TaKtiX: Laurence Sinclair

Fork Over the Destiny, Handsome

2007-04-11T14:26:00.000+01:00

A Stolen Destinies reveal is coming this weekend in London, and I'm nowhere near ready.

Previously, when attempting Dragon Lord challenges, I've used the mighty Lord Netheryn as my champion, even if I have yet to meet with success. Following AEG's Christmas bundle deals, I'm now adequately enough stocked with Overlords and Dragon Lords to have several attempts at taking down more DL and possibly even a cohort or two. It's just that, without my favourite triple-classer warlord available to use, I'm going to have to think up some new schtick.

Huntress Volda does have the familiar cleric/fighter mix going on, as well as the 'whoops, try again' aspect if she happens to die just before finishing the opponent. Tanning Knives all the way, or something.

The Lady of Mercy, of course, has the cheese factor of amplifying the number of hits that the army can pull off, and the stunning ability is none too shabby either. May feel a bit cheap using her, though.

Then there are the myriad of possible combinations that are waiting out there in those cards, one doubtless worthy enough of a victory. It's just finding the time and dedication to simply sit down and run through the process of working out which ones are useful. Some people have the knack of just sitting down and throwing out a deck list or concept really easily, but I'm more likely to just put it off for as long as possible.

At this rate, I may have something ready during the actual journey to the capital...

Back - and Feelin' Mystical...

2007-03-21T00:58:00.000Z

Hmm, been a while since I updated this. Almost two months! I'll get better in the future, I promise. Tonight, I guess the fact that I had to slog through updating these blogs for Blogger's new Google features (whatever they are) was kharma's way of punishing me.

Well, I took second place in an eight-person tournament in Barnstaple on the weekend. Not the weekend just gone, but the one before. Shows just how much I'd forgotten about this here blog. Still, so long as I'm updating more often than Dyer, it's all good...

I played Biana the Mystical, lobbing flaming death onto the heads of her enemies and racking up a pleasing number of bonus levels over the course of the event. She destroyed Etra Bloodvine in short order; what does she care if her d'Ilchant Keepers are thrown back a rank or two? That doesn't prevent her from burning your face off, so Biana's still happy. Druids don't seem to have great AC or skill, particularly...

Sargok was next, and as much as a NoThRoG frontliner may hate Etra, so a spellslinger isn't good news either. Take out the Truggs in a barrage of magic missiles and those Grudurks lurking behind them are really left twiddling their thumbs. If possible, NoThRoG seem even more vulnerable than druids...

But since I only came second, I must have lost, right? Correct. Dyer's Tavis deck floored me, but then that's hardly a surprise. Even with his errata, he's still a beast of a warlord, cutting down the low-level pleebs that wizards field with no undue problems, and packing enough spells of his own to total the Astral meatshields that I threw up to hold him off. Vicious.

Still, Biana still remains as my favourite wizard warlord currently. It's not just her escalating efficiency that appeals (although that does resemble an old Ter-Soth deck that I put together, which involved a dirty combination of Spell Mastery, Innate Ability and Magic Missiles for exponential fun), but her OPG order. Wizards in general are reliant upon their hand for dealing out damage, whereas fighters can happily still attack even without anything useful in hand. Biana can guarantee throwing out at least some offense on a critical turn, which is usually enough in most circumstances.

Here followeth the deck list:

Biana the Mystical
Acolyte Dorra
Taika the Disjoined
d'Ilchant Keeper x3

Betray Fate x3
Boil Blood x2
Fiery Bolts x3
Final Power x2
Magic Missiles x3
Retributive Strike

Acolyte Dorra
Adina x2
Alexa Genecourt x3
Ghed Carel x3
Ghed Nuri x3
Olivark the Quiet
Prewitt the Benighted x3
Xaros the Mist x3

Damothien's Dungeon x2

Death's Call
Figurine of Wonder x2
Living History x3
Ring of Vorn x2
Wand of Negation

Numerous

2007-01-25T13:57:00.000Z

How many decks can one have assembled before they become too many? Now finding that I can't fit all my Warlord decks into one Battle Box, I'm asking myself that question.

Of course, one wants a variety of decks assembled in order to prevent the possibility of boredom that inevitably arises from playing the same deck over and over again. hence why I have some decks assembled from each faction and every class. That does mean that my humble collection of rare cards is stretched somewhat thin, however; not all my clerics can have access to Sieze Life, not all my assassins can dish out a Knife After Dark, etc. This may lead to some sub-optimal decks, but so long as they're fun, who cares? And since I still have spare Spencers and Dominy's, I can build plenty more FreeK decks, at least...

Sure, I could swap cards in and out of different decks (indeed, my dwarf decks are forced to share the same starting line-up as I don't have enough Warsongs for more'n one deck), but then I'd have to continually be putting cards into and out of all the different deck protectors that I have. It's bad enough that some of my decks have to languish in my old 'clear' protectors rather than luxuriate in the ones with pretty pictures on the back.

Now, there are only three more decks than can fit into the BB (twelve being the number that I consider the comfortable limit of the box's capacity), so it's only three extras to carry around, but is that still too much? Only two days ago did I have a cull of two decks that weren't really pointful to playing (Xiathe sniper and Brikta smash), and as time goes on I will deconstruct those that fail to perform well even after tinkering.

The number twelve was good, though; I could select which deck I would play for a game by rolling a d12. With fifteen decks, the choice becomes harder to randomise. How important is that with regards to determining a sensible number of decks to tote around? probably not quite as valid as the weight of the bag carrying all these piles of cards, right? Well, it's not taxing my definition of 'heavy', so in that regard it's fine.

Since I have no spare deck protectors left now (having bought more last Friday, admittedly), fifteen shall now be the functional maximum, new ideas forcing out old ones when they occur. The number has developed naturally, so there's no need to arbitrarily punish some of the strange decks that I've put together recently.

Except that Ablung one. I don;t know what I was thinking, putting every card with 'Shadow' in its title into a deck and hoping that it would work...

Deverenians at Large

2007-01-18T11:24:00.000Z

In honour of the Stolen Destinies Dev week, you'll find a Dev-related new fiction up at the Alderac forums. Penned as it is by Jon Sherefkin, author of the Skyyrek story, I urge you all to go and read it, as it's told with his customary flair.

