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[WARMACHINE & HORDES] 1+1=Cyriss is calculating... calculating... seven! And you're dead.
admanb
unionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered User regular
unionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered User regular
Welcome to the world of the Iron Kingdoms!
The steampunk fantasy continent of Immoren, created by PRIVATEER PRESS, is the setting for two tabletop miniatures games: WARMACHINE and HORDES.
WARMACHINE and HORDES are played on a 4' by 4' gaming table, usually with some terrain - forests, trenches, rock walls and so forth - dotted about the battlefield. The players deploy their armies of miniatures across the board, roll dice and have at each other with gusto.
While each is counted as a separate game in its own right, WARMACHINE and HORDES use a compatible rules set and can be played against each other. The key differences between the two systems are warjacks/warbeasts, warlocks/warcasters, and FOCUS/FURY.
Warjacks are the eponymous WARMACHINES: giant steampunk robots which the armies of the Iron Kingdoms use to wage war, controlled by powerful battle-wizards known as warcasters. In HORDES, warriors from the wild places of the world fight alongside hulking monsters called warbeasts, whose savage instincts are held in check by warlocks.
Lastly, FOCUS and FURY is the most glaring difference. Warcasters possess a magical energy called FOCUS, which they can use to cast spells, increase their armour, or allocate to their warjacks to grant them an increased chance of hitting/damaging stuff and perform a variety of devastating power attacks. On the other hand, warlocks use stuff called FURY. FURY is similar to FOCUS in that it allows warlocks to cast spells, but instead of giving it to their warbeasts to increase their performance, warbeasts generate their own FURY when they are forced to boost dice rolls or perform power attacks. During his or her next turn, the warlock will drain off the fury from his warbeasts and use it for spells and whatnot, and the cycle repeats.
The problem is, if your warlock doesn’t drain all the fury from his or her beasts, there’s a good chance the monsters will hulk out and mindlessly attack those around them, friend or foe. So we like to say that while Warmachine is a game of resource management (deciding where to spend your limited pool of FOCUS), Hordes is a game of risk management (can I afford to leave FURY on that beast this turn?).
Hopefully that all makes sense. Now, let’s meet the inhabitants of the Iron Kingdoms.
The playable WARMACHINE factions include:
CYGNAR
A wealthy, populous, and advanced nation, Cygnar are known as “the crown jewel of the Iron Kingdoms”. They are well known for their advanced technology which has ensured their place as one of the major powers in Immoren. Cygnar are very much the 'combined arms' faction in Warmachine, able to field a variety of troops and warjacks that fill all rolls - ranged combat, melee combat, support, etc. - reasonably well. If phrases like "Gun Mage", "Chain Lightning", "Rapid Fire", and "Storm Glaive" make you sexually excited, you might be a Cygnar player in your heart of hearts.
Unfortunately for Cygnar, their success and wealth has earned them the animosity of most of their neighbours, such as...
KHADOR
Khador is a large, wintery nation which bears an uncanny similarity to stereotypical depictions of Russia. The harsh and icy climate has produced a tough, rugged people who are fiercely patriotic and filled with disdain for the weak southern nations. The Khadoran military is characterised by huge, ponderous warjacks with nigh-impenetrable armour and which hit like a ton of bricks; supported by infantry ranging from massed Winter Guard conscripts to elite infantry like the deadly Widowmaker Snipers and the mighty Man-O-Wars. Khador have also recently made strides to modernise their military with more long ranged (if somewhat inaccurate) firepower.
United by the dream of a new Khardic Empire, the Khadoran people have embraced a policy of aggressive expansionism, which unsurprisingly brings them into frequent conflict with the other nations of Immoren.
