“The world is littered with the detritus of a hundred thousand battles. The bones of the dead lie scattered in shallow graves. Every vale, ford and copse has seen the blood of warriors spilt.”
–Warhammer, “The Years of Conflict”

A new Regional Championship Tournament Season closes in upon a world of eternal war, and the developers of Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game have anticipated the season’s first skirmishes by updating the game’s FAQ (pdf, 8.2 MB) and tournament rules (pdf, 4.5 MB).

Download the FAQ (left) or tournament rules (right)

A printer-friendly version of the FAQ is also available on the game’s support page .

The battles for the Old World look to be as ferocious as ever in 2013, inspired by the game’s new Eternal War cycle and some of the rulings, restrictions, and errata the developers have implemented in the new FAQ.

Below, the game’s developers speak in more depth about the contents of the new FAQ and tournament rules, and they provide some insights into their rationale.

Inside the Updated Warhammer: Invasion FAQ

Greetings, Warhammer: Invasion players!

With FAQ update 2.0, we are tweaking the competitive environment and breaking up combos that lead to negative play experiences. As such, we have expanded the restricted list and issued errata for several cards. In addition to these changes, you’ll also notice that the FAQ has been reordered to be easier to read and more intuitive to use. New rules released in the latest cycle have also been incorporated, along with new rules questions.

The main goal of these updates is to promote greater variety within the metagame. The restricted list is intended to generate deeper gameplay by making players decide between several of the game’s most powerful cards. However, because competitive players rarely selected a restricted card other than Warpstone Excavation ( Core Set , 116), we decided the previous restricted list was not adequately impacting the metagame. Accordingly, we have added more cards to the restricted list, forcing each race to make difficult choices as to which of the game’s most powerful cards they want to include in their decks.

• Dwarf Ranger ( Core Set , 10): Dwarf Ranger was restricted to break up the game-winning combo with Reclaiming the Fallen ( The Silent Forge , 42). Its restriction should also lead to increased unit variation among Dwarf decks.
• Urguck ( Core Set , 62) and Fist of Mork ( City of Winter , 82): These cards were added to the list to break up an infinite combo; neither is degenerate on its own.
• Judgement of Loec ( Legends , 26): This card gave the High Elves easy unit removal.
• Sacrifice to Khaine ( The Chaos Moon , 37) and Temple of Spite ( Vessel of the Winds , 75): Dark Elf control strategies have long been competitive at the top tiers because of the wide variety of control cards available to them. The restriction of these cards limits their choices and forces players to be more creative.
• Sorcerer of Tzeentch ( The Twin Tailed Comet , 53): The low loyalty cost of this unit made it an easy splash in any destruction deck. Its restriction makes its inclusion in a deck a harder decision instead of an auto include. Its presence also easily leads to degenerate game states where one player has locked down the board.
• Mounted Marauders ( Rising Dawn , 12) and Beastman Incursion ( The Accursed Dead , 60): Both of these cards provide Chaos with a high degree of flexibility, allowing them to easily control both unit and support cards.
• Muster for War ( Days of Blood , 20): Muster for War was restricted as it provided too much of a competitive advantage for the player that was fortunate enough to draw a copy or two early in the game.

More choices mean more deck types, and more deck types mean a healthier game. The expanded restricted list should also enhance the diversity of already popular decks, depending on which card from the restricted list each chooses to use.

Of course, without a change to Warpstone Excavation, the restricted card that has long been the most popular by far, adding more cards to the restricted list still would not have the intended effect.

As such, both Warpstone Excavation and Muster for War are not only on the restricted list, but they have also received errata to say, “Limit 1 per deck.” Both cards created a disproportionate amount of acceleration for the players lucky enough to draw them in their first few turns and were excellent fuel for combo decks that were not fun to play against. Combo decks have their place in most card games, but when they warp the metagame, a response becomes necessary. You will find several other errata that break up potential infinite combos. While we don’t want to discourage players from using powerful cards, their effects need to be mitigated for the health of the game.

– Warhammer: Invasion Developers Brad Andres & Lukas Litzsinger

Thanks, guys!

The time has come to plan your battles and war for the Old World. Download the updated Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game FAQ today, and get a jump on the 2013 Regional Championship Tournament Season!