The Temple is Down, but...

2007-01-06T01:29:00.000Z

The Alderac Forums now feature Warlord areas alongside L5R, CoH, etc. While the Temple of Lore site may be on the fritz at the moment, there's now somewhere new to put all your posting!

Of Medusan Lords and Deverenian Destinies

2007-01-13T16:31:00.000Z

Up at the Warlord main page, there is a chance for people to submit their own ideas for the name of the latest Medusan Lord, a rather badass NoThRoG scout. Just be mindful that the closing date has now been extended to the 21st of this month, so don't be thinking that you've missed your chance!

While you're over at the site, you can also see the images for the warlords from the forthcoming Plane of Secrets expansion. Pretty cool, eh? Combine their sweet art with the fact that they're the first 'off-class' warlords for the factions for a while (by which I mean that the Deverenians get a rogue, the Dwarfs a wizard, the Elves a fighter, the Free Kingdoms a wizard and the NoThRoG a cleric - the Mercenaries' seemingly classless beastie is another matter entirely) and you'll begin to understand just how strange a place the Plane of Secrets is. Full of beauty and wonder, yes, but there are terrors there as well...

Third on the list of updates to the site (though not the least, by any means!) is the latest of the Stolen Destinies selections, this time for Deverenians. Who to choose? Taking into account the fact that all of you can read this time, I'm not going to reel off a list of candidates this time around. I'll just settle for telling you who snagged my own vote.

Sir Corwin Lorath. Not terribly useful from a gameplay point of view, but his minor storyline teaming up with Maxt Stormcrow to kill the emperor needs to be concluded, no? Little lvel 1 like him will need to hijack someone's destiny to get that achieved now, though...

Also, Sir Corwin was the piece of art that made me realise just how awesome an artist Jason Engle is. Random fact of the month.

You'll all be noticing the name 'Laela' on the SD list, and wondering who she is, and why you should bother to waste your vote on her. Well, while I'm not about to spoil the surprise that the Plane of Secrets has here (I'll leave that to someone else), you can extrapolate from her name what business she's about; not a knight or squire, and with no noble family lineage. Hmmm...

Destiny of the Seven Dwarves

2007-01-02T14:37:00.000Z

Stolen Destinies is here. Malrog Ironface, founder of the Medusan Lord conspiracy, is going to finally have his revenge on the Lands of the Accord. His is a devious scheme, involving a perfect alignment of the moons, the Plane of Secrets and the stealing of fates.
However, all is not lost. With the voting of players of the Warlord CCG (that's you people reading this, unless you happened upon this article randomly) characters that we've all come to know and love can have their destinies assured, elevated to something greater than they were before.
Faction by faction the voting has progressed, with campaigns raging for certain sides in the conflict for popularity; of 42 candidates for each group, only the 7 most popular will seize control of their destinies, with one making it to the exalted position of warlord. Oh, and fiction to go with, natch.
It's week four now, and the Dwarfs are up for the vote. Unfortunately, 2007 has welcomed in a little downtime for the Temple of Lore forums, so I'm going to use my column here to lobby for my favoured candidate instead. Firstly, a list of those up for a chance at the big time (makes this article longer, and thus more impressive):

Aialla Truthlight
Anneal
Avalanche
Awl Beetle
Barhon Ironblade
Barrier
Bleed
Blue Jasper Gargoyle
Brawl
Brin, Pillar of Kor
Chain
Claw
Defiance
Denali Sagebound
Dirge
Dodger
Durick Havard
Edge
Envy
Fetter
Furore
Guardian
Hearth
Hymn
Ice
Limestone Gargoyle
Martyr
Memory
Roar
Rubble
Ruthless
Saul Tombcarver
Scorch
Staunch
Stonefist
Time
Trail
Traveler
Tripwire
Truth
Uthas Battleheim
Will

A shortlist of my own shall now follow. Avalanche is a Blackstone Raider: what's not to like about that? Claw: dwarf with a bear, and a staple character of old in Mat B's Xod deck (so long ago, now...). Dirge: He's almost a synonym for 'bad card' (jockeying with Sedwin Elfhunter on that score, actually; hence why it ain't in the dictionary just yet), but this could really be his chance to shine. Dodger: Hey, he has beet art, that should be reason enough. Edge: Badass from back in the day. Furore: One of Soren Nihil's buddy boys. His master may be gone, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a future (I hear that Ter-Soth's still recruiting...). Guardian: It's pretty clear that this dude's guaranteed a place in the seven dwarves (ha), but he is an icon of the faction, and deserves it. Saul Tombcarver: The guy carves tombs. C'mon... Stonefist: A fist made of stone, and that's his name. Who would win if he arm-wrestled Lord Anguisant, I wonder..?
Of course, all the others have valid arguments for inclusion as well (okay, maybe not the Awl Beetle or any of the Gargoyles; who likes rocks, anyway?), but hopefully this little wonderment of mine has got y'all thinking a bit more. Voting's open through Friday, when the next faction - fifth and penultimate - goes up to the block. Go now!
In the end, I plumped for Furore.

Warlord Advent Calendar

2006-11-27T13:15:00.000Z

Beginning in December, there's the traditional count-down of days before Christmas, and most people will probably be making ready to set up a piece of cardboard with windows hiding chocolates to aid with the anticipation. Twenty-four days and windows, all told.

Warlord booster boxes in Epic now hold twenty-four boosters each. One is enough to see one through the whole process, at a booster a day...

I'm pondering the idea currently. I don't have many Temple of Lore cards, for one thing, my only purchases so far having been for the coupla drafts that we've held here recently, where I got to witness the hideousness of Sir Lucien and Jeffrey in this format first hand. The artificer sets are also quite deadly. Poor old Aquiela (my warlord for the last draft, on Friday) found herself quite unable to generate much offence; sure, Lorand and three copies of Consume From Within meant that I was never short of characters, but that just drew the game out while I waited for my little Frost Shocks to show themselves... Still, she'll be awesome in constructed. Already got decks for her, Biana the Mystical and Xiathe built, and they look none too shabby.

