The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I recently discovered AEG's new collectable card game, "Warlord: Saga of the Storm" through April's free mini deck give away in Dragon, Scrye, and Inquest. At first glance the cards didn't really peak my interest at all, and as a result they sat on my shelf for a week or two before I decided to pick them up again for a better look. However, after reading the rules (the best ones were in Scrye) and taking a closer look at the game mechanics I found that Warlord is something of a diamond in the rough. The game has the potential to be tactically stimulating, as well as fun and simple to boot.

Ultimately, the goal of any game of Warlord: SotS is to kill off your opponent's warlord character. Although, because of the rank and file system in the game you'll have to force your opponent's warlord to get involved in front line battle before you can take him or her out. The main tactic for doing this is to kill off your opponent's front rank characters, which will force him to move his back rank characters forward to fill the gaps. The rules for handling your ranks are pretty simple, and are designed to make sure that you always have an equal or greater amount of characters in the preceding rank than the rank behind it. Anytime this rule is broken your ranks are considered to be unbalanced, and you will have to spend (tap) and move your characters forward in an effort to rebalance your ranks. The big problem with this is that your characters can do a number of useful things while spent (tapped), but if you are forced to move a spent character then that character will become stunned and won't be able to do anything for two turns (which can really hurt at the wrong moment, which is usually when it happens).

Another notable point about Warlord: SotS is that combat is completely random, and anytime that you attack another character you will make an attack roll with a D20 plus your attack modifiers. If the die roll is equal to or greater than the target character's armor class then that character will take one hit in damage (which will kill most characters in the game). From my point of view this is both good and bad since anyone can have a fighting chance at the game if their luck is good, but the down side is that the game can be very frustrating if your luck takes a turn for the worse (I know I've been there!).

The other interesting point on game mechanics is that your characters can continue to take actions throughout the turn even if they are spent. The only actions your characters can't do are spend to move, spend to attack, or use cards that require spending in the action. Aside from these three things your characters are free to do any number of interesting things while spent. I personally liked this aspect of the game, but for the beginning player it might be a source of annoyance while they are getting to know the cards and their capabilities.

The last thing I'm going to mention about Warlord: SotS is the card art. Like any other CCG Warlord: SotS has its fair share of good art, and not so good art. At first I found the cards to be pretty uninspiring, but after playing the game a few times I noticed that the card art was starting to grow on me. In reality I think it falls some where in the middle of the art scale, not quite Magic quality, but it sure beats a number of other games I have viewed. Also, the layout has possibly been over simplified with only three types of cards in the game (characters, items, and actions) all of which have a very similar look to them. Really the cards are the reason why I gave this game an average rating on style, and I just can't shake the feeling that they could have done a better job on them.

My final feelings about the Warlords: SotS is that it's a fun, fast playing game with some tactical depth, but since I've only played with the free mini decks my perception of the game might totally change when the real cards hit the market. My hope is that the cards continue to add strategic depth to the game, and that the factions become more balanced (the elf mini deck was difficult to play in my opinion). However, with AEG's history of great game design I think they will be able to turn Warlord: SotS into a winning combination for role-players, wargammers, and card players alike.

You can get the rules online at www.warlordccg.com.

Warlord: Saga of the Storm
Warlord: Saga of the Storm Capsule Review by Jason Burke on 27/04/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Warlords: Saga of the Storm is a fun, fast playing game with some tactical depth. Product: Warlord: Saga of the Storm Author: David Williams Category: Card Game Company/Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group Line: Cost: Page count: Year published: 2001 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Jason Burke on 27/04/01 Genre tags: Fantasy	I recently discovered AEG's new collectable card game, "Warlord: Saga of the Storm" through April's free mini deck give away in Dragon, Scrye, and Inquest. At first glance the cards didn't really peak my interest at all, and as a result they sat on my shelf for a week or two before I decided to pick them up again for a better look. However, after reading the rules (the best ones were in Scrye) and taking a closer look at the game mechanics I found that Warlord is something of a diamond in the rough. The game has the potential to be tactically stimulating, as well as fun and simple to boot. Ultimately, the goal of any game of Warlord: SotS is to kill off your opponent's warlord character. Although, because of the rank and file system in the game you'll have to force your opponent's warlord to get involved in front line battle before you can take him or her out. The main tactic for doing this is to kill off your opponent's front rank characters, which will force him to move his back rank characters forward to fill the gaps. The rules for handling your ranks are pretty simple, and are designed to make sure that you always have an equal or greater amount of characters in the preceding rank than the rank behind it. Anytime this rule is broken your ranks are considered to be unbalanced, and you will have to spend (tap) and move your characters forward in an effort to rebalance your ranks. The big problem with this is that your characters can do a number of useful things while spent (tapped), but if you are forced to move a spent character then that character will become stunned and won't be able to do anything for two turns (which can really hurt at the wrong moment, which is usually when it happens). Another notable point about Warlord: SotS is that combat is completely random, and anytime that you attack another character you will make an attack roll with a D20 plus your attack modifiers. If the die roll is equal to or greater than the target character's armor class then that character will take one hit in damage (which will kill most characters in the game). From my point of view this is both good and bad since anyone can have a fighting chance at the game if their luck is good, but the down side is that the game can be very frustrating if your luck takes a turn for the worse (I know I've been there!). The other interesting point on game mechanics is that your characters can continue to take actions throughout the turn even if they are spent. The only actions your characters can't do are spend to move, spend to attack, or use cards that require spending in the action. Aside from these three things your characters are free to do any number of interesting things while spent. I personally liked this aspect of the game, but for the beginning player it might be a source of annoyance while they are getting to know the cards and their capabilities. The last thing I'm going to mention about Warlord: SotS is the card art. Like any other CCG Warlord: SotS has its fair share of good art, and not so good art. At first I found the cards to be pretty uninspiring, but after playing the game a few times I noticed that the card art was starting to grow on me. In reality I think it falls some where in the middle of the art scale, not quite Magic quality, but it sure beats a number of other games I have viewed. Also, the layout has possibly been over simplified with only three types of cards in the game (characters, items, and actions) all of which have a very similar look to them. Really the cards are the reason why I gave this game an average rating on style, and I just can't shake the feeling that they could have done a better job on them. My final feelings about the Warlords: SotS is that it's a fun, fast playing game with some tactical depth, but since I've only played with the free mini decks my perception of the game might totally change when the real cards hit the market. My hope is that the cards continue to add strategic depth to the game, and that the factions become more balanced (the elf mini deck was difficult to play in my opinion). However, with AEG's history of great game design I think they will be able to turn Warlord: SotS into a winning combination for role-players, wargammers, and card players alike. You can get the rules online at www.warlordccg.com.