Pretty easy question.

Watch the video tutorial. It is very well done and it will help you learn the basics of the game. Here's the link:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp

Rules and FAQ are also available in this page.

Did that already. Did that before I actually bought the game. I did learn one thing inbetween my two play sessions. Developments are cards face down. =)

For a new player or any player Id read through the rulebook.

Print out the official faq (it makes key changes to the basic rules set, especially the turn rules)

Print out the rules summary, currently on the 2nd page of the rules questions sub board

Read through all three, you should definately be able to memerise the things in the rulebook by playing a few games added to the changes to the rules changes from the faq.

Id keep on hand both the rules summary and faq, because if you're like me with memory you wont be able to remember every change to card text or clarification of the card text before you change from new player to not so new player.

But the most important thing is to just get playing, and once you get more cards than just the core set fiddling around with your decks.

Hi...
I'm a newbie, from the remote land of Venezuela (South-america).

I almost bought my first starter set from Amazon, but i want no know first some little things from Warhammer Invasion....

1) Do you use "Metagame" list for creating your decks? I have experience in other TCG's and, the "metagame" factor makes me sick... i want innovation, fully customization of my deck and, creating competitive strategies at the same time.

2) There are "banned", "tornament retired" sets or cards?

Thanks in advance.

@Manchine

You want advice for a new player that goes beyond "read the rules"?

After playing a few games of constructed using the pre-con decks included in the core and expansion, play draft style with the cards you have.

Despite the flaws in the army you find you like playing, always try to stick to upgrading that deck. The flaws will disappear as more cards are released. And when all the flaws are ironed out then you will have a great understanding over how to use your deck. The deck you play should only ever be good in your hands.

Never clone or play "meta decks". These decks are min/maxed and will not be fun for others getting used to the game to play against. IN return they will create a clone of a meta deck that answers yours....this is not how card games were intended to work back in the days of old school TCGs.

Read the articles posted on the support section and news section. They will help you see where the designers are trying to take this game and allow you to adjust to that play style.

@Norlo and others that fear meta

Any game has meta for Street Fighter 4 it's Sagat and for Super Street Fighter 4 it's Guile. El Furte is a weaker character on a lower tier, however I can find you tube vids of people having fun with el and also find a few experts that take out Sagats and Guiles. When a new player comes to the game of Street Fighter I just tell them to pick who looks cool, then I choose random.

I encourage free thinking and draft play. This is the equivalent to the above.
In draft mode you will get a feel of combos you never would have discovered by accident had you been playing the cloned "meta" decks. Just remember you have multiple "meta games".

You have "friendly meta" where a group of friends play together and find a deck one player uses to be the "meta deck".

Next you have "local meta" where those "friendly meta" decks are taken to a local level and compete. The better deck is the "local favorite" and becomes the "local meta deck" to beat.

Moving up to "regional meta" this is where the "local meta" decks meet to battle. The winner of the regional tourney has his deck declared "regional meta". Regional events take place at venues and usually the results are posted online. This is where the trouble starts, more on this later.

From here you have Nationals and that is, in hindsight, where all the different meta decks from above compete. But that is not what happens, instead what ends up happening is that people just look on the forums at the "Regional Meta Decks" and clone the popular few. Why would they do this? Because the reward is too great to take the chance at being wrong. The players in Nationals would rather take the chance of having equal decks and relying on their skill to beat an opponent.

Finally you have Worlds and this is where you would expect to find the Nation winning deck just cloned over a bunch in the top 8. However you discover that each nation has its own "nation meta deck". So you will see these decks for sure. My favorite part about Nat'ls and Worlds is how there is always a strong willed soul that brings what they think is the "answer meta" deck and sneaks into top 8.

The point of this post is to ignore "meta" it doesn't exist. People will throw that word around for sure, but you have to remember only the fans that care to post in the forums are driving the "meta" game. There are other players out there that do not post in these forums and possibly don't care enough to see the up coming cards. Then there are lurkers that have their own decks but never post anything int he forums. I know this because my last post with previews for the enemy cycle had 200 views in 2 days...but only 7 replies.

Finally you need to understand that cards that are great in constructed won't have as much of an effect in draft and visa versa. Some will even think there are "meta draft" and meta constructed".

