Wargames @ farfaraway.org » Hordes

Warpwolf, Wolfen, Warpwolf?

owen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:35:34 +0000

The Confrontation Wolfen miniatures make great proxies for Warpwolves. I’ve never been that interested in starting a Circle Orboros force, but I’ve had these old Confrontation miniatures for years and when I saw the Warpwolf Stalker I thought they’d make perfect proxies. The only Warpwolf miniature I actually like is the Pureblood; the original Warpwolf is in a weird pose and the new Stalker, certainly next to these Wolfen miniatures, is only so-so. These Wolfen will never be tournament legal, but I don’t care. It’s about putting paint on some neglected miniatures. I’ll never play Confrontation, so they may as well be used for something worthwhile!

Anyway, here are a few more of photos of my ‘impostor’ Warpwolves.

Here’s the painting scheme (and more-or-less the order I painted it in) -

Skin: Codex Grey; Fortress Grey; Fortress Grey + Skull White (50:50); Fortress Grey + Skull White (33:66)
Gums: Gore Red
Ears: Elf Flesh (DB)
Armour (Green): Orkhide; Orkhide + Knarloc (50:50)
Leather: Snakebite
Claws: Graveyard + Snakebite (66:33)
Armour (Metal): Brass Balls + Graveyard (50:50)
Sword: Boltgun
Everything: Watered down Magic Wash
Base (Earth): Watered down Graveyard Earth
Base (Stone): Watered down Codex Grey; Fortress Grey (DB); Badab Black (Wash)

I’ve 4-5 more of these guys unpainted in the shed. I wonder which Circle warlock is good with Warpwolves?

Owen

Making Beach-style Bases

owen — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:44:36 +0000

I’ve used lots of different ‘piratey’ bases (see here and here) for my Warmachine Privateer army, but a sandy beach was one I hadn’t attempted until I was working on the last unit of Thamarite Cultists. I could’t find any good tutorials on this, but I decided I’d give it a go.

Step 1: Since I was using Warmachine rounded-edge bases, I decided to fill the inside of the base with Milliput. For these kinds of modelled bases I always work with the model off the base. Before the Milliput dried I pressed the base into fine (but not too fine) sand.

Step 2: When this dried I used a watered dow PVA mix to liberally coat the base and again dipped it in the sand. I’m not too concerned about uniform coverage as walked on sand is rarely smooth.

Steps 3 and 4: Repeat Step 2.

Step 4: Attached the miniature to the base. As always time spent pinning them on now will save heartache later on.

Step 5: Undercoat the miniature. I decided to undercoat these guys black, which was better for the miniature, but would mean a few more steps in painting the base.

Step 6: Paint the miniature. This is easy and should only take a minute or two, right?!

Step 7: Paint the base. I tidied up any mess from the earlier painting using Chaos Black. Next I used two watery coats of Khemri Brown to get rid of most of the black. A watery coat of Iyanden Darksun (a deep yellow colour) was applied next. I then drybrushed the base with this yellow colour. Next I mixed it 50:50 with Bleached Bone and did a light drybrush. Finally there was one more pure Bleached Bone drybrush. Take some Chaos Black and tidy the edge of the base.

(I painted the base and then the miniature, but that was the wrong way around as then you need to be very tidy when working on shoes, etc.)

Step 8: Add Seaweed. I grabbed some moss from the back garden and left it to dry overnight. I mixed a very watery PVA mix and then dipped the ‘seaweed’ in it and added it to the base.

That sounds like lots of steps, but when your basing a whole unit there is very little hanging around as (certainly with the painting) once one step is completed on all of the miniatures you can go back to the first model and start the next step. Easy and effective.

Owen

Building Balsa Wood Houses

owen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:11:19 +0000

Building your own terrain is always easier than is first appears. This article will guide you through making a simple wood cabin suitable for Warmachine and Malifaux. You’ll need the following -

Materials
- Balsa Wood (3mm thick x 10cm wide x 45cm length (approx))
- Card (from a Cereal Packet will be fine)
- PVA glue
- Paints
Tools
- Sharp Craft Knife
- Ballpoint Pen (Black is best)
- Cutting Mat
- Steel Ruler
- Old Paint Brush
- Container to Mix Glue in

You can either read all of the steps below, or watch this handy video!

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

Step 1 Cut out a Gable End. Measure a 9cm length from the balsa wood. Mark a straight line perpendicular to the long edge. Use the steel ruler to guide the craft knife along the line. Many gentle cuts are better than a few hard ones (and are less lightly to result in loss of fingers!).

Step 2 Make a peak on the Gable End. Start by marking a point 5cm (the wall will be 5cm tall) up the 9cm side. Do the same on the opposite site. Now mark a point 5cm along the 10cm wide top. This will be the peak of the roof. Draw straight lines between the 10cm marks and the peak. Again use the rule and knife to remove these triangles.

Step 3 Make another Gable End. Repeat steps 1 and 2. You now have both Gable Ends done and the hardest bit is done!

Step 4 Make the Long Walls. Mark and cut a 12cm length from the Balsa wood. Now cut this 12cm x 10cm piece lengthways to make two walls 5cm x 12cm. You should now have all of the walls of the building.

Step 5 Make the Structural Supports. If you attempt to glue the edges of walls directly they will be quite fragile. One option would be to make card supports (either inside or outside) by bending a piece of appropriately sized card through 90° If you are using them card on the outside of the building you may want to paint it up to look like metal. Punching out a few card rivets would help with the look.

The option I used for the building pictured above can be achieved pretty simply. I cut a 5cm piece from the balsa (making a 5cm x 10cm piece). By cutting along the grain (which is very easy to do) I cut a 5mm (i.e. 0.5cm) strip. I make three other pieces so there is one for each corner. These will be internal supports. The building above has external ones too,
but they aren’t necessary for support.

Step 6 Score the Wooden Beams. This can be done after the building is assembled, but it’s easier to do now. Using the ballpoint pen mark the wobbly edges to wooden planks by drawing straight lines freehand along the grain of the balsa wood. Roughly parallel lines about 1cm apart look good. Do this on each of the four pieces of wood.

Step 7 Assemble the Basic Structure. Start by gluing the supports to the inside of the long walls. They should be positioned 3mm from the short edge, parallel to that edge. There should be two supports on each long wall, located at the far ends of the wall. Once the glue has set a little brush glue down the right angle made by the support and the wall. The Gable End will connect here. Be careful not to use too much glue as any visible glue will effect the final paint job. Glue all four corners.

Step 8 Making the Roof. Measure the length of the fall of the roof, or work it out using Hypothenuses theorem √52+42 = ~6.5cm. You’ll need a piece of card about 13cm x 12cm in size. Bend it down the middle and glue it to the top of the structure. Take another piece of card and cut a load of approx 1cm x 1cm tiles. Starting at the bottom of the roof glue these in rows, with a slight overlap between tiles. For the top cut a 12cm x 3cm strip. Divide it lengthwise and cut 0.5-1cm cuts along it. Glue this to the crest of the roof.

Step 9 Details. Doors and windows are pretty easy. Cut 3mm strips from a piece of balsa and cut them to length for a door frame. Cut a small piece for the door handle and glue all of the pieces in place. For a window, cut a piece of card the required size and them make a frame for the window from balsa.

Step 10 Painting. I undercoated the house with black spray, then painted it brown and highlighted with a lighter colour. I drybrushed the roof with a dark grey and that’s it!

So, that turned out longer than expected, but trust me, it’s cheap easy to build your own balsa houses. Go on, give it a go.

Owen

Shattered Grounds – Multi-player League Games

owen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:55:17 +0000

Yesterday was a funny kind of Father’s Day… I didn’t see my daughter at all! She was staying with her grandparents on Saturday night and I was off playing little soldiers when she was brought home and put to bed. That said, it was still an awesome day.

I played two multi-player games for the Blasted Heath season in the Shattered Grounds league. There are two options when it comes to multi-player games – King of the Hill and Unlikely Alliance. The first is a free-for-all and the second is a cooperative game. If you’re playing in the league both are worth looking at as they reward the extra organisation with extra league points. If you’re not in the league then they are worth looking at because they are just damn good fun!

