Review: Faction Cards mkII

I got a copy of the faction cards mkII. Each pack contains 81 cards, most have enough for you to field a 1000 point list. Multiple cards are given for multi-wound models, warjacks and special models requiring marks (rockteer).

All cards are current up to remix, changes to the rules i.e. feat changes are already corrected, as well as wording on clarified feats i.e. old witch. All cards also now include rules that extend up to warbeasts i.e. snipe.

Card art is also from remix. Big problem here is that only the prime art gives a consistent feel to each faction. Superiority does lend a small amount of consistency to the color, but for some factions the change from the atmosphere in remix does make some of the older art stick out like sore thumbs.

All packs have 81 cards, all factions get their special force cards, mercs get all contacts.

The first thing you would notice with the new cards are that the new cards feel more open. The cards lost the borders that we present before. The lower left corner now contains the faction symbols. The colors are little more neutral in the title box. the text is a little bit easier to read as well.

Cryx
We get the Adriana Lima skarre art. So what would be so bad? The cartoon feel of the remix art actually looks great once it was translated into the card form. All the prime jacks look great and have the consistent feel. The problem is once you get to the seether and harrower, the consistency is lost. I wished they had consistent art for everything, or at least something close.

And yes, as no surprise to anyone, it includes 4 defiler cards. It includes 4 of the arc node bonejacks, 2 of the other jacks. What was surprising to me was that there were 4 black ogrun and 4 bloat thrall cards. The 4 pistol wraiths were fine by me, but I would have gladly traded 2 of the bloat thrall and black ogrun cards for more deathrippers and nightwretches.

Cygnar
Card art is pretty consistent throughout the entire box save for the GMCA. All jacks have a different backdrop which lends well to identification of jack cards.

I've no real gripes with the set, nor any real praise for it. Hell, I don't actually see a reason for most cygnar players to get the pack as there aren't any real changes to their set. Plus most cards are colored since most cygnar players we have are new, or the most effective jacks have colored cards already.

Khador
I like the new art. I like how vlad looks dirty in the remix, and how young sorscha actually looks in the art as well. I would recommend most players to get the pack simply due to the fact of sheer number of rules clarifications and updates affecting the khador units.

I personally like the distribution of card duplicates. There are 4 destroyer, berserker and kodiak cards, while there are only 3 of the rest. I guess they followed the need of the players here. I wished they had taken the same liberty with the cryx bonejacks.

Menoth
This pack suffers from the similar affliction of art inconsistency, but nonetheless menoth looks menoth. The art that really sticks out are from escalation. Other than that, there isn't really much change as most menoth players will be fielding stuff from other books. Plus the art of menoth from remix wasn't exactly what I'll call distinct. So it doesn't suffer as much as cryx or khador does.

Distribution for jacks are ho-hum as you are given 4 guardians and just 3 devouts and repenters. Most will be happy to know though that there are 4 revengers and seneschals. Damned solos pretty much fill out the deck, which will most likely see play.

Mercenaries
You get 5 mercenary contracts. A strange mosaic of art work. This is probably the worst pack of cards you could get as it feels like they just pumped as much as they can into duplicates to fill it out. I don't like the new Alexia card but I love the new risen and thrall cards. You get 4 of all jacks, 6 for the gunner and blaster. You also get a trencher and long gunner card. Basically you just get one of each as most are character units and 4 copies of everything else. Worst pack yet, as I cannot imagine anyone yielding close to 4 mules or nomads. I do find the 4 ogrun bokur cards a happy thing. But the majority of this pack lies in the multiple jack cards.