In Redline, as with most expandable card games, two players build decks prior to play and sit down for a duel. Decks are 60 cards in size and are comprised of cards a player would expect to find in such a game: efreets (mechwarriors), upgrades (cannons, lasers, missiles, etc.), resources, and tactics (event cards for one-time effects). Spread out between the players is the 'redline': five missions drawn randomly from a deck of twenty. Each is unique, with its own capture value and bonus effect, meaning every game is different. The player's goal is to control all five missions, but they can also win by razing their opponent's HQ to zero (eliminating all cards in their deck).
In order to take control of a mission a player needs efreets, natch. These are contructed in a deploy phase, but afterwards is when things get interesting. With the use of location dials, one per efreet, players simultaneously and secretly select which mission each efreet will go. Players reveal and efreets are assigned to the mission(s) selected. If the opponent has no efreets at the same mission, the player can role a d6 to attempt to capture the mission. Role higher than the capture value, they capture it. If the opponent has one or more efreets at the same mission, combat ensues. The last efreet(s) standing at the mission gets the chance to capture it. Capture not permanent, the same mission can change hands the next round, depending how dials and combat proceed. If all five missions have been captured by one player, they win.
Unlike the Battletech CCG, efreet combat is not as straightforward as comparing stats. Efreets do have stats (damage, armor, and speed), but they can also be upgraded - arguably one of the funnest and most satisfying aspects of the game. Secondly, combat is decided using a d12 die. But the die roll is not always one and done. Missiles, lasers, cannons, targeting computers, pilots - a player's deck is laced with equipment which influences and manipulates combat. On top of this, the efreets and upgrades often have one or more of a handful of keywords which add flavor. Sharpshooter, Ambush, Precision, etc. mean that the skirmishes can be quite dynamic.
The other highly satisfying aspect of combat is the critical hit. Hitting a natural 12 on the die or rolling precisely the targeted efreet's speed results in a critical hit. Borrowing from the X-Wing Miniatures game, the player draws a critical hit card. These cards describes some catastrophic bit of extra damage - slower speed, reduced accuracy, mass damage, and others. I love this in X-Wing, and I love it in Redline. It makes combat more thematic and exciting, and when taken in the mix of upgrades and keywords feels properly 'battlemech.' Alongside the mind games of secretly selecting missions, efreet combat is the shining star of Redline.
As a whole, Redline is a combination of a few games on the market, blended together to form an identity of its own. Take the main concept of Battletech TCG (generate resources to build mechs to fight) but give players the dual win conditions of Warhammer: Conquest (destroy the other player's HQ or capture a set number of locations lined up between the players). Also from Conquest, Redline borrows the secret selection of locations. Add the critical hit deck from X-Wing Miniatures Game and you've got a game that when it sings, it sings. Our kitchen table explodes with fun. But it's not without an off-key note or two.
The first spot of trouble for Redline is resources. Redline handles resources similar to Magic, Battletech, etc. Resources are cards shuffled in players' decks that must be drawn to be used. Compared to Magic, Battletech, etc., however, this randomness is reduced. There are no colors or letters that need to match other card types in order to be used. The resources, called supply drops, are generic. They can be spent on anything, which is better than Magic et al.
But this does not eliminate one critical problem: resources still clog players' decks and create the potential for one player to draw a lot more or a lot less than they need. It happens more often than is fun for one player to draw mostly resources and the other player to draw mostly units. Neither side can do much, which is anti-fun. Take into consideration players draw only one card per round and you have a recipe for disaster. Accordingly, we have taken to using a house rule in which resources are kept in a separate deck, from which players can draw one card per round in addition to one card from their main deck. This means both players will always get at least one resource per turn and one card that will help attack in some way (upgrade, efreet, tactic, etc.). And when the opponent razes your HQ, you can choose which deck, the resource or non-resource deck, to raze. On top of making the game significantly more balanced, the resource deck likewise acts as a nice early-game buffer to razing, and heightens the tension when players need to start razing their non-resource deck mid- to late-game. Overall, I can't understand why TCG/CCG/LCGs in 2024 are still mixing resource-only cards into decks in Magic fashion...
