SpellForce 2 - Master of War

Based on the origial cardgame out of the SpellForce 2 Collectors-Edition of 2006, SpellForce 2 - Master of War (SF2-MoW) is a turn based strategy cardgame based on the setting of Spellforce 2 Shadow Wars and designed by Jan Wagner, but reinvisioned and expanded with more content and features then its original paper origin.

You will be able to gather an army of all 7 factions of Eo. The "Realm", the "Clan", the "Pact", the "Shaikan", the "Undead", the "Beasts" and the "Demons". In Spellforce 2 - Master of War over 100 different cards will be available to you, for you to win the game. Every fraction has 14 different Units cards and 10 spells cards that can be used and will be found more then once! Every unit has uniqe abilitys which have an effect on every fight of the game.

So it is possible to win against an enemy who is stronger than you.

Also use up to 10 different spellcards who can have an massive effect on the game and the enemy.

You will be able to play vs the AI who will always fight differently. The Ai will newer do the same tactik twice. It will make his decitions based on his current cards, enemy cards and the current lvl of the player.

Every battle against the AI is completely different so it will be never the same fight.

The AI will develop with you and your skills. What was easy in the beginning, won’t be easy in the future.

Wanna play against your friends on one System? No Problem! You will be able to play against other players on one and the same system with enough time to switch every turn.

So you have always the option to play whenever and wherever you want against other players, even when they don’t have a System currently available.

The Game supports Singleplayer vs AI, local MP on one device, (W)Lan Mode mit Crosssystem support (Windows vs Android in the same network) and Online MP.

History and Development

"SpellForce 2 - Master of War" was and is a purely Fan-made gameproject that was started by the SpellForce-forum user "NeoX" as a community present for the 10 years anniversary of SpellForce 2 Shadow Wars in the year 2016 (original release April 2006). The development started in the late year of 2013.

At first it was only planned that the game "The Card"- Project (That didn't have a name back then) would only be published and developed for the german language side of the community, because the original card-game that it was based on was only released in germany and does only exist in a german version.

It was originaly planned that it would stick to it's original form where only 2 factions play against each other ("The Bund" and "The Clan"). After showing the first developent progresses and alpha version, more and more players wanted to support and to play the game.

This resulted in that more then 53.000 people viewed the threat in the official SpellForce forum in under 1 month. Even players wanted to play it that didn't know the german language and requested an english version. This was the point where it was decided to expand the game to 2 languages.

In May 2014 the game came more and more closer to it's today features. As a progression system the devs decided to integrate a RPG-Rank system mit medals for people to earn. Also the first voices come up that with the growing popularity of mobile devices (mostly Android), a mobile version of the game would benefit it very well next to the Windows PC version. But it was denied back then becaus of lack of time and resources.

In April 2016 the game reached version 1.1000 and was released publicly. It was the complete digital version of the original card-game with support for german and english languages. In the last years the development stopped and continued from time to time because of time and resource issues on the devs side. This was solved by creating a group od modders and devs to finish it - the IT-Huskys, who are in charge up to today. Thanks to the bigger team an Android mobile version could be released and created to the windows version.

Because of the well recived "basic version" of SF2-MoW, the devs decided to create an expansion for the game that added to the original 2 factions (Bund and Clan) a 3rd one "The Pakt". A survey at the official SpellForce forum decided that the card and unit names won't be translated (will always be in german) to be closer to the original source material. SpellForce 2 - Master of War 2.0 (Pakt Expansion) was released in August 2017 for Windows and Android.

After the well recived first expansion a lot of players requested that last missing factions of the SpellForce 2 game should also be added to the game to give it more dynamic and also allow to create dynamic decks to give it more replay value and to go away from fixed-deck chess system. The game got now 6 factions in total with the new expansion 3.0 (+The Shaikan, +The Undead, +The Beats) and was released in january 2018 for Windows and Android. Thanks to the new rules that moved away from the original sourcematerial, it got a new logo and design.

The Windows Version of SpellForce 2 - Master of War 3.0 has over 51.000 lines of sourcecode.

