How to Draft a Team in Barnburners & Noblemen: Scenario, Random, and Fantasy Draft

Every game of Barnburners & Noblemen starts before the first die is rolled, when you decide who is on your team. The rulebook gives you three ways to do it, plus permission to invent your own. Each one produces a different kind of game, so it is worth knowing which to reach for.

First, what you are drafting

The Master Set has 24 character cards, 12 Barnburners and 12 Noblemen; the Merchant and Alchemist expansions add 10 each. Every card has a skill level from 1 to 3 printed on the front. A skill level 3 card like Valerian Hightower or Grandor is a game-changer on its own; a skill level 1 group card is cheap, numerous and easy to lose. Faction only matters when a special or Diplomacy card says it does, so you can mix freely. Drafting is about assembling a total of skill points that gives you the game you want.

One more thing to remember: once the game starts, opponents can only read the front of your cards. The back-card specials stay hidden until the character falls. So a draft is also about what your opponents cannot see.

Method 1: Scenario teams (your first game)

The rulebook lists pre-built two-card teams that are balanced against each other: Grandor and Rupert, Valerian Hightower and Karmela Agular, Bilton Grum and Bigrums, Funkter and Banecroft. Roll for them or just pick. There is also a heavier two-player scenario with set lineups on each side.

Use it when: someone at the table has never played. Two cards each means fewer specials to track, a short game, and a fair fight so the new player's first impression is the mechanics, not a loss to a stacked team. Scenario games are also the fastest way to learn what the dice actually do.

Method 2: Random selection (chaos, but fair chaos)

Agree on a total team skill level for the game, say 7 points. Each player pulls cards blind until they reach it: that could be two 3s and a 1, or three 2s and a 1, or a pile of 1s. Higher totals mean longer games.

Variant B adds control: agree on the skill total and a number of cards to pull, almost as many as the point total. Pull that many blind, then choose which to keep within the point budget. You still do not know what is coming, but you get to shape it.

Use it when: the table knows the game and wants variety. Random pulls force you to play characters you would never pick, which is how you discover that a skill level 1 group card can be a nightmare to dislodge from The Rock. It is also the quickest way to start a game when nobody wants to think too hard.

Method 3: Fantasy draft (for the table that likes to argue)

Everyone rolls the eight-sided die. Highest roll chooses their position in the draft order first (first, last, or anywhere between), then the next highest, and so on. Then draft in snake order: first player to last in round one, last back to first in round two, and keep alternating until every card is taken.

The snake matters. Picking first gets you the best card on the table, but you then wait the longest for your second pick. Picking last means two picks back to back. The question of which position to take is a real decision, and good players take it seriously.

Use it when: everyone knows the cards. A fantasy draft rewards knowing that a certain Noblemen cavalry general pairs badly with a slow Barnburner wall, and that an opponent who grabbed the healer early is planning a long game. Expect table talk. It is also the format where the hidden back-card rule shines, since a drafted card is yours and your opponents only remember what they read during the pre-game look.

Method 4: Whatever your table agrees on

The rulebook says it outright: any drafting method the whole table agrees to is allowed and encouraged. Some ideas we have seen work:

• Faction lock. Each player drafts only from one faction. Barnburners versus Noblemen is the game's founding story, and it plays very differently from a mixed table.
• Handicap by skill points. Give the newest player 8 points and the veteran 6. The skill levels exist for exactly this.
• Auction. Start with a pool of coins and bid on cards. Not in the rulebook, but the metal coins make it tempting.
• Hidden draft. Everyone drafts from their own shuffled stack and reveals only the two starting characters, as the rules already require. Maximum bluffing.

Reading opponents' cards before the game

After teams are set, the rulebook gives everyone a few minutes to read every card on the table, front and back. Use it. Once the game begins, you can only read the fronts, and the Specials Key on the front right gives you the names but not the effects. The player who remembers that a certain card has a one-time automatic-damage special will not walk into it. The player who skipped the reading will.

Which should you use tonight?

• New player at the table: scenario teams.
• Everyone knows the game, nobody wants to think: random selection A.
• Experienced table, 45 minutes to spare before the game even starts: fantasy draft.
• Two players who want a grudge match: faction lock, Barnburners against Noblemen.

Then roll for bases, hide your reinforcements, and go fight for The Rock.

New here? Barnburners & Noblemen is a hex-map skirmish wargame for 2 to 4 players. The Master Set has all 24 characters, and the short rules are on the How to Play page.