Independent studio Warpforged Games has taken to Kickstarter for their first project, Mark of War, a turn-based strategy game that promises to bring tabletop RPGs onto your PC or Mac.

“Inspired by hugely successful tabletop games such as Warhammer, Warpforged have joined forces with best-selling writer and former Games Workshop designer Gav Thorpe to create the world of Mark of War, bringing to life a land ripe for conquest and battle—your conquest, your battles” their press release reads.

A core aspect to tabletop gaming is actually creating an army, and you’ll be doing that in Mark of War. After players choose a starter army based on faction, they’ll be tasked with building it up through completing quests, crafting new items, and winning battles.

“Using the in-game army builder, players will assemble their forces from a selection of troops, heroes, war machines, monsters, and more. Players will choose which spells their wizards will use and what magic items their heroes will wield. With near limitless combinations and strategies it will be up to you to create your own unstoppable army.”

Mark of War sets itself apart from other turn-based RPGs with an extensive “between turns” system. Players won’t just be issuing attacks, they’ll also be giving out defensive orders, responding to charges, accepting challenges, and even countering wizard spells.

With dice rolling as an integral game mechanic and player models with actual bases like traditional tabletop units, Mark of War truly is aiming to bring a niche game to a wide audience.

My Opinion:

While this isn’t quite my gaming cup-of-tea, I like the ideas behind it. There’s something cool about tabletop games, but the cost and startup time seem way too daunting. Mark of War is removing that, and that’s a good thing.

I will say that, despite the talk of hiring Gav Thorpe to write the story, what’s shown seems like a fairly generic Lord of the Rings/Warcraft affair with a bit of Diablo thrown in for flavor. The end result could be fun, but I’m not impressed as of now.

Chad Waller is an Associate Writer for MONG who has lots of opinions. He’s currently working on a video game (help him Kickstart it!) and sometimes likes to write stuff.