0.7.44: the High Tide water pack, the Crash Dummy, the Wedded, and kind finishers
A 22nd pack that floods the road with Tide Pools, two new warlords, a rare kind ending for every lord, and paper places behind most of the plain screens.
PB& Games · Development notes
The Cardboard Conquest devlog
Every version of Cardboard Conquest ships with a post about what changed and why it changed. Written for the people playing it, roughly weekly, by the one person building it. No roadmap slides, no teasers for things that do not exist yet: only what is in the build you can download today.
38 posts, newest first
0.7.43: the enemy lords play from their own decks
Enemy lords now play from decks built from their own cards, a new player's first march is directed, and the Lost Witch gets a Storm Apprentice.
0.7.41: the last blows cut from paper, Champions on equal terms, and co-op friends
All 27 Throne of Vows finishers rebuilt in cut paper, both Champions seats play by the same rules, and co-op keeps one council code and a friends list.
0.7.40: new warlords come wrapped, Champions, and a last blow for every government
New warlords arrive as presents you unwrap, the Act IV throne gets a versus screen and 27 finishers, and Champions sets builds against builds.
0.7.37: every lord's own slam, the mat laid as cloth, and faster browser fights
Every lord's slam is its own move, entrances get a show per lord, the mat goes down six ways, and browser fights draw in half the time.
0.7.36: browser and Android fixes, painted nameplates, and boss entrances
Fixes for a frozen browser load, a phone memory climb and the long-zoom crash, plus painted nameplates, boss entrances, and relics renamed pins.
0.7.35: 27 endings, each a pop-up film in two scenes
Each of the 27 lands your vows can found is now its own pop-up film in two scenes, plus a new question in the opening film and a faster start.
0.7.33: a fourth act, and the last boss is you
Swear a vow in each of the first three acts and the run goes on to a fourth act, where the last boss is the build that beat act 3.
0.7.32: the lord who beats you finishes the job
Every lord finishes your warlord their own way, banners tear in two, every boss break changes the arena, nine new cards, and far less lag.
0.7.31: every phase break changes the arena, and every act is a boss's land
13 more lords change their arena when they break, every act is set in its boss's own land, the main menu marches through it, and the treasure chest opens like a pop-up book.
0.7.30: Calvin, Emperor of the Floe, and cards cut from coloured card
Act 3 gets a polar bear boss whose ice breaks up under the fight, every card is cut from coloured card, and 99 enemy units are drawn again.
0.7.26: the Turnabout Show and films that move
Co-op gets The Turnabout Show, ten lords fight differently, the run-ending films move and act out their lines, and the long zoom reaches the galaxy.
0.7.23 to 0.7.25: the Cyborg, the Tinker's Workshop and a film for every ending
The Cyborg joins as a fourteenth warlord, the Tinker's Workshop lets you build and draw a soldier of your own, and every run now ends on a pop-up book film.
0.7.22: every lord hits back
Every enemy lord strikes back with a blow of their own, a pop-up book opens the game, Uncle Jim's notes replace Act 0 and the Fear Drinker whispers.
0.7.19 to 0.7.21: every lord's stage filled in, and the stage turns to felt
Every lord's wall, sky and mat filled with pieces of their own place, a felt stage, titles that unfold from paper balls, and four finishers redone in paper.
0.7.18: forty-two lords get a stage, and every boss break plays in paper
All 42 enemy lords stand on stages drawn again, every boss break plays in a paper set, health bars fold like paper and co-op starts in a tent.
0.7.17: AI warlords take a seat at the War Council
AI warlords take seats at the War Council, deaths and summons leave cut paper, the merchant turns round, and Rex Mortifer gets a graveyard of his own.
0.7.16: every warlord and every pack, redrawn as jointed paper dolls
All thirteen warlords and all 21 packs drawn again on a new jointed paper doll, a drawn effect for every Ascendant form, and smoother fights.
0.7.15: every lord redrawn, and bosses that change shape
Every enemy lord redrawn in flat paper with new finishers, bosses that change shape, the Long Dark, Verdy's meadow and Rex's drop into Hades, co-op screen watching, two new events and a dice game.
