After play testing link Harold and I found it lacking, so we started playing with the rules and making a few modifications. What we ended up with is, I believe, a game based-on (and very similar to) War, but with a distinctive strategic component. The game also plays faster than War.
Objective
For one player to win all the cards.
Setup
The rules are for two people with a standard 52-card deck. Ranking of cards are A, K, Q, J, 10 through 2.
The deck is divided into two halves with all the red cards (hearts and diamonds) in one pile and the black (spades and clubs) in another. The individual players then shuffle their decks and present them to be cut by their opponent. Once the decks have been shuffled, neither player may look at their cards or reorder them.
Starting Player
The starting player is determined at random or by result of a contest of the players choosing.
Rounds
On each turn, the player who leads (considered the attacker) flips over one card. The other player (the defender) then flips over a card to compare against the attacker's card. The players may choose to flip either the top card or the bottom card of their decks (regardless of what they flipped from last round). If the suits do not match and the values do not match, the player whose card has the higher higher value adds the cards face down to the bottom of his pile with the opponent's card (lower value card) at the bottom. The winner of the round leads the next round. (The attacker of the round is the winner of the previous round.)
War occurs when either a numerical tie occurs or the same suit is played by both players. At this point, one face down card is played from the top of each person's deck and the defender has the opportunity to surrender to the attacker. Surrendering forfeits all the card on the table, both face up and face down. If the defender does not surrender, the attacker has the option to surrender as well. If both players agree to continue with the war, then two more cards are played face down from the top of each player's deck. The attacking player then chooses to flip over a card from either the top or bottom of his deck. The defending player, after seeing the card, then flips over a card from either the top or bottom of his deck. If there is no numerical tie and the last two face up cards are not the same suit, then the player with the highest value card wins the war. If a tie or matching suit occurs, then the war continues. (A face down card is played from both players, surrender is given as an option, and so on.)
When a war is resolved, all the face down cards are collected and placed at the bottom of the winner's deck (without looking at the value of the cards). The face up cards are then sorted in value from high to low and placed at the bottom of the winner's deck with the lowest value card on the bottom.
End Game
If a player is required to play a card but has no more cards in his deck, then that player loses. (If a player runs out of cards in a war scenario and cannot provide enough face down cards or the final face up card, then that player loses. If both players run out of cards at the same time during a war scenario, then a tie is declared.)
When one player has all the cards, he is declared the victor.
Objective
For one player to win all the cards.
Setup
The rules are for two people with a standard 52-card deck. Ranking of cards are A, K, Q, J, 10 through 2.
The deck is divided into two halves with all the red cards (hearts and diamonds) in one pile and the black (spades and clubs) in another. The individual players then shuffle their decks and present them to be cut by their opponent. Once the decks have been shuffled, neither player may look at their cards or reorder them.
Starting Player
The starting player is determined at random or by result of a contest of the players choosing.
Rounds
On each turn, the player who leads (considered the attacker) flips over one card. The other player (the defender) then flips over a card to compare against the attacker's card. The players may choose to flip either the top card or the bottom card of their decks (regardless of what they flipped from last round). If the suits do not match and the values do not match, the player whose card has the higher higher value adds the cards face down to the bottom of his pile with the opponent's card (lower value card) at the bottom. The winner of the round leads the next round. (The attacker of the round is the winner of the previous round.)
War occurs when either a numerical tie occurs or the same suit is played by both players. At this point, one face down card is played from the top of each person's deck and the defender has the opportunity to surrender to the attacker. Surrendering forfeits all the card on the table, both face up and face down. If the defender does not surrender, the attacker has the option to surrender as well. If both players agree to continue with the war, then two more cards are played face down from the top of each player's deck. The attacking player then chooses to flip over a card from either the top or bottom of his deck. The defending player, after seeing the card, then flips over a card from either the top or bottom of his deck. If there is no numerical tie and the last two face up cards are not the same suit, then the player with the highest value card wins the war. If a tie or matching suit occurs, then the war continues. (A face down card is played from both players, surrender is given as an option, and so on.)
When a war is resolved, all the face down cards are collected and placed at the bottom of the winner's deck (without looking at the value of the cards). The face up cards are then sorted in value from high to low and placed at the bottom of the winner's deck with the lowest value card on the bottom.
End Game
If a player is required to play a card but has no more cards in his deck, then that player loses. (If a player runs out of cards in a war scenario and cannot provide enough face down cards or the final face up card, then that player loses. If both players run out of cards at the same time during a war scenario, then a tie is declared.)
When one player has all the cards, he is declared the victor.