THE PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH
Formed out of a civil war with Cygnar, the Protectorate of Menoth is the youngest of the Iron Kingdoms. Essentially, the fanatical devotees of Menoth, the creator of man, were exiled to a barren wasteland to the east of Cygnar. There they found oil, diamonds, savage tribes to convert, and built up an army to crush their heathen enemies. Praise Menoth! Protectorate warjacks (and many of their troops) are individually weaker than those of the other factions, but by buffing their armies with their warcaster's spells and key support pieces, the Protectorate become exponentially more powerful. They also favour denying their enemies the ability to shoot or cast spells, thus throwing carefully laid plans into disarray.
Also, fire. Fire everywhere.
CRYX
The Nightmare Empire of Cryx is a series of islands off the western coast of mainland Immoren, and home to the immortal dragonfather Toruk. In addition to hordes of mindless undead thralls, Toruk's vassals include the Satyxis, a race of vicious warrior-women who practice blood rituals, the twelve Lich Lords, and a variety of other lifeforms corrupted and twisted by the dragon's blight. In battle, Cryx are fast, stealthy, and have a huge array of dirty tricks and debuffs up their rotting undead sleeves.
THE RETRIBUTION OF SCYRAH
Formerly a fringe radical group hailing from the secluded elven nation of Ios, the Retribution of Scyrah has recently gained heavy political ground and acceptance in its homeland. They now have access to and support from some of Ios's great Military Houses, including the ranks of the fearsome Dawnguard and the power of Myrmidon Warjacks. They are technologically advanced. They have force fields. They hate you.
They're out for blood and revenge. They are fighting the good fight for the survival of their species. Their last remaining Gods are dying, and they blame human magic use for it. They are damn good at what they do.
Solid units. Some absurdly powerful solos. Well-rounded if focus-hungry Warjacks. The Retribution plays differently and can be rather rewarding for those willing to put some effort into them. They shoot harder than most factions though aren't necessarily as accurate. They are potent in melee, but lack Warcaster support to the degrees most other factions enjoy. Their Warjacks are few in variety but can all do their task well. Take care of them, because they crumple like paper once their force fields are gone. Did I mention mage hunters? Oh yes. Mage hunters.
CONVERGENCE OF CYRISS]
The newest faction in Warmachine. Devoted followers of the goddess Cyriss, incarnation of logic and science, the leaders of the Cult are inspired minds transferred into clockwork vessels, technologically wondrous mechanisms that can host human souls. Their goal is quite simple: bring all the power of Caen together into one perfect moment and turn the world into a paradise for the Mistress of Numbers.
Convergence is an army of math, synergy, and order of activation. Considered by some to be the most complex faction in the game, Convergence has a small but complete selection of models and warcasters that fit together more tightly than any other faction in the game.
Also their name shortens to "CoC" which is pretty funny.
MERCENARIES
This is a world where conflict rules and wars are always ready to flare up. What kind of moron could pass up a chance to make a buck? Mercenaries come in all shapes and sizes. Some are exiles from their own land, called traitors by those they once called brother. Some are pirates sailing on the high seas. Others are freedom fighters working to save their ruined nation. Others are short bearded fellows who like money. It takes all kinds, right?
What do YOU fight for?
The steampunk fantasy continent of Immoren, created by PRIVATEER PRESS, is the setting for two tabletop miniatures games: WARMACHINE and HORDES.
WARMACHINE and HORDES are played on a 4' by 4' gaming table, usually with some terrain - forests, trenches, rock walls and so forth - dotted about the battlefield. The players deploy their armies of miniatures across the board, roll dice and have at each other with gusto.
While each is counted as a separate game in its own right, WARMACHINE and HORDES use a compatible rules set and can be played against each other. The key differences between the two systems are warjacks/warbeasts, warlocks/warcasters, and FOCUS/FURY.
Warjacks are the eponymous WARMACHINES: giant steampunk robots which the armies of the Iron Kingdoms use to wage war, controlled by powerful battle-wizards known as warcasters. In HORDES, warriors from the wild places of the world fight alongside hulking monsters called warbeasts, whose savage instincts are held in check by warlocks.