King of the Hill

This scenario should be pretty familiar to most players. You win by being the last ‘caster standing or the first ‘caster to get 3 control points. Warcasters/warlocks are awarded one control point for being on the central hill at the end of their turn (from the second turn onwards).

Our game was a four-way 25pt battle for the hill with Grissel, Xerxis, Venethrax and Goreshade (me) all competing for the win. Grissel fell early, so the game was only going to be contested by the remaining three. I played a very cautious game, mostly because of Xerxis Bile Thralls nearby that could seriously dent my army. We swapped Bile Thralls and managed to take out a few Skorne Swordsmen with them too. Venethrax made the first move for the hill and was quickly joined by Xerxis.

They traded blows, but didn’t wipe out each other. I saw an opportunity, but knew it needed to stick as Venethrax was on 2 control points. I moved Goreshade up, feated and sent the Bane Thralls to finish the Cryxian ‘caster. Xerxis had an awesome turn and managed to clear out six Bane Thralls – it was something to behold. He was now sitting on 2 control points. My turn came around and this had to be it. I positioned my Mechanithralls out of the way and charged Goreshade in. Smack, transfer, smack – game over. Goreshade wins.

The nice thing about this game is that all players get league points for playing the game equal to the game size, plus the bonus points (5pts each in this case). The winner gets the bonus points on top of that too.

Unlikely Alliance

This scenario is epic, not because there is anything particularly special about it, but because there are likely to be an awful lot of miniatures on the battlefield! It’s simply a ‘caster kill scenario with two players on each team. We had 50pts per player, so that was 100pts a side. It was truly magnificent to behold. We randomised which players were on which team and it ended up that myself and Anthony (Cryx and Cryx – sweet!) would play Skorne and Trollbloods (talk about an unlikely alliance!).

The thing I enjoyed most about this game was the talk-out-loud tactics that each team employed to coordinate what they did. For example, on turn three Anthony and I decided we’d pop both Deneghra’s and Asphyxious’ feats to try and take out Xerxis. This required positioning arc nodes, getting Hellfire off with a Skarlock to try and clear an Agonizer, moving Deneghra up, feating, casting more Hellfires, getting Asphyxious into position, casting more Hellfires (through a different arc node), feating and casting yet more Hellfires. That’s a little tricky to coordinate when there’s just one brain controlling the army, but try it with two brains! The great (an possibly horrific thing for Xerxis’ controller, Harry) thing is that Anthony and I needed to talk through that in advance and then communicate what we were doing through the turn. Harry saw (or at least heard) it coming, but could do nothing about it. The writing was on the wall for Grissel and despite a valiant attempt the might of two Cryx ‘caster (with fantastic synergies) was too much for the Trollbloods to overcome.

Not only was this a fantastic game, but everyone was a winner as far as the league was concerned. The 50pt per faction is actually counted as game two rows lower, e.g. 100pts. All participants get at least 8pts and the winners get 12pts. Nice!

I netted 19 points yesterday. A pretty cool Father’s Day present.

Owen

Two Beers, Two Games, Two Wins

owen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:00:09 +0000

I got my first two Blasted Heath league games under my belt tonight. Harry came out to the house to pit his Skorne against my Cryx. I decided I’d give Cryx a go in the league as they are my third faction (behind Khador and Legion) and they haven’t received a whole lot of attention since I painted them up last year. It was tempting to run with the new shiny that are my Privateers, but that would have relegated Cryx to my fourth faction for sure!

Harry and I played two games this evening (over a couple of beers) – a 20pt game and a 35pt game. I decided to use Goreshade in the first game. He was accompanied by Deathjack, a Slayer, six Mechanithralls and six Bane Thralls. I’m not going to give a blow by blow other than to say I played a very cagey game and seeing Deathjack trample a complete unit of Swordsmen and later charge eMakeda (and crush) was a beautiful thing (photographed right).

Game two went well too. This time I used pAsphyxious supported by a couple of Arc Nodes, Deathjack, Bane Lord Tartarus, Bane Thralls, Bane Knights, Mechanithralls and a Skarlock. I had the opportunity about half way through the game to attempt an assassination by arcing Hellfire onto a furyless eMakeda. I hit her and did 10 damage. Asphyxious feated for 7 more focus and I rolled a boosted attempt to hit again. I didn’t get the 8 required! eMakeda survived another turn or two, but after Deathjack took out a Titan and the Mechanithralls reduced a Rhinodon to one wound the writing was on the wall for her.

Both games were great fun and Harry’s an excellent opponent. It’s a good start to the league for me and my attempts to get to know Cryx better. I hope I’m not relying on Deathjack too much, though. He’s fantastic, but at 12 points he’s pricey. Anyway, hopefully I can continue the winning trend tomorrow evening.

Owen

Building a 4′ x 4′ Wargames Board

owen — Sat, 15 May 2010 10:05:18 +0000

I’ve been using the same flat battle boards for the last 5 years, so I decided recently that it was time to build a slightly more contoured board. I didn’t want it to be flat, but I also didn’t want the terrain to be so specific that I’d only be able to use it rarely. To that end I went with a dried riverbed theme. This way the river could be treated as a shallow water, deep water or nothing depending on what game we wanted to play. I also wanted to make sure the terrain was flat enough to position miniatures without too much difficulty.

The materials and tools I used were -

Frame and Base

4 ‘ x 4′ 6mm thick plastic sheet (thicker MDF would also be fine)
2″ x 1″ x 4′ batons
12-16 ½” brass screws
4 x 3″ brass screws

Terrain and Sculpting

Several different pieces/sheet of 1″ and ½” of packing foam
Plaster Filler (I used a brand called Polyfilla)
PVA Glue (I used 1:1 watered down Durabond)

Painting and Finishing

Acrylic Paints
Flock (Static Grass)
Matt Varnish Spray

Tools

Dremel
Electric Drill
Electric Screwdriver
Jigsaw
Sand Paper
Hot Glue Gun
Rubber Gloves!
Paint Brushes

STEP 1: Put a Frame on the Board
Okay – this is pretty straight forward stuff, but like all woodwork you need to measure twice and cut/drill once. Also, be careful – all of the power tools can do a lot of damage to a person, so pay close attention to what you are doing. First up you need to drill some guide holes in the 4′ x 4′ sheet to fix the batons through. Make sure the holes are not too close to the corners as you’ll be using the 3″ screws to secure the batons together and you don’t want the screws that hold them to the board to get in the way. To that end I measured and marked eight holes – each 4″ from a corner and 1″ in from the edge. I drilled this with a small bit on the Dremel. I then grabbed the real drill and sunk wider holes (just wide enough for the ½” screws). I positioned a baton flush with one edge and then attached it to the board using the screwdriver. I attached the opposite baton. I oriented the batons so the broader (2″) side ran flat with the board.

Next I needed to cut the other two batons to length. Rather than measuring the 44″ (48″ – (2+2″)) I lay them between the fixed batons and mark the length to cut. I then cut them to length with the jigsaw and fixed them in place.

This step is optional, but for more rigidity I drilled holes from the longer batons into the new shorter ones and secured them with the 3″ screws.
I drilled four more holes through the board in the centre of the batons and fixed with screws. There are now three screws holding each baton to the board and four screws connecting the batons.
The board and frame is now solid and pretty well supported.

STEP 2: A decision to make?!
I now had a decision to make – which side of the board would I build the battlefield on. The ‘top’ side is a flat 4′ x 4′ area with the frame underneath. Building on the bottom would mean loosing 2″ (the thickness of the batons) from every edge, but it would be more robust for storage. As can be seen in the photo I opted for the later an decided to build the battle field between the batons and sacrifice some table area. If I ensure the battlefield does not rise above the baton edge I should have a board that is less likely to be damaged.

STEP 3: Shaping and Gluing Foam
As mentioned earlier I used basic packing foam, you know the kind that electronics and the like come in. I shaped most of the foam using a bread knife, but before doing so I drew the shape of the battle filed onto the boards. This way I could position the available foam, which was a hotch potch of hoarded bits, before cutting. Once all of the foam was cut I used a hot glue gun to fix it into position. The glue melted the foam slightly, but since it was melting it where it wouldn’t be seen that didn’t really matter.

