Warfront, the debut wargame from indie studio Hexor, offers the rank and flank combat of Warhammer: The Old World with armies each compressed down into two a deck of 2D playing cards. I tested a prototype of the game ahead of its crowdfunding launch on Kickstarter, and found a lot to love in this pocket-sized wargame.
Warfront isn’t a strategy board game with cards for units, as in Summoner Wars: it plays out like a miniature wargame, only with units and terrain replaced by cards. Just like Warhammer: The Old World, and other rank and flank fantasy wargames, you’ll maneuver units, monsters, and heroes around the battlefield, seeking advantageous positions before you commit to combat.
The game is live on Kickstarter now and until June 5, with fulfilment planned for January 2026. A box with two playable armies is $37 (£28), and you can get two different sets for $67 (£50). Is it worth backing? Here are my impressions.
Compared to the mighty tome containing the Warhammer: The Old World rules, the rules are a tiny pamphlet. That feels right for what the game wants to be. You can fit two armies for this game, plus terrain, in your pocket, and bring them out at the pub, or to fill time between rounds at a tournament: it wants to make playing a fantasy wargame as quick and easy as possible.
It succeeds at that. Maneuvering units to bait out enemy charges or open better firing lanes for my ranged troops, redeploying troops around flanks to try and encircle the enemy, wincing when I failed to wipe out an enemy unit after a critical charge – it all tickled the same part of my brain that enjoys The Old World.
The flip side of the rules being so slender is that they’re not very tight, particularly around maneuvering. Movement and distances are measured from a point helpfully marked on the front of each unit card, and units can move in any direction.
But when and how do they pivot? Does a charge only succeed if you can make contact with your unit’s centre point, or does any part of your unit card count?
Warhammer has answers to those questions that fill out paragraphs of rules text and need multiple diagrams. Warfront just shrugs and leaves it to the players to figure it out. That’s the right choice for a game that’s all about ease of access – but if you really prioritise precision in your rules, you’ll be irritated.
The units are all illustrated with gorgeous artwork by illustrator André Merlin. To begin with I found it tricky to distinguish some of the units, because – as beautiful as these characters are – two blocks of massed infantry drawn from a birds eye view look much alike. But the extremely stylised art is much more legible than that used in similar 2D wargames like Battleground Fantasy or Onus! Traianus, and I did get my eye in before too long.
There was a strong sense of mechanical identity to the two factions I tested. The Zenith Guard have cheap but weak units but wide access to ranged weapons, and the ability for a unit to sacrifice its activation to boost another unit’s ranged or melee attack, making them feel independent. The Corrupted Legion have fewer, far more dangerous units, and access to a changing buff each turn, making them lethal but unpredictable.
Creator Hector Clegg was kind enough to give Wargamer the art for two new units that weren’t in the game’s print-and-play prototype, but are part of the Kickstarter. First there’s the Skulkbusters from the Goblorc Underkhans. Their faction ability “Tunnel & Emerge” allows them to redeploy around the battlefield “with alarming speed”, and they get extra attacks while “skulking in the vicinity of a tunnel entrance”.
Then there’s the Stoneshaper Dwarves’ ST-1 Golems. They’re slow and incredibly durable, and capable of turning into protective walls that shield friendly units from incoming fire.
If you’re after a very competitive game, this probably isn’t right for you. If you’re happy to work through the occasional ambiguity in the rules, this is one of very few rank and flank wargames you can pull out of your pocket and play in under an hour. It’s a quintessential beer and pretzels game. Thinking about it, beer mats would make excellent terrain pieces…
If you’re interested in flat wargames, check out Wargamer’s guide to the best war board games – and if you want a game that involves cards and beer in a very different arrangement, we also have a complete guide to Kings Cup rules for your next party.
If you know any other great casual tabletop games, come and tell us about them in the official Wargamer Discord server!
Source: Wargamer
