I’ve owned Gwent: The Legendary Card Game for a few months now, having picked it up at Tabletop Scotland 2025 (view our interactive write-up here). As soon as I clocked eyes on it, it was absolutely an essential buy in my mind – however, yesterday was my first time actually getting to play it. Why? Because life.
Heeeeey! Hey-hey-heeeeey! It’s time to play.
First, let me explain. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is my all-time favourite video game, and so Gwent is also something I got addicted to whilst playing the game. I have the music in my head right now (heeeey!) and it’s just such a fun game to get carried away with. I would tourney it up with the best of ’em (Geralt) and often come out winning.
What to expect
So – Gwent: The Legendary Card Game! Before I go any further, here’s the official description:
Care for a round of Gwent?
After a decade in the making, the iconic card game from The Witcher universe is finally coming to tabletops. First introduced in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—a video game that has sold over 50 million copies and ranks among the top 10 games of all time—Gwent quickly captured the hearts of millions. Since then, The Witcher has expanded into a hit Netflix series, while Gwent itself has evolved into standalone digital adaptations, including its own mobile app.
Now, for the first time, Gwent is stepping into the physical realm. With the full backing of CD Projekt Red and the official Witcher license, this 1v1 duel game delivers an authentic experience. Boasting over 400 cards faithfully reproducing the iconic designs from The Witcher 3 and a playmat, Gwent is ready to transform any surface into a battleground.
With unprecedented levels of demand, this stunning reproduction is a must-have for Witcher fans and card game enthusiasts alike.
It really is a stunning game, with all the cards and characters you’ll recognise from the popular game. Or, if you’re new to Gwent, it’ll leave quite an impression!
Reading the rules/getting set up
We started by unboxing Gwent, picking out our factions, setting up the board (which as you can see is paper, meaning it’s a little flimsier than one might like – but you don’t actually have to use it if you already know where everything goes), and looking at the awesome cards.
Since I was playing with my husband – who’s less familiar with Gwent than me, but has still played it before – we gave the rules a thorough reading over. This also helped to refresh my memory.
It took us maybe 30 – 40 mins to go through everything and feel confident enough to start playing. Even then, we found the rulebook to be quite complex and a bit confusing, with important things like factions only being mentioned right at the back.
The things I needed to refresh myself on most were some of the symbols on the cards, like the medic vs morale boost.
Playing Gwent: the Legendary Card Game
NOTE: We discovered after playing the game that the aid cards – which are the rules’ quick reference – were all packaged in with the Nilfgaard faction deck. As we didn’t play this faction initially, we didn’t even realise we should have them. Each quick-reference card should really be in with the appropriate deck to avoid confusion.
I initially chose to play as Monsters (one of my favourites), whereas Murdo picked the Scoia’tael. We shuffled our cards really well, and started the first game!
I was using muster pretty much immediately, and was able to start filling the board with the likes of Gaunter O’Dimm: Darkness cards, and a bunch of fugly nekkers.
Murdo was initially having less of an easy time with his Scoia’tael faction, but whilst I won the first two games, he soon caught up to me. I think those less experienced with The Witcher 3 might have a bit more of a learning curve, but still a fun learning curve!
We did feel the experience seemed slightly watered down with the size of the decks we were given, and sometimes drawing less than helpful hands. However, you can apparently modify your deck down to 22 cards and then draw from that, which is an option some players apparently prefer (not something we’ve tried yet).
We still easily got immersed in Gwent for four solid games before we realised we should really pack it in and go to bed because we had to be up in the morning for a pre-scheduled outing.
Overall
So, what did I think of Gwent: The Legendary Card Game? For me, it was like all of the fun elements of Gwent in Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt were coming back to me the more I played, and I was having a great time – despite the game having some issues that need to be ironed out (mainly the rulebook being unclear, and the hidden aid cards!).
At the time of writing this, I note that Paul Grogan from Gaming Rules! had been given the job of improving the rulebook, so hopefully future versions are a bit less confusing.
And you can buy your copy of Gwent: The Legendary Card Game via Amazon (or other retailer) for around £43.99.
What do you think of Bronwen’s review of Gwent: The Legendary Card Game? Does it make you want to give it a try? Let us know in the comments section!