STEP 4: Conturing the Foam
I grabbed a large tub of Polyfilla (or Spackle) and used it to contour the edges of the (low) hills, riverbed and river bank. To do this I wore a pair of rubber gloves and had a small container of water hand. This is a messy job, but produced a great looking result. For the dried riverbed I ensured it looked like it had been shaped by flowing water by working it in the same direction. I gave the Polyfilla 24 hours to dry before moving to the next step.

STEP 5: Applying Sand
This is a straightforward, but time consuming step. I watered down PVA glue and applied it in 1′ x 1′ sections, being careful to avoid the bottom of the dried pond and riverbed (the previous step gave them enough texture). I then tilted the board and poured sand onto the wet area. I repeated this process until the board was covered in sand.

STEP 6: Painting and Flocking the Board
Painting the board is pretty easy. I wanted the sand and textured Polyfilla to give natural highlights so I used a heavily watered down mix of Burnt Sienna artists paint (you know the kind that comes in a tube). This is a pretty quick step, but because it is so watered down it can take a while for the paint to dry. I left it 24 hours. Next I used PVA glue to judiciously apply flock to certain areas of the board. As I was aiming for a dried earth look, I didn’t want too much grass. I also painted the wooden at this stage.

STEP 7: Sealing the Board
There are a couple of different approaches to protecting a board, but I decided to use spray matt varnish. This only provides a small bit of protection, but it also helps to keep the flock in place.

It seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it to have a good looking board to field your battles on. Here are a couple of pictures of the board in use -

Owen

Lost Hemisphere Podcast

owen — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:24:55 +0000

The good gentlemen (I might be using that term a little loosely!) at Lost Hemisphere have started a new podcast. Check out a blog post introducing it here. I enjoyed their first episode and look forward to many more.

I’m a fan of The Iron Agenda and Focus and Fury podcasts. In my mind they fill slightly different niches, IA are slightly more considered and (dare I say) scholarly, while F’n'F sound more hardcore and seasoned. Each podcast also has different production quality, IA is more honed and F’n'F is pretty raw. I subscribe to and listen to both, so it’ll be interesting to see where Lost Hemisphere Radio settles, but so far so good.

Owen

ANNIHILATION Campaign System v1.1

owen — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:45:32 +0000

Here is an update to the two player ANNIHILATION campaign system based on myself and Peter’s campaign -

ANNIHILATION v1.1 Campaign Rules (PDF)

Feedback and experience would be most appreciated.

Owen

An Introduction to Warmachine

owen — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:00:01 +0000

This is an article I wrote a couple of months ago for Issue 3 of the Uplink magazine [pdf]

“Play like you’ve got a pair!” is the catchphrase for this fast-paced aggressive game. If you like the sound of a wargame that has a stunning range of miniatures, is based in an immersive and compelling world, has some of the most beautiful books produced by any gaming company, is balanced and has a set of rules that are rock solid then Warmachine is the game for you! Warmachine has been around for about seven years now and is produced by Seattle-based Privateer Press. Its second version, called Warmachine MkII, released at the start of 2010 after an open field test in which thousands of players contributed feedback to tweak and refine the game and model rules. This award-winning game has earned Privateer Press a devoted set of followers worldwide who love their games equally for their strong character-driven storyline and fantastic gameplay.

I mean, what’s not to love, Warmachine is a game full of massive steam-powered machines of war that can headbutt, slam and throw their enemies to the ground before pounding them to oblivion. These machines, named warjacks (or just ‘jacks), are controlled by battle mages known as warcasters. The background of the Iron Kingdoms, a set of countries on the continent of Western Immoran, is one of almost constant war. The warcasters are the powerful protagonists at the centre of these conflicts that are tasked with leading the armies of their countries. They are warriors beyond compare who can wield potent magics to cast spells and boost their ‘jacks in battle. In the world of Warmachine the warjacks are sentient constructs of armour, weaponry, pistons, gears and steam-powered might centred around a cortex. The cortex is a delicate piece of magically constructed engineering that gives the ‘jack basic intelligence and allows it to operate autonomously. It also enables the warcaster to see through the ‘jacks eyes and push it to extremes. This is the unique selling point of the game, the focus mechanic that represents magic. The fact that the game has exceptionally well thought out and balanced rules doesn’t hurt either!

Before I can talk about how focus works, I first need to introduce the basic combat mechanic. Like most wargames every model has a set of stats that represent its movement, combat abilities and capacity to sustain damage. Warmachine does not rely on players learning off tables to calculate the chances to hit and wound an enemy. Rather a player simply rolls 2D6, adds them to a combat statistic and compares them to their opponents defense. Equal or beat their defense and it’s a hit. Wounding them is done in a similar manner – roll 2D6, add the strength (and power) of your weapon and if it beats their armour they sustain damage. It is in these dice rolls that the delicate balance of the game lies. Everything is based around average rolls. For example, most ‘jacks have a melee attack (MAT) statistic of 6. A high defense (DEF) on a warcaster would be 16. On average rolls a ‘jack would have a hard time hitting a ‘caster. Here’s were a ‘jacks controlling ‘caster can help out.

Every warcaster has a focus statistic (typically around 6 or 7). At the start of a turn the player can allocate focus from their ‘caster to ‘jacks to enable them to do exceptional things during their activation. With focus a ‘jack can perform power attacks, such as throws, slams, armlocks and headbutts, and importantly boost attack and damage rolls. Boosting allows the ‘jack to add an additional die to a roll. That DEF 16 warcaster seems a lot easier to hit now that the ‘jack is rolling 3D6! Focus allocation is one of the key skills in the game as the ‘caster can also use focus to cast spells and boost their own attacks. Every warcaster has a unique list of spells that they can cast to destroy their enemy, control the batlefield or help out their own army. They also have a once per game feat that can dramatically change the face of the game. When playing against a new warcaster the first thing you do is check out their feat to see what it does!

So, that’s the basics of the gameplay – you have a powerful warcaster (or two!) at the centre of your army who pushes it to excel in battle. Warcasters are so focal that changing a warcaster can completely change how an army performs. Armies are constructed in a similar fashion to other games, you set a point total and add ‘jacks, units and solos until you reach the limit. Warmachine is a game of synergies. Some units and solos work well with each other and specific ‘casters. Games tend to be scenario focused were there are two winning conditions – win the scenario or kill the enemy warcaster. Larger games, 50 or 75 points, can have a large number of miniatures on the table and will take 2-3 hours to play. At this scale Warmachine isn’t the skirmish game that it appears to be at initial glance. The carnage is beautiful and battles can change quickly as a player who seems to be winning the scenario suddenly finds his warcaster under threat. However, even small games that comprise a warcaster and a few ‘jacks are great fun. These battlebox games last less than an hour and are so-called because they are made up of the contents to a factions basic boxed set. Each of these boxes contains a warcaster, a few ‘jacks, their stat cards and a quickstart version of the rules (which are also available for download). If you’re considering playing Warmachine this is a decent place to start.

There are essentially six factions in Warmachine – Cygnar, Khador, Protectorate of Menoth, Cryx, Retribution of Scyrah and Mercenaries. Coming from games like Warhammer and 40k this might look like very few, but the fact that each faction has a lot of warcasters (as many as a dozen in several cases) really mixes things up. These ‘casters completely change the character of an army, so there is a lot of strategic diversity in the game. There are a lot of resources on the Internet that talk about the features and differences of the different factions, so I won’t go into them here. Each faction has a broad theme and a unique aesthetic. For example, the Khadorans could be characterised as a cold power hungry race that value superior armour and bone crushing weapons over speed and precision. Their large brutal ‘jacks are symbols of a stoic people and an ever expanding empire. Each faction has its own character. The factions are well balanced as Warmachine is released incrementally, i.e. each book release sees every faction get something new, so you don’t end up with army books developed under an old edition become obsolete. As MkII is a new edition of Warmachine everything was reviewed and updated. The releases of MkII during 2010 will see each faction getting a Forces book that details the background and rules for every miniature in that faction. From 2011 the game will return to the incremental releases

There has never been a better time to get into Warmachine. It is a mature game, with lovely miniatures and a great set of rules. Ask a friend to give you a demo, or take the plunge and pick up a couple of battleboxes, but whatever you do remember to “play like you’ve got a pair!”.