Looking at the decks that I have built, however, I can see a dramatic change in my faction favouritism. Once upon a time, I was all about elves, looking at nothing else (save the occasional foray into using Kerebrus, Azhraan or Rr'egjen) but now...

My Dev count is three (Biana the Mystical, The Bloody Countess and Cardinal Creigh), dwarves zero (though I plan to do something with Trespass and/or Jorn of the Summit in the near future), elves but two (Aquiela and Laurena Kennet), Free Kingdoms one (Jin Valford, with Huntress Volda waiting for me to get around to updating her for ToL), Mercenaries a mighty four (Ablung the Maker, Black Tom of Corinth, Ter-Soth and Xiathe) and NoThRoG one (Syvonne Ashenstorm is the only one that piques my interest).

What happened? At what point did I diverge so greatly from my initial direction? And when did I go insane and decide to want to build a dwarf deck? Ah, I guess that diversity is a good thing, really. At least I'm getting back into the swing of making wizard decs again, even if most of my wizard rares remain in my folder. My recent rogue amnesty (taking apart all those rogue decks that I had) has freed up numerous Sewer Worms and Cloudracers that were at a premium. Spare No Prisoners! now as well...

But yes, the advent calendar. The plan should give a pleasant surprise throughout the month, and should I pull a copy of The Nemesis in the process, I think that Christmas Day is being rescheduled for then...

Debrief Regarding Failure

2006-11-16T15:53:00.000Z

So, back from KoHIT. It was a blast, and Arne and co. should be congratulated for hosting such an awesome spectacle and tournaments. Great to meet so many different players from across the world, and have the opportunity of playing against them. To those that I didn't talk to much, my apologies; I'm not the most outgoing of people, and tend to speak only when spoken to. Anyway, enough of this. I'm sure that you all want to hear about my actual performance in the tournament than my social problems...

In the end, I went for a sniper-y Cathel Rowan deck for the Epic singles (arrived too late on Friday to have Lord Netheryn pwn all comers at the Open tournament). Shooting people in the face is strong right now, so I went with it because it's easy. My character pool was decided upon by the direction of aim in the art; only those firing 'to the left' were allowed to make the cut, so Terlacha was exiled for failing to follow the status quo. The decklist follows, and hopefully its tactics should be fairly simple to work out: shoot people In. The. Face. The Worm and Shadow were only there for protection against a possible counter-sniper attempt, in which case an Enemy at the Gates type scenario would be sure to develop.

Cathel Rowan
Crimson Rigel x2
Dex Glyn x3
Eirlas x3
Javvyn x3
Jigoral x3
Kyrthelia x3
Maxt Stormcrow x3
Talyn
Vivian x3

Strain the Shot x3
Tracking x3

Angel's Tears x3
Camel x3
Collapsing Bow x3
Falter Stones x2
Farglass x3
Hawthorne's Arrows
Roc Fletching x2
Sewer Worm
Shadow of Jealousy

Round one saw me facing off against Andi Leide and his Adonis deck. he was trying to blow me up with the Gambits of the Medusan Lords, but while they on occasion did injure Cathel, their fatality proved too low to impede his acquisition of a killshot. A win for me.

Round two I was dismayed to witness Vince Turner piloting another Adonis deck, doing much the same thing. His draws were truly atrocious, and so once again Cathel took the illusionist's head for a trophy.

Round three was more Deverenians, Jens Brouwer having Aleron as his champion. At this point, the law of averages came back to bite me, ensuring that I could not hit an Astral character to save my life, which proved rather unfortunate when the paladin collapsed Cathel's ranks to bring his down hard. The epic struggle ended one-nil, as the huge AC of Aleron in the second game prevented me from landing that telling sixth wound (!) on him.

Round four: David Haffner using Sargok. The barbarian does exactly what Cathel wants by running to the front, and with Jevae preventing him from summoning any back-up behind him, he was isolated and easy meat for the elves.

Fifth round I was paired against Dominic Swinnen and Trevaine Cartwright, shoty rogue versus melee rogue. While I did have him on the ropes at several points, the well-timed use of Alert to get Cartwright back on his feet and slaughtering my troops gave him the match.

Round six saw a pairing between the ol' Battle Box rivals, as Lenny Leysen was playing Jorn of the Summit. Far from a foregone conclusion, it could have gone either way, with only Jorn's scale mail protecting him from many killing shots and giving Lenny victory.

The seventh and final round had me fighting off Jiri Jindra's Allisara deck. It's almost a dream opponent for Cathel, as wizards have very little protection, and my slew of ranged strikes prevented her from maintaining a rank structure capable of bringing out those big dragons with any consistency.

So, with four victories and three losses, where did I finish in the Swiss? Thirty-third out of a cut to thirty-two. Oops. With no one dropping (and why should they, really?) I was out of the running. Oh well. Tavis would probably have pwned me anyway.

Sunday was doubles, and I teamed up with Steve Redpath, our Etra Bloodvine/Huntress Volda pairing determined to show off the strength of the FreeK/Elf alliance that is developing. Our dream wasn't quite realised, with double Dev delight smashing us utterly, a dwarven union holding us to a nil-nil draw (four cleric warlords - d'ya think anyone died?), our sole triumph being over the Lady of Mercy and her friend Aleron (!) shortly before a tight draw against Laurena and Cathel. Still, got to see Spencer Latham make warlord and promptly run away to the back rans in one game, which was a laugh.

There was also a fair amount of random gaming going on all through the event, but I think that this entry is more than long enough already, so I'll leave you to digest it for now. What did I learn from the experience? SS-ithiss is where it's at. What was I thinking, not using a sutek at all? Well, next time Temple of Lore will be tournament legal, and everything will be different then. Those pesky Deverenians shall feel my wrath...

KoHIT Approacheth

2006-10-16T15:17:00.000+01:00

Tournament last Friday at Clifton Road Games. Eight participants, with Dyer sitting out to avoid that uncomfortable 'odd number' situation.

I won. Jin Valford blitzed his way to the front and to victory numerous times, but wasn't quite up to the task of taking Beradah Dythanus - I ceded that particular honour to Rich and Cathel Rowan.