Lastly, FOCUS and FURY is the most glaring difference. Warcasters possess a magical energy called FOCUS, which they can use to cast spells, increase their armour, or allocate to their warjacks to grant them an increased chance of hitting/damaging stuff and perform a variety of devastating power attacks. On the other hand, warlocks use stuff called FURY. FURY is similar to FOCUS in that it allows warlocks to cast spells, but instead of giving it to their warbeasts to increase their performance, warbeasts generate their own FURY when they are forced to boost dice rolls or perform power attacks. During his or her next turn, the warlock will drain off the fury from his warbeasts and use it for spells and whatnot, and the cycle repeats.
The problem is, if your warlock doesn’t drain all the fury from his or her beasts, there’s a good chance the monsters will hulk out and mindlessly attack those around them, friend or foe. So we like to say that while Warmachine is a game of resource management (deciding where to spend your limited pool of FOCUS), Hordes is a game of risk management (can I afford to leave FURY on that beast this turn?).
Hopefully that all makes sense. Now, let’s meet the inhabitants of the Iron Kingdoms.
The playable WARMACHINE factions include:
CYGNAR
A wealthy, populous, and advanced nation, Cygnar are known as “the crown jewel of the Iron Kingdoms”. They are well known for their advanced technology which has ensured their place as one of the major powers in Immoren. Cygnar are very much the 'combined arms' faction in Warmachine, able to field a variety of troops and warjacks that fill all rolls - ranged combat, melee combat, support, etc. - reasonably well. If phrases like "Gun Mage", "Chain Lightning", "Rapid Fire", and "Storm Glaive" make you sexually excited, you might be a Cygnar player in your heart of hearts.
Unfortunately for Cygnar, their success and wealth has earned them the animosity of most of their neighbours, such as...
KHADOR
Khador is a large, wintery nation which bears an uncanny similarity to stereotypical depictions of Russia. The harsh and icy climate has produced a tough, rugged people who are fiercely patriotic and filled with disdain for the weak southern nations. The Khadoran military is characterised by huge, ponderous warjacks with nigh-impenetrable armour and which hit like a ton of bricks; supported by infantry ranging from massed Winter Guard conscripts to elite infantry like the deadly Widowmaker Snipers and the mighty Man-O-Wars. Khador have also recently made strides to modernise their military with more long ranged (if somewhat inaccurate) firepower.
United by the dream of a new Khardic Empire, the Khadoran people have embraced a policy of aggressive expansionism, which unsurprisingly brings them into frequent conflict with the other nations of Immoren.
THE PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH
Formed out of a civil war with Cygnar, the Protectorate of Menoth is the youngest of the Iron Kingdoms. Essentially, the fanatical devotees of Menoth, the creator of man, were exiled to a barren wasteland to the east of Cygnar. There they found oil, diamonds, savage tribes to convert, and built up an army to crush their heathen enemies. Praise Menoth! Protectorate warjacks (and many of their troops) are individually weaker than those of the other factions, but by buffing their armies with their warcaster's spells and key support pieces, the Protectorate become exponentially more powerful. They also favour denying their enemies the ability to shoot or cast spells, thus throwing carefully laid plans into disarray.
Also, fire. Fire everywhere.
CRYX
The Nightmare Empire of Cryx is a series of islands off the western coast of mainland Immoren, and home to the immortal dragonfather Toruk. In addition to hordes of mindless undead thralls, Toruk's vassals include the Satyxis, a race of vicious warrior-women who practice blood rituals, the twelve Lich Lords, and a variety of other lifeforms corrupted and twisted by the dragon's blight. In battle, Cryx are fast, stealthy, and have a huge array of dirty tricks and debuffs up their rotting undead sleeves.
THE RETRIBUTION OF SCYRAH
Formerly a fringe radical group hailing from the secluded elven nation of Ios, the Retribution of Scyrah has recently gained heavy political ground and acceptance in its homeland. They now have access to and support from some of Ios's great Military Houses, including the ranks of the fearsome Dawnguard and the power of Myrmidon Warjacks. They are technologically advanced. They have force fields. They hate you.