Owen

Carnivean finally has Open Fists

owen — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:45:43 +0000

The front of the final version of the Carnivean’s MkII card (previewed here) has revealed something quite nice – it’s Talons are now Open Fists.

Sweet! I feel a little better about the dodgy win I pulled against Lenny a while ago.

Owen

Epic Warmachine and Hordes

owen — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 11:26:39 +0000

I’ve always been a big fan of Games Workshop’s Epic game. I’ve owned pretty much all of its incarnations over the years and currently have large Blood Angels and Eldar armies, but what does that have to do with Warmachine and Hordes. Well, Epic is for representing large scale battles with a single assault between a couple of formations in Epic being the equivalent of a whole game of Warhammer 40,000 (a game I’ve never been able to like). Epic brings a grander perspective to a battle than just the small scale clashes that occur between platoons. In some ways Flames of War has a similar perspective to representing battles.

Warmachine and Hordes are more than just skirmish games, but they certainly aren’t designed to scale to represent larger battles. That’s not a criticism, I love the fact that an individual warjack can double-handed throw an opposing model and aim it at an important target. Trying to represent that at a larger scale would bog things down. If you’ve ever played a 100pt Warmachine/Hordes game you know how things start to slow down as the time between turns gets longer. Epic Armageddon is about the movement of whole armies. Instead of being concerned about the movements of individual troopers you control larger formations of 30+ troopers (in six strips of five). They are represented at the 6mm scale, i.e. an human sized trooper is about 6mm tall. To alleviate the time between turns formations are (more-or-less) activated alternatively allowing the commander to react to events as they unfold on the battle field in a very fluidic manner.

How would this be great for Warmachine/Hordes? Since Superiority Privateer Press have been trying to given an impression of the scale of war in the Iron Kingdoms. 35pt and 50pt games are almost the ubiquitous standard and they are much closer to a skirmish game than a full blown strategic battle. The Forces of Warmachine books describe grand armies of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Imagine playing a 1000pt game of Epic Warmachine with 3-4 warcasters on the field surrounded by 15-20 ‘jacks and large formations of troops, artillery and cavalry and you start to get an idea of what I’m talking about. This Epic scale would require a different rule set and it would be a challenge to represent the power of warcasters at this scale, but I think it would make for a great game. Imagine replaying the assault on Northguard in its entirety! How about trying to represent thousands of Khadorans moving into the outskirts of a city like Point Bourne? Hell, I want to play a game that looks like the cover of the Warmachine MkII rulebook!

C’mon Privateer Press, how about a strategic level game for the Iron Kingdoms?

Owen

Warmachine Terrain: Explosion Craters

owen — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:05:24 +0000

What You’ll Need

An old CD
A small piece of card
Some air-drying clay
Some sand
PVA Glue
Flock
Paint
Black Spray
Modelling Knife

Making the Crater

Score the CD using the modelling knife and then glue a small piece of card over the centre hole.
Create a doughnut (or donut if you’re from the USA) of air-drying clay and place it on the CD. Smooth the edges into a peaked ring. Leave this to dry for about 24 hours.
Glue the dried clay to the CD (even after scoring the CD the clay will not adhere well by itself). Coat the piece in watered down PVA and cover in sand. Leave to dry for a couple of hours.
Paint the piece to match your wargames table. Heavily watered down earth colours work well. When this is dry carefully spray the centre of the crater from about 45cm (1½’) directly above. Don’t spray too much. Dry brush this area with a grey paint.
Sparingly flock near the edges.

I made five of these in less than an hours assembly and painting time and they make for a great pieces of terrain. We usually count them as rough terrain for all models and providing concealment to models in the within the terrain or in an 1″ of an intervening edge.

Owen

MkII Model Update: Changes to Legion of Everblight

owen — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:39:02 +0000

Privateer Press have released their final PDF of the Hordes MkII model rules before the official release later this year. This is not the final word on Hordes MkII and we will not have that until the books are released. I had a look at the Legion of Everblight in this release and compared it against the 29th January release. The changes are mostly pretty minor, with a couple of spell changes and an adjusted feat being the highlights. Here are the differences I could see -

eLylyth lost Lock the Target and gained Pursuit
pThagrosh had the wording of Mutagenesis expanded
eThagrosh lost the Elite Cadre
Rhyas had the wording of Dash changed. Rhyas now also benefits from +1 Speed of the spell. It is strange that she is referred to by name in the spell text (i.e. not “this model”).
Saeryn’s feat just got better. The non-magical caveat has been removed. She lost Sunder Spirit and gained Hellfire.
Shredder gained Snacking
Raek’s animus changed to Shadow Shift from Shadow Stalk
Scather Crew ranged attack now causes Corrosion Damage

That’s all I spotted. Let me know if I missed anything.

Owen

Warmachine Terrain: Water Tower and Coal Store

owen — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:17:51 +0000

After seeing this excellent video on the Iron Kingdoms at War blog I decided I’d dig up a few supplies and make my own water tower. With ‘jacks being used in everyday labour in the IK setting I decided a store of coal would also be useful.

The tube I used is wider than a Pringles tube (I can’t remember the specific brand) and I cut it in half to make the two towers. I used more-or-less exactly the techniques described above.

The coal is decorative stones mixed with PVA glue (and a small amount of water) and place on the top of the tower. I should have photographed a miniature for scale, but they are 6.5″-7″ tall and about 4″ in diameter.

I made a couple of minor mistakes (both of which are visible in the coal store photo). I should have undercoated the tubes black before sticking on the coffee stirers as the colourful artwork is slightly visible in places and near impossible to get a brush (or spray) at. The other mistake was not mixing black paint (or Gesso maybe) into the ‘coal’. Again it was a pain to undercoat.

Those small issues aside I think they turned out pretty well.

Owen

Undercoating Models using Gesso

owen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:11:28 +0000

Gesso? What’s that? It’s the stuff that painters often use to prepare a canvas before applying paints to it. It comes in a variety of different colours, well at least white, black and grey, and is itself a water soluble acrylic. So, why would you use this stuff and not a spray? One word – consistency.

I find that sprays are prone to inconsistency due to varying climatic conditions and potentially over-spraying. I do most of my spraying in my shed (workshop) which can get pretty cold and is a dampish place. In winter it is too cold to spray effectively most of the time, so rather than just putting up with grainy or misty spray I decided to look for an alternative. That’s when a friend recommended Gesso. There are several different brands, but Liquitex came recommended, so that’s what I picked up.

(The models above are shiny as they are still drying. Gesso dries matt.)

Using Gesso is not for the faint hearted. It’s a gloopy substance that looks like it should never be put near a finely sculpted miniature. I water it down slightly, but as it goes on it still seems to obscure their details horribly. Here’s where a little faith is needed. As it dries it clings tightly to the detail. It dries in a few hours, but 24 hours is the recommendation. All of the detail is crisp and sharp and I find the process to be more reliable than spraying. The coverage is anywhere you can get a brush and the finish is a tough undercoat that will easily take your paints.

Anyway – that’s a long winded post to say, “Try Gesso, it’s great!”.

Owen

ANNIHILATION Campaign System (Files)

owen — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:29:16 +0000

Here are a couple of files that you might find useful if you plan to run an ANNIHILATION campaign -

ANNIHILATION v1.0 Campaign Rule (PDF) (as seen here and here)
ANNIHILATION Campaign Structure v1.0 (PPTX) to allow you to change the game structure and scenarios to suit your own campaign.

Feedback would be most appreciated.

Owen

ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 2)

owen — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:27:18 +0000

This is the second of two articles that describe the rules of a campaign system for Warmachine and Hordes. The first part described how to compose an army and deal with attrition as it sustained losses over a series of battles. This part describes how to sequence a series of battles and determine who is the winner.

