Someone on BGG asked this. Here is my response:
You could play the warlord without FvW but I wouldn't. Here is a list of tactics which work waaay better with some cards:
Talos/Altar of domination: outposts
The awesome-est creature in the set you can never play because it needs 3 outposts and you only have 2.
Swarm: level 1 and 2 war soldiers(Gob Alchemist isn't enough), barracks
You can't swarm, because of no spawnpoint and any creatures you'd use would be out of school. So you wont ever need general's signet ring.
Creatures:
You only have one frontline war creature. The minotaur. The rest are utility or archers. You will need to select soldier creatures out of school(holy or dark) which can be annoying.
Standard bearer:
It's just a great warlord only enchantment I would miss.
Liberal use of Commands: Helm of command, ring of command
New warlord has a power rune which works great with helm/ring of command.
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Another words, you can skip on FvW cards, but you will not have efficient in-school options and some cards in the new set(like Talos) will be completely unusable. If you could add one card, add Barracks as it eliminates the harshest of problems.
link to the cardlist of FvW
http://files.geekdo.com/geekfile_download.php?filetype=application%2Fpdf&filename=Forcemaster_vs_Warlord-Card+List.pdf&filecode=9k2ishbftp&validationcode=19980a80c78d106363f20926abecddf3link to FIF cardlist:
http://magewars.weebly.com/general-discussion/lord0fwinters-fif-review1