Hi guys!
While my wonderful wife is helping me with setting up for KoHIT we are assembling the next Promo Cards for the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis members. This is one of them (include three times, of course):
In our first ever Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis Warlord Online Tournament again it was a mirror match in the finals. This time though, Brymin of the Marches was the one going strong.
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The set is almost done, we are into proofreading now, while I prepare the print files. Time to look ahead a little bit.
In fact, I only need to look ahead ten days. That’s when I close the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis. If you have signed up earlier (that is, you filled in the online form and clicked send) you have that much time to confirm your membership by transferring the proper amount. Of course all members can update their membership until that point as well.
If you have signed up earlier, but are waiting for some substantial payback from your government, talk to me. I am sure we can work something out.
For those who are already in the Ordo, this little ribbon is what awaits the Champion of the Order, i.e. the winner of the first official Warlord Online Tournament:
I really look forward to that. Even after so many games being played, I am very curious as to who will build the first winning deck. Apart from this little ribbon there are more benefits: The tournament is going to be official, counting for your world-wide OP ranking, give you experience points and there are going to be gold pieces as prizes, which you can handily turn into promo cards in the Warlord shop, eventually.
So far I have been vague about GenCon’s Sunday event.
At KoHIT we traditionally do Doubles on Sundays - people want to leave early and because you only have half the number of teams a Doubles tournament usually runs faster than Singles, despite the longer rounds.
At GenCon this year, though, we do Doubles on Thursday. Also at GenCon a lot more people are leaving early, need to catch a flight or have a really lengthy drive home.
Therefore I needed a fun format that runs fast enough to be hosted on Sunday.
The solution is a Baronial Battle. It’s derived from the Battle Royale, where all players sit around one table and play simultaneously. The latter can take way too long, though.
In the Baronial Battle, depending on the number of participants, we’ll play up to three rounds. Up to eight players will sit at one table and play a standard multiplayer game. You get points for staying in the game, and for eliminating other Warlords, for example (there are more, conditional points to be won - specific rules will be forthcoming). The best players will advance to the second and then the third round, where only one final table will be played.
All members of the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis are automatically qualified - this is their event. Other players can qualify by winning any of the offered Warlord tournaments - including any of the pick-up sealed tournaments.
Last night more art finals came in (to be spoiled in due time), one of them being the first Warlord. If the Lead Designer can’t wait to get the printed cards into his hands, I’d say that is a good sign. 
While talking to Oliver on the phone he suggested a competition to me that I am very happy to do.
Starting on May 1st all members of the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis will be eligible to submit one single character card design of theirs. Out of all submissions turned in by June 30th the Design Team will select one card to be included in the first expansion of Warlord, due out at the end of October 2008. That card will identify the name of the member who submitted the card.
Here is your chance to contribute to the game and get your favorite character into it! I really look forward to reading the submissions, too.
Not all playtesting groups are able to physically assemble in one place. They test online.
This in fact gave me an idea: The members of the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis have shown their will to invest into the game. Why not reward them, I did promise special perks after all, didn’t I?
What we can give a try, is to have the actual first official Warlord tournament online, on a week-end closely before GenCon. Every Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis member will be eligible to join and I’ll manage the tournament from my home. It would start some time on a Sunday afternoon my time, so players from either the Americas and Europe (as far as I am aware there are no players in Asia) could participate.
For prizes we’ll simply have some gold pieces for use in the online shop. The best prize of course is competing in the very first tournament and see decks of other players, giving you a head start for GenCon and the first tournament season. Then, if this model works, we might actually do it again (the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis christmas tournament on Dec. 26th from your cushy home, anyone?), including online challenges.
I look forward to seeing the first tournament winning deck!
Back before Campaign Edition reset of the game I made a little bit of a name for myself at GenCon 2003 by piloting an overlooked Mercenary Warlord, and my alias namesake, Kerebrus to a 6-0-1 performance in the Warlord Championships. I have never been one to make any mystery about my affinity towards the leader of the Dark Horsemen, and I even tried a little behind the scenes campaign to get Kerebrus reprinted in the Campaign Edition reset (He almost made it, but Zartoch was needed for reasons that became moot).
Then, as my involvement with the game increased I would often get the question from folks, “When are you going to bring Kerebrus back?”