WAGING WAR

Armies do not have infinite resources with which to wage a war. The loss of every trooper weakens the ability to fight effectively not only in the current battle, but in the following battles. The example campaign used in ANNIHILATION is designed for two players and comprises four games escalating from 15 to 25 to 35 and finally to 50 points in size. The complete pool of points available to construct the army that will fight in these games was 80% of their total sum, i.e. 100 points. This is just an example and you can choose to have a campaign last for as many games as you want and those games can be as large as you want. You could also adjust the percentage to represent a greater or lesser penalty for sustaining losses.

The basic campaign for ANNIHILATION has the following structure -

This is a very simple campaign structure where each game follows on directly from the previous one. All of the scenarios are described on pages 90-93 of Warmachine Prime MkII. The winner of each game receives a number of Game Points that are 10% of the points size of the game. There are some additional bonuses and penalties for winning and losing -

Game 2: The winner of Game 1 automatically wins the starting roll for this game. This represents the tactical advantage the army gained from winning the initial engagement.
Game 3: The winner of Game 2 can choose any one unit (excluding their warcaster) to benefit from Advance Deployment for this game. This represents the eagerness of the army to dominate their enemy.
Game 4: The player with the most Game Points so far (if there is one) gains a -1 modifier when making CMD checks for this game. This represents the confidence the army has to vanquish their foe.

Remember to keep track of the losses sustained by each army after each game. Don’t forget to award any bonds that may apply.

THE WINNER

Total up the Game Points accrued by each player over the course of the four games. The player with the most points is the winner, but there are different degrees of victory. Subtract the Game Points of the losing player from those of the winning player and compare them on the table below -

Difference	Victory Margin	Description
11-12.5	Annihilation	You completely massacred your opponent. You have not only one the day, but have also dealt a blow to your enemy they will not soon forget.
4.5 – 1.5	Victory	Your enemy put up a good fight, but ultimately you vanquished him. It has been a bloody day, but victory is yours.
0.5	Minor Victory	Your victory is tenuous and right now the enemy may be planning their counter attack. Do not rest on your laurels.

Okay, that’s it. The game structure is quite straight forward as are the victory conditions. The rules for army composition and attrition on the other hand are more complex, but a player who does not heed early losses may find himself unable to field a viable force in the later battles. With the game points weighted towards the later games this could prove disastrous.

Owen

ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 1)

owen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:34:30 +0000

This is the first of two articles that describe the rules for a campaign system for Warmachine and Hordes. This part describes how to select armies and manage attrition. Part two describes an example four game campaign, the benefits of winning and how to figure out who won the campaign.

OVERVIEW

This campaign system is designed to represent the initial engagements fought between two factions over a period of a day or two. It is an escalating campaign comprising games that progressively grow in points. The factions have limited resources and losses in each game will have an impact on their ability to fight effectively in subsequent battles.

SELECTING YOUR ARMY

Each player must choose their complete force pool before any of the battles are fought. They are limited to spending 80% of the total points across all games. For example, if the campaign will comprise four games of 15, 25, 35 and 50 points then the player may choose a total pool of 100 points ((15+25+35+50) * 0.8). The number of ‘casters should be based on this points total. For example, two ‘casters are allowed in 100 point games, so the pool may contain two casters. Each caster should be distinct, i.e. you cannot include an Epic and basic version of a ‘caster in the same pool. It is important to note that free warjack and beast point allowances from ‘casters are not part of the pool. The total pool must obey all field allowance restrictions for the number of ‘casters. Here is an example 100pt force pool for Khador -

Warcasters

Karchev the Terrible
Supreme Kommandant Irusk

Warjacks

Destroyer (#1) 9
Destroyer (#2) 9
Devastator (#1) 9
Devastator (#2) 9
Juggernaut 7

Units and Solos

War dog (#1) 1
War dog (#2) 1
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts) 2
Great Bears of Gallowswood 5
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts) 4
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (#1) 5
Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard (#1) 2
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (#2) 8
Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard (#2) 2
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (#1) 4
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (#2) 4
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt) 3
Koldun Lord 2
Man-o-war Drakhun (with dismount) (#1) 5
Man-o-war Drakhun (with dismount) (#2) 5
Manhunter (#1) 2
Manhunter (#2) 2

For convenience it may be worth considering troops of the same type as a group from which you can assemble different units. For example, there are sixteen Iron Fang Pikemen (excluding the UAs) above. Two of those are Leaders, so the maximum number of IFP units that can be fielded in one battle is two. However, the units do not need to be fielded as described above. Continuing the example, two min units could be fielded instead of a min and a max. As casualties mount up the number of troops that can be included will be reduced and this complicates things. More on that below.

THE GAMES (AND AFTERMATH)

Each game can be played using any scenario the players like and the armies should be built using normal composition rules. Losses during each game will impact what troops are available for later games. Here’s what should be noted after each game -

Grunts destroyed in each unit
Beasts and ‘jacks that suffer more than half damage
Beasts and ‘jacks that are destroyed
Beasts and ‘jacks that survive (and the warlock/’caster that was controlling them)
Solos, Unit Officers, Characters, Drakhuns, multi-wound grunts, etc. that suffer more than half damage
Solos, Unit Officers, Characters, Drakhuns, multi-wound grunts, etc. that are destroyed

When choosing a force for your next game the attrition suffered can begin to take a toll -

Warcasters and Warlocks

A ‘caster or warlock that is destroyed must ‘sit out’ the next game. Any ‘jacks and beasts that survived a game cannot receive a bond if their ‘caster/warlock was destroyed.

Beasts and ‘jacks

Beasts and ‘jacks that are destroyed may not be used again.
Beasts and ‘jacks that suffer more than half damage may be used in the next game, but suffer a permanent -1 to either their MAT, RAT, DEF or ARM (randomly chosen) due to the rushed repair job/healing. All damage is removed from the beast/’jack before the game begins.
Beasts and ‘jacks that suffer more than half damage that ‘sit out’ the next game are available for the following game and are fully repaired/healed.

Units

Grunts are destroyed permanently and their unit suffers a permanent loss. The units point cost remains the same, even if it is under strength. The exception is when a max unit drops to the min unit size (or below), then it drops to the min unit point cost.
Units that suffer losses may be combined with the restriction that no more units than original Leaders may be fielded.
Models in Unit Attachments that are destroyed are no longer available. However, if any models in a multi-model unit attachment survive then they may be included for the full cost of the UA.
Multi-wound grunts and Unit Officers that suffer more than half damage must ‘sit out’ the next game. If they suffered less than half damage they are returned to full health with no penalty and are available for the next game.

Combining units may be a little complicated. As leaders are not tracked separately they may always be considered to be a grunt. Units still cost either their min or max points even if there are not enough models to make up their full size and the player must attempt to field as close to legal unit sizes as possible. For example, if five Iron Fang Pikemen (from the group of sixteen) are killed the player may either field one unit of six, one unit of ten or a unit of six and a unit of five. The unit of five will still cost the same as a min unit.

Solos and Characters

Solos and Characters that are destroyed may not be used again.
Solos and Characters that suffer more than half damage may be used in the next game, but suffer a permanent -1 to either their MAT, RAT, DEF or ARM (randomly chosen) due to the rushed healing. All damage is removed from the model before the game begins.
Solos and Characters that suffer more than half damage that ‘sit out’ the next game are available for the following game and are fully healed.

Bonds
Beasts and ‘jacks that survive a battle may develop a bond with their controller (if they survived too). Select one ‘jack or beast that survives and randomly choose a bond for it. Each warcaster/warlock may only have one bond at a time.

Okay, that’s it for part one. Part two deals gives a basic campaign structure for planning your games and determining the winner of the campaign. This campaign should be considered a draft and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Owen

Learning to play Hordes: Part 4 (Mini Battle Report)

owen — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:30:01 +0000

Okay, this is my last Learning to play Hordes article. Did I hear a collective sigh?! Anyway,I think I’ve got a measure of Saeryn, or at least she’s not a complete mystery to me. I had a game on Tuesday night and everything clicked. My dice luck was poor, but I managed to get a win. Anyway, this article is about that game and some of the hordes tips I picked up along the way. Of course I’m no expert, far from it, but I don’t feel like a complete newbie now!