Death of the Game

SF2-MoW was always a very community based game that developt and grow with the Spellforce community. In december 2017 the official SpellForce forum got attacked and destroyed in it's process. Everything was lost and the community without a central meeting point, scattered all across the net. The developers of SpellForce 3 declared a fan-made discord server to the new SpellForce meeting point, but it newer got to the size of the original forum with all it's users and content.

Without the forum the game did lose most of it's playerbase until a point where only around +-10 players logged into the Online-Server of SF2-MoW until it was shutdown in July 2018 because of servercosts without any usage. The game can still be downloaded and played but only localy or via emulated network in (W)Lan-Mode.

In mid 2022 a new version (4.0) has been created and released thats to public demand for newer systems of Windows and Android. Now with the final missing faction of the "Demons".

Release-Version-List:

Version	Public	Description	Release-Date
0.70910	NO	1st Alpha Build	07-2013
0.80350	NO	2nd Alpha Build	09-2013
0.80550	NO	3rd Alpha Build	11-2013
0.90150	YES	1st Beta Build	12-2013
0.90242	YES	Beta Patch (Online MP)	01-2014
0.90280	YES	Beta Patch (graphics)	01-2014
0.90300	YES	Beta Patch (TS3-API + MP)	02-2014
0.90450	YES	Beta Patch (Media, RPG, Modding)	05-2014
0.91000	YES	Beta Patch (Media, Fixes, RPG+)	05-2015
1.00000	NO	1st Release Build (added AI battle)	03-2016
1.10000	YES	1st Public Release Build	04-2016
1.20000	YES	Patch (fixes and AI Update)	11-2016
1.90000	NO	Pakt Expansion Dev-Build	06-2017
2.00000	YES	Release Build of Pakt Expansion	08-2017
2.90000	NO	3.0 Expansion Dev-Build	10-2017
3.00000	YES	Public Release Build of 3.0	01-2018
3.85000	NO	Alpha Build of 4.0	04-2018
3.95000	NO	Beta Build of 4.0	07-2022
4.0000	YES	Public Release Build of 4.0	08-2022

Scrapped Features of the Build of Version 4.0:

Here you can see that the options for the Singleplayer were already implemented with options to load a savegame file and to use your campaign-deck for battles in MP also.

This was sadly Scrapped because of lack of resources and time.

On August 28th 2022 SpellForce 2 - Master of War released on version 4.0 with the following features:

- Custome Deck (army) of all 7 factions of Eo (Realm, Clan, Pact, Shaikan, Undead, Beasts and Demons)

- over 10 Spell-Cards

- over 100 different Unit-Cards

- Playing a Game vs. the KI

4.0 Gameplay

- Playing a Game vs. a Human on one Device

- Playing a Game vs. a Human on (W)Lan

- Playing a Game vs. a Human on the Internet

- Dynamic-Animations

- optimized for 720p with support for up to 4K

- Sound & Music Events

- RPG Level/Rank System

- Windows and Android support

The Factions and cards

"The Bund"

There may well have never been a human empire, nor the legends of the Dragon Slayers, if many millennia ago, a few dwarves had not set out from their home in Grimwarg to seek adventure in the distant peaks of the Windwall mountains. They had hoped to find good stone, valuable metals and a new home, but found only barren rock and a few tribes of wild barbarians living in inhospitable caves in the frozen heights. And though these creatures appeared to the dwarves as weak and primitive – their lifespan was barely longer than that of most animals – they immediately recognised the willpower and lifeforce that had been instilled in these creatures. Impressed by the barbarians, the dwarves stayed and began to teach them of the world, the Gods and the art of forging.

Never would those dwarves have thought that their actions might change the world forever. Greedily, the humans devoured their knowledge, learning each move and all the wisdom of their teachers, and this wisdom spread like wild fire. Soon, the first smith’s hammers began to ring in the Windwalls and formed the first of the great swords that were to become the human’s trademark. With these weapons, they descended from the mountains and took control of the plains, their numbers ever increasing. The Age of Swords had begun.

Although the mighty dragons were the indisputed rulers of the land of Fiara, even their formidable might could not stop the humans’ advance. With lances and swords, they confronted the ancient lizards and accomplished the impossible, a feat that neither dwarf nor elf had managed: They drove back the dragons. With courage and creativity, they defeated one mighty dragon after another and filled the once empty plains with villages and cities.