They're out for blood and revenge. They are fighting the good fight for the survival of their species. Their last remaining Gods are dying, and they blame human magic use for it. They are damn good at what they do.
Solid units. Some absurdly powerful solos. Well-rounded if focus-hungry Warjacks. The Retribution plays differently and can be rather rewarding for those willing to put some effort into them. They shoot harder than most factions though aren't necessarily as accurate. They are potent in melee, but lack Warcaster support to the degrees most other factions enjoy. Their Warjacks are few in variety but can all do their task well. Take care of them, because they crumple like paper once their force fields are gone. Did I mention mage hunters? Oh yes. Mage hunters.
CONVERGENCE OF CYRISS]
The newest faction in Warmachine. Devoted followers of the goddess Cyriss, incarnation of logic and science, the leaders of the Cult are inspired minds transferred into clockwork vessels, technologically wondrous mechanisms that can host human souls. Their goal is quite simple: bring all the power of Caen together into one perfect moment and turn the world into a paradise for the Mistress of Numbers.
Convergence is an army of math, synergy, and order of activation. Considered by some to be the most complex faction in the game, Convergence has a small but complete selection of models and warcasters that fit together more tightly than any other faction in the game.
Also their name shortens to "CoC" which is pretty funny.
MERCENARIES
This is a world where conflict rules and wars are always ready to flare up. What kind of moron could pass up a chance to make a buck? Mercenaries come in all shapes and sizes. Some are exiles from their own land, called traitors by those they once called brother. Some are pirates sailing on the high seas. Others are freedom fighters working to save their ruined nation. Others are short bearded fellows who like money. It takes all kinds, right?
What do YOU fight for?
admanb on
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HORDES is WARMACHINE's younger, feral brother: it's just as large and tends to bite more often. The HORDES factions include...
SKORNE
To the far east of the Iron Kingdoms lies the Skorne Empire, a sadistic race obsessed with martial perfection. The deposed king of Cygnar fled here after his brother overthrew him, and single-handedly conquered the Skorne because he is a scary, scary man. Now he’s attempting to use them to win back his old kingdom; though the Skorne themselves are starting to get other ideas in that regard. Namely, conquest of the entire continent.
Skorne warbeasts typically start off as heavily armoured, lumbering behemoths, but through careful application of support spells and abilities they can become scarily fast. Skorne infantry tends to be different flavours of melee – Praetorian swordsmen who wield two swords in an orgy of choppy death, slow but powerful soldiers like Immortals and Cataphracts, and fast, stealthy Bloodrunner assassins. They also have access to some powerful wizards who like collected the souls of dead allies (or enemies, it varies) to fuel their armies. So yeah, nice folk all round.
TROLLBLOODS
The Trollbloods have villages and communities dotted all over the forests and wild places of Western Immoren. The Trollkin are a civilised and intelligent bunch who frequently interact with the human nations, working as bounty hunters, trackers and hired muscle. However, the humans tend to treat them like second-class citizens at best and try to murder them at worst. With that sort of nonsense, and the humans ever encroaching on their ancestral homelands and sacred sites, the Trollkin have had enough and are fighting back.
Trolls are very, very hard to put down. Most of their infantry have the ‘Tough’ special rule which allows you to roll a die when they’re killed to see if they’re really dead or just faking it. Their warbeasts are even more resilient, with the ability to regenerate health. Like the Protectorate of Menoth in Warmachine, Trolls tend to rely on a number of key support pieces for synergy and buffs that allow them to become even better and punching their enemies’ faces off.