Lenny had a Haley led force comprising a Centurion, Lancer, Hunter, a full unit of Long Gunners (with UA) and a minimum unit of Stormguards. My army was the same as last time, but I dropped the Legionnaires and replaced them with a minimum unit of Warmongers. I also dropped the Nephilim Soldier and added two Harriers instead.

Here’s a shot of Lenny’s army advancing across the table. He kept the ‘jacks close to Haley accompanied by the Stormguards. The Long Gunners are to the left of the picture.

The next turn was about posturing for position. Haley hit the Carnivean with a Chain Lightning and bounced it onto Saeryn, the Gobbers, a Harrier and a Warmonger. Saeryn transferred damage to the Harrier and the subsequent hit killed it. The Gobbers were wiped out and the Warmonger was winged. He also hit the Carnivean with Hunter and took out one of it’s aspects.

The Striders clipped the Hunter with a CRA, but the action was about the kick off. The Shepherd moved up to heal the Carnivean just before it hurtled across the terrain into the Lancer and managed to knock out it’s Arc Node. The Angelius flew over the wood and managed to swing it’s tail towards Haley who was behind the Centurion. He missed, but at least had her in melee range. No other damage was done, but Saeryn moved forward and feated. This protected the beasts from the Cygnaran backlash.

On Lenny’s turn he moved Haley out of combat with the Angelius, but it missed the free strike. She tried to cast Chain Lightning onto the Striders, but they were out of range due to stealth. My beasts were protected by the feat and left Lenny with few options. The Hunter took a pot shot at a Warmonger and killed him.

On my turn the Carnivean used a two handed throw to hurl the Centurion at Haley, knocking her down and taking a few points of damage off of her. The Striders CRAed at her. Then the Angelius charged over the Carnivean at the downed ‘caster and finished her.

What I’ve Learned…
Saeryn needs her beasts front and centre. She has a spell to debuff her enemies and one to wipe out groups of infantry. The beasts are exceptionally powerful on the feat turn. Immunity to melee attacks makes them practically invulnerable just when it’s needed. It can be used offensively and defensively. Saeryn’s defense itself can be boosted, but she needs the fury on her to transfer damage.

Saeryn’s army doesn’t get a lot of support from her, other than the beasts. If the beasts are the hammer, then the rest of the army needs to absorb and stall the opponent. The Striders are a great harrying unit and the Warmongers can soak up a lot of damage. Both have the ability to deal out a lot of damage to troopers and beasts/’jacks.

The Shepherd, Gobbers and Feralgeist are great supporting solos/units. The Shepherd extends the threat range of the fast moving beasts. The Feralgeist makes it very hard to finish off beasts particularly with Respawn in play too. The Gobbers bring just a little extra ranged protection.

So, I’m no expert, but at least I feel like I can play Saeryn without embarrassing myself. I’ll play her a bit more and then I’ll try some more of the delicate warlocks.

Owen

Making Wooden Pier Bases using Balsa

owen — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:59:26 +0000

Here’s another quick tutorial on making bases. This time I’m making a wooden pier base. This approach can be used to create bases that look like ship decks or tavern floors too. The materials are pretty straight forward too. You’ll need a base of the appropriate size, a small coin (preferably one with a smooth edge), a piece of 3mm balsa wood and some Super Glue. You’ll need a hobby knife too.

Make sure the base is cleaned of mold lines and venting, then start off by gluing the coin to the base. Use the hobby knife to cut a 1cm wide strip that is about 2.5/3cm long. If you cut along the grain the knife will go though it like butter. 3mm is a little thick for the wood, so take the blade and use it to slice the strip in half. This gives a rough finish and it perfect for the exposed wood. Make as many strips as you need to finish the base.

Glue the strips to the coin and cut a small piece of balsa to represent a spot for tying up boats. You could leave it there, but it might be worth coating the wood in heavily watered down PVA glue (1:1) to toughen it slightly. If you’re doing a ship deck you should cut the wood so that it looks like planks and fit them inside the raised edges of the base.

Owen

Sculpting your own bases with Green Stuff

owen — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:19:53 +0000

I’ve been working on my Privateers for about a month now and they are coming along nicely. Most of them are on custom resin bases that I bought with the miniatures. These bases represent wooden and stone piers, but I’ve run out and am waiting for a consignment of bases before I can start work on my next unit (the Press Gangers).

I’ve written a basic basing guide before, but this time I decided to attempt to sculpt a couple of simple stone pier bases. With these done I can get Lady Aiyana and Master Holt assembled and painted. Here’s a step-by-step guide of what I did.

Step 0: What You’ll Need

The base I’m planning to build is going to be quite simple. It will be based on a 30mm rounded edge base (the kind Privateer Press use for small-based miniatures). I’m going to use half of a Games Workshop 20mm base as the bulk of the pier. Green Stuff will be used to sculpt the stones and Super Glue to stick the components together. That’s all of the materials required. On the tools side I’m going to use a sculpting tool, but a tooth pick/cocktail stick would do fine. You’ll also need a sharp bladed hobby knife. I also have an old plastic blister to supply something with a flat surface. Other than that I have a glass with some water, a piece of tissue and a bit of rough edged balsa wood (to make impressions on the back of the base – I’ll get to that later).

Step 1: Building the Basic Structure

When performing and kind of sculpting you want to minimise the amount of Green Stuff you use. It should only really be used for the actual detail and if possible used something else to form the structure. This is where the 20mm base comes in. The slot in these bases is off-centre, so I’m going to cut of the large half using the hobby knife. I also clean any mold lines or sprue marks from the 30mm base. Once these components are ready I used the Super glue to stick the 20mm half base to the 30mm base, being careful to try to cover the slot in the 30mm base with it. Ok – that’s the basic structure built.

Step 2: Adding the Green Stuff
There are several different types of two-part modelling putty, but I’m using Green Stuff as it’s the one I’m most familiar with. To prepare the Green Stuff cut a section of about 1.5cm (1/2″) off the strip and remove the plastic. As the yellow and blue parts are in the strip side-by-side the bit in the middle usually cures (i.e. it’s a bit hard!). I use the hobby knife to remove this tiny middle bit. The first thing to know about working with Green Stuff is that it is sticky. Before working with it I wet my fingers with a small bit of water. Now blend the yellow and blue bits until it is green.

Again using your finger, spread it over the 20mm half base structure. If you wanted to leave it cure for 10-15 minutes it’d make the next step easier, but I didn’t and it turned out fine.

Step 3: Sculpting the Base
After step two the base will be covered in finger prints. Use the empty plastic blister to gently flatten and smooth the Green Stuff. Again – make sure the plastic is a little wet or it’ll stick to the Green Stuff and possibly pull it off the base. If the blister doesn’t quite smooth out everything us a flat part of the (wet) modelling tool to smooth the rest.

Now it’s time to sculpt the stones. Lesson one in any sculpting is to decide what you want to do before you put the tool to the putty. I wanted defined edging stones that were reasonably big. I wanted the vertical edge (i.e. the one that goes into the “water”) to have long stones, with the bottom ones looking like they were submerged. The stones on the top would be small.

That’s the basic base built and sculpted now. I used the rough balsa edge to imprint on the back side of the base. I guess this would represent the fine rubble foundation on which the stone pier is built, but I did it as sculpting stones all the way around the base would look weird!

Leave your base to cure for about 24 hours and you can then pin your miniature to it. Viola, not too hard at all. If you are feeling adventerous, you can also add more detail at this stage. You could sculpt a sack of grain or dip a piece of fine string in some watered down PVA and add it to look like rope.

I’ve also built a wooden pier base from balsa. I’ll write a short article on that soon.

Owen

Learning to play Hordes: Part 3 (Battle Report)

owen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:30:42 +0000

Last night the talking stopped and the fighting started. There is no better way to learn a game, faction or new warlock than to dive straight in and get some games in. Anthony brought his 35pt Cryx force up to the house. This was my chance to try out the list and tactics I posted yesterday.

