Warrior Elite versus Michael Barnes

I really like WAR FOR EDADH. It's an inexpensive yet pretty detailed and rich game that, if it lives up to the potential that all the proposed expansions and add-ons suggests, could wind up an amazing and unique addition to the fantasy gaming canon. EDADH isn't quite like anything I've ever played- it feels more like UP FRONT than anything else but then it has all these oddball mechanics from out of nowhere that make it feel like something pretty fresh. I really dig that the game is modular- you can play simple "best of three" skirmishes with limited rules and troop types or you can go all out and do full-on set piece battles with a bunch of terrain types, different units, tactics cards, standards, manuever, flanking, and a whole host of other wargamey stuff that I didn't expect from the game at all. The expansions are going to add heroes, quests, and other more rounded features to really tell the full story of the titular War for Edadh. And yeah, that's "ee-dath", as in Edith. Kind of.

Anyway, I had intended to do a full review of the game but I also wanted to do an interview with Warrior Elite, the DIY upstarts who have designed and published the game. It's at Gameshark.com right now. I think it turned out to be a pretty great conversation, they had a lot to say about the game and also about iindie publishing in the hobby market. Plus they were funny and didn't just feed me "party line" pseudo-marketing stuff, and I really appreciated that. I think you folks will too. Anyway, this is part I and part II is next week. Review after that.