There's been an awful lot of dissatisfied talk on the Temple of Lore forums regarding the FreeK starting line-up of Spencer Latham and Brother Dominy. While I did utilise this formidable front rank for my deck, not once did it prove to be as overwhelmingly powerful as some would have you believe. Not once did I utterly shatter the opposing ranks, even when Unison and Sucker Punch found their way into my opening hand (which they did with pleasing regularity). I was lucky if the Lathams managed to kill two opposing characters, to be honest. Facing off, as I did, against the likes of Jiyacin Fret, Javvyn and Linnea Warsong, Spence was far from earning his keep.

No, it was purely Jin himself that did all the hard work. The plan was that Spencer would allow Warren Brood (who looks disturbingly like Dyer, it must be said) to clear the path for Jin to get to the front quickly, but more often I was relying on Glenn the Blaze to do so - shortly before he and his Hag friend motivated Jin to work harder. I even got to change into Cyldragen in one game, which pleased me no end and really annoyed the Trespass that had managed to 2/3 kill Jin.

Of course, none of this murmuring has anything to do with the title of this article. Except that I am, at this moment, wondering about what deck I should use at KoHIT, that massive international tournament in Germany. While I do kind of like the Free Kingdoms, I can't help but feel bandwagonny in the current environment, and I can't stand that. Also, while frontline fighters like the Bloody Countess and Jin are fun, the sad truth is that snipers such as Trevor Magson and De'zicrah beat them so resoundingly that they're not a safe option to use at the moment. I could always go back to the leves, those to whom I was once a faction loyalist, but nothing there currently inspires me (unless someone out there wants to photoshop me a full-bleed Laurena card using her original art...).

As a story team emissary, I feel that I should be putting together some deck that makes a form of sense with regards to the fiction, as well. It's not an official obligation or nuthin', but I need to retop my kudos.

Then there are also the side-events to consider. Haven't even looked at Open for months - what new wackiness is Lord Netheryn capable of now? And doubles - are there any interactions left here, at the start of Epic edition?

These conundrums are circling round and round in my head, along with the possibility of securing a deck-backin' quantity of SS-SAURTH!!! cards...

Enough XP to Level?

2006-10-05T14:41:00.000+01:00

Finally got around to bundling off the accumulated XP I have today. Well, XP, koku, plunder, ammo, ghost rock and Crab Clan Wily Traders, to be precise. Gluing it all down was quite a struggle, as the uppity little booster bitties insisted on curling and jumping off at every opportunity. Unable to locate the sticky-back plastic that I know to be in this room somewhere, I settled for putting the sheets into a separate bag within the envelope.

Then there were the envelopes for the cards themselves, which proved a simpler process. Having never used IRCs before, I merely took what the Post Office staff offered me when I asked for them and shoved them inside also. Biting off Sticky tape at the head of the queue as I finalised the sealing of the package was quite an experience.

Will it be worth it? Dunno. Less than half of the 40 cards I asked for are ones that I desperately need, with the rest just being trade-bait. See, I was just fed up of the mouldering stack of booster wrappers in the corner of my room, and decided to send them off to their maker all at once rather than keep the remainder to gather and breed. Now that I'm on a par with my in-box, I can just slice up each new purchase as I get it, and organise things better for next time.

Oh dear God, there's gonna be a next time...

Bloody but Unbroken

2006-09-26T12:18:00.000+01:00

So, in the end I went with playing the Bloody Countess at Barnstaple's tournament on Sunday. Made Top 4 (read: fourth :P) out of eleven participants.

Dwarves were no obstacle. They fell before my blade and my indomitable Dev speak. Took a while to hack through Priam's funky rank structure; at one point I had him reduced to sheltering behind a solitary Wall and failed to stun him forward with a deluge of attacks...

Trevaine Cartwright was a mild annoyance. When it comes down to it, just ignoring the Jiyacin Frets and running the peasant lord himself through as soon as he shows his hidden face is a solid tactic. Having cousin Lestan, shifter Caleb, keepers of d'Ilchant and Ghed Nuri around to throw off all those potential backstabs helps as well.

By the time I came to facing Trevaine's better - Black Tom - my devotion to Dev-speak was starting to falter, and I was punished with a draw for my lack of persistence. The minor complication of a slew of astral and ethereal rogues led to poor Elsabet fearing for her life every time she took a swing - even with the aid of Acolyte Dorra. I lost track of how many high level miscreants I dispatched to the afterlife over the course of the game, but there were always more hard on their heels. Called for time, we played on after to see what would have happened, and found that victory would have been mine after due time. Oh well, c'est la guerre. Unprecedented use from Shadow of Murder was nice, though.

Finally, I was facing off against Dyer himself and his Magson deck. Elsabet likes not being shot in the face, and even less having her second rank shot out from under her. Losing initiative even with bonuses several times, and drawing in a Title Contestation (after having won one the action before, no less!) contributed also. Still, I continued my tradition of at least taking a game from Chris even if I lose - the only person in the tournament to do so. Stunned Magson to the front first turn, only to have all the Militia-summoned Spencers inflict two wounds on Elsabet before turn's end...

The deck I used follows. It ain't the best (much 2x of cards...), but it's fun. Elsabet dashes to the front and delivers long overdue death to those who would dare face her.

Characters:
The Bloody Countess
Caleb the Shifter
Acolyte Dorra x3
Bascia Tremayne x2
Deverenian Courtier x3
Cardinal Bromin x3
D'Ilchant Keeper x3
Ghed Nuri x3
Lestan Drac x3
Xaros the Mist x3

Actions:
Ar'tek's Rampage
Bear's Soul x3
Bloodthirsty x2
Bull Rush x3
Contest Thy Title x2
Gahid's Stand
No Prisoners! x2

Items:
Battle Rhino x2
Black Sun Helm x2
Gloves of Mercy x2
Noble Steed x2
Shadow of Murder
Token of Favor x2

Talk Like a Pirate Day

2006-09-19T16:51:00.000+01:00

Yarr!

Cyberpunk will be interesting tonight...

Epic Level

2006-09-19T17:23:00.000+01:00

It's been a while.

