Battleground: Fantasy Warfare is a point-based miniatures game – but without the miniatures. Battleground uses cards rather than painted models to represent your forces. This means a much lower price as well as easier transportation and setup, but don’t be fooled – this is not a “light” war game or a CCG. Battleground is a serious war game that will challenge you at every step, from army design and deployment to tactical maneuvers and command decisions until battle’s end.

Each Battleground army comes in two different decks. Army Starters contain eighteen unit cards, a thirty-card Command Deck and two quickstart reference cards, plus the basic rules. This gives you all the cards you need to get started – in play terms, each unit card is the equivalent of a boxed set of miniatures. Army Reinforcement decks each contain fifty unit cards – enough for almost any army you can imagine – and the advanced rules. Reinforcement decks also include two unit types not available in that army’s Starter.

All you need in addition is a flat surface, an opponent, some dice and a couple of dry-erase markers.