Radlands – “Punks Are People Too!” Should You Buy It?

 

What Is Radlands?

Radlands is a 2-player card game that’s full of punks! Radlands is a beautifully illustrated card game with a variety of wasteland misfits. The gameplay is simple, full of strategy, and a diverse mix of cards and actions. You use water to defend, attack, and play events to try and destroy your enemy’s camps. Once all your opponent’s camps have been destroyed you win!

Should You Buy Radlands?

Do you love punks!? Do you think you would like a post-apocalyptic game, about effective use of water, and combining abilities to dominate the wasteland? Did I mention that literally, everything about this game has amazing illustrations? The box, cards, people, and even their “Hazmats” (Placemats for your cards) have awesome artwork.

HERES A LINK TO THE RADLANDS WEBSITE TO CHECK OUT THEIR DOPE PLACEMATS

I can say yes to many of these questions, I loved the look of this game. I can also honestly say that the gameplay is fun and easy to learn.

Something I will mention is after playing the game enough times you will start to get used to the cards, camps, and events. So after a while, it starts to become a little stale, just something I want to mention. I’m hoping they eventually come out with an expansion, they made an April Fools post about it but we will have to wait and see.

General Information
Play Time: 20-40 Minutes
Designer: Daniel Piechnick
Recommended Age Group: 14+
Player Count: 2 Players
Difficulty 1-10: 3

How Do You Win A Game Of Radlands?

Winning a game of Radlands is quite simple, at the start of the game players pick 3 Camp cards. Each Camp card has its own special ability that can be used during the game. When a Camp card is damaged it gets turned sideways, then if it gets damaged again, it’s fully destroyed. If all 3 of a player’s Camps get destroyed the game is over and the other player wins.

How Many People Can Play Radlands?

Only 2 players can play Radlands at a time. I would love to see an official game of Radlands come out where more players can join, but it might not be possible till that happens. 

How Long Is A Game Of Radlands?

About 20-30 minutes is a typical range of play time for Radlands. Depending on what’s going on while playing you might get closer to 35 to 40 minutes.

Who Made The Artwork For Radlands? Link to his artwork site

Manny Trembley and Damien Mammoliti were the ones who did the illustrations for Radlands. They did a great job with the artwork for this game. I loved the post-apocalyptic vibe, while also having a ton of bold colors that just pop out at you. Each card is something that you wanna look closely at, really awesome work.

What Are Some Of Your Favorite People, Camp, And Event Cards?

Favorite People:

There seem to be 3 different tiers of People cards in Radlands. The lowest tier of the people cards can be the most effective cards in the deck. Muse, Scout, and Repair Bot are simple yet effective. They don’t do anything spectacular but can be a boost to your overall game strategies.

The middle tier of People cards is more of your Wombo Combo cards. These can sometimes be paired with other Camps or mid-tier People cards. I use the mid-tier cards to help defend my camps or headhunt for a specific enemy People cards.

The final tier of People cards seems to be like the group leaders of the People cards. What I mean by that is they affect not just themselves but the other People’s cards around them. If they don’t have an action to boost others they usually have a higher water cost, and has a more powerful personal action.

Obviously, with a card game, you take what you can get. If I can, I like to have a good blend of lower and higher tiers of People cards.

Favorite Camps:

I have 4 Camps on my list that I think are unbelievably game-changing. Two of the Camps on my list are just for my personal messing around. Then the last 2 on my list are Camps that I think could combo well with certain mid-tier People cards.

1. Mercenary Camp – Mercenary Camp seems to me to be a really strong Camp. For 2 water you can destroy a card of their choice, or they can discard 2 cards. That seems to me to be one of the strongest actions I’ve seen from Camps. You can both reduce your opponent’s hand size and destroy their board.
2. Atomic Garden – There aren’t many “Restore” cards in Radlands, and not to mention that it also makes the restored card “Ready” even more of a desirable trait. The other player would need some serious damage to take down your People.
3. Training Camp – This Camp has two great abilities to it, either A you get a free card by flipping over a Punk, or B you flip an event and get a new Punk to replace the Event card and get a free Water Token. Also, it only cost 1 water token? Great Camp card in my opinion.
4. Garage – Since Raiders are such a powerful Event in the game, Garage will make you more of a problem for your enemy. The low cost of water will let you play your People cards, and keep putting pressure on them with your Raiders. Making for a deadly pressure that would be hard for anyone to withstand.

My Fun Messing Around Camps

1. Reactor – The Reactor is my “Big Red” button, if things are going wrong or if I need to throw a “Hail Mary,” I just press my Big Red button. I don’t think its exactly the best Camp card, but might just be the crazy big play that you need to win the game.
2. Juggernaut – I love the concept of Juggernaut, but unfortunately it seems to have the obvious flaw of being easily destroyed. At the beginning of the game, you can just keep pushing it along, and you’ll probably get a Camp. But usually, by the time you get the first Camp destroyed, your Juggernaut will become damaged and then soon after destroyed.

Potential Good Combo Camps

1. Command Post – If you can combo this Camp with the Rabble Rouser, this could be an extremely powerful combination. Just keep pumping out Punks while using the Command Post to damage enemy People. Then after a couple of Punks are out, use the Rabble Rouser to help damage more People with your Command Post.
2. Parachute Base – Molgur Stang is the People card that I think of when I think of a good combo with this Camp. I don’t think you would be able to save up enough Water to use it very often but I think maybe if it was your last Camp to destroy you might be able to pull it off.

Favorite Events:

1. Truce – Truce can be used both as a way to collect new cards that were once Punks on your side of the board or it can be used to wipe the boards clean and start fresh.
2. Famine – Sometimes your opponent will have a really strong 2 People combo, and Famine is a good way to even the odds back into your favor.
3. Bombardment – Think of Bombardment as “dropping the hammer” on your opponent. Maybe you’ve done some decent damage to your opponent’s Camps and then you lay down Bombardment to finish them off. It’s like dropping a nuke on everything they know and love.

How Does The Water Silo Work?

The Water Silo is used to gain an extra water resource when used. The idea is after playing your main cards you will have leftover water tokens. With the leftover, you can spend 1 water that you might not have used, and bank it for a later turn. You only have 1 so you can’t keep stacking them up the whole game. It’s more of a way to make sure that every drop of water is utilized.

How Do The Raiders Work?

Your Raiders are probably your single most important event that will chip away at your enemy’s Camps. 

By activating the “Raid” action, you will either play or advance your Raiders. Using this action as often as possible is going to be your best bet for success.

The game instructions even give a hint as to how important the Raiders are, I of course underestimated this suggestion. In one of the games I played against my wife, she made a huge comeback with a simple scout and lots of raids.

How Do The Event Cards Work?

Event cards can affect both you and your opponent. Some Event cards are great for dealing lots of damage to multiple people.

Each Event has a bomb symbol in the middle of the card with a number in it. Depending on what the number is will decide where you place the event.

For example, if the Event card has a bomb number of 2 you will place it in the middle row, on the left side of your board. At the start of your next turn, you will move forward your Event card to the first row. Finally, on the next turn, you will resolve the Event card and place it in the discard pile.

Also if you try to play an Event card that has a bomb #3, you can not place it if there’s already an Event card in the 3rd Event slot. You must wait till the Event slot is free to place it.

In the event of a card having a bomb number of 0, play that Event card immediately. They are a special kind of Event card.

My Wife’s 2 Cents

3 Games We Recommend

Thanks for taking the time to look over my review. I hope that it brought you some value. God Bless.