War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time® – Pattern & Tableau

War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time^® is available now on Kickstarter! We’ve been digging into what’s in store, and today we’re looking at the long-term planning that goes into building your Pattern tableau!

“The Wheel of Time weaves the Pattern of the Ages, and lives are the threads it weaves.”

– Loial, The Eye of the World

One of the pillars of play in War of the Dragon, along with controlling the map and managing your actions, is each player’s Pattern: a tableau that you build up along the top of your player board. Over the course of a game, you’ll grow your Pattern by tying in the threads of the lives of iconic characters – Allies you bring to your cause. Their skill in five different fields – such as intrigue, combat, and The One Power™ – becomes a foundation that supports your efforts in many parts of the game. You can defeat your enemies in battle, take over a whole continent, and even win The Last Battle itself, but it all starts in the Pattern. Let’s take a look at how.

 

Taking Action

Each turn, you’ll choose one of the five core actions, advancing your position in the main systems of the game, like control of the map:

But in addition to an action’s main effect, each also has a potential bonus, something extra to boost you along – if  your support is strong enough. The five skill icons are each associated with an action; if you have three icons of a particular skill, that associated action now comes with its bonus effect, getting you that much further ahead in the contest to control the Westlands.

Your Pattern is the tableau where you collect these icons – although that isn’t the entire story. Even the card you play from your hand immediately adds its skill for the turn, so pairing the right card with the right action can earn even more bonuses.

Once a particular skill slot in your Pattern has three skill icons, you’re locked in. The associated action can now become a central piece of your strategy no matter what cards you have. Make the most of it – but be careful not to overcommit to a single skill, so much that the rest of the war slips through your fingers!

On a Mission

One action has an especially close relationship to your Pattern: the Weave action. Like the other actions, Weave has a bonus you can earn with sufficient skill icons, of course, but this is also how you influence missions, the major story events that both players compete for each Chapter.

If you want to control the story, you’ll need your Pattern to help you make big moves.

Each mission has two skill icons, showing the skills that can sway it. To influence a mission, your card for the turn has to share one of those skills. Then you get to add your full value of that skill that you have in your Pattern to the mission (even counting the card you played). As the game goes on and your Pattern grows, you can exert huge influence on missions that match well with your skills.

Spin That Wheel

Epic Mode adds one more way to put your Pattern to work. In Epic Mode, each chapter ends with both players taking a Wheel Turn, a final special turn that helps both sides collect major story progress.

A Wheel Turn uses the same rules as a Weave action, but affects your Wheel Track instead of a mission: you use the skill icon from the card you play, and you advance one space for each of that icon you have. This is a significant opportunity to get a big Wheel boost before the end of the chapter. Hitting the right mark with your Wheel affects the levels your heroes might gain or the Forsaken you might free – and that can be much easier if you have a strong Pattern to leverage.

Head to Head

As if all this wasn’t enough, your Patterns are also one way the players will compare their progress at the end of the game. Having more icons in a given skill than your opponent means you win that skill; and depending on which mode you are playing – Hero or Epic – there is a benefit for each individual skill, or for having the most skill icons in the most different skills. Even as the game comes toward an end, it is worth maintaining and strengthening your Pattern – especially in skills where you and your opponent are closely matched.

The Path Forward

So how do you grow your Pattern to get all these benefits? The primary way is from allies, using the Ally action to build your coalition and invest in your future. But allies aren’t the only way to expand your Pattern; there are several other achievements and story moments that can also develop your skills.

For the Shadow, this starts with their player deck, in the form of The Weakening Seals. The Shadow deck has five different cards in this cycle, each of which gives the Shadow a goal to complete where the reward is power: once the goal is completed, the card is moved to the Pattern as a permanent skill icon. Achieving these goals means stronger actions and Wheel Turns – and in Epic Mode, unlocking more of the Forsaken. And speaking of Epic Mode, the Light’s special mechanic of gaining levels for its heroes also builds up skill icons in the Pattern, reflecting the greater experience and capabilities of those heroes as they develop.

 

But no matter which mode you play, the missions on offer each chapter can represent major leaps for your skills, be it from mighty sa’angreal, memories of ancient battles, or even the mythical Horn of Valere. The player who wins these missions will gain a huge advantage for the associated action and any future missions that use that skill!

The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills

From the first turn you take in War of the Dragon, your Pattern will be a vital part of making sure you’re ready for The Last Battle. Develop your skills thoughtfully and play to your strengths, and maybe you’ll get to determine the fate of the world for the next age!

War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time^® is available on Kickstarter now! Write your own ending to the epic saga when the battle comes to your table!