Warlord description

[Tiger]

I've been curious about this game for a long time.

Mostly because I'm attracted by the beautifull models of some factions but I can't seem to find an accurate desription of what kind of game it is on the reaper site.

I know it's wargame. But what kind?

Skirmish? Unit based? How do the turns alternate (per model, per unit, per army)?

What is the standard size of a game? Why do not all of the factions represented on the online store appear on the warlord explanatory page?

Can I compare it with other wargames in terms of gameplay (warhammer, warmahordes, malifaux, confrontation)?

 

I'm liking the models so much I am definatly going to play it. I already bought it from the online store but it said I had to wait 3 weeks to cross the ocean so I'm just curious.

[herzogbrian]

I've been curious about this game for a long time.

Mostly because I'm attracted by the beautifull models of some factions but I can't seem to find an accurate desription of what kind of game it is on the reaper site.

I know it's wargame. But what kind?

Skirmish? Unit based? How do the turns alternate (per model, per unit, per army)?

What is the standard size of a game? Why do not all of the factions represented on the online store appear on the warlord explanatory page?

Can I compare it with other wargames in terms of gameplay (warhammer, warmahordes, malifaux, confrontation)?

 

I'm liking the models so much I am definatly going to play it. I already bought it from the online store but it said I had to wait 3 weeks to cross the ocean so I'm just curious.

 

Warlord is a Skirmish level fantasy wargame. With 1 model representing 1 guy/girl/monster.

 

While there are units (in this case troops) that make up a fighting company, they are primarily used to balance the point values and initiative system for the game. There is no unit cohesion or that like, or formations that must be maintained.

 

Turn initiative is determined with random card or chit draws. The number of cards/chits that go into the deck/pot are based on the number of troops in your company plus any from special or faction specific abilities.

 

Standard sized game is 1000 pts with 750-1500 pt range keeping general fairness across almost all of the factions. games down in the 300-500 pt range can work, but not every faction will be competitive at those low values. Games of up to 5000 pts per side are possible with multi-player with only a slight mod of the initative system.

 

Warlord plays closest to Malifaux and Warmachine on your list above. The learning curve is WAY more shallow than Malifaux. Reaper's RAGE system is fairly simple to learn, the only conplex issue being all of the special abilities and even those are not all that bad. Though not as widespread as Warhammer, the game is cheaper to buy into (models costing what it take to produce them not reflecting the in game point value), for the most part the sculpts are nicer, the d10 system more flexable than d6s, and there are NO armor check rolls!!!!

 

Hope that helps,

B

[Dr.Bedlam]

I began getting into it this May... since I already had a lot of the miniatures. It's a fine game, short learning curve, yet LOTS of possibility and strategy -- I'd put the learning curve at not unlike Warhammer, although the magic system is simpler.

 

You assemble units of troops, and you get one "initiave card" per unit of troops. You and your opponent shuffle your initiative cards together, and initiative is determined by drawing cards. Attacker attacks, defender gets to hit back, depending on circumstance, and you carry through the turn sequence, and then you draw another card.

 

I seriously wonder why this game isn't more widespread. It's easily as good a game as Malifaux or Warhammer, while being considerably cheaper and easier to get into.

[psyberwolfe1]

I seriously wonder why this game isn't more widespread. It's easily as good a game as Malifaux or Warhammer, while being considerably cheaper and easier to get into.

 

Because Reaper is a miniatures company not a game company. They have a better game than Malifaux and one that is comprable to War Machine. For Warlord to take off Reaper would have to do some aggressive marketing, make playable starter box armies, and ignore their other partners/markets. Short story is not happening. My FLGS has bottom shelfed this game so other than myself and a few others no one is going to start playing.

[herzogbrian]

I seriously wonder why this game isn't more widespread. It's easily as good a game as Malifaux or Warhammer, while being considerably cheaper and easier to get into.

