Like scratch-offs, but with monsters! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out Merlin Publishing’s BattleCards, a neat, if doomed, combat card game that came out in 1993. Design credit goes to Steve Jackson (UK) and has players picking cards to square off, then scratching off hit locations to see if they score wounds. The winner claimed the defeated card (they have a gold value) and could send it in to “purchase” special treasure cards. There are puzzles and quests as well, but the real star is the artist pool, which includes heavy hitters like Iain McCaig and Led Edwards. Even then, it didn’t stand a chance against Magic: The Gathering.

From “Son of Cinema” by Clive Barker, art by Les Edwards