Warlord Warlord - the state of play

[EvilJames]

Kargir has significant bones forces, since most of Tre's black orcs are in bones. As well as the giant and  some of the gnolls. Plenty of goblin choices to proxy in as well.

[Blackhawk]

I've pondered that it would be great for them to pick two factions that have models that are in demand by roleplayers as well and run Bones 4 around it.  Do what they did with Cav - put out the books (as they are) and the core models for two factions into the base, then have the larger stretch goal unlocks be complete armies for other factions (again, choosing those that work well for roleplaying as well.)

 

I also love Warlord. I have the 2nd edition books, all but one of the 1st, plus I scored myself an unopened copy of Dark Heaven: Apocalypse a couple of years ago (which was sort of a predecessor to Warlord.)  I'd love to see it catch on again, and given that the biggest barrier to entry for wargames is buying a starting army, giving people armies right from the get-go of affordable Bones could be a real shot in the arm for the franchise.

[Glitterwolf]

 I love the Warlord minis purely for painting!

 

They are great models I use a lot of them in my Lost World for example.

*** Which means I  painted a few already but have heaps of unpainted ones waiting***

[Reinchard]

I've been leading a local group of players (I deem the only one existing in Russia) since 2007, making yearly campaigns and leagues of up to 10 participants and 30+ games per season. It appears to be extremely difficult to "recruit" new players, all those existing being close friends of mine, who came from other wargames like WHFB. The WHFB community is divided now with many people completely dropping the system, but that barely helps to attract them to Warlord, as they got used to a well supported wargame and more willingly migrate to mainstream skirmish systems or even historics.

 

From my point of view the Warlord is an extremely well balanced and diverse game. I consider the underdevelopment of several factions from the Savage North and the lack of scenarios to be the only flaws. The latter we compensated with 10 scenarios of our own invention, as well as added a new level of diversity in the form of a campaign engine (I've posted it in the Rules sub-forum). For the next season we plan to expand this engine even more, implementing a webapp to generate pairings for us and to handle player statistics. It might then include a campaign map in graphics with each player's actions designated and a personal account for each one accordingly, if time permits.

 

I've recenly finished my 1500pts Tembrithil project, the wood elves being my 3rd army and the most beautiful one, as a result of a much time spent to painting and the usage of Microart forest bases. They are great in play as well, clouded only by the limited choice the armylist itself.

 

If Reaper once decides to turn its attention to this system again, we shall eagerly offer our service as playtesters. :)

[wildger]

The beauty of this game is that the figures do not get replaced by a newer edition. The bases remain square or rectangle. So, what was painted more than a decade ago can still be used. Not every good for the business point of view and I kind of understand why the company is not promoting the game if they are already selling well on their figures. There is no need for them to put in more resources to promote more sale. On the other hand, if I am the CEO, I would definitely take the opportunity to make a dent in the gaming world when WHFB got changed. For the long run, it is a worthwhile gamble.

The loss of the online army builder is a great disappointment. That is the main reason why I kept coming back to this site to make out various theme list for fun.

I shall fully support of this game if one day this company decides to promote it.

For your information, my profile picture is actually taken from the figure I painted.

Edited March 29, 2017 by wildger
additional comment

[Dark Horse]

On 3/9/2017 at 7:20 AM, lowlylowlycook said:

I think that a huge problem is that the gaming market in general is pretty crowded.  It would take a pretty big push to get Warlord going again and a lot of effort to keep it going.  Perhaps the best chance would be spinning the game off like they did with CAV.   Still the best chance might not be that high.

 

I agree that Bones models would be interesting.  

 

 

Spinning Warlord off like CAV would probably be the death knell to any future the game might still have (imho)... I was an ardent CAV supporter back in the day, but have zero desire to get involved in the new CAV as it is too different from the old fun game that I still occasionally get a chance to play.

 

I am not really a huge Bones fan either, except for some of the larger models, but being able to buy an Army Box (7-9 minis) for $20 might make me think twice about that position again.

