual army. Knowing their potential, you must come up with a strategy to pierce the opponent's defenses and raze his palace to the ground.

Attack the Tower is a great card game with predetermined decks for two people. The game's fast pace and quick matches make it even better for tournaments, so if you wish to join or host one, take a look at the tournament manual.

The game

Overview

Attack the Tower is a card game.

Unlike many other card games, each player has his own individual deck that might be different from his opponent's. Unlike a trading card game, however, you don't get to build your own deck.

Each player may choose one of the available armies and get the corresponding pre-built deck. Each army is built up on a strategy inspired by its theme, so that the strategies for each army are quite distinct. This means that a good player should know very well both his and his opponent's army.

You may need some time to learn the game, but once you get it, the game simply flows.

Each player has a Tower that must be protected at all costs. If the tower is torn down, you loose. If you tear down the opponent's tower, you win. To get to the tower, your armies must go through one of the three enemy territories, destroying everything on their way. Your goal is to build an attack that is so strong that it can crush all the enemy's troops and bases on a territory and destroy the tower all on a single turn.

It is a very dynamic game. Battle starts right in the first round and both players often struggle up to a sudden and surprising end.

After each battle your mind will be overheated with strategies and tactics, rejoicing on a victory or claiming for a rematch.

Check out the full game manual here:

Setting things up

Grab a copy of the game To get a copy of the game you may either buy a printed version or download a PDF copy and print it yourself.

Cut and fold It is entertaining to build your own handcrafted game. Cut carefully your cards and fold your box to keep everything together after playing.

Select the armies Each opponent choose his army. The armies are different from each other and you will need to learn the abilities of each one

Place the boards Each player has his own board. The board is used as a placeholder for the armies. Each player has his board in front of himself.

Separate the cards There are two kinds of cards in each deck: base cards and ability cards. Separate the cards so that each player have two decks: a base card deck and an ability card deck. Shuffle them separately. Place each deck in the appropriate place in the board.

The match

First, each player draw 5 cards each from any of the deck he wishes (although unless you are quite an expert you should draw 5 bases). The first player must draw first.

Then, the first player build his bases on any of his Territories. Then, the second player does it.

Renew!

It is the first player's turn. It is up to him to renew or not to renew. If he does so, the second player does also. On renew players draw two cards and all of the bases produce one troop each.

Attack!

On his turn a player may attack. It is up to him to decide. One cannot attack on the other player's turn.

On attack the player sends all his troops to a life or death battle to conquer the opponent's castle through one of his territories. It is a no-return, win or die mission. The attacking troops will conquer or die trying. This means that if the defense cannot kill the attacking troops, but the attacking troops cannot kill the defense, they will die trying.

All bases have power 4 (regardless of what kind of base it is). Troops have power equivalent to the one written on the base that produced it. The Palace has power 10.

Add up all the damage each player can deal on the other. Then the attacking player chooses what he wants to destroy with the sum of his power and the defending player does the same. Notice that the damage is done in battle, it is simultaneous. If player 1 send 1 troop with power 1 to kill 1 troop of power 1 of player 2, both troops will be killed (unless one of them has "initiative").

If the attacking player manages to destroy everything in the chosen territory and still get troops, they proceed to the castle and a new battle is computed.

If the attacking player can deal 10 points of damage to the Palace (after destroying troops on it), he is the winner

Characteristics

Duration When two experienced players face each other, the game lasts up to 20 minutes, but it is often that it is finished in 10 minutes or less. This does not hold with beginners, as they usually miss opportunities to destroy the Palace. In this case the game may go on for up to an hour, as it will proceed until one of the players is hugely superior and the strike opportunities become obvious.

Learning curve People learn the game usually after playing two of three times. Some of the rules are different from most games and people usually confuse them at first.

Simultaneous renew In most games you hardly play on the opponent's turn. This is not the case in AtT. If the attacker renews, so does the defender. This is a very important concept in the game.

One strike to rule them all AtT imposes a hard limit on how much you can build your power. You can achieve your maximum power on the second turn. It is not a build-your-army game, it is a battle game. You must build one strike, that is all that is needed. You simply need to destroy all three power 4 bases plus the 9 up to power 4 troops on them plus the power 10 Palace with it's up to power 7 troops in a single turn. That is it!