The deck-building style of game has certainly taken the analog game world by storm. For a type of game that didn’t even really exist a few years back it’s all but exploded since Dominion hit the scene. Here in this column alone we’ve look at both Dominion and Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer, but there have been loads more.

Newest out of the gate is Nightfall, a game of vampires and werewolves and all the dark things that seem to fight for the night. The big twist to this game is that it’s entirely offensive, which is a big departure from Dominion and others that are largely solitaire group experiences where you’re all taking turns just trying to build the best deck, with limited interaction between players. In Nightfall it’s kill or be killed, and all your moves and card drafts only serve to help you hit the other players harder and faster than they’re hitting you. It’s certainly different, but is it good?

Short answer? Yea, it’s good. It’s a huge shift from Dominion and took us all a few hands to sort of acclimate to it. But once we did the game really started to reveal itself to us. What it really boils down to is this, “Always be attacking.”

The game starts with a small setup process that determines what cards will be available to everyone and which cards will be each player’s “reserves” which are cards that only they can draft. This works in a 7 Wonders style of draft where everyone gets a certain number of cards, they choose one and pass the remaining ones to the player on their left. Repeat. After that the rest of the cards that will be available are placed on the table in the center. After each player gets a standard starting deck, the game begins.

Each turn has 3 phases. In the attack phase every minion you have out in front of you MUST attack someone. No sitting back and choosing your moments like in a Magic: The Gathering game. Nope, get those baddies out there and killing something. If you wound another player they take a wound card and add it to their deck. These cards serve to count as damage at the end of the game in determining a winner and also clog up the person’s deck.

Once you’ve distributed all of your attacks and everything is solved you move into the chain phase. The chain phase is what really sets Nightfall apart from other deck building games I’ve played in the past, and is the source of most of the game’s strategy.

Every card has three moon icons in it’s upper left hand corner. One large one and two smaller ones on either side. To play cards you start with any one you like. Then to play the next one the large icon on the second card must match the color of either of the small moons on the first card. You can repeat this for as many cards as you like. Once you’re done everyone else at the table gets to add to your chain with their own cards as well. (The pictures of the 3 cards in this review are examples of legal chains).

Once everyone has had a turn then the cards are resolved in reverse order. Last one played, first one resolved. Some have powers or other abilities that trigger when they come into play. Once resolved the card (if it’s a minion) takes up residence in front of the player that played it. This chaining system serves a few excellent purposes. With so many different colors of moons it’s important to draft cards that you’ll be able to chain together. Not much sense having cards with red large moons if none of your cards have small red ones. You’ll never be able to chain anything.

The other thing the chain system does, and what I think really helps a game like this, is that even when it’s not your turn you’re still playing cards. Usually when it’s not your turn you can kind of phase out and not pay attention, which to me is a bummer. This keeps everyone involved for everyone else’s turn.

Nightfall has a lot going for it. Beautiful artwork, a proven card drafting mechanic, and a highly tuned element of constant combat. It’s a refreshing change for fans of card drafing games like myself where all too often it’s people around the table kind of playing against each other but more likely playing against the deck. The chain system is really unique and with enough time could be a deeply strategic mechanic we see brought over into other games. Nightfall does a great job of shaking up the card draft genre, and can easily exist in a collection that already has a few draft games in it. I look forward to getting it back to the table very soon.

Nightfall was designed by David Gregg and released by AEG in 2011. You can buy it at Funagain Games, Amazon, or your friendly local game store.