War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time® now live on Kickstarter!

It’s launch day! War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time^® is now live on Kickstarter, and we’re digging into the beloved heroes and cast of villains of the iconic literary series to see how their battles come to life at your table!

Friends & Enemies

The Wheel of Time^® is a huge story, full of interesting characters. It’s not just the heroes and villains we bring to the table, but it’s everyone between – and so many of them play important roles throughout the narrative. Any game set in this world has to decide how (or if) to tackle that impressive cast, but we knew we wanted War of the Dragon to be an experience that lives up to the ambition of “The Wheel of Time-in-a-box” with content from all 14 books. In order to actually cover that scope and the long list of names, we ended up with a variety of ways for everyone (within reason) to get their moments in the spotlight. So, how will your favorite characters show up? Let’s find out!

Five Heroes

Much like the series itself, our cast begins with the “Emond’s Field Five,” the five villagers who form the heart of the story. Rand, Egwene, Mat, Perrin, and Nynaeve start every game on the map and are the Light player’s most important characters.

By the time of War of the Dragon, our heroes have separated and spread across the continent, giving the Light a foothold in various spots in the Westlands. They are well-situated to being your key to early control of the game, with positions that give them opportunities to take over different regions. Don’t be surprised it you find that different characters are your strongest weapons against the Shadow game-to-game.

Of course, just like in the story, they are supported by some other important and familiar faces.

Moiraine and Lan aren’t characters on the map (at least at the start of the game), but their guidance and wisdom, brought into play by their cards in the Light player’s deck, are vital tools in the war against the Shadow.

Surely, nothing bad will happen to your favorite character during the game…

The Inner Circle

With the main protagonists covered, let’s look at the next group of characters. These are important people from the story – stalwart supporters (and ruthless opponents) who all made a big impact throughout the series. As readers, we got to follow their movements, and even see through their eyes at times. Similarly, these characters can be recruited to hold positions on the board during the game, adding another point of view to follow.

A few of the neutral characters in War of the Dragon

In War of the Dragon, these characters are represented by neutral pieces – representing what-if scenarios where they could end up on either side of the struggle from game to game, meaning that they will sometimes be found on the opposite side of the struggle from what we read in the novels. Each game is its own retelling, and each turn of the Wheel has a different tale to tell!

And More and More

Moving out further, The Wheel of Time includes many supporting characters who fill and enrich its world. In War of the Dragon, these characters are present as allies, the main building blocks of the Pattern you will build up during the game. By recruiting the right allies in a given game, you’ll unlock stronger actions and will be able to sway important story moments – and you may gain some extra favors from them along the way.

With dozens of ally cards in the game, many favorites can help you fill out your Pattern.

Most allies have a single skill icon that represents their primary affinity, but some have two options. These are often characters who experience major change during the series; those different phases of their story arc offer you a choice of paths.

What path will you ask this character to take?

And of course, we can’t not mention a couple of everyone’s favorite animal companions, who you can add to your ally deck via promo cards and are exclusive to this campaign!

The Shadow Rising

Now we still haven’t mentioned one very important group – a group that includes thirteen of the most powerful channelers in the Age of Legends, the Forsaken! Just as the heroes form the consistent core of Light’s characters, Shadow begins the game with Rahvin and Sammael in play. What’s more, they start out stronger than Light’s fledgling heroes, so they can be used aggressively to push territory on the board, if you are willing to send them out of their corrupted strongholds.

The Forsaken are daunting opponents…but Padan Fain also lurks in the shadows, ready to strike at an opportune moment.

Some of the other 11 Forsaken can appear in Hero Mode, but their strongest showing is in Epic Mode. In this game mode, the remaining Forsaken make up a special deck called The Dark One’s Prison. The Shadow player works to unlock his Forsaken servants from The Dark One’s Prison each game. They all have a unique effect, providing powerful swings in a variety of ways – often even including a new character for use on the map.

What’s this? Everyone knows you will leap wherever you think your best chance lies…

The Story Continues

In all, War of the Dragon features over 100 different characters – which still isn’t everyone from the Wheel of Time, but it’s a pretty good start! Stay tuned and follow the campaign to see more cards, characters and unlocks, and let us know who your favorites are, or who you’d like to see next.

…and don’t forget to back War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time on Kickstarter!