In the early 2000s, there was a glut of deck-based card games on the market. Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering were making a killing, and companies flooded the marketplace with imitators. The only one that I really ever got into was Warlord: Saga of the Storm. My brother and I played this as often as we could about twenty years ago. It was almost like we were kids again, except we could drive ourselves to the comic book stores to buy decks and card packs, and we weren't limited to iced tea in our libations.
Warlord, as the game was always shortened to, was a classic rank-and-file game, where you faced off against your opponent by placing cards on the table with your front lines facing off and then support characters lining up in rows behind them. Each card had attack and defense abilities, and maybe some special talents too. Those in the front rank were able to attack hand-to-hand, while second rank could only use ranged attacks like bows or spells. Guys could move up and down the ranks, get knocked out, you know the drill. You'd build your deck trying to strike a balance between power and flexibility, between cannon fodder guys and heavy hitters. There were a variety of factions you could play, such as Dwarves or Men or Orcs, each with their own characters and styles.
Like most card games, success relied upon a combination of strategy and luck. Like most of the games we played, my brother always seemed to have just enough of both most of the time.
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