PB& Games

0.7.13: every starter drawn again

Version 0.7.13 8 min read

Eight redrawn starter units in flat paper on tan card: the Northman, the Deputy, the Ray Gunner, the Firedrake, the Sparring Partner, the Shinobi, the Stoker and the Scarab Slinger.

0.7.12 reprinted every unit in flat paper, and most of them came through well. The warlords' starter units did not. They are the units you see in every fight of a run, and they had been drawn for the old cartoon look and then run through the printer, so they came out stiff: square arms, flat feet, eyes that were a dot and a line. For 0.7.13 all of them were drawn again from scratch in flat paper.

The same day also brought standees that stand at full height, backdrops and mats printed in flat paper, a brighter battlefield, and a pile of smaller changes listed at the end.

Every starter, drawn again

Each board has 0.7.12 on the top row and 0.7.13 below it. These are the prints the game ships, side by side at the same scale.

The Witch, Viking and Ninja starters: Bog Imp, Raven Familiar, Northman, Bearsark, Harpooner, Shinobi and Kunai Thrower, 0.7.12 on the top row and the redrawn 0.7.13 versions below

The new ones have designed faces, hands that grip what they hold, and poses that do something. The Northman's helmet sits down on his head with its nasal running down his nose, and his beard starts at the mouth so his cheek and ear show. The Harpooner is winding up a throw, and the Shinobi leaves a puff of smoke behind him.

The Mummy, Spaceman and Gunslinger starters: Scarab Slinger, Risen Shambler, Star Marine, Ray Gunner, Sentry Gun, Deputy, Rifleman and Deadeye, 0.7.12 above and 0.7.13 below
The Eternal, Boxer and Pirate starters: Aeon Shade, Starcaller, Sparring Partner, Prizefighter, Heavyweight, Deckhand, Powder Monkey and Motley Cap'n, 0.7.12 above and 0.7.13 below
The Conductor, Explorer and Dragon starters: Stoker, Signalman, Boiler, Porter, Surveyor, Trailblazer, Wyrmling, Firedrake and Hoard Wyrm, 0.7.12 above and 0.7.13 below

Every one of these went through several rounds of checking where each piece joins the next: shoulders under the head instead of beside the ear, arms that bend at a round elbow, boots that close round the shin, the Deadeye's rifle butt in his shoulder and the scope at his eye. Anything that read as a playing-card suit or a symbol (a diamond belt stone, a club-shaped key, a buckle that looked like a pause button) was redrawn as the thing it was meant to be.

Two faces were done twice. The first redraw of the Ray Gunner and the Deputy looked crazy, so the Ray Gunner is now a relaxed, cocky cadet and the Deputy an eager rookie.

Close-up of the Ray Gunner and the Deputy: the 0.7.12 faces above, the new relaxed cadet and eager rookie faces below

Standees stand up

Units used to be squashed a little to match the camera's tilt. It was meant to look like a flat piece seen from above, and it made every unit look short and squat. They now stand at full height, seated across the middle of their disc, and each stand is one thick sheet of corrugated board with the flutes showing on its edge.

The same crowd of goblin and bug standees twice: above in 0.7.12, squashed figures on thin discs; below in 0.7.13, the same figures at full height on thick corrugated stands

The stage

Every lord's backdrop card and the mat under the lanes are printed in flat paper now, in the same style as the card backdrops. The dark ink outlines are gone and each piece has a lit edge and a soft shadow.

Six lords' stage backdrops printed in flat paper, each pinned to the cardboard back wall with standing pieces either side: the Goblin King's shanty town, the Frost Yeti's ice wall, the Verdant Queen's hives, the Lich King's bone throne, the Fire Devil's torches and the Boar King's farm
Close-ups of three backdrop cards, 0.7.12 with dark ink outlines on the left and 0.7.13 in flat paper on the right: the Lich King's throne, the Goblin King's tower and the Frost Yeti behind his ice wall

A fight also opens differently. Before, the pieces appeared in place and then settled. Now the backdrop card, the mat, the lanes, the scenery and both commanders drop in from above the frame one after another, and the bottom of the HUD rises up from below the screen.

A battle opening on the Fire Devil's stage: the backdrop card, the red mat, the lane board and the pieces each fall into place from above the frame, then the camera moves in

The colour grade over the battlefield was too dark and too grey, especially down the left side of the screen. It is brighter and more saturated now, without pushing the kraft board and the greys into odd colours. The pairs below are the old grade and the new grade on the same field.