Still, Epic has now truly arrived, and random 'pack wars' using the Battle Packs have turned out to be really fun. Sure, a few of the warlords are a little stronger in this format than others (Go go Cairbre Netheryn!), but not overwhelmingly so.

This coming Sunday shall be the first constructed Epic tournament that I'll be taking part in, down Barnstaple way. The current thoughts shredding their way through my brain are 'which warlord to use?'.

Sure, FreeKs are powerful right now, but everyone will be playing them. I've never been one to follow the crowd, and this is one area where I'll be standing my ground. Same reason why I won't be trying Tavis.

An old stand-by that I always used (besides re-iterating Lord Netheryn, which ain't possible anymore) was to go with the latest Elf warlord to be released. Faction loyalty, and all that. But that would mean giving in to Etra Bloodvine, who isn't nearly as interesting as her mafioso Spycraft namesakes. It has to be something fun.

The Bloody Countess is one warlord whose deck I've been enjoying immensely. It would also provide an opportunity to speak unto my opponents and Dev-style throughout the tournament, which would be great.

Then again, I was fortunate enough to pull a foil Black Tom from a booster, and the temptation to play the assassin just to have the card sitting on the table before me is strong. I have no idea what I'd do with him at the moment, but such details can always be hammered out later. Probably something revolving around Ssithiss, given how reliable ol' SS-SAURTH!!! has now left the building. For that reason, I may just go with Allisara and centre the entire deck around the lizard king.

There's always the possibility of going back to the NoThRoG, just to prove to everyone that they're not as bad as all that. Choosing between Brikta and Syvonne will be a matter of whether I feel like smashing or burning stuff closer ot the time.

One certainty: not dwarves. Not while I live.

Well, there's always Friday card evening to try out some ideas, see what Dyer is plannin' on playin' and then meta against it. If in doubt...

***

What do I stick all this excess XP, koku and Ghost Rock to? I don't want to have the package weighing too much when tI send it off to the US.

***

SS-SAURTH!!! is gone from Epic. But he shall not be forgotten. I shall back a deck in him. I have enough copies, but they're from vastly differing printings of the dude, leaving me at a loss. Guess I'll have to persuade people to hand over their Campaign printings to me, but how?

Dark as a Nightless Moon

2006-08-15T03:39:00.000+01:00

So, I made it onto the Warlord story team. I always was better at talking about this game than playing it. Let's hope that I can get some cohesive ideas down in type as well.

Of course, there are people out there that care about this crazy world of Larisnar as much as, if not more than, me, and may be fearing that I'm not the right sort of guy for the job. "He just used the word crazy to refer to my favourite fantasy setting!" they'll cite, "How can you trust him to come up with decent stories?!?"

Of course, I must do something to reassure such people. The quality of my stories I can make no excuses for; I promise that I'll try my hardest to come up with tales of exciting adventure and intrigue, but those that have gone before left some freakin' big shoes to fill. I'm talking in miles across, here. If my stories can come out with just a small fraction of that quality, I'll be happy. And the assistance of my fellow team writers and our incredibly talented Story Lead should help me to get better.

As to the question of treating the setting with respect, as well as relying upon my comrades and boss to keep me in line, perhaps I'd best lay out my view of Larisnar.

Evil won that eternal moral conflict, and so the good guys are running scared. So, does that make Warlord a tale of dark fantasy?

It's definitely a lot more scary than 'traditional' high fantasy stuff. The big giveaway is the fact that dragons are almost entirely evil, but there're also those necromancers and Abyssals running rampant to back that impression up.

However, there is hope. And the heroes that represent this are so much the cooler for being up against impossible odds and refusing to give up. Their victories are small, but they happen.

This doesn't take away from the overall atmosphere of the place. However, these days the term 'dark fantasy' is most often used to describe what used to be termed 'horror', and I think that we can safely say that the Accordlands doesn't quite cross over into that genre. Zombies, vampires and demons are all present, but their influence is secondary to that of the great nations of the Accord, and the pantheons of gods that watch over the setting. There are instances of corruption and individual terror, but on the whole the stories are writ large, having great, sweeping consequences for the world as a whole.

So, there are elements of the dark about the Accordlands, but also the sweeping conflicts of epic fantasy. Yet at its heart the heritage of its RPG roots shines through, and there is as much action to be found with small groups of adventurers striking out for the greater good as there is with armies clashing on the field of battle.

In summary, the conflict between good and evil takes place in both large and small scale, with good being the side fighting the uphill struggle all the way.

Also, in any disagreement between black-clad martial arts assassins and uncouth nautical brigands, the pirates beat the ninjas every time.

Everyone Remain Calm...

2006-08-01T16:03:00.000+01:00

So, with Epic approaching, people on the Temple of Lore are getting all heated about whether or not it will be a good format, worrying over cards that were/weren't included, the merits of battlepacks vs. starter decks, and everything else under Bascaron.

There are small pockets of calm, citing that it's just the same climate as when Campaign edition rolled around over two years ago. But it's not. It is completely different, something new and exciting, and getting a healthy amount of panic up in the system is a good thing.

No one likes anything static, that never changes and keeps supplying the same old, same old day in and day out. What leaves people content over a long period of time cannot compare to the excitement over something risky and daring, with big payoffs. Epic may have upset some people, but that's just the edition showing how cool it will turn out to be - everyone has a favourite card or two that didn't make it through. Epic isn't afraid to stomp on people's toes with dirty great hobnail'd boots. A people-pleasing format that just delivered what the popular masses thought that they wanted would have seemed good at first, but would have left a bad aftertaste. Much better to take the Epic approach, which may hurt at first but will be much more worthwhile in the end.

Excess to Requirements

2006-07-13T15:06:00.000+01:00

A big part of any CCG is realising that not every card can remain useful throughout the eras. With every new set, there's bound to be new cards that make older ones redundant, whether purposefully or through an unhappy coincidence. The better players adapt appropriately, relinquishing any hold that the old order had over their playstyle and wholeheartedly adopting the new into their embrace.

