Overlords Book?

[wildger]

The main informations from the faction books are the new characters, sub-army lists, new spells and equipments. All these can be combined into one single book. Neither CAV or Warlord has a strong share in the market. If Reaper does not have the resources to support two systems, it is better that they concentrate on one instead. It is still better to have some disappointed CAV players than having two failed systems. Promoting Warlord alone is already difficult. It is hard to sell when the 2nd printing is out of date. Telling people who are interested in Dwarfs and Elves that they have to wait until next year at the latest to get new models and faction books is a big turn-off.

 

The alternative is to pray that Warlord will continue until all the faction books and new models out. Then let's have a 2nd edition or 3rd printing to include all the new models, sub-army list, spells and equipments. Afterward, re-promote it as a new or revised game. Otherwise, I don't see how this game will ever pick up.

 

Retrospectively, what reaper should have done is to introduce one faction at a time, starting with Crusaders and Necropolis due to the presence of the Deluxe Starter set, and gradually expands the system. Ogres in Warhammer are only introduced recently. Dont forget, WH40K evolved from Rogue Traders which only consisted of space marines, orks and elders in the beginning.

[joshuaslater]

Yup. Until more people are playing the game, the faction books should just be free pdf's. After all the models are cast and available, then a revised core book with everything in it would be better.

 

From the activity on these forums, there are questions about balance, special abilites, etc. after the release of a faction book, that could be remedied before going to print. Faction books start coming out, models get changed, previous material gets outdated.

 

Maybe the faction books are to entice new players to the game? I feel that Warlord was meant to be simple, not cluttered.

[wildbill]

Ogres in Warhammer are only introduced recently.

 

Well, Ogres were recently introduced as their own separate army. They've always been a part of the Chaos army.

 

But...I get your point.

 

I just had three players pick up box sets and rulebooks last night. They were all excited about it. I just happened to have print outs of the updated datacards for the armies they chose. I got lucky. They did seem a little shocked to hear that the data cards had all changed.

 

I do like the idea of having EVERY army in one big huge rulebook. Even if the rulebook becomes something like $50. I know that sounds high, but think about. $25 for a rulebook, $15 for a faction book, $15 for a second faction book...oops! Now I'm over $50!! That sounds reasonable to me.

 

Wild Bill

[wildger]

 

I do like the idea of having EVERY army in one big huge rulebook. Even if the rulebook becomes something like $50. I know that sounds high, but think about. $25 for a rulebook, $15 for a faction book, $15 for a second faction book...oops! Now I'm over $50!! That sounds reasonable to me.

 

Wild Bill

 

 

I dont believe the cost of a combined book will be too high. Even if you need a few extra pages for only the important information for each faction, the end volume will still not be close to a D&D player's handbook. Not all players are competitive to win. However, almost all will like to be knowledgable about the gameplay and what each faction can do. Otherwise, having players to buy every single faction book to be up-to-date is asking them to go away.

 

One quick way of fixing the current drought is to put out a beta test version of the coming factions for the players to test them out before going to prints. It surely will help to keep players interested and may help to attract more.

[joshuaslater]

That's the ticket. Make'em available for the hardcore players and fans on this site. When all the dust settles from the inevitable squabbles and quibbles, then do one book (around 50 U.S.D.) and be done with it.

 

After that, just keep coming out with new models on occasion, and even more alternate sculpts.

 

Having to spend a fortune on all the faction books is just a pain--the reason I got the 1st printing book in the first place was because I thought the game wouldn't be driven like so many other companies. Give me one well done rulebook with all the armies in it, and I'm more liable to buy all the armies they make. It's more fun to flip through one big book and compare troops then to hunt and peck through different source material.

 

I still think a d20 setting book for Taltos would draw more people into TTG with Warlord. I started as a roleplayer. Bring Taltos to life with roleplayers, and eventually, when they tire of 5 hour sessions and just want to get a game in, they can play Warlord.

[Erion]

You guys have it easy. Warlord's Had five books published in the last two years.

 

I'd like to get one book for CAV, and then that one is only going to be a PDF. No one is answering any questions about when/if there's going to be a hardcopy of any type, let alone a color/hardcover like the warlord core book.

