14 DAY TRIAL // Hearts of Iron might just be the best known video game series that Paradox Interactive has created, one concerned with allowing the player to get through the 1930's and then the Second World War using any country in the world and having control over army movements, research , diplomacy, production and espionage.
So when the developers announced that they planned to create a online only card based game built on the Hearts of Iron universe a lot of long term fans could only react with puzzled questions about how such a game would work and why they should dedicate their time to it.
Hearts of Iron – The Card Game is now live and after building a few decks and playing a few matches I must say that it's a pretty engaging experience, as long as you have a knowledge of World War II and of the mechanics of the series.
It also helps to spent half an hour in order to read the well crafted manual and then enter the first few games expecting to lose.
There are four big phases to each turn of the game, with players asked to draw cards, manufacture what they need, to battle and then repair and re-arm.
There are quite a lot of cards in the game and it will take all players some time before they become familiar with them and learn how and when to use them to the greatest effect.
One particular issue at the moment is that the infrastructure for Hears of Iron – The Card Game is really slow and often just one round of a battle can take a few minutes more than it should.
Hearts of Iron – The Card Game is free-to-play at the moment and all those who sign up before October 17 will get access to a number of extra cards to play around with.