Ronnie here, dear blog readers! Today I’m taking over the blog to talk about the wonderful subject of Vanguard cards. When we launched Vanguard, we always knew that the lifeblood of a skirmish game is to create varied, fun and interesting warbands.

What’s more, these warbands need to adapt to the ever-changing meta and remain balanced – so that requires a fair bit of playtesting (when I say fair bit, I mean sh*t loads!!!). So, in the rulebook we included introductory warbands for 14 factions – so everyone can get started – and since launch we kept topping up the choices with full warband releases, with extra units and new stats for existing units.

Considering that Vanguard only launched last October, we’re already chunking through the factions and released the following:

• Forces of the Abyss
• Nightstalkers
• Basileans
• Northern Alliance
• Dwarfs
• Forces of Nature
• Goblins
• Trident Realm

As part of these releases, we also produce poker card sized warband reference cards. These provide a handy guide during games, so you always know what stats your fighters have.

Alongside the warband cards, we’ve also been working with EasyArmy to provide an online warband building option that can be used to easily create faction lists, add equipment and then print them out. The idea of working with EasyArmy was so that Kings of War players with a mighty collection of Mantic minis could create a list without the need for buying warband sets, which came with the cards.

DO YOU TAKE CARD?

Although the vast majority of Vanguard players have been happy using EasyArmy, since launch we’ve had numerous requests to sell the cards on their own.

To be honest, it’s always a tricky prospect releasing cards on their own. There are lots of boring, logistical reasons why it becomes a headache for the warehouse (largely because small print run sizes drive price, and then making sure you have the same number of boxes and cards becomes a challenge). The result of which all means printing high-quality cards in small numbers is more expensive than you might think!

But, we’re a lovely bunch here at Mantic and we listen to our loyal fans. So, with the launch of the Trident Realm warband we will also be releasing a card-only bundle. The printer printed us some additional cards – on top of the retail release – and we’re launching those as a website-only product to see how popular card-only releases are.

We’ll be monitoring the sales closely and if they’re received well, we’ll considering back filling the rest of the range with card-only bundles. Ultimately we want to see even more of you playing Vanguard and if the cards are the only barrier to entry, then that’s something we want to solve!

The launch of the Trident Realm warband is really only the start of our Vanguard summer. We’ve got the Ice & Iron supplement and Undead launching next month, plus we’d like to do some sort of weekend, mini campaign at some point too. So stay tuned for that. Thanks again for making sure Vanguard got off to a flying start and here’s to a long and successful future for the game!

The Trident Realm Warband Card Set is only available to buy from the Mantic website here.

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