Warlord 4th Edition CCG - the epic fantasy card game

Some new votes came in. Are you kidding me?

Naram-Sin ist still in second place, but we now have an exact 6-way tie for third place, with Talin Tzin jumping up, rogue-like, to take a place amongst the other five detailed in the last post.

I sure hope some members will be able to break that tie until the poll ends in week or so.

A few days ago I started a poll on what “bad” Warlords you (or rather the members of the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis) would like improvements for (in form of cards that help especially that card to get better.

Right now Sir Robert of Andover is clearly in the lead, followed by Naram-Sin. For third place there is a head-to-head race between Dhamir Al-Maliq, Duchess Brymin, King Alaric, Raclesis, and Yvaalis.

If you are a member of the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis - go vote now and break the tie!

Dear Warlord players!

Soon I will update the forum to a new version and include some new features.

While I am cleaning up the forum, I’ll also prune all users with no posts who haven’t been logged in to www.cardmasters.de for the past 365 days! This will happen within the next 48 hours, so please make sure your account is current.

Today I stumbled over a company that takes images and turns them into puzzles. Yes, puzzles - the kind you probably did as a kid.

I figure for some of you this might be a perfect gift - for “playing Warlord” with your better half, for example, or for easing your kids into the game.

A 200 pc. or 500 pc. puzzle would cost something like 29,95 EUR + shipping, and a 1000 pc. puzzle would likely cost 39,95 EUR + shipping, but these would be unique gifts - bearing the art and box text (I typed “Ghed Kazouf”) of your choosing.

Of course the art would have to be available in proper resolution, but I’d work with you to make it happen. If you are interested in this, please discuss it with me in the forum.

News from the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis forum: In a recent post I asked members to supply me with a list of nominees for “Worst Warlord you would really like to play”. Out of this discussion arose a list of ten Warlords that is now being voted upon till September 30th.

The top three “bad” Warlords in that list will specifically receive support cards to make them a more viable choice to play - not necessarily making them automatic tournament contenders but definitely making them more fun to play!

If you are a member of the Ordo, head over to the Ordo forum and vote!

If you’d like to become a member, head over to the new special Ordo site and join up there!

By now I imagine those of you who have ever participated in a game a Strategic Warlord will say “That format is already chaotic when you have everybody in place, how are you going to make it happen online?”.

The answer is: We are not playing Strategic as you might have experienced it at GenCon or KoHIT. We are going to play an enhanced fantasy version of Diplomacy (as I pointed out my last post), which is a close to a PBEM as you can get.

Basically (we might grow into more complex rules, but that depends largely on you, the players - the game is supposed to be fun!) each army is not equal. By playing battles online, players can gain experience points which will make their armies better over time. So when battles are not resolved by an actual game of Warlord using Arcanist, their army will have a better chance of winning, than a “rookie” army.

In order to significantly improve your armies, though, you will need to play online games - and even the loser improves his army.

What I would like to know from you in today’s poll: Should the playable decks be restricted? I.e. Should they start with a limited card pool and only with experience be allowed to play higher level characters, items and actions?

Go vote in today’s poll!

Later this week the re-imagined Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis will go online.

But what really is going to be new?

You already know that all member fees will convert into store credit, that Ordo members will get a 10% discount on Warlord card stock in the shop, and that members will receive three 6-month-exclusive promo card play-sets each half year for two years. You knew that, right?

But that you already get if you become merely a Squire.

Why should you opt for the rank of Knight, Commander, or even a higher rank?

Because. That is where the coolness starts.

I am not talking about the T-Shirt you get for resigning. I am talking about shaping the game world.

Each member of the Order of the rank Knight and above is eligible to participate in a grand strategic game, played out online (we’ll be using the Arcanist, and yes, I do know it is not perfect).

How does that work? Well, think of it as a cross between Diplomacy and a Warlord tournament. Each game turn the leader of each faction submits the movement of his armies to the game master in order to capture key positions and drive out the enemy. Where armies clash, Knights of the respective factions will be tasked to play out the conflict online (with special rules due to terrain advantages, etc.) - or offline, should the players meet at a tournament or accidentally are local.

For this we will adopt a page  from the L5R book: The winner gets fame points, the loser gets fame points, and in case of a draw (i.e. they couldn’t get along or the game didn’t work out), nobody gets points.

Talking about wondering - what does the player get out of it?

Well, consider that all is a bonus - you already have 100% store credit for becoming a member of the Ordo and get multiple sets of promo cards for trade. So primarily this strategic game is for fun - and to advance your faction. For each player there will be a set of achievements/trophies to gain that you will be able to see in your Cardmasters.de profile (much like the other award ribbons and medals).

More importantly, memorable events in the Strategic game will be part of the upcoming sets - in form a flavor text, actions commemorating epic battles and we will ask the heroes of this game for opinions (supplying names, art descriptions or even designing a card).

So if you would like to take part in the future of your favorite faction, consider immersing yourself in the deepest Warlord experience so far!

It took a while to satisfy all requirements, but starting today we can accept credit card payments on www.warlordccg.de/us-shop!

There service is provided by Moneybookers. On checkout you will be pointed to an embedded frame that is using the https protocol (and is thus secure).

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.