Anthony’s army list looked like this -

Warwitch Deneghra

Deathripper
Deathripper
Nightmare

Bile Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls
Soulhunters (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Darragh Wrathe

Anthony won the dice roll, but let me deploy first. I decided to pretty much deploy as planned with Saeryn surrounded by her beasts with the Feralgeist, Swamp Gobbers and Shepherd in close proximity. The Legionnaires would hold the left flank and the Striders would harass the enemy on the right.

Anthony went for a tighter deployment with the Mechanithralls and Deathrippers leading the way. Without access to arc nodes Hordes struggles on ranged magic attacks, so I’d have to close the gap quickly and try to take out the Deathrippers at the earliest opportunity. The Necrosurgeon was going to keep close to the Mechanithralls, so I’d have to find a way to do away with her before I started to turn them into corpse tokens. Darragh Wrathe and the Soulhunters can move ridiculously fast. I had no obvious counter for these guys, but I had to hope that aggressive play would force Anthony to keep them in a defensive mode. All of these threats to worry about and I haven’t even mentioned Nightmare! Anyway, here’s Anthony’s deployment -

The early part of the game was about positioning. I moved everything up pretty fast. I cast Respawn on the Carnivean and Banishing Ward on Saeryn herself. She was kept in a concealing cloud from the Gobbers and usually had Tenacity cast on her too. Anthony’s army came straight forward and the Soulhunters galloped up my left flank. He was pretty aggressive with the positioning of the Deathrippers, so I took the opportunity on my next turn to charge them with the Nephilim and Carnivean. Two wrecked Deathrippers. The Striders shot a couple of Stitch Thralls and Mechanithralls that were too far to yield corpse tokens. Seeing the Soulhunters’ speed I moved the Angelius onto my left and moved the Legionnaires into the centre to offer some resistance against the horde of Mechanithralls. I should have cast Breath Stealer on them. This would have prevented their charge!

The Mechanithralls caused a bit of damage on their charge, damaging the Nephilim, taking out two Striders and a Legionnaire, but it was the Bile Thralls that did the real damage, killing another four Legionnaires, with the final one succumbing to corrosion at the start of my turn. Thankfully the purging Bile Thrall took out two of his own. Anthony knew this would happen, but he needed to position them to leave a charge lane to the Carnivean open for Nightmare. Nightmare lived up to his name and lead to the Carnivean respawning safely out of reach. Anthony pulled his Soulhunters back to block charges to Deneghra.

Now there was an opportunity. Saeryn moved up and feated, granting her beasts immunity to melee attacks for a round. She threw her Deathspur at a Soulhunter who blocked a charge lane to Deneghra, but missed despite boosting! She then attempted to cast Breath Stealer on Deneghra and again missed despite boosting. The Nephilim Soldier charged over the Mechanithralls engaging him to attack the same Soulhunter. Guess what, despite a boosted attack he missed too! Four of the Striders CRAed against the same bloody Soulhunter and, you guessed it, missed again! I should have shot at it before the Nephilim engaged it, but I originally had other plans for them. The turn was falling apart. To salvage something the Angelius charged Nightmare and did a shocking amount of damage. The Carnivean, who was originally going to charge Deneghra had the Soulhunter done the right thing and died(!) charged in and finished Nightmare. At least my beasts (and Saeryn) would be immune to a melee retaliation.

Anthony debuffed the Angelius as much as he could with Deneghra, including popping her feat. He then used the remaining Bile Thralls to massively damage it. Darragh Wrath charged in and finished it (with his magical attacks). He surrounded Saeryn with the Mechnithralls and moved up the Necrosurgeon behind them. The Soulhunters fell back to protect Deneghra.

The Striders took out the Necrosurgeon and remaining Stitch Thrall and Saeryn used Blight Bringer on herself to kill off most of the Mechanithralls. The Nephilim Soldier and Shredder killed off the other two. Things went downhill from here, though. The Soulhunters and Darragh Wrath finished off the Carnivean, Nephilim and the remaining Striders for the cost of two Soulhunters and Darragh’s mount.

This left Saeryn low on Fury, but there was little she could do. The last remaining Soulhunter, who was loaded up on Soul tokens, charged in and missed with both of his melee weapons, but struck with the mount. Saeryn was down to six damage points. She took it out, but in the meantime Deneghra skulked closer and came in for the kill. It took a lot of boosting to finally land a blow, but when she did it was game over. Saeryn was dropped by the Warwitch. Game over.

That was a great game and I think I played pretty well. Deneghra could have been in real trouble had my dice not abandoned me on my feat turn. It was a game of high attrition, but once my beasts were gone I was in real trouble. In retrospect the Carnivean could have finished Nightmare by itself and I could have kept the Angelius back. That and better use of Breath Stealer could have improved things. That said it was still a close game and I’m happy with my progress so far. I might change the list a little for next time. A Harrier would be useful for its animus and I think Warmongers would be more useful than the Legionnaires. At least it’s not back to the drawing board, more subtle tweaks than a complete redraft.

Owen

Learning to play Hordes: Part 2

owen — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:00:40 +0000

From the last post we learned two things – I can’t play Hordes (certainly not using the delicate warlocks) and I can write a lot of Hordes Theory. Now it’s time to go from talking to doing. I have a game later this evening and I’m making up the army list. Saeryn will be my warlock, but what else should be in the army?

BEASTS
I think she can support beasts quite well and I’m considering bringing two heavies. I own a Carnivean and an Angelius so I’ll include them. The Carnivean is a beat stick that would be a great target for Respawn. The Angelius really benefits from Saeryn’s feat as it can fly over intervening models, ignoring free strikes, to get at a targe behind. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Nephilim Soldier (I think it’s a fantastic sculpt). It is quite a mundane beast now, but Reach on it’s weapon and Flight make it useful in a similar manner to the Angelius. For the beasts I’ll round things out with the Shredder. Saeryn has +2 DEF on ranged attacks. Throw in Tenacity (the Shredder’s animus) and she’s effectively DEF 19.

SOLOS
Now I’d like a bit of support for my beasts. The Shepherd is an obvious choice as she effectively allows a longer strike range for the beasts. I can run the Shepherd up just before the Angelius dives in for an assassination. This allows me to ensure it can be forced even outside of Saeryn’s control area.

The Feralgeist is another nice option. Between it and Respawn my opponents will be sick of killing (and re-killing) my heavy beasts!

UNITS
Saeryn doesn’t directly buff her units, so the first unit I selected was one that buffs her – the Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew. The concealing cloud can either completely hide Saeryn or at least give her an additional +2 DEF. With the buffs discussed above that leaves a fantastic DEF 21!

For Leigon units I went with the Striders, as they can be quite disruptive, and the Legionnaires. Defensive line makes the Legionnaires slightly more survivable and I plan to use them as a cheap tarpit. Warmongers may be a better option, but I’d need to find an extra point somewhere.

THE LIST
Anyway, enough talk. Here is the list -

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
- Nephilim Soldier
- Shredder
- Angelius
- Carnivean
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Feralgeist

I’m limiting myself to using models I have painted. Dropping either the Feralgeist or Gobbers and the unit of Legionnaires would allow me to add a minimum unit of Warmongers. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

PLAYING THIS LIST
The VASSAL screen shot above gives an idea of the setup. The Stirders will try to cause a nuisance on whatever flank has terrain for them to hide in. The Legionnaires are tasked with keeping up with the army and providing some kind of speed bump. Saeryn will cast Banishing Ward on herself and Respawn on the Carnivean. She is going to have to keep pace with the army so that her support spells can be effective. The Carnivean and Angelius will run up with the Feralgeist in relatively close pursuit Remember it can take over a dead beast within 8″, so it doesn’t need to be too close. The Shepherd wil be screened by the Nephilim soldier and the soldier will primarily be a speed bump on the right flank. The Angelius is set up for the assassination run, which the Shepherd may need to support. Massacre is a useful animus for it to have cast on it.

Anyway, I’m playing later, but you know what they say about best laid plans!