LEGION OF EVERBLIGHT
One of Toruk’s progeny, the dragon Everblight exists as a disembodied essence in the far northern reaches of Immoren. He’s been slowly working to corrupt and enslave the Nyss, an arctic subspecies of elves. Everblight is also fond of using his own blood to create monstrous abominations with rows of sharp teeth and spikes everywhere. Now all his creations are marching south, primarily with the intention of fighting Toruk, but they’re not adverse to throwing down with anyone they encounter on the way.
The Legion are typically characterised as “glass cannons”. They hit you hard and hit you fast, and can be quite difficult to hit in return, but once you do hit them they tend to die rather easily (with a few notable exceptions such as blighted Ogruns and beasts like the Carnivean). They also love ignoring terrain and line of sight. Such things are not for the children of a Dragon!
CIRCLE ORBOROS
A sectrective cabal of Druids, the Circle Orboros are all about maintaining the balance between the order of the civilised world and the chaos of the wild places. They take to the battlefield alongside the Tharn, savage worshippers of the Devourer Wurm, construct warbeasts made of wood and stone, and beasts of the forests like Satyrs and Warpwolves.
The Circle Orboros love terrain, pure and simple. Most of their army choices either or ignore difficult terrain or have some way of gaining the ability to, and more often than not they gain some kind of benefit from hiding in forests. Oh yeah, and a lot of their stuff has the ability to make forests! The Circle play a very hit and run game as they tend to be somewhat fragile; and they can suffer against the heavy armour of factions like Khador and Skorne. However, they have access to some very powerful magic – namely denial and debuff spells – to help them out a bit.
MINIONS
Similar to the Mercenaries of Warmachine, Minions are a rag tag collection of hunters and wild creatures who will ally with the various Hordes factions for fun and profit. As of Hordes mk.II, they’re being promoted to a real faction. They’re mostly divided into Farrow (pig people), and Gatormen (fairly self-explanatory), bolsterd by badass wilderness guides, mad scientists and tentacle monsters. While their range is somewhat limited, they can still field reasonably competitive armies with a few unique tricks and abilities.
Sounds fun, I hear you say. But you’re probably also asking…
How do I get started with all of this?
Well, all of the rules you need to get started are in WARMACHINE: Prime mk.II and HORDES: Primal mk.II, the core rulebooks for each game. I’ve mentioned Mk.II a couple of times; it’s the second edition of the game, which was rolled out over the course of 2010.
If you want to know more about the individual factions, you should take a look at the 'Forces of…' books. While the main rulebooks contain a good selection of warcasters/warlocks, warjacks/warbeasts and troops from each of the factions, the Force books contain every model from that faction that has been released or is going to be released in the near future.
You can also purchase the Mk.II faction decks. All models in Warmachine and Hordes come with a handy quick-reference card, so you don’t have to have your whole collection of books on hand while you’re playing a game. The 2010 Mk.II faction decks contain current cards for all models that existed prior to Mk.II, allowing old hands to convert to the new system with minimal fuss and new players to see what their faction can field.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure it’s the 2010 Mk.II faction deck, not just the Mk.II faction deck. Those are old cards. Yes, I agree it doesn’t make sense, it’s a long story. Anyway, some unscrupulous retailers have tried to rip folks off in the past so be aware of that when purchasing your cards.
You can also check out War Room on iOS or Android. War Room is a free app with in-app purchases for the faction decks. It's a list builder, but also has the cards, game rules, and damage tracking. War Room had a rocky start, but it's stabilized and sped up quite a bit lately and is now a pretty good purchase.
Also, faction battleboxes contain a warcaster/warlock and some ‘jacks/beasts, along with the quick start rules. So you and some friends can pick up a box each and start duking it out in no time. There are currently battleboxes for all of the Hordes factions (barring Minions), and the old Warmachine starter boxes with metal models have been replaced with all new spiffy plastic one for Cygnar, Khador, the Protectorate and Cryx (though you can probably find the old ones if you want to).
Whew, I think that’s everything! Here’s some useful links and general stuff of interest:
The official Privateer Press homepage
Forward Kommander - a useful online army calculator.
