Warstorm is a free, online collectible card game no longer available on Facebook. The game places you as a General who will assemble multiple squads of up to six troops, spells and artifacts, led by a powerful Hero, to battle increasingly difficult foes. You win the battle if your squad(s) wiped out all your enemies or inflict enough damage to lower the enemy General's Morale point to zero. Squad members match up against each other, doing damage to each other until the individual card's health reaches zero and it is discarded to the graveyard. When cards are sent to the graveyard, the battle line reorders, removing the space and reordering the troops in the battle line, sometimes greatly changing the dynamics of the battle.
The main proponents are familiar, stock fantasy races - Humans, Elves, Orcs, Undead, Demons, and Neutral - each with particular play styles and abilities. Each General can embark on campaigns consisting of several battles, each using one or more squads. There is also a multiplayer variant, where a General can battle hand-picked squads from other Generals, and an automatic rankings system tracks your progress.
As for now Warstorm.com is now closed, the exclusive source of Warstorm is located on Facebook, which is currently run by Zynga Austin, the department which is the reincarnation of Challenge Games, the founder of Warstorm being an Australia Company.
As of September 30, 2011, Warstorm on Facebook has been shut down by Zynga.
Similar game is Confrontation Web Card Game
Cards[]
- Main article: Workflow
The game is played using a number of randomly drawn cards from your deck. Cards are drawn at the start of your turn and accumulate in your staging area until their ready counter reaches zero. The ready counter specifies the number of turns after it is drawn before it is able to be played (automatically). Usually this means that more powerful, more dangerous cards take longer to play. This counter is decreased every turn - both yours AND your opponents.
There are four different card types, each with specific roles. As a summary, the types are:
- Hero - One and only one hero leads a squad composed of troops and may have access to artifacts and spells. Heroes often have Abilities. The card attributes of the Hero determines the number of troops, artifacts, and spells in their squad.
- Troop - The "meat" of a squad, they provide the bulk of the attack and defense of the player.
- Artifact - Rare items that enhance a Hero or Troop. Each Hero or Troop can only ever have one artifact deployed to it, often providing abilities independent of the card it attaches to. Artifacts are deployed to the first Hero or troop available at the battle line.
- Spell - Rare magics that are played as soon as they become available, with a variety of effects, from direct damage to troops and Heroes, to reducing turns required for cards to enter play or even recovering cards that have been discarded to the graveyard.
Heroes and Troops have values for Attack, Ready, and Health, and may have abilities.
Each card also has a rarity that affects its attack, abilities, or ready counter.
Gameplay[]
- Main article: Battle cycle
Each Troop or Hero that has their wait counter reach zero is deployed to the right-most end of the row of cards. Order is important: each Troop card directly attacks ONLY the card matched directly opposite it, and failing an opposing card being deployed, the enemy player's life. Certain Abilities may lead it to affect other cards not directly matched to it, however. This means battles can turn quickly as cards are destroyed down the order, as the compression of your row of troops leads to mismatched battles between troops that have differing strengths, weaknesses and Abilities.
Free play[]
This requires its own, bold, sentence: Warstorm can be played, successfully and indefinitely, for free.
Warstorm can be played entirely free on both versions, beyond the associated costs of getting to the website.
In warstorm.com, Warstorm has a single player mode with a storyline that tests the player against a variety of foes, showing all of the playable races and their Abilities. Success in a single player battle rewards you with a "booster pack" of 3 Basic pack cards. This allows players to build increasingly powerful (and more numerous) squads, for free. The downside to solely free play is that you will only be rewarded with Basic packs as rewards, restricting you to playing with basic Humans and Elves. Because the basic Humans and Elf Heroes have no appropriate slots available to them, you cannot easily experience Artifacts or Spells, and will not have access to assembling squads of Orcs or Undead. Also, no demon cards and neutral troops are available.
In Facebook, all six factions of cards can be obtained. However, Mercenaries Expansion Packs which consist of the most powerful and strange cards in the game are not included. They must be bought with Facebook credit, or via Paypal or credit card. The money will be changed into Warstorm cash for spending. These real-life cash based currencies can also buy exclusively new campaigns, Packs of cards, Single cards with ease, pre-built squads, and replay completed campaigns.
Competitive play[]
Beyond the linear single player campaign, the player can also battle other real life people. These fall in to several types of battles - challenges and auto match battles.
Challenges are issued to other players directly through the attack link on the appropriate ladder ranking. A search function is also included to allow you to seek out a specific opponent. The person issuing the challenge selects the number of squads to be used and the defender must match that. Facebook version has a completely different type of challenge, called daily campaigns. With enough neighbors for a player, he/she can battle randomly selected neighbors for extra silver.
Auto match battles are battles with a random "similar skill" opponent that is also looking for an auto battle. To set up an auto match battle, you simply click the auto battle button, then select the specific squads you wish to send to battle. An opponent will then be sought and when found, the battle can be watched. In Facebook, the facility is named Quick match. The main difference is winning three times each day gives extra of 1000 silver, while regular playing gives maximum of 100 silver and 500 experience for the same opposing player.
Rewards[]
The game has Experience points and associated Levels, and leveling up awards you 1000 silver. Facebook version gives an option to share an extra 1000 silver among neighbors. Beyond the single player Basic pack rewards, there are also Achievement goals, tied to competitive play, that provide you the opportunity to win more card pack rewards, including larger packs and more guaranteed rarities. These Achievements include winning a number of competitive battles, winning with appropriate numbers of squads, different factions, ladder ranking, and participation in Tournaments. An Expert Pack is rewarded if you log in at least once a day for 5 days straight. Facebook version feature "Achievements", that players gain extra silver and rare cards if certain number of battles are won in specified requirements (for example, three or more factions in the whole squad in battle), along with chances to share silver with neighbors.
Pack types[]
- Warstorm.com based packs
- Basic packs are packs of 3 "basic" cards - consisting of Heroes and Troops from the Humans and Elves races only. Basic packs are the standard reward for leveling, completing single player missions, as well as the lower end of the Achievements rewards.
- Core packs were only available through purchase in the Marketplace in Warstorm.com and had 5 core cards each pack. This means that in addition to Humans and Elves, they can have Orcs and Undead and deamon Heroes and Troops, as well as the only opportunity to get Artifacts and Spells.
- Faction packs are a special category, purchased through the Marketplace. These consist of a predetermined makeup of cards, with specific rarities and can make a well-rounded starter for paid play.
- Facebook based packs: Please visit this page.