[Humansquish]

I wasn't a fan of bones for Warlord either until recently when I put my painted Kargir army in a bag with cards & dice bag and didn't have to worry about the paint jobs.

[Dark Horse]

Humansquish,

I am still getting familiar with the Bones product, that said I do like the larger figures like dragons well enough (though I would still love to replace my Kaladrax with a real metal model - I just like the "heft" and "feel" of the large metal model) anyway... with regards to your post above, doesn't the bones material "flex" a bit, cracking or chipping the paint/sealer on your minis when they are handled like that?

I am an old school lead/pewter/white metal kind of guy and just trying to understand why "plastic" seems to be gaining so much popularity in miniatures (besides cost)... The last "plastic" soldiers I had were the green army type and I personally have no desire to collect those. (No offense to anyone who might - they're just not my cup of tea.)

Thanks in advance for the info.

[lowlylowlycook]

Kaladrax in metal would move past "heft" right on to "hernia".

 

There are pluses and minuses to every material but Bones minis can withstand damage far beyond what metal, hard plastic or resin minis could handle.

[Grayfax]

Just curious, as I have several Warlord figures that I have been working on for Frostgrave.  What is the average game time on a Warlord game?  I have glanced at it, but didn't really try to find out a lot since I quickly read that it was unsupported.  Reading through this thread, a stable game that isn't changing all the time is actually a good thing.  I really like a lot of the models and having multiple uses for them would be kinda cool (though, then I would have to paint multiples for round and square bases or choose before I finish basing some).  

 

Also, does anyone play at ReaperCon so I could see some games?  I know I won't be able to field any kind of army by then, but seeing it in action would be very beneficial.

[Memphisto]

21 hours ago, Grayfax said:

Just curious, as I have several Warlord figures that I have been working on for Frostgrave.  What is the average game time on a Warlord game?  I have glanced at it, but didn't really try to find out a lot since I quickly read that it was unsupported.  Reading through this thread, a stable game that isn't changing all the time is actually a good thing.  I really like a lot of the models and having multiple uses for them would be kinda cool (though, then I would have to paint multiples for round and square bases or choose before I finish basing some).  

 

Also, does anyone play at ReaperCon so I could see some games?  I know I won't be able to field any kind of army by then, but seeing it in action would be very beneficial.

 

I play 1000pt games, and those take around 2-3 hours played leisurely. If you have a few armies and a couple friends who like table top war games, it's a great well-balanced game. I also like the d10 mechanic better than d6 since the outcomes feel less random and luck based.

[vulture]

I have a reptus army I was going to paint for RCON, but I dont think they do the warlord tourney anymore . Id like to see a bounce in popularity; from what Ive seen its got some neat mechanics (eg. progressive stat tracks for multi-wound models).

Edited April 8, 2017 by vulture

[haldir]

2 minutes ago, vulture said:

I have a reptus army I was going to paint for RCON, but I dont think they do the warlord tourney anymore . Id like to see a bounce in popularity; from what Ive seen its got some neat mechanics (eg. progressive stat tracks for multi-wound models).

 

Correct. The tourney was axed from the Con last year. I don't play but I too would like to see the popularity come back for Warlord.

[ThatDeadGuy]

Like many here I love Warlord. I've been playing since it was first released. It is near perfect in its balance and polish. My gaming group plays fairly regularly still. As others have pointed out, it is near impossible to find new players. Out of the 6 or so people I have playing it I introduced/taught them all. That formula seems to have been, and is, true since the game came out. It never really seemed to get much attention or traction. Huge shame, because in my humble opinion it is THE best fantasy skirmish game on the market. My suggestion is if you like the game put together two small forces and start trying to spread the word. The game will sell itself to people who like skirmish level games (on a side note the balance scales up VERY well. We sometimes like to play Warhammer sized games of 3k to 6k sized point games. Balance remains intact even at that scale).

[Dark Horse]

 

Fear not Warlord Fans...

How about a preview from the new unofficial Army Creator depicting a Tembrithil army.

Note: The faction doctrines have not been entered for Tembrithil so there was no doctrine to select.