The Battle College - a wiki full of strategies, tricks and tips, and detailed overviews of all the models.
Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic - a stellar guide on how to paint your mans and paint them good.
Vassal - a sprite-based application which allows you to play Warmachine and Hordes online. Simply download Vassal and the Warmachine and Hordes module, then jump online.
Previous Warmachine & Hordes threads from this very forum:
THREAD 1
THREAD 2
THREAD 3
THREAD 4
THREAD 5
THREAD 6
THREAD 7
THREAD 8
And of course, our friend Captain Jeremiah Kraye has this to say:
Have fun, and play like you've got a pair!
It's amazing how the game really develops and opens up as you learn it.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
*hand quivers over ordering the farrow battle box*
Welp, guess I own Tyrant Rhadeim, Tyrant Zaadesh and Despoiler.
I was seriously considering picking up some more War Hogs.
But I had three that are painted already, and I can't think of a list where I'd run more.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
/checks Cygnar stuff on the site
/everything is out of stock except 2 man packs of storm guard
/sighs
Pretty much the same for Protectorate, Cryx, Cyriss, minions and Circle (IE everything I was interested in).
On the other hand, while it's not on clearance, their prices for the Star Wars minis being 5-10 bucks below MSRP mean I'm likely to be adding some to my fleets. Also, they have the Pacific Rim heroclix available, so I may be getting some of those.
And free shipping for orders above 100 bucks... well, I'm sure I could find something else I wanted.
That sound in the background? That's my wallet crying. Don't worry, it does that a lot.
I stared at it, thought it over over lunch, decided to buy them
went back and they were sold out
wasn't meant to be
(my wallet is happy)
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
You guys in the US ... sometimes I wonder if you understand money compared to the rest of the world.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
We don't have to understand money when we invented it.
#'murca
Bull. Shit.
Oh well, back to looking for good deals on eBay and closeouts in my FLGS.
My list was almost identical both times, 35pt gorten tier four. In game one I had two gunnbunnies and a spray bunny, and in game two I had three bunnies. Both games were versus Cygnar (again)
Casters: 1/1
Points: 35/35
Tiers: 4
Gorten Grundback (*7pts)
* Grundback Gunner (3pts)
* Grundback Gunner (3pts)
* Grundback Gunner (3pts)
* Ghordson Driller (6pts)
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps Officer & Standard (0pts)
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (4pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (4pts)
Thor Steinhammer (2pts)
* Ghordson Basher (7pts)
So the first game was versus eStryker and a cavalry heavy army. Full unit of storm lancers, few units of stormblades, a stormclad, laddermore....I was already pretty grim going in.
My big mistake was that I lost a lot of screening for Gorten this way, and more importantly none of my guys could help each other out with countercharges.
So turn one I walk everyone up and toss some smoke with the arcanists. I move a spraybunny into some forest for concealment (it wasn't deep), and toss out a spray which does basically nothing to the storm lances. I shoot one of the lances with my Highshields, but my opponent put arcane shield on them so the shots do basically nothing.
His turn two he charges my driller with the stormblades and just wrecks the thing. I don't know why I moved him so far up, but it was a terrible idea. He charges my spraybunny with some storm lances and kills it as well. Fuck.
On my turn I can only counter charge with the Arcanists. One of the arcanist units charge the stormblades and admittedly does a lot of work. I think three models removed about six of his. P+S13 weapons with a fire AOE on boxing a model and battle wizard does a LOT to a unit on the charge.
The other set of arcanists charge the Lancers and manage to kill two of them with some lucky as hell rolls. I one of the Arcanists casts righteous flames and I also use gorten to cast eruption on that arcanist to try and deny some space and force them to take free strikes to move away.
He doesn't give a shit, pops his feat on his turn and charges straight to gorten, who was out a lot of focus, and crushes me.
Game two went MUCH better. I learned how NOT to deploy my dwarves, and also to NOT send the driller in first. Send the BASHER in first!