There are two additional things to critique, one important, the other less so. The important one is the rules, both as they are found in the rulebook (or not) and as they play on the table. The rulebook, while it gets players 90% to the finish line, the last 10%—the devil in the details that decides many a situation—is sometimes not there. For players who have years of TCG/CCG experience, they can most often agree with their opponent how to proceed and be fair. Others will have to wing it. A tighter attention to detail and rule layout would have improved the experience. Of note is that the online version of the rules has improved upon the version included in the original Kickstarter core box, and I assume second-printing core boxes sold today have the better, upgraded version.
Going further with the rules, they do not feel fully tested on every occasion. For as truly fun and dynamic as gameplay can be, Redline can sometimes feel that it oscillates too freely between being heavily restrictive (e.g. one card per round from a 60 card deck?!?!?) and too open (that efreet's speed is what??). There is the sense that another six months of focused group testing would have arrived at a more streamlined product - without sacrificing the fun. Beyond resources, we have added tiny rule tweaks here and there that even the playing field while offering more satisfying gameplay. We switch initiative back and forth, for example, rather than giving it to one player the entire game. We construct efreets and upgrades simultaneously (as opposed to turn-based), as another example. In combination with the resource house rule, our games are now at the 75-80% satisfactory rate. Using the rules as they appear is not as high. One player stomps the other in a couple rounds, which is fun for nobody. To be clear, the game works well on the kitchen table, the place where rules can be more casual. But for two people who take games seriously and want to see their deckbuilding and strategic play pay off, a tweak here and there is needed to tighten up competition.
The second critique, and one that I personally do not feel hinders the game but others may, is production quality. To state this directly: Redline is a step down from other famous expandable card games on the market in terms of the quality of card stock. The cards are flimsy.* They can be sleeved, of course, but even with such protection still do not lie 100% flat on the table. And the mission dials are a bit - just a bit - loose, the plastic bits not forming a tight join. To be clear, all the pieces play perfectly fine. It's just that we have been spoiled by the likes of Wizards of the Coast, Living Legend Studios, FFG, and other companies over the years, and now expect such production from similar games. Redline comes from an indie studio, and the expectations for production need to follow. Card quality does not distract from fun at our house in the least. But if you care, be aware.
But does production effect the art?!?! With so much of a TCG/CCG/LCG's success dependent on graphics, is Redline's card art and graphics also a step down? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I disagree with the template used for the efreets. Rather than being pictured in action (as with Battletech), they are instead pictured like butterflies pinned to a board - specimens rather than active agents. And some of the card art is a bit inconsistent in quality. There are amazing pieces, and some less amazing. On average the art is fair to good with a few being inspiring (heat-seeking missiles, cannons, radar systems, supply drops, for example). If there is an overarching issue with the graphics it would be the wording (it's too small) and tone (cards too dark). Increased font size and less black would have improved things.
The one other thing I will mention about Redline that others may find a negative which I do not is the limited amount of content. The core set contains enough cards for two starter decks, the mission and critical hit decks, and the bits and bobs (tokens, dials, dice, etc.) players need to play. It's a standard two-player starter set with a little extra. Players looking for a TCG/CCG's worth of content to collect should therefore be aware that Redline is more of an LCG. Two additional waves of content have been released, each featuring two sets of starter decks, bringing the game's total to six total decks to play. We find there is enough variety in these decks, coupled with the fact missions change every game, to play just as much as we play other expandable card games. The relative lack of content has not been a barrier.
But enough of my moaning. In the end, Redline is a solid expandable card game that with a couple of house rules becomes a good, fun, robots-shooting-lasers-and-missiles-at-one-another-in-tactical-fashion card game. An interesting crossroads of other popular CCGs, the game is absolutely worth a shot as long as players who are accustomed to Wizards of the West Coast and Fantasy Flight Games caliber productions lower their cardboard expectations a little. Gameplay makes up for it. It provides that chewy degree of card game dueling that every such gamer strives for, more so than many of the big name games on the market today. I would rather play Redline than Lorcana, Star Wars Unlimited, etc. and other such simple but big name productions. From a more specific angle, people looking for an updated version of Battletech CCG with better toys and economy, absolutely try this.
*Note: The flimsy cards appeared only in the first printing of Redline. The core sets (second printings) sold now feature standard, non-warped cards.
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