Others, they cling tightly to the cosy and familiar past, treasuring what has gone before and holding onto the forlorn hope that the next expansion will bring something to restore their champion to a place of prominence. Warlords inspire this sort of faith more than any other card. Gahid, while shown up by Aleron in almost every respect, still has his supporters.

Lord Netheryn is a case in point, and this Temple of Lore thread is what inspired me to write this post anyway. Any Warlord player that knows me will be aware of the candle that I hold for the rightful High King. Yet he has been made pointless by advances in card mechanics, even I have to admit. There is nothing that he can do that cannot be achieved more efficiently using Albrecht, Feyd Rowan or Sorceress Ygraine. His item readying capacity is still all his own, but the number of low-level goodies that he can use it with is dwindling.

Still, his art is cooler than that of all those pretenders put together. Cold comfort.

Those of you reading this, don't follow me and my mistakes. Learn to let go as the wheels of progress grind by, instead of throwing yourself under them to be flattened. Epic is a clean sheet to find new favourites, so forget all that you knew from Campaign. Embrace the change.

Winning With Class: Wizards

2006-07-03T15:16:00.000+01:00

Last, but certainly not least among the classes is that most magical of professions, wizarding. Now, they may seem to have less options than the other classes, but this simply isn't so.

Traditionally, wizards sit in the second rank and toss Chain Lightning, Meteor Swarms and other huge spells at the enemy until the die, relying upon underlings to simply stay alive and protect their master. Old school warlords like Slayer and Taoth - both returning for Epic - excelled at this style of play, since they could cast more or bigger spells respectively. Ter-Soth was good because he could keep hold of a spell turn after turn, negating the weakness of the wizard class - a reliance upon drawing the right number of spells in a turn.

The thing is, while big spells are good, drawing two or three in a hand can leave you with dead cards. Yet drawing none leaves your warlord with nothing to do. Fighters aren't so reliant upon their cards, since when they're on the front rank they are able to at least attack regardless.

So, why not pack secondary casters, to share the workload? Well, with most of the big spells being level 4 or above, that means packing wizards of suitably high level, who will take time (and card slots) using movement to get into position. Scaled spells like Magic Missiles and Power Bolt, with devastating effects for high level casters but useable by a level 1, are a safe bet, since they can still be used by a starting level 2 een if your warlord doesn't Ring of Vorn into position first turn.

Of course, bringing out dragons is another way of getting a secondary caster. They fulfil the need for meat to protect the warlord, have their own in-built movement (doing away with the need for extra card slots) and are invariably wizards. Caitlin and Sorscha, able to search for specific cards and start with Dragon Lairs, excel at this sort of bully-boy tactic.

With the growing number of level 3 secondary casters - such as Duon Alestair the Attentive and Goza - perhaps the team playing wizard warlord will rise to popularity in the future.

Approach two for wizards is the spell blitz. Given that spending for a big spell limits what a wizard can do, the philosophy is 'why not just use non-spending spells'? Thus is born the deck that incorporates Fiery Bolts, Blast, Final Power, Ball Lightning and all those items that provide ranged strikes and DC checks. Every card deals death in some way, and the characters are low level and quick. Meat is not needed so much as offense, and so such decks will either win quick or lose quick. Taoth was the old-school mistress of this deck, with her inbuilt boost to otherwise humble spells making them deadly. The elves have usurped this somewhat, with Tepheroth and Feyd Rowan being able to generate unexpected offense, as well as being backed up by great characters like Tresven, Bis and Kapix. Of course, with Epic coming changes will have to be made, but that's part of the fun of the game.

In the future, wizards will have to come to cope with their new concentration on generating DC checks more than ranged strikes, and pumping their own skill with items. Medusan Lords' Gambit will define the spells to come, and perhaps a sniper-style 'killshot' wizard deck is the way to go. Only time can tell.

Winning With Class: Rogues

2006-06-30T13:32:00.000+01:00

Rogues are the one flavour of warlord that don't go in for the 'support role'. Whether from the front rank or hiding behind peons, they prefer to deal the killing blow themselves. They win through one elegant strike or shot putting paid to the enemy warlord as delicately as possible.

The sniper warlords that shoot the enemy are epitomised by Cathel Rowan, Laird Jon Hawthorne, De'zicrah and any Scout you could care to name. Hiding behind a wall of meat - much of it able to shoot itself - they rack up bows and enhancements for their bows (specialist arrows, Farglasses and so on) and then pray for their opponent to spend (or get spent forward by the actions of their army) and open themselves up to a Sniper Shot. Of course, with this most deadly of ranged attack cards going away come Epic, the wannabe-Oswald is going to have to compromise on effectiveness, but with Collapsing Bow, Farglass and Roc Fletching in the format there are still plenty of tools to play around with. And with Tracking returning to the scene, all those Scout warlords are going to find it even easier to ensure that they are in range of their target when the time comes.

The frontline stabby rogue used to be Rathe, but now he's outshone by newer contenders like Cairbre Netheryn and Trevaine Cartwright. Like their sniper brethren, they aim to have one clean stab to kill their opposite number, but they have to risk it on the front line to do so. Rather than bows, they tend to pack protection for themseles, ensuring that they live long enough to do the deed. Martyr's Hide, Too Fast To See, Armor of Blending, Gloves of Mischief, they all have their place. They're all vamoosing with Epic though, so the frontline rogue has a lot more changes to make to assure victory than the second rank shooter. But while there are replacements for the protective gear, that most fabled of weapons - the Black Steel Dagger - is gone, meaning that for a short while rogues will have to rely upon Backstab to deal big death until a more favourable weapon shows itself. Well, that or Misear Diplomacy the enemy to death. Oh, and always remember to pack the Cunning Shot for those warlords who are rude enough to not run to the front to be killed.

Epic will throw into the limelight another, long-neglected style of rogue combat. With the stealth rules getting an upgrade, sneaking into opposing ranks to off the warlord from up close is something that is sure to be attempted a lot with Trespass, although the Sewer Worm allows any rogue that feels up to it to try the same. Whether it will prove an effectie tactic remains to be seen...

Tangent #2 - Warlords of the Accordlands!