[shakhak]

I pretty much agree with what Joshua brought up in his post. At times the game can be a harder sale because of the stat changes and many other things.

 

But those stat changes were Needed. There was no way to go about it, the long term affects far out weighed the pain we are going through now. Anyone who has played a game like Confrontation, where specific lists are practically unstoppable, know exactly what I mean.

 

 

Food for thought.

Compare a Warlord book to a GW Warhammer book.

Warlord:

-Items/spells that other factions have access too.

-New/Revised faction abilities.

-Used to introduce new abilites and errata into the game.

-Black and White

-$15

-Fluff for each model.

-New models equal in power to old models.

 

GW Warhammer:

-Items/Spells for that specific faction only.

-A faction book can change how an entire army plays in WH.

-Used to supply everything you need to play a faction (except minis)

-Mostly Color

-Huge amounts of fluff for every model.

-Lots of extra information, like painting tips for that specific faction.

-$20

 

Which is a better deal and why?

The books are somewhat different, but why couldn't Reaper up the quality of their faction books, and just put GW to shame. You've did it with your rules. You've did it with your customer service. You've did it with your miniature quality. You've did it with your prices. What's holding you guys back?

[Qwyksilver]

Because GW is going to print and sell several orders of magnitude more copies, thus dropping the printing cost per book dramatically.

[spiritual_exorcist]

I think my biggest problem with any faction books thusfar, is that they have failed utterly to give me much detailed information about the faction itself.

 

The exception, to a degree, has been the Crusader book, whose opening story gives you a decent feel for Gerard and his Templars, the Reven and Necropolis books don't really do this in my opinion. I play 3-4 armies, and even after buying a faction book I really know very little about them save for a vague outline.

 

I know nothing about how Judas has interacted with the populace of Taltos, and we've been given very little motivation for his faction. Likewise the Reven fail to have any information about their forays into Taltos. The Reven are apparently supposed to be kept at bay by the Dwarves, but we are told almost nothing about their interaction with the stout folks.

 

Give me detailed histories and motivations, not stories about 1/2-Orcs on the outside of society and outsiders imprisoned by Liches.

[airhead]

I like the idea of a master rulebook. Otherwise, Warlord will become a lot like Traveler used to be. One core book and many supplements. You'd spend half the night trying to find the right supplement to pin down a rule.

 

Distract? Gotta have the Crusaders book.

Poison? Need the Nefsokar book for that ability.

etc?

 

 

 

 

Then tell a player his list is not valid in the tourney because the data cards changed and he is over points and has two troops of one type of unit that are now adepts.

 

 

 

Warlord is a fun game with a faily simple rule set. It is just a few pages in the middle of the core book. Please strive to keep it that way.

[grey wolf]

I'd like to see them finish what they've started, get out all the books and minis. Then after much playing eratta and complaining then come out with a master rule book with everything fluff, datacards, sublists, and some new stuff for each army to make everyone happy + then they'd have something new to complain about

[Hellsgate]

I'd agrea here. I'd rather see them bring out all the individual books. A gap to give some of us slower painters to get court up then release an all in one with may be a bit extra.

[vejlin]

The primary problem for me is that the faction books contain non faction-specific material. There are spells usefull to faction A where I have to buy faction B's rulebook. That IMO is the real problem.

[spiritual_exorcist]

Reaper has ben very consitent in making all spells and equipment relatively expensive. Meaning even if there is a cool spell in faction book X, you don't have to gain access to it to maintain a level playing field. I don't think complaints about ever having to buy a faction specific rulebook are even remotely valid. I would argue the only books you really need are the Core rulebook, and your own faction book (and you don't even really need that).

 

Nothing wrong with owning all of the faction books, know thy enemy.

[vejlin]

No no. You're misunderstanding me. I know I don't have to buy factions books. The SAs are online, so I can play just fine and competitively without the books. The problem is that if I want to use certain spells (not in order to get more competitive, but because variety is fun) the only way I can get the rules are by buysing a pretty expensive faction book with little else of interest to my own faction.

 

I currently only have access to the Crusaders Faction book and I play Overlords. I'd really like to try using life transfer and lightning bolts for example. Simply because I think they'd add to the enjoyment of the game. And I have no problem paying for it either, but I'm not going to pay 15$ for 1 or 2 spells.