I go first and deploy much smarter- I keep everyone in a tight ball, with the exception of a small flank of one arcanist unit and one highshield unit.
I bungled around on my first turn- giving focus to gunbunnies and not using it (I thought his guys would be in range after advance move+ regular advance, but I was an inch short), casting strength of granite on my driller, even though he was in the back line...but mostly I advanced at dwarf speed up the board, threw some smoke down, and tried to take some shots (which fell short).
His turn he moves some trenchers up and picks off a few of my highshields, and lands a decent hit on my basher with triumph.
However, my second turn was rather painful for him. Thor activates, advances five inches, drives the basher five inches, and repairs the basher for a whopping 6 points, basically clearing most of the pain Triumph gave it in one go. The basher slams into his unit of rangers, and kills...three of them I think. Slam one, it gets thrown into another, I advance up and flak field another down. Critically, this put the basher right in front of Triumph, and in the way of most of his rangers, so movement and LOS is now a problem. My Highshields do a ton of work, taking out Maxwell Finn, a trencher chain gun crew, and half a unit of trenchers. Arcanists smoke cloud everyone again, and the gunbunnies don't so anything because they don't have a decent LOS. With the wasted focus on them, and upkeeping Granite on the driller, Gorten is at one, so he doesn't really do much this turn but advance behind a line of models.
His second turn my opponent tries to clear the board, feats with siege, and does work with with a grenadier and trenchers, killing one of my highshields units and one arcanist corp member, and crippling the Basher's head with the rangers. Triumph rolls snake eyes TWICE when shooting at a gunbunny, and I kind of feel bad for the wasted feat.
Turn two I clean out a few more rangers with the basher using just melee attacks and flak field, and I finish off his trencher units with my arcanist corp on the charge. Battlemage lets me take out the two master gunners that had been letting the Grenadier AOE my army down, and I'm feeling pretty smug. I want to camp focus with Gorten so I drop strength of granite off the driller.
This turn had the hilarious moment of an arcanist tossing his fireball at someone out of range and hoping for a good deviation. It deviated six inches! Yay!....backwards into my units...and almost killed Thor Steinhammer. Whooooooops.jpg.
Opponent is getting nervous now, uses the grenadier to melee my basher to death to free up the few remaining rangers. They advance within range of Gorten so that Mark Target can activate, and Siege drops my screening unit into a Foxhole. He takes a few shots at Gorten, but he already wasted his feat the previous turn and I was camping a lot of focus so the shots bounce off, for the most part. Triumph also takes a shot and kills a gunbunny, making up for his previously bad rolls.
Too bad though for him, it is my turn. Re-cast strength of granite on the driller, give it three focus, advance gorten, grab siege with the feat, shoot him with a Both Barrels attack and then...
Thor Tunes Up the Driller's damage rolls, moves out of the way, and the driller charges Siege with the drill, hitting for P+S 20 and four damage dice. Nothing can really survive that, and he drops in one shot.
DWARVES
Charging for four damage die, even without the +4 strength from gorten is ridiculous. And if he has the charge, one focus to charge, one to boost initial attack hits for four dice. Use last focus to buy an extra drill attack, which auto-hits and is auto-boosted thanks to tune up.
And if they are still standing whack 'em with the claw, which is ALSO boosted damage.
Basically I've learned to just throw the basher away early, hold the driller back with Thor and Gorten, and wait for an opening.
EDIT: Also, the tactical arcanist corp are an amazing unit. I can't recommend them enough. Either you are charging for P+S13, or you toss out pow 13 fireballs with an AOE. Or, if they are close enough and you can box a model on the charge, you can do BOTH.
Plus the smokeclouds, the critical fire on the magic attack, and the AOE continuous fire when you box a model...I just
So powerful
It's a small rules nit-pick, but it needs to be noted that you make all your initial attacks before buying more. If you buy another drill attack, you have forfeit the claw.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Thor tuning up a Earthbreaker.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
One day my friend. One day.
