Summoner Wars: Guild Dwarves vs Cave Goblins

Dwarves against goblins on a small grid: summon units with magic, roll dice and hunt the enemy Summoner.

Designer: Colby Dauch
Published by: Cube Factory of Ideas
Editions by: Plaid Hat Games, Galápagos Jogos, Filosofia Éditions, Raven Distribution, Uhrwerk Verlag

Two armies, one small grid, and a deck of cards that doubles as your whole force. This 2009 starter set hands you a ready-to-play faction: the Guild Dwarves, stubborn siege specialists, or the Cave Goblins, who simply throw bodies at the problem. You spend magic to summon units onto the board, march them across the grid, and roll dice to land hits. Kill the other side's Summoner and you win. Think of it as a card game with chess-like positioning, wrapped up in about half an hour. The box holds two complete factions, so you can start fighting right away. It is built for two, even though the box lists up to four.

Two complete factions in one boxSummon units onto a small battle gridWin by killing the enemy Summoner

Who it's for

You want a fantasy duel with real positioning in half an hour, and a ready-made pair of decks to start from.

Not for you if…

You want to play with more than two or prefer deck-building and customizing. The factions are fixed, and this is a head-to-head game at heart.

Vibe's take

Tactical and tidy, like a card game that learned to play chess. Every turn is a handful of small decisions about who to summon, where to step and which fight to take, and dice keep the outcome lively.