Warhammer 40K: Tempest of War Cards Actually Seem Really Useful
The new mission pack Tempest of War card deck actually seems like a useful tool for creating fun and different Matched Play games.
It feels like years ago when Games Workshop released the Maelstrom of War card deck. This was a pack of cards that was supposed to help players create missions and battles on the fly — just by drawing cards. In theory, it sounded great! You could create these “randomly” designed objectives that all worked together to help keep your games fresh and different. At least from the same 6 or so missions from the main rules. But players quickly found a few flaws in the system and lots of folks just sort of shelved them.
Fast forward to now and GW is releasing the new Tempest of War card deck. This takes the same concept and improves to make it even better. And it actually sounds like GW might have gotten it right this go around!
“Robin Cruddace: Tempest of War actually originated as a project I put together over lockdown – with some blank cards, glue, and scissors to make a prototype deck – alongside the help of our playtesting teams. That poor deck is looking rather tatty now, it’s been shuffled so much!
We’ve kept the best bits of the classic Maelstrom of War that people loved, removed the parts that they found frustrating, and evolved it into Tempest of War. It captures the feel of a dynamic conflict, with commanders having to react to the ebb and flow of battle, but it does so in a format and mission structure that firmly sits within the 9th edition of Warhammer 40,000.”
Tempest of War Cards
So what’s an example of something that was changed with this pack? How about those Secondary Mission Objectives? With the old Maelstrom of War pack a player might get saddled with a secondary they just couldn’t score for a round. That was not a good feeling. In fact, lots of players even created house rules about getting reshuffle or redraw secondaries. Thankfully, with the new pack, the same issue has been addressed.
The new pack also focuses on “fair and balanced gameplay” with the mission generator cards. Many of the mission rules should be familiar for anyone who’s played with the current Grand Tournament rules. It seems like the right mix of Open Play and Matched Play mission rules.
Will these be necessary for everyone? Not entirely. But that’s okay! Each deck is designed for two players so not everyone has to have a pack to take advantage of this system. And hey, if you enjoy playing the same missions the same way every time go for it. But if you’re looking to change things up and challenge yourself to a constantly shifting mission plan then check out the new Tempest of War Card Pack. This one seems like GW learned and improved on the previous implementation quite a bit!
Tempest of War Card Mission Pack – This actually sounds like fun!