 

 

psyberwolfe is correct. With the demise of the Black Lightning program there is little in the way of overt support for the game from Reaper. I put on games for the love of the game, and even give away a few of my minis to those that show serious interest. Lack of starter box sets in the 400-500 pts range with Leader, Elite, several Soldier types, and a Monster would be helpful hooking those that like what they demo.

 

There are a lot of things competing for gamer interest with WFB, Warmaching, and even Malifaux (but that seems to be waning around here). Truely launching a game system from the ground takes a lot of funds up front for only a possible pay off down the road. I would LOVE to see a Reaper spin-off game company that COULD bet-the-farm on a game system and not endanger us loosing the best Fantasy Miniatures Co since the days of Ral Partha's glory. Maybe with Hobby-Q something might be possible.

[Tiger]

Warlord is a Skirmish level fantasy wargame. With 1 model representing 1 guy/girl/monster.

 

While there are units (in this case troops) that make up a fighting company, they are primarily used to balance the point values and initiative system for the game. There is no unit cohesion or that like, or formations that must be maintained.

 

Turn initiative is determined with random card or chit draws. The number of cards/chits that go into the deck/pot are based on the number of troops in your company plus any from special or faction specific abilities.

 

Standard sized game is 1000 pts with 750-1500 pt range keeping general fairness across almost all of the factions. games down in the 300-500 pt range can work, but not every faction will be competitive at those low values. Games of up to 5000 pts per side are possible with multi-player with only a slight mod of the initative system.

 

Warlord plays closest to Malifaux and Warmachine on your list above. The learning curve is WAY more shallow than Malifaux. Reaper's RAGE system is fairly simple to learn, the only conplex issue being all of the special abilities and even those are not all that bad. Though not as widespread as Warhammer, the game is cheaper to buy into (models costing what it take to produce them not reflecting the in game point value), for the most part the sculpts are nicer, the d10 system more flexable than d6s, and there are NO armor check rolls!!!!

 

Hope that helps,

B

 

Thank you. That just about answers all of my questions.

The price of reaper products is a very BIG reason I did not hesitate to buy the rulebook.

At least, here is a game for which I don't have to be a millionaire to get an army.

 

These cards that you use for initiative? Do they come with the rulebook or do I have to make them myself?

Are there datacards for the various models? If so do they come with the models?

 

On an unrelated issue, is reaper going to shift to resin in the future or are they going to keep to their metal?

[Dr.Bedlam]

You can buy special cards if you want... or you can use ordinary playing cards, like it recommends in the rulebook.

 

The rulebooks contain all the data cards. Or, if you'd rather, you can go to reapergames.com at the top of this page, and find the data cards for all the models there.

[joshuaslater]

For the OP: reapergames.com has all of the data cards in a printable format, and an army builder!! Just use standard playing cards for initiative.

 

The community here is super helpful for any rules or army questions you may have.

 

The proxy-ability of this game is second to none. You could play probably most of the forces using non Reaper models you may own already to test out the waters on an army before you buy.

 

I've found that this open vibe just makes me buy more Reaper anyway, even if the occasional Hasslefree, Heresy, or other manufacturer is represented on the table.

 

I don't know if you're in the U.K. or not? Edit: I see Belgium in your profile. Tim Fitch at miniature-heroes.co.uk is stocking Reaper over there, and he's a top bloke to deal with, and I order from him to the States!!

Edited June 10, 2011 by joshuaslater

[Tiger]

Thank you all very much for the info.

This helps a lot.

 

I foresee a 99% chance I will start this game.

And I never ever proxy. Not that I look down on people that do, far from it.

But I believe in supporting the gamingcompanies that give me the chance to enjoy myself every day.

And since I have a steady income and a tolerant wife , I'm going to give reaper a lot of money!

 

Cheers!

[herzogbrian]

And I never ever proxy. Not that I look down on people that do, far from it.

But I believe in supporting the gamingcompanies that give me the chance to enjoy myself every day.

And since I have a steady income and a tolerant wife , I'm going to give reaper a lot of money!