With their victory over the ancient rulers of Fiara began the rise of the humans, a race that was both good and bad, courageous and cowardly, strong and yet weak, the strangest and most varied of all races of this world. And with their rise came cities, trade, money and war.

The elves, the oldest and noblest of all races, come from the forests of southern Fiara. The magnificent trees of the Finon Mir provided protection against the powerful dragons, allowing these children of nature to prosper and live in relative peace under the roof of leaves. Elves grow tall, yet are of delicate stature, and their lifespan is much longer than that of other races. What they may lack in physical strength is more than compensated by their bravery and wisdom.

For as long as they can remember, the elves lives peacefully in their forests, but with the demise of the dragons came humans, and with them trade and war. In the end, the elves were forced to either fight or perish – and fight they did, earning themselves a reputation as feared warriors, better as friends than as foes. Today, the elves have allied with humans and dwarves in order to face the menace of the dark races. None can match their prowess with the longbow, and they have learned to use the magic of nature and ice. The mages of the Circle knew of the elvish talent for magic and their use in battle, and created many runes to make use of their skills.

Since the wars against the dark races and the time of the Circle, the elves have been living in clans strewn all across Fiara. Few survived the Convocation, however, so it is rare to meet one of these noble creatures in the northern lands.

The best weapons and armour in Fiara come from the dark slopes of the Grimwarg Peaks and the snow-covered summits of the Windwall Mountains, items that are highly valued and traded among the races of the light. These amazing wares are forged by the smiths of the dwarves, a race small in height, but of amazing strength and unshakeable courage. Like the elves, the dwarves are an ancient race that survived the reign of the dragons hidden deep in the labyrinth of caverns under the Windwall Mountains. While the giant lizards ruled the air, the dwarves drove the mines and shafts of their stony home deeper and deeper in the rock. There, they found discovered their destiny to work with rock and ore, bonding with the spirits of the earth and the god whose realm is the rock foundation of the world. They became the servants of Bjarne, the Soulsmith and Warrior God, who deep under the surface forges the souls of all living creatures until they become strong and solid. And so it came that the dwarves also became a strong race, a race of builders and blacksmiths, but also of warriors and heroes.

Courage and strength are the pillars of their life, and despite being known for a certain greed for gold and other jewelry, they are the only values they truly recognize. And though they may often seem reserved and condescending, they are always ready to help a true friend in need of their aide. Today the dwarves not only live in the dark shafts under the peaks of Grimwarg, but have created imposing cities of stone where they trade with the other races of the light. These are Fastholme, which stands under the old mines at the foot of the Grimwarg Mountains, and Windholme, which is an imposing sight in front of the snow-covered peaks of the Windwall, where it provides cover from the southern storms. There, the hammers of the master smiths ring constantly and merchants loaded with the most valuable of steel and silver travel to all regions of Fiara. And when it comes to war, the closed ranks of dwarf warriors will march from there with their indestructible armour and feared axes, always ready to support their brothers of the light.

"The Clan"

When Ulm the Caretaker broke the rules of his father Aonir and became Zarach the Bloodthirsty, his first goal was to create his own race, a people who would follow him blindly and worship him only. Driven by this desire, he began to shape new forms of life, moulding them with his will, and produced all manner of heinous creatures. Incomplete and deformed were these beings, horribly disfigured and unfit to survive for long, let alone breed.

Enraged by many years of fruitless labor, he descended to the earth and stole the children of the noble races, races that had been created by the natural order of his father. Abusing the perfection they had received through Aonir’s power, he infected them with his evil and formed them to his liking. Thus he was able to create his own race, strong and enduring creatures in which he instilled a bloodthirst and longing for battle. He named his creation “orc”, which in the dark tongue means “conqueror”.