Possibly something that hasn't been announced yet.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
*eyeroll*
</baseless speculation>
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
(not really)
When doing a combined ranged attack, or combined melee attack, the rules say "It gets +1 for each model participating in the CRA/CMA"
But, does this mean "additional model"? or just like, everyone counts?
For example, if I have three guys who are RAT 5, and two of them participate in a CRA, do they get +1 or +2?
So basically are they shooting for RAT 6 or RAT 7?
This seems simple, but the few games I've played have done it both ways when I asked, so I want to check with y'all
'Jacks can see in the dark, yes? And bonded 'casters can see through their 'jacks eyes. So it stands to reason that a Warcaster looking through a jacks eyes gains low light vision, right?
Cool. We were playing super casually*, so I didn't really care I just wanted to be sure.
First I did it with everyone giving the initial guy +1 (So a RAT 5 would be only RAT 6 with two models in the attack) and then my opponent was like "I think actually they ALL add +1" so the next roll we did it that way, and then the third time my other friend was like "I'm not sure which is right" so I did it the first way.
I mean, it didn't matter- I was rolling hot with my dwarves so they shot everyone to pieces anyway, but it is good to know
*And by super casually, I mean we were playing Floormachine
I'm supposed to trying to not spend money here...
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that says "after X, you can Y", which means it's optional. Easy thing to miss when speedreading stuff.
First proper game of Skorne I played after a few battlebox matches.
System: Hordes
Faction: Skorne
Casters: 1/1
Points: 25/25
Master Tormentor Morghoul (*7pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Nihilators did so-so. I made a big booboo by sending three of them at Kell Bailoch - the first one killed Kell... and then the other two thanks to berserk attacks. I should really just have sent one guy to keep Kell engaged, the other two would have been better used elsewhere.
Bronzeback Titan stomped all over the Boomhowlers.
Morghoul1 works nice with this bunch of warbeasts, but the Nihilators really need something that can buff them a bit - they're not quite Doomreavers. Morghoul2 might have been fun, especially since he can give a unit Grievous Wounds to deal with Boomhowlers.
In the end I won on scenario points, but only because Mago rolled really low on a couple of attacks during his assassination run that would otherwise have killed Morghoul.
My game tonight wasn't nearly as smooth or interesting as Echo's.
We have a fairly new player in the area. I have an appreciation for him, because he's doing the sort of thing I wish more people did, taking things they like regardless of how powerful they are. He has a bit of a social dysfunction (I couldn't tell you if it's a condition, or if he just isn't great with people), but he's generally an okay and nice-enough guy. However he doesn't really have a grasp of the rules, and he's more or less started playing the game at 35+ points, which is a terrible jumping off point, let alone one to pigeon-hole himself into Darius tier lists ...
I didn't take anything crazy powerful - Rahn with a pair of arc nodes, Lady A & Master H, Battle Mages, Sentinels, and a pair of assassins. I could do damage, but everything in there can die pretty easily if you want it to.
Turn 1 I ran up, he advanced and ran. Turn 2, I ran my Chimera, popped feat, TK'd Darius, pulled him forward (no screening), and charged him with the Sentinels. Unsurprisingly, he didn't survive. The new player felt really upset with this, which I understood, but I also tried to make him aware of what my army and units could do after I moved on my first turn (so he could try and gauge what to do in response). I also assured him "You have to fall for lots of things once in this game before you can understand how to avoid them." However I don't think this is advice lots of people are willing to accept. *shrug*
Anyway, I talked him down a bit after the game, which was fine. I think our group collectively wants him to play smaller games to learn the basics of the game, but he's the sort of person who is very resistant to playing less. Like, he wants advice that he wants to ask you about, but he doesn't really want it if he doesn't. It's ... weird ...
Oh well. My force is really starting to look great on the table as every little bit more gets painted.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?