2006-06-20T14:34:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note here. The Warlord RPG, holiest of holies, is now available, and I have been accepted as a member of Mike Leader's LAIR team, for the furthering of its greatness. Hence, there may be a lot more RPG-related stuff slipping into this blog in the future...

Winning with Class: Fighters

2006-06-20T14:09:00.000+01:00

Well, with Epic on its way a lot of what I have to say here will fastly be going out of date. But I'll keep it Campaign for the time being, with the obvious disclaimer here that things will have to be adapted in a few months' time.

How do fighters win games of Warlord? The most obvious way is by charging to the front rank and lamping seven shades of SS-saurth out of the enemy personally. It was a tactic pioneered by Krun, but now almost predominantly the province of Ar'tek.

Ar'tek exceeds at this style of play since he has innate movement. Other warlords of this ilk (Krun, Fasolt, Duty) have to dilute the effectiveness of their slaughter by packing steeds and other such movement cards. Ar'tek can get straight down to the killing, taking no prisoners. All in all, why play any other warlord in this style when Ar'tek is available? Praise be that he's gone come Epic, though all the other fighter murder cards are passing through, allowing the archetype to survive even as its chosen son fades away.

Some warlords prefer to support other fighters from the rear lines rather than risk themselves. After all, why risk getting killed when any level 4 schmuck can play No Prisoners! and Gahid's Stand? This cavalry charge (so called due to the preponderance of steeds included) is often much more effective than a similar tactic played through a cleric warlord, as even if you draw no characters in your opening hand, the warlord can still utilise all the items and actions himself, at a pinch.

The star performers at this style of victory are Jin Valford, Kara Wadreth, Sir Aleron d'Ilchant and Uthanak, mainly because they offer a form of extra movement to their underlings. They're also capable of utilising Krun's Strategies and By Your Word, for those of you who miss the readying power of clerics.

Again, Epic will change the decktype slightly, with the new falling forward penalties making movement een more important for the high level characters.

Finally, fighters can try their hand at shooting their enemies. Faiza Nyota and the other rangers are the best for this style, as Hawk Hatchet is really the only ranged strike that fighters can use better than any rogue. However, since that card is not making it through to Epic, and neither is Gloves of Archery, the future looks bleak for the fighter sniper decks. They're going to have to leave it to the rogues in future, and get down to the simple business of frontline pummeling.

Winning with Class: Clerics

2006-06-07T15:45:00.000+01:00

So, how do clerics win games of Warlord? They're not up to much when it comes to bashing other characters in melee, and they aren't exactly renowned for their wide variety of ranged strikes. More than any other class, the cleric can be considered a 'support' warlord; one who helps his army to kill the enemy rather than getting directly involed himself.

This doesn't mean that all clerical decks must be the same, however. There are a number of means by which they can deliver victory, as evidenced by their action and item pool, and the innate abilities of the warlords themselves.

Clerics can deliver large, high-level fighters and rogues to combat, healing any wounds that they suffer and buffing their stats while remaining safe from danger themselves. This is an approach favoured by warlords such as Rustiq Umbala and Priam Ironsoul; the former because he has inbuilt movement and ATK boosting capabilities, and the latter because his healing powers can actually ready his troops, turning it into another form of movement. The basic premise of this decktype is to pack it full of the biggest, baddest characters available, and fill the rest with healing to keep them alive and steeds to get them to the front. For variety, readying and unstunning spells can speed up the rate at which your characters attack the enemy.

Sometimes this deckstyle is mistakenly called a stall deck. Usually, only by someone that hasn't seen a true stall deck before. When stalling, the idea is still to throw out big characters, but more because of their high AC and hitpoints than their offensive power. They need only hold off the enemy long enough for the purpose of the deck - usually a huge Dragon or two - to get into position for a slow grind to victory. Healing is even more important in these sorts of decks, and movement usually falls by the wayside in favour of actions and items that create even more meat for the warlord to hide behind - such as the infamous figurines.

At the opposite end of the spectrum to the stall deck is the frontline cleric deck, where the warlord - loaded down with goodies like the Teufeltiger's Lies, Glyph of Faith, Blasphemous Sign and Bascarite Mark - Ups the stats of those around him, hoping to kill the enemy quickly, before they have time to concentrate fire against him. In this deck, the healing is mainly self-centred, directed toward keeping the warlord alive. The warlords that do best at this sort of deck are those that have some form of protection (and usually two melee strikes). Atu Amani has his own way to prevent wounds from himself, for example, while Ghed Jaroslav is astral and has Deverenian redirection to keep the heat off.

Finally, there are also decks that take advantage (no pun intended)of the new focus for the cleric class: stunning the enemy, and making sure that they can't ready. Volda's Mantle takes pride of place in the repertoire of these warlords, but Kor's Patience, Shared Fate and Withering Gaze help maintain the lockdown. It's just another kind of stalling in reality, but to prevent an opponent from becoming annoyed with you you should probably pack in some form of kill mechanism to punish the stunned enemy, by utilising characters and items that get bonuses against them. As a devotee of your gods, it is your duty to make sure that the suffering of your enemies is as brief as possible.

Winning Without Class

2006-06-01T15:35:00.000+01:00

I may not be sticking to any sort of regular schedule with the adding of posts to this column, but with dissertations, exams and the sudden knowledge that I'm being dragged to ELITE, I'e been a little rushed off my feet.

Anyway, I shall be getting back on track with that whole grand plan that I laid out some time previous very shortly. Now, when I mentioned last week doing this class by class series of posts, I had thought to do the four main classes in alphabetical order, followed by the various combinations of multi-classes, with the subclasses slotting in somewhere along the way.

Then I realised that I was missing out on the classless warlords, who rightfully fit right in there at the start if we're talking alphabetical ordering.

Of course, most of them aren't Campaign legal, and those that are are unique to say the least, so I think that I can cover them all briefly here.

Adarymy may be classless, but can use fighter and rogue items, so can be thought of as a multiclasser in many ways. She can happily build up a suitably powerful mix of equipment while hiding behind her stupidly impressive army of leel 1 characters. Every expansion it gets better and better, with Brother Dominy and Spencer Latham being just two of the most obvious recent entries...