The Verdant Queen's meadow under the old, flatter colour grade above and the brighter, more saturated new grade below
Rex Mortifer's graveyard field under the old colour grade above and the brighter new grade below

If you miss the old look, Settings > Display has a new Kraft edge box. It puts the brown die-cut band back under units, icons and commanders, and it works mid-battle.

Ascension

When a pack ascends, the form's name is now the headline, printed on its own cut-paper sign, and each of the 22 forms has a sign dressed for it. The Living Flame's burns, the Stormforged's is struck by lightning, and the First Ooze's drips.

Nine ascended forms, each with its name on its own cut-paper sign: flames for the Living Flame, lightning for the Stormforged, drips for the First Ooze, mountains for the Walking Mountain, gears for the War Engine
Two ascension ceremonies: The Living Flame's sign burning with paper flames over its fiery figure, then The King in Mist's cloud-edged sign over a pale crowned ghost

Relics and wagers

Taking a relic from the strongbox burns the card where it stands, and its gem comes out of the fire and flies up to your relic bar. This is the same burn the merchant's shelf already had, and it now plays for elite spoils and Jim's drawer too. The strongbox also keeps its velvet lining now; before, the screen showed through it.

Choosing a relic in the strongbox: the Eagle-Eye Lens card burns where it stands and its gem flies out of the fire to the top bar

The Devil's Wager has three wagers now, plus walking away:

  • The doubled-gold pact, as before.
  • A fight half again as hard, for an extra relic pick.
  • A race against the clock: win inside five rounds for 150 gold, or lose 15 HP.

Take any of them and the page turns to him shaking your hand.

The Devil's Wager event with four options; after taking the relic wager, the page turns to the gentleman shaking the player's gauntleted hand

The Old Standard-Bearer now offers one banner from a pool of four, each paid for in max HP:

  • Banner of the Unbroken (-10 HP).
  • Captured Colors (-8 HP): the first enemy to fall each round rises as 2 Ghosts on your side.
  • Rallying Pennant (-12 HP): 2 Recruits each round on your thinnest lane.
  • Flag of Parley (-8 HP): at the end of each round, Charm 4 on the enemy closest to switching sides.

The end of a run

Beating the Act 3 boss now plays a song of its own, "Cardboard Conquest Victory". It fades in when the boss falls and carries on over the verdict page, the menu and the next draft.

The credits are laid out on paper: each department is its own card of stock, slightly askew, and the last card, pinned with rosettes, prints your name. Here it printed mine.

The credits roll as cards of paper stock scrolling over the battlefield, ending on a rosette-pinned plate with the player's own name

Smaller things

  • Text that used to float over the field or the desk in a black halo, like "+5 max HP", "-15 HP" and the gold ticks, is now printed on a paper slip cut to fit. Spending gold tints the coin red again, since that was easier to read.
  • The lethal skull over a unit about to die is a cut-paper skull that bobs gently, with no red badge round it.
  • The flanker warning is a cut-paper red exclamation mark, and the Flanker keyword panel shows the same mark so you learn what it means.
  • In masked pair fights, every card, hover and telegraph wears the portrait of the commander it belongs to, and a unit stands in its own commander's world.
  • The Mimic wears the painted warlord sign of the player it copies, reading "The Mimic".
  • Co-op: when a player ends their turn, their commander squares up and a pennant in their colour reading "Ready" pops up off the back of the stand.
  • Hive bug parts line up with the flat-paper bugs, and all twelve parts can stack on one bug at once.
  • Friendly auras (charm, burn, heals, rallies) roll out along the road instead of laying a red hazard disc beside it.
  • Aiming any spell hides the hovered unit's range ring and march ghost.
  • A selected card's check seal covers the whole corner crest instead of leaving a ring of it showing.
  • Sleeping Jim's Zzz are cut from night-blue card, so they show up against the smoke.
  • Victory on an ordinary fight is just VICTORY, without the line under it.

Balance

  • Frost Giant's upgrade is +8 damage (was a cost drop).

Fixes

  • A wave or a wall of fire now hits everything standing on the road it runs over, including units on a crossing road. Before, bodies in the middle of the road often walked away untouched.
  • Status numbers round up: a Poison of 0.4 shows as Poison 1, never Poison 0.
  • Masked Challengers: when one of the pair dies, the survivor's taunt plays on its own without a banner over it.

This post went out to players on Steam and itch.io on 25 September 2026, and is kept here. Comments and questions are read on either of those, or through the quill in game.