If it were only that simple. Each member of the design team certainly has cards that they would like to see, for whatever personal reasons. As much as I might like to see Kerebrus return to the field of battle I have to be honest with my evaluation, his abilities (or lack thereof) are not enough to make him viable, and certainly not enough to get people excited over getting back into Warlord: Fourth Edition.
As an early assignment Arne approached me with the question, “If you could bring back Kerebrus with an upgrade, what would you do?” In addition to making me happy at the notion, this struck me to the core of my being. Obviously, I thought Kerebrus was still pretty good, I keep a deck or two of him together at all times. Even though I didn’t think he was flashy enough, I didn’t think he had any weaknesses. I could go with the Mek’kiah route, keep him as is and simply upgrade his level to 5. Maybe just add on a feat and an extra HP to bring him in line with the current batch of front line fighters. So many options, but which one captures who Kerebrus is?
In the end I thought I would keep it simple. Since he is The Dark Horseman, I figured that Riding would be appropriate, and give him some reliability in heading to the front rank. Adding Charisma felt like a natural fit as well, as it is not an easy task to lead a Mercenary outfit, even less so considering the strict rules Kerebrus enforces. It wasn’t easy improving what I thought was an already quality product, so I thought that some sort of downside could capture the essence of possibly the most Lawful Good character in the Accordlands. At first the penalty only applied to Evil characters in Kerebrus’ army, but that was upgraded to include opposing characters, giving Kerebrus a real dynamic reason to take to the front rank, while also giving him a reason to purge the influences of evil from his Army.
So here we are, Kerebrus will be back in Warlord’s fourth edition! While this version (the art is a sketch, not the final art) will go exclusively to the members of the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis, the basic stats are unchanged. If you do have a copy of Saga of the Storm edition of Kerebrus, you will be able to legally play him in 4E.
Finally it is done. I hope you’ll have as much fun with him as I will!
Confused by a German title? Don’t worry, I simply couldn’t come up with a smart one this time. No, you don’t have to comment on that.
It’s Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis week, sort of. Since yesterday a good 20 players have signed up, which is a very good sign.
Today it’s only 6 days to go. I started the day by putting myself in a Warlord player’s mind and asked myself “If I buy 10 æris and become a Commander - what do I really get?”
So far I had been a little bit vague on important things like pricing, future sets and what Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis members really get. It’s time to change that.
For 10 æris you dish out 750 bucks - no small money in any case.
How does it all sum up? Let’s see:
If I can trust my Open Source Spreadsheet, that adds up to $1,040.76, or in other words, a 28% savings on buying the sets as is - plus fringe benefits.
That’s the news for today. Mull it around in your heads. I’ll be looking forward to comments.
What’s up with those seven days? That’s the time left to apply for membership for the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis - and the time left for me to make the membership appealing to you.
Why am I dwelling so much on this? Forgive me for that - I just found that too often people come up to me and tell me they never heard of “it”. So I’d rather post once too often than just assume that everybody knows what “it” is.
I spent much of the past 7 years promoting the game (with the exception of the EE era) and already I am spending more than a normal workday’s worth on Warlord. The Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis for me is a way to see what is left of the core community for the game. In addition to that the membership fees of course are very welcome to help finance the initial expenditures, for example to pay artists, printing, and the preparations for GenCon.
Most importantly, though, it helps me judge the interest in Warlord and therefore decide on the print run for Warlord 4E.
So, if you are interested in receiving the promo cards and other benefits, please register during this week. You will be able to turn in your fees until June 15th - hopefully a long enough time for you to make sure you have the spare funds to join the club. If you sign up and don’t manage to pay - no harm done, you’ll just be scratched from the list of possible Founding Members.
Here’s another glimpse at what you get, this promo card is one that accompanies yesterday’s Cashbox.
In Playtest it bears the name Sgt. Trollson. And of course this character has his own story, due to be revealed later on.
For the first six months it will be exclusive to the Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis members (a Commander having bought 10 æris will get three sets of three of them, for example) . After that it will be made available through other channels.
I hope you like this guy.
What do Mercenaries do, when they grow old? Count the loot, is what they do. And who takes care of the day-to-day business of running a Mercenary company? Cashbox, that’s who. Cashbox is the all but glorious playtest name of this card:
It’s still in playtest and the artwork obviously is just a sketch (which in turn is a good sign that the card is indeed upcoming), but it’s designated use is as one of the first Ordo Phoenicis Ascendentis Promo cards. Every Member will already get three of them, in fact.
Have fun with him!
