@shapeshifter

If you play the Warlord correctly, mana isn't a problem. Your barracks gets summoning +4 (just lay down harmonize and two outposts) which helps immensely. In my opinion, laying down mana flowers is a waste of time and momentum when you are the Warlord. Also, the Warlord has a lot of cheap but efficient spells. Look at his command incantations. Most of them are dirt cheap. 3 Mana for horn of gothos too! The only expensive things the Warlord has are his Akiro's Hammer and his higher level creatures.

The Barracks + 2 outposts + harmonize is a 24 mana investment that generates 4 mana a round and assuming none of it gets destroyed will break even in 6 rounds. I recognise the extra deployment action the barracks provides, but i believe there are alot of faster or controling matchups that will punish such a heavy investment (eg; A warlock can burn that barracks toast). I can see good matchups for this setup like a defensive Priestess or Forcemaster, but see more bad matchups than good.

So therefore I experience the warlord more mana hungry. I really dont see great value in the horn or Gothos equipment, it cost mana and carry slot to increase the mana cost of his orders to affect a 1-2 more creatures maybe? I want to like the card but I struggle to see it's hidden potential

@Pixelgeek

oh really, because i thought it would work similar to an elemental ring??
but we not have an earth ring yet

I math failed. This is correct

Im intrigued by the builder alot. It does save actions to your mage, but sadly I find the Warlord a very mana hungry mage to take advantage of the extra action that is available. Unless you suppliment the warlord with 4 mana flowers to build every other turn (due to range limit, full action, zone exclusive) he is going to take a bit more skill to use efficiently.

One idea i plan to try out is adding him to a goblin swarm where he can support the swarm with a surprise "Garrison" or "Great Tree of Life" maybe even become a Standard Bearer.
Not tried it yet, nor have I found use for the standard bearer card either.

Saying this about mana flowers, swarms and tree of life; maybe a 1of builder for the beast master is an interesting inclusion.

Interesting wizard response to my watchtower sniper opening. If it helps I usually pull out a warmachine as my second option turn one alongside the watchtower, making the decision which to cast at the ending quickcast phase. A Warmachine is huge set back to a mana channelling build or crystals and flowers.

I find the barracks a poor investment for anything other than a swarm of goblins. For a shooty build that I find it better to invest on fortifying a vantage point to shoot from.  

I have been trying this with good success:

Turn 1 - 19 mana
Move to (-1,1) and quick cast Watchtower (4 mana) in same zone.

Turn 2 - 24 mana
Summon Sniper (15 mana)
Quickcast Rouse the beasts on sniper (4 mana)
Shoot 5+ dice with sniper from watchtower turn 2

Turn 3+ - 14 mana
1) Protect location with Walls, Caltrops and Fortified Position,
2) Increase attack power with Slingers, boulders and Ivarium Longbow

The core set is very well self contained. I built up spell books for all four mages with just the core set purchase. the only additional purchase i did was buy two binders for the other two mages.
I have added the forcemaster warlord expansion too and that was self contained too, two mages two spell books. With this i still have around 200 spare cards and 6 spellbooks that feel pretty balanced.

The tomes and extra core sets are completely unnecessary. But admittedly i can clearly see the added power/competitiveness my books could get with extra copies of certain cards.

So when i asked for advice to handle the forcefield, im happy to find that others are having similar difficulties with it as I am. Im still not confident a swarm plan is fantastic as the forcemaster can react with sweep attacks, charms, mind controls and mass sleep. It just eats up so many mage actions and mana on summons to deal with a single enchantment.

This card is hard to play around, and shuts down entire strategies. I like the suggestion of using the wizard's arcane zap, that is good cheap investment to take out a charge, but only applies to the wizard. Im still looking for a good non-Dispel option to the forcefield. Im actually beginning to think that the best plan is placing a nulify on my opponent's forcemaster.