Warlord Warlord - the state of play

[McSmash Smash]

I love Warlord.  I started with 2nd edition, but I also have a 1st edition book.  My gaming group likes to use the campaign system out of the 1st edition book and we like some of the rules for fighting in urban environments like fighting is building and through doorways.  Since core mechanics between both books are pretty similar taking bits and pieces from both books works out fine with only some minor tweaking.  The first edition book was a lot more narrative and felt more like playing an RPG whereas the second edition book is a straight up wargame.

 

I use to participate in the Warlord tournament, the dungeon crawls, and Dragons Night Out at GenCon.  Sadly, Reaper hasn't been at GenCon for at least 3 or 4 years now and this year I didn't see any of the dungeon crawls or Dragons Night Out in the event catalog.  People would always comment on how much they loved the dungeon crawls and would ask if this was a home brew system.  I would tell them its based on Reaper's RAGE system and there is a whole miniature game and rulebook if they would like to play more.  I think it would be great is Reaper could some how include a relaunch of Warlord in their next kickstarter.  Maybe include a new section in the book for generating states for models that way people could do their own dungeon crawls and use all those shiny new Bones.  It seems that dungeon crawl games have picked up recently.  Look at Mercs with their Myth game and Mantic with Dungeon Saga.     

[ThatDeadGuy]

Im not so hard up as many people seem to be for a PDF....you can always make one yourself with a scanner (just don't distribute it). Asking for the Rules in PDF format is not at all the point I was trying to make with this thread.

[Baphomet69]

Well, I just see the PDF as a step in the right direction. It may generate more interest and maybe get Reaper thinking about Warlord again. If Reaper sees more interest in the game, they may (just may) do more to revive it.

 

Of course I, and I believe everyone interested enough to read this thread, would love to see a renewed Warlord push by Reaper. I've been...disappointed enough by the situation over the years to be moderately happy with baby steps.

 

The books may still be in print, but would sell many more copies if people were aware of it...heck, I could maybe even find an opponent.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Baphomet69

[McSmash Smash]

Mantic Games offers the rules for all of their games as pdfs for free and also offers printed rulebooks for sale.  I prefer a physical rulebook.  I seem to be able to flip through a real book faster then trying to navigate through a pdf.  But if I was a new player, I would definitely be more inclined to play a game if the rules were free.  Plus in all honesty, when getting into a game what would you rather spend your money on miniatures or books?  Plus, since Reaper states they're a miniature making company first, offering the rules for free is just promoting the sale of more miniatures.  Its giving another outlet for their products. 

[rgtriplec]

I love Warlord.  I started with 2nd edition, but I also have a 1st edition book.  My gaming group likes to use the campaign system out of the 1st edition book and we like some of the rules for fighting in urban environments like fighting is building and through doorways.  Since core mechanics between both books are pretty similar taking bits and pieces from both books works out fine with only some minor tweaking.  The first edition book was a lot more narrative and felt more like playing an RPG whereas the second edition book is a straight up wargame.

 

I use to participate in the Warlord tournament, the dungeon crawls, and Dragons Night Out at GenCon.  Sadly, Reaper hasn't been at GenCon for at least 3 or 4 years now and this year I didn't see any of the dungeon crawls or Dragons Night Out in the event catalog.  People would always comment on how much they loved the dungeon crawls and would ask if this was a home brew system.  I would tell them its based on Reaper's RAGE system and there is a whole miniature game and rulebook if they would like to play more.  I think it would be great is Reaper could some how include a relaunch of Warlord in their next kickstarter.  Maybe include a new section in the book for generating states for models that way people could do their own dungeon crawls and use all those shiny new Bones.  It seems that dungeon crawl games have picked up recently.  Look at Mercs with their Myth game and Mantic with Dungeon Saga.     

 

We play both editions in our group, but play mostly 1e/Rage2. Mostly, because we liked the old army building and leader rules, the adept and soldier rules, racial terrain modifiers, cohesion etc... We also didn't like the D&D tomes feel of the 2nd edition magic.

 

 I used to play Castlebuilder and Sergei's dungeon crawls and events at GenCon and Origins. 

[ThatDeadGuy]

"... if people were aware of it...heck, I could maybe even find an opponent."

 

Yes that is certainly the major issue! Indeed that is what motivated me to start this thread.