They were chosen to be the bearers of his will, to be dogs of war, existing only to mercilessly conquer all other races and taint Aonir’s world with the sign of the Blood God. In dark temples in the middle of the steaming jungles of Xu he gave them life and from there, he drove them out into the plains, where the orcs’ existance began. It was a brutal and sparse life that the first tribes led, but with their bestial instincts and their seemingly endless endurance, they not only survived, but increased their numbers rapidly. Great hordes soon began to scour the lands, looking for prey, and in their settlements the sound of blacksmith’s hammers was always to be heard, forging iron into make weapons. Their instincts often drove them to imprudent behaviour, yet a part of the old races’ wisdom survived within these beasts. An orc may be greedy and combative, but he is not stupid.

Zarach’s nefarious plan to conquer the old races might even have succeeded, had his orcs not been so eager to do battle, even against each other. Time and time again, bloody wars erupted between the tribes, and only few leaders were ever able to unite the tribes – and then only for a short while. If ever a tribe leader were strong enough to assemble the armies of all tribes for an extended amount of time, the other races would hardly stand a chance. Even now, most tremble in fear at the sound of orcs crying for blood.

After having created the wild orcs, Zarach was dissatisfied with his creation and angered by his failure. He had hoped to create kings of the battlefield, but had only succeeded in fabricating simple warriors. And so he began anew, distorting the bodies of captured creatures to monstrous size and burning out any part of them that was not useful for battle and killing.

And thus he created the trolls. He made them stronger than any other race, more enduring and almost immune to pain, but in his eagerness to create a race of ultimate warriors, he took too much of their spirit, rendering them simpleminded and emotionless.

While the trolls are the undisputed rulers on the battlefield, they live as paupers in simple housings of stone and wood. Their limited skills and intellect only allow them to roughly trim rock and fashion simple clubs from treetrunks. They are as poor in mind as they are art, without legends, songs, living only for the now, for food and to kill.

This is the price they pay for the incomparable strength and wildness that makes them raging beasts on the battlefield, whom neither spears nor arrows can stop. They know neither pain nor fatigue, and their insatiable lust for blood drives them like a storm through the ranks of their enemies, their tree-like clubs killing and maiming wherever they land. What trolls lack in dexterity and cunning, they compensate with strength and power of resistance, and their ability to fight even after having sustained mortal wounds. Pain does not weaken them, it only makes them angry. And despite their primitive weapons and armour, and their lack of tactical thinking, an army of trolls is like a wave of destruction that can, with the right guidance, win battles by brute force alone.

"The Pakt"

Nor, the Silverweaver, god of night and lord of the silver disc of the moon, was the first guardian to descend to the earth and tell the races of the guardian gods and their duties. But with time, the races forgot his teachings and turned away from the cool master of darkness, seeking instead solitude with the gods of light and the sun. Disappointed and spurned, Nor was quick to side with the renegade Zarach when the gods began to disunite. As a token of gratitude, Zarach created a race for his dark brother, a race that for all times would be devoted to Nor, master of the night. From the pure essence of the elves he formed the most beautiful, perfect and deadly of the dark races, the Norcaine – also known as Dark Elves.

Their spirit is sharp and cold as the light of the full moon, and they are as quick and merciless as the icy nightwind. War is their art, battle their poetry. They live to sow destruction and neither hope nor joy is necessary to give them courage. Perfect tools of death, they show no weakness, despair or fatigue. Their entire days and nights are spent worshipping and praying to Nor, their master, and destroying the light-seeking worms whose gods forced him into exile.

It is their sharp intellect and discipline that makes the Dark Elves so dangerous and that almost decided the War of Six Races for the dark ones. From Urgath they came to Fiara with their brothers in arms, the orcs and trolls. Once the war was over, they stayed and founded the realm of Lar on the nebulous east coast. There, they raised towers of obsidian and forged heavy armor and moonblades, which they would use in uncounted cruel battles against the races of the light.

The heart of the Pact consists of the Dark Elves, the people of the nightgod Nor, known as the Norcaine. The culture of the Norcaine has always been shaped by the fight between the two largest castes, the warriors of the Dracon and the sorcerers of the Archons. While the warriors are striving for an honourable life in the fight against the Light, the Archons are recklessly striving for power.

This striving made the current High Archon Toth Lar forge the bond with the Shadows with the help of his mother Sorvina. He gave a part of the power of life of his people to the Shadows and in return got the invisible Assassins who slaughtered his antagonists in the caste of the warriors within just a very short time. The honour of the Norcaine died along with these warriors.

