The Valiant Card Game - Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe

On my last school break I picked up The Valiant Card Game - Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe. I ordered it on a whim, after hearing that it was based on a comic and live-action web-series of the same name.

I confess it's been a couple of decades since I have read anything from Valiant, but I was aware that they had relaunched a few years back, and had picked up their RPG series and their card game last year, neither of which had yet to see the table. However if you've ever stopped by here before you'll know I'm a sucker for superhero comics, so none of these purchases should be a surprise.

Deciding that I needed to see the web-series before trying out the game I fired up YouTube and spent an hour being mildly impressed. The writing and acting weren't anything amazing, but overall the costumes very well done, and FX were certainly better than I had expected. I would certainly watch more if it were produced.

Anyway, back to the game at hand. It's a basic co-operative card game for 1 to 6 players. Each player chooses a hero to control against "Ninjak" who is essentially three decks of increasing difficulty. The heroes are interesting in that they can't use their own powers, only lend them to other heroes, so teamwork is key. If any of the heroes are reduced to 0 health all players lose. With three or more players everyone takes a secret agenda and if Ninjak is defeated one of the heroes is the winner above the others. There are minor rules changes for playing with 2 players, or a solo player controlling one or two heroes, but  each hero tries to build up their stats by picking up Tactics cards, fighting Ninjak and helping their allies.

The components are nicely done with vibrant colours, excellent artwork and easy to read layouts with solid graphic design. The hero boards are double sided with comic art on one side and the live action version on the other.

I've only had a chance to try a half dozen games solo with a variety of hero duos and one game with a single hero. Some games have felt very easy and other have been quite challenging. I feel it would be a much more interesting game with a larger player count, as sharing hero powers, and working towards individual agendas would add some depth that's missing in solo play. It gets points for stylish presentation and a unique mechanic for superhero team-up action on the tabletop.

I doubt I'll be playing many more games of it solo but will certainly try to get some larger games going to see if my hypothesis is accurate. I'd recommend it to fans of the Valiant Universe, but it's probably a pass for most other gamers.