Thou shalt enjoy this card game – The Great Commission blends a range of systems to create a smooth, engaging and thoughtful co-op experience
Before you play this game, head to Word for Word Bible Comic’s Youtube page. The team behind The Great Commission: Strategic Card Game has created a range of tutorial and playthrough videos to teach you the game in a relatively short amount of time. While the streamlined, 12-page how-to-play guide (with QR code for full rulebook) is good, I’d argue that those video resources are the most useful.
The Great Commission was designed as a Christian strategy card game and it thematically leans into that concept. Whether it’s events from the bible or quotes across character cards, the game goes to great lengths to ensure the experience feels authentic. The premise sees players working together to expand their churches and spread the word of God. Along the way, they face troubles that threaten to derail this mission. World Events, be they positive or negative, have a major impact on the progress of the church, as players look to the special abilities of their followers for support.
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How to play The Great Commission: Strategic Card Game
The game plays over seven rounds, with three phases in each. Players complete the game by bringing everyone into their church, which is symbolised by winning all the cards in a World Deck. This must happen before all Spirit is lost (a measure of the Church’s success) and before time runs out. There’s a balancing act here between trying to top up the church’s Spirit, while still drawing cards from the World deck and avoiding World Events that could derail everything.
Across the three phases of each round, players first unveil a new World Event, then go through two actions of their choosing, before finally reacting to the impact of the troubles. Among other actions, you can commission your followers to complete certain tasks, attempt to gain more followers or pray for miracles. While two actions may sound limiting, there is plenty of time to strategically control what’s happening, without feeling too pressured by that structure. Equally, there is enough tension and drama here to keep you engaged, as Spirit levels drop and troubles build up.
On my first play, I was taken with how thoughtful the game is in every aspect. The quality of the cards and their illustrations are great, but what I was especially impressed with is the technicality of the mechanics and how simply they work alongside one another. It’s easy, for instance, to keep track of the few resource terms in play, like Faith, Wisdom and Resistance, without a sprawling set of jargon to learn. Equally, despite being a co-op game, the mechanics are versatile enough for a solo-player mode. During a two-to-four player session, everyone gets their own church to manage, allocating responsibility for a part of the game, with your success or failure affecting everyone else.
I found that after just a couple of rounds I was using all the action possibilities in front of me, which can be a rarity with this kind of game. It can be all too common to go back to an old favourite, spamming the same move for quick success, but here play is varied and consistently changing, powered on by the World Event that shapes each round.
The Great Commission: Strategic Card Game is one of the most well-rounded games I’ve played. It doesn’t break any new ground mechanically, but the systems are nuanced enough that they work together seamlessly, leaving very little room for error.
Review by George Chrysostomou
Play it?
The Great Commission blends a range of systems to create a smooth, engaging and thoughtful co-op experience.
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About The Great Commission: Strategic Card Game
Category: Card Games
Designer: Paul Snuggs, Simon Amadeus Pillario
Publisher: Word For Word Bible Comic
Time to Play: 1-2h
Players: 1-4 Players
Age: 14+
RRP: £35
What’s in the Box?
15 Leader cards
72 Character cards
28 Blessing cards
48 Trouble cards
12 Location cards
36 World Event cards
21 Activity cards
4 Player aids
4 Spirit trackers
How-to-play guide