Warlord: Saga of the Storm is a collectible card game designed by Kevin Millard and David Williams. It was produced by Alderac Entertainment Group since its introduction in April 2001 until January 2008, when they announced they were ceasing its production. In place of AEG, German company Phoenix Interactive has licensed the rights to produce the game and printed their first set, Fourth Edition, in July 2008. The longer official name is almost always shortened to Warlord and the subtitle "Saga of the Storm" is often used informally to refer to the original base set of cards. The game is unrelated to an earlier, similarly named CCG, Warlords. Warlord is based on the Rank & File system which in turn borrows basic elements from the d20 system. Originally intended as an easy-to-learn second game for players already familiar with d20 fantasy role-playing games, Warlord is often marketed with the tagline, "The game you already know how to play". Warlord was permanently discontinued by AEG and Phoenix Interactive in early 2012, approximately one decade after its initial release. Introduction Warlord differs from many other Collectible/Customizable card games in that, in gameplay, there is no specific "resource" required to bring cards into the playing field. In order to balance the gameplay, instead of separate "resources" being required, the game relies on its "Rank and File" system, using character level and location to determine whether items of a given level may be equipped, character level and class to determine whether a given action may be performed, and the number of "ranks" present in the player's formation to determine whether a given character can be brought in to play. Furthermore, characters themselves are often used as "resources" to perform certain actions in the game. Warlord's first reset was near the beginning of 2004, and was called Campaign Edition. The limited format was introduced in an attempt to bring more balance to the environment. The next reset, called Epic Edition, was released in August 2006. The card pool for Warlord currently has more than 2000 unique cards. Warlord was officially discontinued by Alderac in mid-January, 2008 and ownership was transferred to Phoenix Interactive later that year. Fourth Edition was released in late July 2008, followed by the first expansion for the new edition "Shattered Empires" in late 2008/ early 2009. Game play In Warlord every player takes control of an army with the single objective