0.7.14: the Eternal picks his inheritance
The Eternal picks his inheritance in a papercraft void, a new Stacker minigame, a hatchling pick for the Mysterious Egg, and nearly every unit drawn again.
0.7.13: every starter drawn again
Every warlord's starter units drawn again by hand in flat paper, standees at full height, flat-paper stages, a brighter battlefield and new wagers.
0.7.12: every unit reprinted in flat paper
Every unit, commander and spell icon reprinted in flat paper, screens that crumple, pleat and burn, and bosses that burn the box and dim the lights.
0.7.8: every card gets somewhere to stand
Every card in the game gets a place to stand: each pack, each warlord's starters and each card type now has a backdrop cut from paper instead of a recoloured template, alongside twenty-nine new arena back walls, Motley Jack's relic chain, and an event that rolls a real twenty-sided die.
0.7.9: the moon comes up red and never sets
Wally's last stand. Kill him and the sky reverses: the moon comes back up red and never sets, a black wood grows in around the board, and the thing that stands up in it is not Wally.
0.7.7: a lair for every lord, and the box gets its depth back
Forty-two enemy lairs cut from paper, a diorama round where half the changes were sent back with a line each, a boss's own cast of curios, and a battlefield you can grab and drag.
0.7.5: a new title theme, and Uncle Jim cut from paper
A menu theme written for the game's name, Uncle Jim re-cut from paper like every other hero, and Ascension 9 becomes the fused fight.
0.7.3: less lag, on the desk and on the phone
Where a frame goes on a phone, why a big enough crowd dragged the desk down to 4 fps, and the ladder the battle now climbs to shed work.
Every unit on the board, redrawn
594 unit sprites redrawn in one week, an Act 0 that belongs to Uncle Jim, three clips of your run you can send someone, and an empty balance desk.
Every commander gets a stage of their own
Forty-two enemy commanders, forty-two hand-drawn arenas, 485 icons that stopped standing in for the thing, and a browser build that finally runs.
0.7.0: Warlords is now Cardboard Conquest
The game has a new name and a new look, and they are the same decision: every soldier is a die-cut standee, every battlefield is kraft paper on a desk.
0.6.1: Spells fight the army
Spells stop touching commanders and go back to fighting the army. Plus the Brass Pilgrim chain, an upgrade preview on every card, and a camera with an eye.
0.6: the whole game, redrawn
Every card, arena, event and menu redrawn as one hand-drawn world. The photoreal look stays in the box as an option, and the muster becomes a wheel.
0.5.65: the battle builds itself in front of you
The loading screen is gone. Roads paint in, scenery drops onto its spots and the armies take their ground while you watch. Plus three events you play.
0.5.64: what the enemy pays
An enemy lord spends a purse each round exactly like you do, and the card shows it now. Its powers say what they do, in the plain words your cards use.
0.5.63: Forbidden Lore, and one look for the whole game
The Infernal Legion is gone and Forbidden Lore takes its place, with a keyword of its own. Every screen was rebuilt into a single design language.
0.5.62: the rosters get their retune, and it plays on a phone
Difficulty lives in the rosters now, so every lord's army was rebuilt around it. Plus the touch pass that makes the whole campaign playable on a phone.
0.5.58: the enemy stops hiding its numbers
The enemy used to get multipliers you were never shown. They are gone, and the difficulty now sits somewhere you can read it: the lord's own roster.
0.5.56: the fight looks like a fight now
What the battle looks like, what it sounds like, and how much of it you can read while it is happening. Five builds of work in one post.
Where else these go
The same notes, wherever you already read things.
Every post here goes out to the game's players on the day it is written. This is the copy that stays: itch and Steam both trim old posts out of view, and neither of them is a link you can send someone in two years.
If you would rather follow it somewhere else, all of these are the same posts:
- RSS — full text, no account, no algorithm.
- Steam news hub — follow the game and they arrive in your Steam client.
- itch.io devlog — the playtest build lives there too.
- Press kit — screenshots, logos and the fact sheet, free to use.
- Contact — the quill in game, or an email address.