Me and 2 friends have played this for years, in fact decades, having a game every 6 months or so. The original blue box version boards have fallen to bits…Alongside Wooden Ships and Iron Men, and Kingmaker, this is one the great three war boardgames of all time, and I have had many a happy alcohol sodden day/ weekend spent playing Warlord with long term friends. Who knows, perhaps it will take off big time and the world will have competitions.
Richard Stone
Although now 52 years old, as a student and for many years afterwards I was part of the University College of Wales Aberystwyth Caving Club – whose main ‘pub’ game was Apocalypse. The more ‘mature’ ex-members still get together to play it occasionally. I knew the history of the game and we used an expansion board that I think was modelled on Warlord. Games commonly took 36+ hours, usually in pubs on the Irish west coast, but also inSpainand on other caving expeditions and general drunken trips and parties. Apocalypse was shorter and I recall us having three tables going on more than one occasion. With the games disappearance we had to start making our own boards and playing pieces eventually, as things wore out. Great game with a lot of personal history. Simple in terms of rules, great gameplay, works with beer. What more can one ask ?
Richard Marshall
I am so pleased it is available again. I first played the game as a teenager (oops – that is 30 years ago!) but at that time the original version was difficult to come by, so I could only purchase for myself the Games Workshop version – good, but limited by geography… And then I see this, from yourselves. I am an active wargamer (ie figure gamer as per our American cousins) but my Friday night group often play boardgames – Conquest of the Empires, Shogun, Buck Rogers etc, so I am looking forward to some games now of Classic Warlord. I wish you well with this re-release – as you quite rightly say, a classic game, with a truly unique combat mechanism.
Mark Flack
I first bought the blue box edition in ’78/9 from the original GW in Dalling Road – played loads of games at our school games club for several years (and still have the original board somewhere I am sure) and always liked the simple but sophisticated combat mechanism (which I have shamelessly borrowed several times since for campaign games!) Now all I have to do is reconvene the now 50-something gamers of my youth for a reunion game!
Simon Walker
I knew of Warlord from Games & Puzzles magazine in the 70s (I think), and I remember the Games Workshop version Apocalypse, which I played many years ago, but I never actually owned a copy.
Mark Buckley
I’ve been a longtime player of Warlord. I narrowly missed the opportunity to own a copy of the initial release and have only played the GW edition. I first learned Warlord at a gaming convention in theU.S. I’m delighted to see the publication of Classic Warlord and I’m looking forward to some good memories.
Timothy Thrailkill (San Francisco)
Thanks very much, I await with trembling anticipation. Tim Harford tweeted that it was out. I played the GW edition many years ago, so was very excited to get my hands on it.
Nick Smith
I ordered it as soon as I saw it for sale as I have been looking for a copy of Warlord ever since I first played Apocalypse and found out there was a bigger brother. I first played Apocalypse when Games Workshop released it in the 1980s. Hopefully I’ll get the new game onto the gaming table soon.
Richard Clyne
I found out about the new edition somewhat by accident, reviewing comments I’d made about old favourites on Boardgamegeek. My comment on GW’s Apocalypse (the version I have, and how I originally came across the game) was it really deserved a reprint, and coincidentally there was a picture of a new and unfamiliar box… seeing it was a small print run I decided to indulge myself as a New Year treat in case it became practically unobtainable again (though I very much hope this is a step to better availability and something of the popularity the game deserves). Best wishes for 2013 and here’s to good sales!
Peter Clinch
I’ve known of the game for many years, having owned first of all a copy of Apocalypse in the early 90s and then a copy of the 1978 2nd edition Warlord for about five years, having sought one for the best part of twenty! Finding Classic Warlord to be available was a complete chance find on Boardgamegeek this morning, whilst trailing something else which in turn led me to look at Eamon Bloomfield’s “Top 10” which then alerted me to the existence of this new edition. Convoluted, random, but ultimately rewarding. I’m especially looking forward to the upgraded components, though I will still keep an eye open for a first edition red box Warlords – I’ve enjoyed board and card games my whole life, but with a renewed passion since about 1990, (I am now 45), but am yet to see anything other than a photograph of the original. One day…in the meantime, I look forward to getting the new edition to the table soon.
Richard Ingram
Believe it or not I was mid game when I received your email. I took the game down to my local game shop to play a game with a few of the locals. Had a very good game, I’ve mounted my board in a large format picture frame it helps with keeping all the tokens in place.
Axel Abbott
Many thanks for your email and swift dispatch! I first played Warlord on what looked like a hand-made set back in the very early 1980’s. That set was unfortunately lost, but my brothers and I have often reminisced about how fantastic Warlord was. I came across you while searching for Warlord on boardgamegeek. I’m so pleased that you have re-issued it (it looks great) and I’m genuinely excited at the thought of playing it after all these years (I think I last played it in 1986!). Having just spoken to my older brother, I suspect he is ordering his own copy as I type!
David Barrett
I can see your interest in future software versions, but I think that the beauty of the game lies in the negotiation aspect. I think that may be hard to translate into the software world. I have played Diplomacy by mail or email these days and that does work. So perhaps a similar asynchronous system would work in Warlord. Also, I played Warlord way back in college at Vanderbilt in the early ’80’s. Someone had brought a copy over from theUK, and I remember playing it in one of the engineering labs.
Douglas Weinstein (Taiwan)
Will here, thanks once again for letting myself and Kaz play Classic Warlord with you last week, I thoroughly enjoyed myself!
Will Ross
Purely by chance, I was tidying some games away, making a note on Boardgamegeek.com about where I had put my copy of Games Workshop’s Apocalypse and noticed a thread about a re-release. Having played the original in the 1970’s with the big board I always had a hankering for it so I couldn’t resist the new version.
Ryszard Hermaszewski
The game arrived here in Wisconsin, USA on October 9th So however you sent it only took about 6 days to get here – I think that’s really, really good. I haven’t had a chance to set it up yet, but my brief peek inside looked awesome! It took me a long time to hunt down the red box edition (it was on my grail list for a long time), so I’m excited to add this copy to my collection!
Andrew Kluessendorf (Wisconsin)