But the Dark Elves have been dragged out of their paralysis that was caused by this inner conflict and now they are ready for new campaigns.

The new allies of the Norcaine, the Shadows, are invisible in their normal form and only become visible when they want to or when their lethal blow hits its target. It is known that they came to Eo from another world, but nobody really knows their goals and plans.

The gargoyles are no real members of the Pact. They are bloodthirsty demons from the inner centre of the world that have been given a form by magic. Grateful for their new bodies and happy to quench their blood thirst at last they throw themselves into battles for their masters. Sorvina’s knowledge as an alchemist of the Silver Hand enabled her to join these creatures into the army of the Pact.

"The Shaikan"

...began a thousand years in the past with Janus Malacay, the highest alchemist at the court of the first emperor of the Northern People. On the search for the power of the Materia Prima, that germ of life that can still be found in the blood of the first creatures of the world, back then Malacay joined his blood with the blood of the captured dragon named Ur. Thus he created a bloodline in whose veins the blood of the dragons was mixed with the traces of the humans' ancestors and which created a substance full of vital forces. In it the original spark of life, the germ of creation, came back into being. This blood not only made Malacay’s children stronger, faster and more robust than common people, the vital forces of the dragon blood sometimes even bestowed them with the ability to resurrect others by donating some of their blood.

They are the descendants of the alchemist Malacay, who once saved the life of the dragon Ur, receiving its eternal subservience in return.

In order to seal this pact, the dragon agreed to enter into a blood pact with a person – something that had never happened before. This was nevertheless the only good deed that Malacay ever did. He became increasingly insane and met a dreadful end.

His descendants have nevertheless preserved the tradition and continue to live under the protection of the ancient dragon. Each of them enters into a blood pact with him. These dragon warriors are great fighters and commanders. Their ancestry means that they are revered by both the Light People and the Dark with an equal degree of fear and distrust. They therefore live between the fronts, belonging neither to the light nor the darkness.

The Dark Elves call them “Shaikan”, which means both “godless” and “free”. This dichotomy captures and describes the life of these dragon warriors so accurately that they adopted this description as their own name over time.

"The Undead"

Life and death – the eternal circle of life. The natural order of the world. The way it has been, and the way it always will be. Or at least the way it should be, for magic, combined with the malice and thirst for power of certain races, has created abominations of nature, creatures of horrible appearance, and the most unnatural of these are those that go by the name of the Undead.

They are restless spirits, souls caught in the void between life and death. From beyond the threshold to the realm of the dead they look back on the world of the living, full of jealousy and loathing for the world they once inhabited. They refuse to bow to the natural order, sentencing themselves into an eternally cruel existence. A few of them manage to infiltrate the land of the living and manifest there by desecrating the bodies of the freshly dead or possessing the remains of those that died long ago. These revenants are the undead, and no living creature is spared from their wrath, so driven by hate are these unnatural beings.

Their senseless appetite for destruction makes them ideal for the battlefield, and over the years, many mages have tried to harness the power of these creatures for their own purposes. These mages are know as Necromancers, and can control the hordes of the undead, summoning them at will.

Even today, though the Convocation war has long passed, the world is still full of the remnants of these dark doings. Now leaderless, the armies of the undead roam the lands, and many races can barely defend themselves against their destructive powers.

"The Beats"

Magic and growth are closely entwined in Ura. The magic of the world permeates and changes all life that is created. Throughout their evolution, all living beings have undergone many changes, but from times before the higher races first saw the light of day, some creatures have survived almost unchanged - creatures as wondrous as they are dangerous. Some of these creatures even resemble the human form, a fact that has puzzled writers and scholars for generations.

Strange places and areas where the magic of the world in particularly strong seem to attract these beings, yet no one has ever managed to truly understand their goals. What is known, however, is that they are as merciless and cruel as the elements they have withstood for centuries. And even if though they ally with none, they have been used in many a war and made slaves of destruction. Their raw strength and animal traits especially were put to use by the dark races to strengthen their armies.

Thus they are known chiefly as killing beasts, but their true nature and the background of their heritage remains shrouded in mystery.

