Haven
All the elements of a good game
A classic conflict of expanding urbanisation versus the innocence of nature is the premise of two-player battling and area-control game Haven. One player takes the side of nature and uses its seekers, leaflings and forest creatures to win territory from the city and its rusty machine servants.
Haven spreads its gameplay over two areas: the game board, where players try to take over locations, build shrines and move elementals, and the battle area, where seekers from both sides face each other in a fight for the control of havens.
The fighting mechanics are fairly basic: add the number of swords on the cards together and the highest number wins. Yet, there are some clever little mechanical twists that change the generic addition of numbers into part-luck and part-strategy combat, where almost every encounter is tense until its resolution.