[ThatDeadGuy]

I also occasionally use a mix of 1st and 2nd ed rules, particularly the doorway fighting for combined spaces. I also miss the rogue feats, the undead BOO feat, and the campaign system. My crew altered some of those things slightly to use as house rules when the need arises. Mostly we stick to 2nd ed though. No reason not to use all the tools at our disposal after all.

[Lars Porsenna]

With all the crap that is going on with GW's Warhammer, I decided to finally invest in Warlord. Then I read this thread...

 

Anyway, plan to use my WHFB figures to test out the rules, and perhaps build 2 parallel armies to see if I can drum up interest locally...

 

Damon.

[McSmash Smash]

Don't let us discourage you from trying Warlord.  Everyone posting here really has a passion for the game and would like to see it grow and thrive.  Right now Warlord is kinda a "stumble upon" game.  I had been collecting and painting Reaper figures for RPGs for years before I heard about Warlord.  One year at GenCon I saw that Reaper was running this game called Warlord.  I tried it and loved it.  I bought a copy of the rules, took it home, and got all my gaming buddies into it.  Now its our go to game.  That's how the community for this game currently grows by word of mouth and people demoing it for their friends. 

 

If you're going to build two armies, might I suggest Necropolis and Crusaders.  Necropolis is more of your hoard style army with cheap units like skeletons, zombies, and ghouls, but with some pretty heavy hitters also like the Crimson Knights.  Whereas the Crusaders are more of a smaller elite force with heavier armored knights and cavalry, but with a few squishier units like archers, but they can lay down a hail of fire if used right.  This way you can see how to different types of armies play under the rules.

[Qwyksilver]

Ivy Crown Archers…laying a hail of fire?

 

They are the Ivy Crown Pointers, and they fire their arrows to show the infantry and cavalry to "Go over there and attack stuff!"

[McSmash Smash]

You take 6 Ivy Crown Archers and a Troop leader or an Elite with the Divine tome.  You cast Blessing on the Troop of archers giving them all +1 on their rolls and then you use the archers rapid shot ability giving the all +1 to their #RA. Normally, the rapid shot SA lowers the RAV by 1, but the blessing cancels that out.  So you get 12 shots at the normal RAV.  Or just a -1 penalty if shooting at extended range.

[EvilJames]

I was just relooking at the pictures people took of the potential bones 3 minis at reapercon and I happened to find some by fire elemental that I hadn't noticed before. There seem to be a LOT of Warlord minis hanging out with that 5-headed dragon. As in every mini on that shelf that is not, not-tiamat, is a warlord mini

[Qwyksilver]

You take 6 Ivy Crown Archers and a Troop leader or an Elite with the Divine tome.  You cast Blessing on the Troop of archers giving them all +1 on their rolls and then you use the archers rapid shot ability giving the all +1 to their #RA. Normally, the rapid shot SA lowers the RAV by 1, but the blessing cancels that out.  So you get 12 shots at the normal RAV.  Or just a -1 penalty if shooting at extended range.

You can spend 220 points far more efficiently as a Crusader.  But each unto their own.

[MiniCannuck]

Our gaming group found both Reaper and Warlord at GenCon a few years ago.  First we played Dragon's Night Out with Tim and his crew.  We had so much fun that we went straight to the Reaper booth where we met Bryan.  With his help, all of us bought armies and rule books.  This encounter is also how I found out about this forum and ReaperCon.  So, basically, I owe a simple game of Warlord inspired rules a lot.

 

Unfortunately, we don't play the game very much anymore.  We play a lot of games and something about Warlord stops it being the one we pull out.  It's hard to put a finger on why. The rules are good and there are lots of factions and models to choose from.  When we spoke about it, the general consensus is that we just were invested in the Warlord world.  The current books don't have much of a story and the parts there are a bit generic.  The models are amazing but there is no overseer to the game in order to make sure the styles work together between and in each faction.  Warlord falls into the realms of the Vortex game system - the rules are fine but it is hard to get invested when there is no story.

 

A few years ago, I was part of a group who were trying to come up with ideas on how to revitalize the game.  Some of the suggestions were great but nothing came of it.  Perhaps someone will have better luck in the future.

 

Either way, I still love the models I collected and they make it to the gaming table in many of our RPG and miniature games.

[Loim]

I bought both 1st and 2nd ed books. I plan on trying my hand at some army building, since I have a ton of Bones and Reaper Metal figs. I figure I can easily proxy in models for those I don't have.