Before the further reading, I would like to point out that this is my view of the current situation of our belowed card game. I may be wrong, or right, but as the wise says, thruth is somewhere in the middle. Some of you might say that I’m moaning over the broken glass, but I think that I have the right to post my worries about my favourite card game.

Many of you have problably noticed that for some time there have been no informations from the Warlord team about what we can expect in the future. The situation has gone so far, that the petition to keep Warlord running was created at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/warlordccgfans/ (so if you want to see your favourite game running in the future, you should better sign it).

Some of the problems I see at this time, in no preference order:

• One of the things, which I find alarming is that Warlord is without Brand Manager since july, when Rich stepped down. Did it really take so long to find a new BM, or there is one, but it was decided to keep his name in secret? Or it was decided that Warlord don’t need one?

• Design problems – in the last three sets (Plane of Secrets, Stolen Destinies and Light & Shadow) there were unusual number of cards which needed quick errata, or even worse, banning from the tournament play. I understand that Medusan cards have no place in Epic Edition, even the epic books (which were basically open promos ported to Epic Edition field). What I did not understand is why rings from Stolen Destinies were printed at all, when they were banned from play three months after their release?? Even better this problem can be seen on Serolia Calix – she received errata one month after she were released, on the information based from one tournament, where she basically dominated the field.

• Rules – can you say that you fully understand all the rules in Warlord? I can’t. Some of the rules are pretty strange, and pretty hard to undertand. At this moment, the worst problems have been solved by the Rules team with FAQ for each set (can be found at ToL forums – rules section). The only solution to this problem is to finally create standards for wording on cards.

• Next set – we know that the next set name is probably “New Accord”. And that is it. There are some rumours that it will be first set before the next reset. Who knows. But will be released? If yes, then when. Last set was released in october. Hypothetically, if we see first previews in mid-january, then the set can be released at the end of february, which is five months after the previous set. But if I compare this with L5R (which has last set released about two weeks after Warlord’s last set) – they already know the release day for the next set at least month or two. Everybody can see it at Potomac store. No such love for Warlord, unfortunately.
• Support – I do not know how support works in US, but for europe, I can say it did not work at all (at least for me). With the changes how to get prize support for the tournaments you organize, you need store. If you don’t have store, you are pretty much screwed. Our last store which carried Warlord have closed year ago, and thanks to generosity of the owner of one gameclub, we still have a place for our regular tournaments. When I wrote to AEG for support, I wrote that we play in gameclub, I get a response that to get a support for playing in gameclub, there are different rules. When I asked for the rules, I never received answer. So much for being honest.

Last thing – not a problem on his own, but it just leaves odd feeling – most of you have probably noticed that every couple of months there is a special offer at AEG store. Each time you get some promos (or card tins), and a load of boosters and battle packs. Yeah, sure the price for the package is nice, but most of us need only the promos in the package. And in me it leaves the feeling like somebody need to clear the storehouses before something happens, especially when I compare the gift packs from this and last year.

In the end, was it really needed to come to this situation? Is there a possibility how to return back to the normal state??

If you have any comments, do not hesitate, and post them.. thanks.