We are pleased to announce that Tor Gaming is now stocking War for Edađh - The Beginning.
You can order your copy directly from us for £16.19 GBP - and if you're in the U.K., you can also opt for free postage.
War for Edađh - An Introduction
Forget everything you know about wargames, battle games and card games because War for Edađh is its own game completely and can't be compared to what you're used to playing. Based in the original, fantasy world of Edađh - pronounced ed-ath - the game allows you to take control of armies of troops and go head-to-head against your opponent over different battlefields. Building your army is the equivalent of deck building, and you can pick and choose from any of the Troop Cards up to a specific points limit that you and your opponent decide upon. Terrain Cards then form the battlefield and also allow you to fight at three different combat ranges - long range, short range and hand-to-hand. By employing the right card at the right time, you can move between these ranges so that you can get your army to the range most suited to it and that can do the most damage to your opponent.
There are many elements that stand out in the game, one of which is that you can tailor not only the length of the game, but the depth of play as well. It can be played light and fast, or you can really get stuck into gameplay that allows you to use champions, standards, leaders, troop formations, maneuver across terrain from one Terrain Card to another and employ stratagems.
In each round of the game, you're trying to inflict as much damage to your opponent as possible. To do this, both players have a hand of six Mastery Cards. The players pick one of these cards each and play them simultaneously. Each card has one value at either end, so your six Mastery Card hand is actually made up of the values 1 through 12. The two players compare the numbers on their played Mastery Cards with the higher value being the winner, but some cards increase to a higher value based on the card that the opponent played, so game play is not quite as simple as straightforward number comparisons. This phase of each turn is a game of bluff and double-bluff, a mental battle in which you play your opponent more than the cards - a psychological battle of out-thinking the other player or making a move he doesn't expect.
There are a number of skill points that you use during the game. Each round, the Mastery Card you play dictates the number of skill points that you use up - and when they reach 0, you lose the game.
Once you've played your Mastery Card and reduced your skill points, you pick one of your Troop Cards and then it's a simple case of the winner comparing his Troop Card's attack to the loser's defence to work out the amount of damage the loser takes. Any damage you take is monitored on the same score track as your skill points. Skill points start at 50 and come down. Damage starts at 0 and goes up; when your damage counter is above your skill points, you lose. You could discard your army's Troop Cards to bring your damage back down and keep you in the game, but if you discard all your Troop Cards... you lose!
It's a simple, tactical system with elements of bluffing, but the gameplay is such that you're directly playing your opponent all the time and have to watch for patterns in his play. As the game progresses it gets really intense and competitive. The whole mechanic was built around the principle that your choices and decisions alone determine your success or failure - luck is minimized and if at the end you lose, then you've only got yourself to blame.
Additional elements such as champions and stratagems add extra layers of tactics and strategy to the game and can influence each round in such a way that even if you lose the round you can end up taking no damage.
All you need to start playing is the base set - War for Edađh: The Beginning - which consists of 120 cards allowing for a full two-player game. You also get score cards and molded counters, as well as two rulebooks. Expansions will consist of set decks of 55 cards so you will know what cards you're getting within each deck. However, collect all the decks from a release - from two to four decks - and you'll be able to get your hands on the rare cards - the most powerful Troop Cards. WarriorElite Ltd, the company behind War for Edađh, is scheduling a release every four months, so the acquisition of one deck a month will allow you to obtain all the standard and rare cards available. This collectible model means you can easily get into and keep up with the game and can play War for Edađh alongside your current game of choice.
You will also be able to acquire unique and rare cards through organized play and tournaments.
The expansions will offer more troop types to choose from, as well as new warring factions to have as your army of choice, more powerful champions, standards and leaders, more cunning stratagems, different terrain as well as adding in new elements to the game such as magic. Add to that different ways to play the game from guerrilla warfare through to sieges through to naval encounters, aerial dogfights, tunnel combat and more, and War for Edađh offers you a game that will continue to be fresh and challenging for a very, very long time.