My game, Triumph, needs more engaging combat

Thanks for giving it a read!

"Why are the heroes kept on two separate boards? Is there a thematic explanation for that design decision?"

I chose this design because having heroes close together, rather than on a huge board, seemed to encourage the concept of teamwork. I'm drawn to the idea of a trio of heroes doing cool stuff together, and them being situated close to one another seemed like a good way to go.

"In a game where the heroes are attacking one another, why are victory points a separate abstraction and not tied to the state of the heroes?"

I worked with Health Points for heroes initially, but I ran into roadblocks. The biggest one being, what happens when a hero dies? Your deck is comprised of some cards that are specific to each hero, meaning those cards are now dead, and thus creating a positive feedback loop. Offsetting that loss was tricky and clunky. Victory Points eliminates that issue, but I can't say it doesn't bring about others, such as REASON to attack CERTAIN heroes. I added Morality Bonuses to try to offset that, but I don't know if that's working.

"What about the combat is bland during play? Are the best choices always obvious and thus not really choices?"

That's partially why it's on the bland side. It's also a little black and white. Combat is largely dictated by if your opponent does or doesn't have reaction cards in hand. Also, it's too insular right now. You're not really thinking about how to disrupt your opponent. You're mostly just figuring out the best thing to do with your guys.

I hope I don't come off as defensive here. I value people's thoughts, and yours have been helpful. Your simultaneous play is food for thought.

In previous iterations, when heroes held onto AP, 'Out of Bounds' was a mechanic that made the hero lose said held AP - a concept inspired by Legend of Korra! Now that I think of it, my setup REALLY reminds me of the Mega Man Battle Network games.

The idea of two attack card piles is interesting, but I've been weary on having attacks exclusively tethered to your hand. What if you don't draw attacks? There's also very little way for your opponent to feasibly predict what attacks you can make. Still, something to ponder.

The sequential combo sounds pretty interesting and works well with the theme. I understand that as a combo, but how is that a combo-breaker?

Thinking about simultaneous gameplay didn't pan out. Not because it wasn't a good idea, but rather I had a hard time conceptualizing it. What I have been thinking about is dice.

I recently bought Settlers of Catan and Seasons, and WOW, those game have fun dice rolling mechanics. Catan's is white-bread-simple: a turn starts with a dice roll, and any player can potentially benefit from it. That keeps players engaged throughout. Seasons allocates actions, resources, and the speed of the game, and more via beautifully chunky dice. All players choose among the rolled dice, leaving meaningful choices for all.

I've been too eager to discount what dice can accomplish. I'm now looking into an elemental system (fire, earth, water, wind), three of which are randomly placed on both boards at the beginning of the game via a hefty dice roll. Seven dice in all, one being either a number or an element, allowing you to replace one of the rolled dice for something more desirable.

Elements have their own attacks, reactions, weaknesses, and can be converted into an energy to play cards with. Details are still murky, but I'm optimistic.