Wyvern

Today's review is of the 1994 release, Wyvern. A Collectible Card Game (CCG), this went out of production in 1997, making it a 'dead' CCG. 

Overview

In Wyvern, your goal is to win a series of battles where you defeat your opponent's dragons and overcome their terrain. If you win a battle (meaning your opponent has no more terrain or dragon cards on the battlefield), you get 25 points plus however many gold you have left in your supply. Then everything is reset and the next battle begins. The first to 100 points overall wins. Do you have what it takes?

Wyvern has four card types: dragons, terrain, action, and treasure. The first two are shuffled and placed in their deck to the left of the battlefield; the last two are shuffled and placed in their deck to the right.

To begin, each player draws 6 cards from their dragon/terrain deck and places them face-down in two rows of three, making their battlefield. Each player starts with 25 gold. Then, each player draws 7 cards from their action/treasure deck and the game begins.

On your turn, you take the following steps:

- draw a action/treasure card

- play a treasure (if possible/desired; these go on either side of the battlefield)

- move any two cards (switch their position on the battlefield)

- take your first action phase (play action cards)

- battle*

- second action phase

game in progress; image from here

*to battle, turn a dragon face-up and pay its costs. That makes it eligible to attack. Choose an eligible target (one row away unless there are modifiers), and your opponent turns that card face-up. If it is a dragon, your opponent pays its costs and they fight (higher strength wins, and both players can use action cards to help). If it is terrain, you do what the card states (and can overcome or be weakened/destroyed by its abilities). When a dragon or terrain card is defeated, it is removed from the battlefield and not replaced. 

I won't go into more detail on the game phases; you can find the rules here and a how to play video here.

Review

I enjoyed this game considering its era (the first generation of CCGs). It is simple but 'sneaky' in the sense that you don't know what you are attacking; it could be a trap. (I've heard this game compared to Stratego.) The rulebook could be better, but the online resources above are sufficient.

As a dead CCG, you can still pick up cards for reasonable prices. I might get a few more just for deck building options, but don't blow the bank on this one.

Rating: B