Warlord 4th Edition CCG - the epic fantasy card game

After following the … lively discussions (and getting quite a few direct correspondence) I’d like to clarify a few things that have been misconceived by some.

• Warlord is about fun. The Fall of Winterhold primarily is an epic side event (for the largest Warlord event) that fits the current storyline for the Dwarves. It is a chance for the players in attendance to take charge and show their colors.
• The Dwarves have been on the brink of annihilation (in the story-sense) from the very start. It’s who they are. This has now been aggravated with the final loss of their homeland - if they had a ship, they’d name it Galactica, I guess. They are few, the odds seem to be against them, but they are a stalwart race in search of a new destiny. That’s where the players come in. You can express your support for this iconic faction and help to steer them to the destiny. That’s going to be the theme leading up to next GenCon.
• The first step is Fall of Winterhold. Contrary to the element that has been picked out of the announcement, the direct result of this side event will be exactly… nothing. Not entirely true - if the Dwarves win, they’ll get some cool flavor card(s) attached to the event. The Dwarves as a playable faction cannot come to harm due to this side event.
• If the Dwarves do not win, they’ll be driven out of the fortress and be set “on the road” again. Something we’ll work out in flavor text and the Winter Campaign events.
• None of these will eliminate the Dwarves as a playable faction. In any case it would take an immense showing of player will to eliminate any faction from the game (and I’d always ask the Ordo Phoenicis Knights, Commanders and Marshals before doing such a thing - they are the core supporters of the game and should have a say in this thing - don’t you think?). It is imaginable that if for example if both the Fall of Winterhold and the Winter Campaign went against the Dwarves, they would skip an APS (reducing the number of sets of one expansion to six instead of seven). But even that is not set in stone.

So in summary: Dwarf players - take heart and pray to Kor for strength in the upcoming tests. There is no need to despair as long as you stay faithful. If you are with Kor, who knows, you might even find a way to reclaim the Accordlands and your old cities! Wouldn’t that be something worth fighting for? This is something that will set you apart from the players of other factions - they just play the game, but you have a destiny!

There is a new poll on the right (you might have to scroll down a bit, depending on your screen size) asking you, whether you would defend Winterhold at the side of King Alaric, if you were at KoHIT 9.

[Edit: The Domain cardmasters.de is back - you can now access the forum as usual]

Seeing this morning that the cardmasters.de still hasn’t returned (it had been flagged and put into transit - it should return any hour now) - you can access the forum at www.warcraft-shop.de/forum .

Now that you know that armies are enroute to besiege Winterhold, what can those of you who want to aid the Dwarves do?

• Well, support those who are at KoHIT and are pledging to defend the Dwarven Stronghold.
• Pull more players to your cause, make them build a deck to play at KoHIT.
• Discuss strategies on how to best defend the fortress in a secret forum.
• Put the banner below into your sig (or make one of your own).

There are many ways to get your way - embrace the opportunity and do something creative!

By now you should have heard of the Fall of Winterhold Side Event at KoHIT - and have a few questions.

Here’s how it will work and what the result will (or might) be.

The side event will be played continuously on a table set aside for it. On it will be a stack of 50 cards (including Siege cards like Defensive Wall, Ramparts or Castle Gate). When an attacker arrives (or more than one), a call to war will go out for a Dwarven player to defend.

The Dwarves have 15 minutes to respond to the thread, or the top card will be removed from the game. When a Dwarf player does respond, he places his deck against the attacker(s) and has a choice of drawing 1-3 cards from the deck and placing them in any rank in his army (before revealing them and without causing an illegal rank).

There may be several players to each side, but each side can only have one more player than the other (so if one dwarf comes to defend, only two of the attackers may attack, if a second dwarf arrives, a third one may enter the battle and so on or vice versa).

The battle is resolved much like in Strategic - any player can enter at any time (given the limit above) and any player can attack armies in front and on either side of him (on the opposite side of the table that is - all Dwarves are on one side of the table). Initiative goes back and forth between the Dwarven side and the opponent side (effectively giving a single Dwarf player against two (for example) Deverenian players two actions while each of them has one until he runs out of options).

When a Warlord is defeated, the next player in line moves up. A defeated Dwarven player has to remove all Winterhold cards in his army or his discard pile from the game. A Dwarven player having eliminated an opponent has the option to withdraw from combat, placing any remaining Winterhold cards under their draw pile.  He has to wait at least an hour before he can rejoin the queue. Also there can always be only one of each Warlords in the fray (so not three Kruns against three King Alarics, for example).

If and when all 50 Winterhold cards have been removed from play, Winterhold has fallen. What happens then?

The Dwarves have suffered a dire defeat. They appear to be the least favored faction. There will be future tests to determine their fate. Ultimately it will be up to the players all over the world with their actions on the field of battle to decide whether the Dwarves are a dying race, bar of hope, or whether they are going to have a chance to thrive.

Dwarf players - rally to the cause!

Discuss the side event in the forum.

Information for the 9th edition of the world’s largest international Warlord event is up!

The highlights this year include the first “melee championship”, which in effect is a point-based multiplayer “free-for-all” bash over several rounds and the continuous side event that is giving KoHIT 9 its motto:

All dwarven players are given the chance to prevent the Fall of Winterhold, the last dwarven bastion. Other players can attack the stronghold in order to gain riches - or simply to get rid of their nemesis.

For more information click here or on the banner.

We are done. All cards from the first two City of Gold APS have been spoiled (at least once ;-)). I hope you are enjoying the game and looking forward to APS #22 and #23!

Here are the second to the last cards. Enjoy.