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Deathmatch: Basic Edition™

A tactical deck-building card game where the cards are the game pieces!

Requirements

30-60
1-2
12+

Description

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If you already have dice, all you need is our free app and 2 decks to play. For $19.99 buy the Archer and Spider Decks from the Basic Edition (with no box, bags, gold or dice)!

Every month we are giving away FREE Allegiance and Shard Cards. Join our mailing list to be eligible for the draw! blank.png

Game Reviews

The review provides a good sense of how to play but does not reflect the rules in its entirety. For gameplay specifics, refer to the rule book.

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The Story

From deep in the bowels of the Mines of Taas to the human kingdom of Hathaway, the Curse of the Undead is spreading across Green Valley like the vilest of plagues, wiping out all life in its path. Employing his army of shades to drain their life energy, Xeon the Undead Shadow Dragon has destroyed thousands of worlds throughout the millennia, and the world of Karth is next in his path of destruction. A chance meeting between Llythwain, autistic son of an elf Ranger and Killian, an undead shade has altered the familiar pattern of events, sowing the seeds of a monumental clash between the living and the dead, between good and evil, between the Allegiance and the Shard and Xeon's ferocious undead army. "The Undead Curse threatens Green Valley! The human necromancers are to blame!" With the utterance of those words by the Elven Lords, the Allegiance pact between humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and barbarians weakens, just as that of the Shard races grows in strength. By uniting the ogres, goblins, spiders, orcs, kobolds and hill giants under one banner, Xeon has awakened ancient hatred between the two mighty factions and the Shard is ready for war. A group of heroes, a human, gnome, and two dwarves led by an elf mage must gather the strength and courage to unlock the secret of the Undead Curse, but their time is running out.

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The Game

Heroes of Karth: Deathmatch™ is a fantasy deck-building card game based on the Heroes of Karth™ book series. Deathmatch can be played with 1-4 players in 5 different game modes:

  • 1 vs. 1 (play against one opponent)
  • 2 vs. 2 Co-op (play with a friend against two others)
  • 3 & 4 Player Free-for-all (play a survivor match)
  • Adventure Mode (play as the Dungeon Master against up to 3 Adventurers)
  • Single Player Mode (Battle against Xeon the Undead Dragon)

In Heroes of Karth: Deathmatch™ you and your opponent join either the Allegiance (Elf) or the Shard (Goblin) faction. Decide your fighting style ahead of time with 12 different pre-made Starter Decks or build your own to suit your particular style. Choose 2 hero cards to lead your unit cards! Arm yourself with spell and treasure cards!! Then hire and position your cards onto the battlefield and fight a deathmatch, with victory coming to the first to collect 40 gold or 25 kill points!

Players try and outwit their opponent’s strategy in a tabletop game where the cards are the game pieces and players use gold to spawn additional cards onto the battlefield. Balance between using gold to hire units, mercenaries and heroes and saving your gold for the win condition. Utilize a wide range of strategies including ranged or melee classes, spells, pets, magic items, traps, poison, stealth units, healers, totems, and the undead curse. With over 200 cards rendered with stunningly beautiful original artwork, the deck-building choices are unlimited. Play a deathmatch where the careful management of resources and placement of your cards can make the difference between winning and losing!

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Contents

Heroes of Karth: Deathmatch Basic Edition™ contains:

  • 1 Retail Box
  • 1 Archer Deck
  • 1 Spider Deck
  • 45 coins (30x1s, 10x5s and 5x10s)
  • 14 red dice
  • 4 blue dice
  • 4 black dice

This version includes everything you need to play a 1v1 match. blank.png

Starter Decks & Booster Packs

Available now on TGC, choose between 12 Starter Decks each with their own unique cards and style of play. Create or tweak your deck-build with Shard and Allegiance booster packs! Buy Terrain Cards to maximise your side of the Battlefield. blank.png

Other Products

The Deluxe Edition has all the dice and gold needed to play! You can also buy dice and gold separately.

