Jason Engle is a digital artist and storied contributor to Warlord with his art appearing on 229 cards including 21 Warlords and 8 Medusan Lords. The illustrator of the first ever Overlord Qor-teth, Jason is also known for his other mercenary abyssals like Shadowreaver and Deverenian stormwraiths such as Ghed Daucet.

What got you interested in artwork in general and why was it gel pens? What was your first foray into illustration and how did that come about?

I always had a love for the fantasy genre as long as I can remember. As for what led me into art, I first discovered novels about D&D, which of course led me to D&D itself, and then later, all of the other things associated with tabletop gaming, and the art was at the forefront of that appeal. It was incredible, exciting, and gave depth and realism to so many things that could only be imagined. It was what drew me in, and continues to be the first thing I look for in new games and entertainment to this day. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but I've literally been doing it for my whole life and it works fine. I've even been managing a career in art where I spend a lot of time submitting my own pale efforts to such judgment and while I've suffered many, many psychotic breaks as a direct result, I'm not sure it wasn't worth it.

How did you come to hear about and work on Warlord? Were you black-mailed into it?

I met the art director at GenCon one year, and for some reason he liked a lot of the work I had in my portfolio at the time. Soon after that I got an e-mail with my first card assignments and it was the real start of things. It was early enough in my career, that I was just happy to be working on a real game from a respected company, and there was so much potential in the game at that time too. And eventually, I grew to love the little game, flaws and all. And there are many. But it’s also made up of a certain raw passion that I think is reflected in the unrelenting endurance of the game, and its fanbase.

Did you get assigned specific races, factions, or classes? What kinds of images did you enjoy creating the most and why?

I think they figured out what I was good at pretty fast, even if I wasn't sure myself what that was yet. And so they gave me a lot of badass monsters, spikey Deverenians, Storm Wraiths, and Abyssals. And of course, by the end of my time working on Warlord, I had produced quite a lot of art for pretty much every faction. Except the elves, because they suck.

What's it like rediscovering pieces you did decades ago - do you notice a significant change in your style then and now? Looking back over them, do any of your contributions to Warlord stick out as your favorite?

Ter-Soth and Uriels Armor are two images that will always be close to my heart. A lot of the work I produced for the game was done very fast, and very early in my career, so I was learning something new with each piece, and sometimes, not necessarily learning the right lessons either. And a lot of that is painfully visible to me when I look at the work today, but there are a few that I'm still very fond of.

What's your best Warlord memory or story?

Exhibiting at the art show of GenCon was pretty amazing for me at that time. Which I had been doing for a few short years before that, but once I started working on Warlord it changed the experience for me dramatically. Getting to meet so many of the players, and see the banners and demo tables in the exhibit hall, was really impressive and impactful to me. It gave a face, so to speak, to the whole community, and made it feel like we were all part of something really special. And also it gave me a way to get to know the other artists in the game, many of which I maintain friendships with to this day.

We're doing a Warlord art colloseum style battle royale! Who's your champion and why?

Uriel’s Armor, because its got a lot of attitude and energy, and that armor clad winged dude is just leaping into the fray, sword nowhere near his enemies, shield casually at his side, just shinning like some crazy-ass flying diamond. And also leaking glowing light from his armor like smoke from a nuclear power plant. Untouchable, heroic, relentless, and small of cranium, he's a champion of the ages.

Alright, thanks for answering these and engaging the community in this way! What's going on with you these days? Anything you want to plug?

I'm still doing all the art I can fit into a day, mostly Magic, but occasionally, I do find time for other games as well, and also my personal dark art driven world building project Mausolea. It's gritty, and weird, and allows me to really cut loose from all the design requirements of the bigger companies and just do my own thing.