Back int he early days of magic before the interwebs were exploding with content. The Worlds and Nationals deck winners where so far fetch. I remember the winner of the 95 i believe World champs used a manticore and other various lnad and artfact creatures no one thought up. Another year a blue deck with huge counter spells and disks and the land that counted as a 4/4 artifact creature placed second.

So ignore what you read in the forums as meta. Instead the best thing to do is create a deck with theme and flavor then post it asking for critiques. It may be what my friend's call a "sleeper meta". If the deck feels right take it all the way to Worlds.

As for the second question, there are no banned cards and should never be since the game has cycles to help answer problem cards and cycles do not retire.

DavidTJ said:

for the rule changes, do you mean that action phase added as 0 line before the game begins like normal in the rulebook?

Whether you like it or not, the metagame is something that you need to take into account in any card game that has tournaments. All the metagame refers to is what the most played decks are. You don't have to be playing any of the most popular decks, but you need to know that they are the most popular so you don't play completely useless cards in your deck, or you can play cards that are decent. The reason We Need Your Blood is even playable right now is because of all the Skaven (and other 1 HP units) that people play right now. If the metagame were such that most players used units that had 3 or 4 HP, that card would be near useless in your deck. This is really only applicable if you plan to play in tournaments, or you have friends that like to play what is trendy.

My advise to new players would be to learn timing and what the best opportunity is to play certain cards. Like Mob Up, don't use it until after the opponent tries to cancel your damage just so it gets rid of that card in their hand.

I agree with darkdeal. At tourney level, the metagame is unavoidable. It is a rare trait in humans to become leaders. Leading takes a ton of effort and this applies to card games. It is easier to buy singles and clone a metadeck than it is to make a great tourney competitive deck using a bunch of random boosters. We have more followers in this world than we have leaders, so naturally it will reflect in gaming.

As long as you applied yourself and learn how to improve your deck against a meta deck, then I don't see why meta should matter. Chuck Norris didn't quit training because his master, Bruce Lee, was too good for him. Now look at him...he is a legend in the world, because he chose to master and create his own style rather than copy Bruces. And they had equal time in hollywood, so you can't use the Texas Ranger excuse. Bruce Lee was Kato in green hornet.

Even before the internet jokes, he was known for his unique styles and mastery of multiple forms.

The point of my post was not to insult the meta game. Heh if I wanted to do that I would. The point of my post was to discourage people from avoiding the game because it has a strong metagame.

Warhammer Invasion is an amazing game and will evolve the same way other games have. I can already tell the new hot units coming up are going to be the 2 defense/health ones that only cost 1 resource. This happened with Magic and WoW, and other similar card games.The meta starts out weenie rush, but then those 2 health for 1 resource cards get brought in and everything slows down and makes control a more viable strategy. Gobos will remain cheap and have 1 hp, but they will cost 0 to play for orcs. Orcs will becomes stronger with more greenskins on the battlefield but gobos will not.

Tactics will become cheaper to use but deal less impact on the game. They wanted to get the big cards out first because they will still be useful even when weaker cards of the same type enter the game. I personally knew one of the creators behind the Deadlands card game and he has explained to me how a card game begins and where they want to end up. Magic, Doomtown, WoW, L5R and even Pokemon have gone through the stages he has laid out for me.

Basically you release with expensive cards that have high attack because expensive is relative at release when everything is "so expensive". Then you even the balance of rush and control with high defense or health units for cheaper cost. All cards have this happen. Spells come out very BIG and then weaker ones are released BUT they are cheaper (this is key as the hand curve developes) and more useful for control decks. Locations that seemed standard bland +1 this or +1 that change into places that don't grant as many resource but provide unique effects to the game.

So don't be worried. I will use Yugioh for example. When that game first released, cards rarely had effect and specials on them. Now every single card seems to. They took it overboard though and have to ban cards. Never a good idea to ban cards that people spent a ton of money on to acquire. Even worse to then include them in starters and ruin the value of the originals.

Because Invasion releases a pack at the end of every month and is now being developed by a "tourney gamer" expect it to shape up fast. When one good card comes out as an answer it may not seem like much, but remember you will have 3 in the deck. If 4 great cards that answer probs for an army release in one month, then that is a possible 12 cards replacing less useful/flawed cards in the deck. Even a 60 card deck improves as 1 fifth of it is replaced. And that's just for one army in a single month. Over the course of 5 months...you could have every original card replaced with one from the new cycle.

I hope I have encouraged any with doubts to let them go for now and just play the game while it expands.