Buy more decks from TGC and play our 2v2 Co-op or 3 and 4 player free-for-all matches!

Play in Adventure mode as the Dungeon Master against up to 3 Adventurers by purchasing The Mines of Taas Dungeon Terrain Cards™!

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TRIAL OUR STARTER DECKS

Don't just take our word for it - discover for yourself the magic in our card game!! Download the FREE PDF Trial Version. Print the cards, cut them out, add them into card sleeves and start playing a match now!

Elf Moonguard and Goblin Hunter Decks

Elf Warrior and Goblin Necromancer Decks

Elf Archer and Goblin Spider Decks

Elf Ranger/Druid and Goblin Thief Decks

Elf Assassin and Goblin Beastmaster Decks

Elf Mage and Goblin Bomber Decks

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Save Money With Our FREE App

Purchase dice and gold or use our free app instead of gold coins and blue and black dice! Our app is currently available for both Android and iOS or you can use our PC-Based Resource Manager.

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Game Play

Play Heroes of Karth: Deathmatch™ in six easy steps:

Step 1: Choose your side - Allegiance or Shard?

Select a deck from 1 of 12 themed decks. If you prefer you can also build your own deck with over 200 cards to choose from. Decks are always balanced as all cards have a value associated with them (including terrain). This ensures balanced play (to insert a powerful card something else would have to be removed).

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Step 2: Set-up the Game

Sort the deck into Barracks, Spellbook, Treasury and Token piles. Then get your starting cards and gold.

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Step 3: Determine who is the Attacker and who is the Defender

The Attacker creates half of the Battlefield using Terrain cards and then the Defender completes the Battlefield. The Defender can then hire 1 unit (any unit except mercenaries and animals). New units start on Spawner tiles and come on the Battlefield facing the opponent, showing they cannot move on that turn.

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Step 4: Starting a Turn

Players alternate turns. To start the turn they draw 1 card and get 1 gold. Then they assess the cards in their hand, manage their resources and hire units onto the Battlefield.

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Step 5: Managing Cards on the Battlefield

With cards on the Battlefield each one can have a turn. But before managing the cards, a new turn means a new card draw and new gold which can be used to add more cards in play.

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Step 6: Winning the Game

The battle rages on with each player carefully managing their resources and managing their units until 1 player earns victory by being the first to accumulate either 40 gold or 25 Kill Points!

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Gameplay Videos

The videos provide a good sense of how to play but do not fully reflect the rules in its entirety. For gameplay specifics, refer to the rule book. blank.png

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Quick Links

Refer to the Rules of the Game

Refer to the Deck-building Rules

Check us out on Board Game Geek

Purchase a copy of book 1 on Amazon

View the Heroes of Karth Website

View our successful Heroes of Karth Kickstarter Page

Become a Heroes of Karth Patreon and gain access to exclusive content

Special thanks to Podigy for their podcast services!

The next venture starts on Roll20 with all of our art work being made available as tokens. Check out our goblin and elf tokens! We will also be creating a series of one-off "adventures" using 5e DND characters and smashing it into League of Legends and Warcraft III resulting in what we are calling "Heroes of Karth: Adventures". We are pretty excited with all of the adventure ideas we have to help entertain everyone while creating something new and fresh that will be both fun to play and challenging.

Components

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Vitals

Average Rating 3 reviews
Publish Date June 29, 2017
Edition First
Department Games
Tags {{tag.properties.name}}
More Info Deathmatch: Basic Edition™ web site

Why buy this?

The app for this game makes resource management really easy!

  • Two starter decks and dice to manage resources and DMG!
  • Rich lore based off of the Heroes of Karth book series.
  • Balanced deck-building system (decks are equal strength).

Heroes of Karth Inc.

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See It In Action

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Ratings and Reviews

Be the first to review this!
Posted {{review.properties.date_created|timeago}}
Own It Played It Fun Priced Well High Replay Value Well Written Rules Nice Artwork

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