Game Features (4.0):

- Custome Deck (army) of all 7 factions of Eo (Realm, Clan, Pact, Shaikan, Undead, Beasts and Demons)

- over 10 Spell-Cards

- over 100 different Unit-Cards

- Playing a Game vs. the KI

- Playing a Game vs. a Human on one Device

- Playing a Game vs. a Human on (W)Lan

- Playing a Game vs. a Human on the Internet

- Dynamic-Animations

- optimized for 720p with support for up to 4K

- Sound & Music Events

- RPG Level/Rank System

- Windows and Android support

System Requirements (Windows PC):

Minimum:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 AF or better

GPU: AMD RX 550 or better

GPU VRAM: 2 GB

RAM: 2 GB

HDD: 3,2 GB

OS: Windows 7 SP1, 8.1, 10, 11 (.Net 4.8)

Resolution: 1280 x 720

Optimal:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3300X or better

GPU: AMD RX 570 or better

GPU VRAM: 2 GB

RAM: 4 GB

HDD: 3,2GB

OS: Windows 7 SP1, 8.1, 10, 11 (.Net 4.8)

Resolution: 1920 x 1080

System Requirements (Android):

Android OS:

Android: 6.0 – 13++

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 or better

GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 330 or better

RAM: 2GB or higher

HDD: 3,0 GB free internal storage

Screen-Resolution (useable):

2560(+) x 1440

1920(+) x 1080

1280(+) x 800

1280(+) x 720

Needed Permissions:

Full File Access

Internet Access

Speaker Permission

HDD Write Permission

HDD Read permission

Story and Gameplay

Since the beginning of time the forces of Eo are fighting each other bitterly to decide who is the ruling power in Eo.

Game of version 4.0

Only a true Master of War has what it needs to lead his army of choice to the victory. Do you have what it needs? In Spellforce 2 – Master of War (Based on the SF2:SW Card game of 2006) you can show your tactical power to others. Challenge your opponents in matches witch more than 84 different Unit Cards and more than 10 powerful Magic cards on PC or Android. Play against the AI, other players in the same System/Device or over (W)Lan and Online! Prove yourself in growing the ranks and become the true Master of War!

SpellForce 2 - Master of War Trailer

The legendary Card-Game from the Collectors Edition of 2006, now finally for PC and Android! Play against the NPC, another Player or Online. Over 94 different Cards, with over 84 Units and more than 10 Spell-Cards. Over 40h of tactical based gameplay waits for you.

Spellforce 2 – Master of War Tutorial ~ English HD

The official Tutorial tot he game „Spellforce 2 – Master of War“ in english and in Full HD.In this Tutorial(Manual) you can see how to play SF2-MoW.

Download & Updates

All version of SpellForce 2 - Master of War can be downloaded the official website: http://www.sf2-mow.keepfree.de/download.html

The Online-Server is currently offline, because of a low playerbase, but can be requested for tournaments.

Game Release Versions

SpellForce 2 - Master of War had multiple releases in different versions of it's time of development.

The release version SF2-MoW in version 1.1(later incl. patch 1.2) included in a DVD-Version(ISO) of the game the full base game incl. the Andoird version 1.1, a modding client and a tutorial video guide.

In mid 2017 the first expansion was added to the base game. This Version of the game was a pure expansion and required the installed base game (1.1-1.2) of SF2-MoW. Later a Gold version was created where it was possible to install SF2-MoW on version 2.0 natively incl the Android version that was not included in the pure expansion.

Official Packshot of SpellForce 2 - Master of War 4.0

With the release of version 3.0, one last version was created in Client-Exe and ISO format. Both Exe and Iso version included next to the full 3.0 version of the game (that did not require any previews installations) the android version with integrated offline-setup for smartphones. So it is possible to install the Android version of SF2-MoW 3.0 without internet access to the file servers. The ISO version also included a version history to see the key-points of the development, wallpapers and a special savegame. In late August 2022 was a new version (4.0) of SpellForce 2 - Master of War created with focus on support for modern System of Windows and Android. This version also offerx updates Exe-Setups, ISO's and APk packages for the supported systems.