Andelwick and Kedric can be lumped together as the two Monk warlords. Since monks have such a small card pool of actions and items available to them, both have to rely on cutting away the chaff and using what little good stuff is available. Kedric is helped out a little more by having a little bit of fighter mojo working for him, and the benefits of all those tasty FreeK characters, but Andelwick has an ability that is pretty useful, and became een more abuseable with the stunning tech made available in Dragon's Fury and Eye of the Storm. Kedric could be backed up by a traditional FreeK line-up, possibly favouring fighters a little more, while Andelwick may try out a little clerical support...

And finally Raziel. Blind the Gods was supposedly the death-knell for the poor sap. But even leaving aside that fact, there is very little that he himself suggests to a deck. He's not a pro-active warlord. Rather than advance an agenda himself, he messes with the opponent's head and hand. Far better for a dec built around him to run itself, throwing out low level characters that work in isolation, as any card-reliant combo isn't going to hold up to a need to discard. He blitzes fast, before the enemy realises that he has no real kill mechanism.

Right, so that's those reprobates dealt with succinctly. The real, potentially more in-depth, work will commence with the next post, addressing the a possible use of cleric warlords.

Tangent #1 - Deadlands!

2006-05-27T22:46:00.000+01:00

I shall return to the subject of Warlord in all due course, but with the recent release of Deadlands: Reloaded, I thought I'd give my thoughts on it.

The book itself is exceedingly gorgeous. Not only have Pinnacle looted the back-catalogue of Doomtown card art, but they've commissioned a whole bunch of new art specifically for the book! All you Warlord fans should be aware that there's even a new piece by a certain Mister Engle...

In style it departs wildly from the original books. Full colour for one thing, the space eating margins have finally been gotten rid of, although the rather large size of print means that, overall, we're not netting a lot of extra words per page. Despite the packed 256 pages, the fact that there are so many full-page illustrations means that the actual meat of the product isn't as much as one would hope for.

Having not played the Savage Worlds game system yet, I can't comment on how good an entry this world setting is to the range, but the rules seem solid enough. Fate chips are back, duels become a bluffing game of Texas Hold 'em and all the Arcane Backgrounds are present and correct. There's even the chance to lose your arm to the Veteran tables again!

Then there's the background section. The world has moved on, passing from the 1876 of the original, through the 1877 of the revised edition and the 1878 of the Gomorra era to end up in 1879. Things have changed, particularly regarding the state of the war, the rail barons and the sasquatches. Unfortunately, while the recent events have all been taken care of, a lot of general background has been omitted. The basics of the many plots circulating the Weird West remains, but if you're expecting in-depth explanation of the motivations of many of the villains, or even who they are (Santa Anna and Emperor Maximilian are enigmas, and you'd be forgiven for not knowing who Geronimo is) then you'll be left wanting.

The Marshal's section has all the meaty goods on Harrowed, proper encounter tables for all the many regions and a huge section on abominations and enemies. At almost eighty pages, it's the largest section of the book, and while I appreciate having all the critters described, I'd much rather have had some of the minor ones omitted so that there's more room for that missing background I mentioned earlier.

Or, failing that, some Marshal guidelines. The original volumes contained extensive writings on how to run a proper horror western, to evoke mood and atmosphere and properly creep out the players. Lamentably, there's nothing of the sort here. No hints or advice, just hard rules. Even a page or two of designer's notes would have been nice.

Still, for all my belly-aching I like it. It's missing a lot of stuff that could have been added, but there's only so much that a book can take, and I'm sure that newcomers to the setting probably won't notice. Did I mention how pretty it is? With six plot point books on the way and a healthy amount of free downloads on their website, I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl. After all, the true test of the game is how it plays. With the old system often leading to many drawn-out fights that took too long to resolve, hopefully the Savage Worlds system should speed things up, leaving gunfights as quick and deadly as they should be.

I'm not going to end with giving it marks out of ten, but on the whole I am thoroughly satisfied. Sure, I'm disappointed that it missed so many opportunities, but that's due to my expectations being up there in the stratosphere. It is what it is, and everyone should be glad that Deadlands is back on shelves again. YEEEEE-HA!

Shuffling and Such

2006-05-22T23:48:00.000+01:00

Now, this post may seem to be a little 'late' compared to those I churned out last week, but bear in mind that this is not going to be anywhere near the daily blog that it may have seemed to be at first. This is merely a short entry to celebrate the fact that the inernet is back up down here, and also to mention something that all good Warlord players should be aware of.

When shuffling, it is probably best to hold the deck so that your opponent can only see the backs of your cards, and not glean an advance hint at what cards it contains.

This only came to my attention when I noticed Chris doing just such a thing on Friday, giving me a minor heads-up relating to what to expect him to play. I've always subconsciously concealed my decks from the opponent, but some people just need to be trained to do so. Discipline yourself, in a similar way to the practice cuts that you make in friendly games to get into the habit for tournaments.

And typing of cutting, there is an art to that also. Why go for a simple random grab for a centre split when you can be much more creative? Shitfing the bottom card to the top, or vice versa, is enough to constitute a cut and still worry your opponent over whether or not that little difference will cost them in the long run. It's a totally unfounded worry, but you'd be surprised how easily some people can be rattled. Yes, even intellectual Warlord players.

Also, always spend your items, characters and such to the same direction, either clockwise or anti-clockwise. To do so is evidence of a calm, measured mind that will unnerve your opponent. To turn all your cards higgledy-piggledy will only result in you looking like a messy fool who is falling to pieces. No one wants that.

Keep your discard pile tidy as well. Not just for appearances, but the easier it is to pick up at the end of a game, the quicker you can move on to the next. It may not seem like much, but a lifetime of litter picking after every game will rob you of countless extra games.

Finally, while many people may boast of backing their decks, it's not as cool as it sounds. Those double-thickness piles of cards are a right pain to shuffle, and the thought of impressing everyone you play against with your excellent taste in trades must be measured against the potential risk of wearing out all the bones in your hand and wrist. There are deck protectors with pictures on them; settle for those.

***

This rambling treatise on treating one's cards properly is merely filler; now that I have devised a suitable connecting theme for my next few posts, this whole thing is gonna start looking more professional.