 

Cheers!

 

 

You can do both!! Reaper has a TON of minis and you may like a DHL mini for a Warlord troop type because you like the sculpt better or that they are a few cents less than their Warlord counterpart. Its ALL good.

[Dr.Bedlam]

You might HAVE to proxy; there are some characters in the game that don't exactly HAVE an official sculpt yet. Not that this is a problem; there's always something you can plug in.

[joshuaslater]

Herzogbrian summed it up best!! You'll find the Reaper range so vast that their are DHL minis in the Warlord game!! It means you can also have more variety of poses just by browsing the Reaper catalog. The possibilities are mind boggling.

[jdripley]

By way of comparing Warmachine/Hordes to Warlord:

 

The biggest downside of Warlord when compared to Warmachine in my eyes is that there is less overt synergy between models. I really, really like how Warmachine armies boost themselves up. A Warcaster can usually make just about anything in his army be top notch in a pinch. Not that there are not buffs and synergies in Warlord, but they are less pronounced than in Warmachine.

 

The biggest advantage of Warlord when compared to Warmachine in my eyes is the complete feeling of freedom. You can take anything. You can put it anywhere. This is just so handy in so many ways. For example, ever tried playing a "capture the places" type game with a smaller Warmachine army? You're tied to your caster, so you can only effectively make a bid for a few points at once. In Warlord, you can move models to anywhere without fear of being "too far away" and all of that jazz.

 

One similar(ish) part is magic. Some games, magic is only for killing things. In both Warlord and Warmachine magic is often more for creating a situation within which another model can do the killing. The actual mechanics of how many spells you can cast and how quickly are very different - but I like that both games do more with magic than "you take X damage because my mage shot at you." In fact in both games, damaging magic is in the minority! You're far more likely to see casters in both games buffing, debuffing, altering terrain, messing with movement, or creating some condition that affects models. In my eyes, for both games what takes them above and beyond a simple dice-fest is the magic system. That is where some important strategic decisions are made.

 

 

I also really like the Defensive Strike mechanic in Warlord. It's always a bummer watching an opponent systematically take your army apart without being able to do anything about it until your next turn. In Warlord, if your guy swings a sword at my guy, my guy swings his right back. It makes for a very engaging experience for both players throughout the game. You're rarely just a passive participant. This also helps to mitigate the whole "first strike" issue that many games suffer from - where the player to get some kills in early has a huge advantage.

 

 

I also find that Warlord plays better with terrain than Warmachine does. Obviously terrain is important for both games, but due to the synergistic nature of Warmachine, you really need a bit of open space in the middle to fit a big block of models into. A cluttered table seriously messes with how a Warmachine army plays. In Warlord, you can have loads of terrain all over the place and the armies will still do fine. This, I find, leads to a more diverse interaction with terrain. You can move an army through an area of dense terrain and fight effectively "street to street" if you need to - where as in Warmachine you really need to have the bulk of your army outside of any dense terrain.

[herzogbrian]

You can move an army through an area of dense terrain and fight effectively "street to street" if you need to - where as in Warmachine you really need to have the bulk of your army outside of any dense terrain.

 

 

1st rule of modern warfare...never commit armor into an urban enviroment. Or in this case, Warjacks.

[jdripley]

Actually... and this is a bit ironic based on what I said in the previous post... I find that Warjacks tend to do fairly well for themselves in a dense environment, up to a point. The key is concentration of power. Say a 'jack is 9 points and a unit is 9 points. You can bring all 9 points to bear at one intersection in a dense city if it's the 'jack, but you can only bring maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of those 9 points if it's a unit. My trouble isn't how the 'jack itself performs in a city, but rather how a city naturally breaks up a force and Warmachine demands tight cohesion. The two are at odds.

 

That said, I get your point. If it weren't a game and was reality, I can see an urban environment being really tough on a 'caster and his 'jacks, what with snipers and sappers having the run of the place doing all sorts of sneaky and explodey things to your force.