No good general takes the field of battle without first testing the waters with a quality skirmishing party. While a common art of war maxim, that strategy has become quite common in the adversarial and heavily contested battle grounds of the massively multiplayer online role-playing market as well. Today, Mythic Entertainment said that it would enter into an open beta testing period for its dark fantasy MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning beginning September 7.

　　While "open" in name, not everyone will be able to access the beta period that is designed to test the load capacities of Mythic's soon-to-be-launched servers. Those interested in gaining access to the open beta will be required to preorder either the collector's edition or standard edition of the game at participating retailers or through publisher EA's online store. The developer also noted that current closed beta participants will automatically be granted a slot in the open test.

　　Warhammer Online has been developed in collaboration between EA-owned Mythic Entertainment and Games Workshop, who created the fantasy universe as a tabletop RPG in the early 1980s. While Games Workshop's originally conceived universe features a decidedly macabre aesthetic, Mythic today confirmed that the MMORPG has been rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

　　Mythic's latest MMORPG for the PC is expected to go online beginning September 18. For more on Warhammer Online, check out GameSpot's extensive coverage. That information is likely to be greatly augmented in the coming days, as Mythic GM Mark Jacobs has said in a post to the Warhammer Alliance message boards that the non-disclosure agreement barring closed beta players from sharing their experiences with the game is expected to lift tomorrow.