Owen

Learning to play Hordes: Part 1

owen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:10:07 +0000

So, what better time to learn to play Hordes than when Warmachine MkII is released!? I’ve had my Legion army since Hordes was initially released, but it’s been more of a painting project than an army. I don’t need to learn the rules, I know them and am an accomplished Warmachine player, but I do need to learn how to effectively play my Legion army. I need to hone technique, master the Fury mechanic and learn how to use animi appropriately. Maybe a better title for this article would be “Learning to play the Legion of Everblight”.

I’ve had good success with Thagrosh on the battlefield, but 7 Fury (one of which is free) and the chance to resurrect a beast are powerful fail safe mechanisms. When I start to loose beasts Thagrosh can still get some Fury without cutting himself. If I make a mistake with the Carnivean (or another crucial beast), I can bring it back to life. I basically play Thagrosh like a Butcher with more precision instruments of destruction. It’s the more delicate warlocks that I want to master. People rate Saeryn as one of the best warlocks, not only in Legion, but a across all factions. I’ll start with her.

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight

I’m not expecting to win straight out of the box, but I do want to have a chance to win. That means constructing an army that has a chance of getting at the enemy ‘caster or warlock and dealing some pain. I want to use (painted) models currently in my collection, but I’m willing to add more as necessary.

Okay, I’ve played a few games with Saeryn, but I need to do a bit of Theory Hordes before I get stuck into army composition. What can Saeryn do? What type of units can she support? What animi would benefit her? How do I deal with different types of enemy unit? In order to use any army effectively you need to know your warlock. The following discussion is based on the Hordes Field Test Model Update document released on the 29th January 2010.

SPELL LIST AND FEAT
Saeryn has a pretty good spell list, but they are somewhat beast centric. She also has a Fury stat of 7, so she should be able to fire out a few spells every turn. Respawn is like a mini version of Thagrosh’s feat. It allows you to get more mileage from your beasts by bringing one back to life. A Shepherd or two in the mix and you have the chance to heal that beast . That said you’d most commonly treat the respawn as a free round of combat with the ability to charge whatever just killed your beast!

Breath Stealer is another stand out spell. It’s 10″ range is decent, but it’s debuffing ability is superb. It makes enemy models/units easier to hit and it prevents them from charging. At a cost of 2 Fury she could have potentially cast it three times per turn, but in the last update to the rules it is now once a turn only. Another excellent spell is Blight Bringer. It’s costly at 4 Fury, but it has an offensive and defensive quality. It is a troop killer and it prevents enemy movement. Be careful what miniature you cast it on as the easiest way to remove it would be to kill the miniature with Blight Bringer. If Equilibrium and Respawn are beast focused, Breath Stealer and Blight Bringer have a stronger enemy unit focus.

Banishing Ward replaces the somewhat lackluster Mirror Magic from earlier in the Field Test. Mirror Magic’s value was very situational. Banishing Ward is excellent. It immediately removes enemy upkeep spells from the target model/unit. That’s pretty nice, but the next bit is awesome – the affected models cannot be targeted by spells or animi. It’s an upkeep spell to sweeten the deal. Casting this on herself is very powerful.

Her final spell is Sunder Spirit. It’s a range 10″ POW 12 spell that strips the animus (for one round) and allows Saeryn to cast the animus if she wishes. It has it’s uses, but the main benefit is giving Saeryn a better ranged threat.

It’s worth noting that none of these spells directly buff your own units. Saeryn is a beast centric warlock. Her feat is also focused on her beasts. It only effects beasts in her battlegroup, but boy is it still a great feat. Here’s the wording -

Foreboding: While within her control area, models in Saeryn!s battlegroup cannot be targeted by non-magical melee attacks for one round.

It gives your beasts immunity to melee attacks. This feat has been progressively nerfed from MkI and through the Field Test. There are a lot of magical attacks out there, so before popping her feat you’ll be asking your opponent who has magical weapons! This is primarily defensive, but it has the possibility to open up an aggressive play style. You can get up in you opponents face and prevent his (melee) retaliation.

BEASTS AND ANIMI
It’s pretty clear from her spell list and feat that Saeryn is a beast-centric warlock who specialises in messing up your opponents plans. Heavy beasts will get the best value Respawn. They will also make good targets for the Fury you remove from enemy beasts using Equilibrium. Given the range of these spells and the range of Breath Stealer and Blight Bringer Saeryn will need to be up close to her beasts. The thrown Deathspur can also prevent damage transfer, but it only has a 7″ range, again tending towards close up support. Tenacity seems to be a useful animus for Saeryn. Force Barrier already gives her +2 DEF and Tenacity would add another +1 (and +1 to ARM), leaving her DEF 19 and ARM 15. With these boosted stats, and the fact that she is immune to blast damage, she is very hard to kill at range. So, including a Shredder is pretty useful.

So, what about those heavy beasts? Depending on the size of game she could feasibly run 2-3 heavies. The Angelius seems like a good choice. Under Saeryn’s feat it can ignore free strikes and charge over intervening models. The animus is okay, but it’s very defensive. Being a big expensive beast the Angelius is a good target for Respawn. The other good target is a Carnivean. Again it’s animus isn’t specifically useful, as Saeryn will probably have Tenacity cast on her. Casting Blight Bringer on the Carnivean and trampling it into the centre of a bunch of infantry could be fun! I’m not considering the Seraph at the moment as I don’t own one.

I think the Harrier could be useful in there too. Like the Angelius it can ignore the free strikes on Saeryn’s feat turn. It’s pretty punny, but has an excellent animus. The possibility to guarantee a hit is great for enhancing the assassination threat of the Angelius.

I had discounted the Nephilim Soldier until the current model rules update. He now has Flight, so in a similar manner to the Harrier and Angelius can really excel on Saeryn’s feat turn.

UNITS AND SOLOS
At first glance Saeryn doesn’t directly buff her troops. She can effectively buff them by hitting an enemy with Breath Stealer to debuff their DEF. This benefits both ranged and melee troops. Given that she can cast it more than once per turn she has the chance to benefit several friendly units. Because it also drops their SPD it protects her troops by preventing a potential charge. Banishing Ward gives a chance to strip an enemy upkeep from a unit. Other than that Saeryn doesn’t really help out her troops. Either melee or ranged units should work reasonably well for her.

The solo that could work best is the Shepherd to assist in stretching the threat range of an Angelius, particularly during an assassination run. A MkI Feralgeist could have been very frustrating too, but since MkII it can only take over enemy beasts and has lost a lot of utility. That’s what I wrote before the latest update, but the Feralgeist is back in the game. He can take over your own slain beasts. I can just hear my opponents now, “Sh*t, how many times do I have to kill that beast!”. I think the Swamp Gobbers could be pretty handy to help further (on top of Tenacity and Force Barrier) protect Saeryn. Other than that nothing stands out.

CONCLUSION
Saeryn is a powerful warlock with a very good feat. Her spell list is excellent and she loves her beasts. She can increase their survivability massively. She can debuff the enemy with Breath Stealer and kill troops with Blight Bringer. More than any of that she can frustrate your opponent by messing with his Fury and scuppering his plans. Again, this is what I said before the loss of Equilibrium. It will be missed, but I still think she is a strong warlock. The addition of Banishing Ward and Sunder Spirit to her spell list is great. She can not protect herself very well from all ranged threats and still dish out a bit of ranged hurt.

Ok – I’m off to write an army list for a game on Tuesday. Saeryn and lots of beasts sound like the recipe. Swamp Gobbers and a Shepherd will be in there too, but I need to think about the troops a bit more. I think a Feralgeist might find its way into the mix too!

Owen

Why can’t I play Hordes?

owen — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:22:37 +0000

Saeryn’s powers couldn’t keep the Carnivean from crumbling to the onslaught from Kaelyssa and a Hydra. She could feel it’s fury being turned against it by the Iosan ‘caster. The Archers were dying in droves to her right and the Legionnaires were all but wiped out. She knew her only chance was to hit Kaelyssa at range, but despite damaging the enemy she couldn’t bring her down. As the ‘caster charged towards her Saeryn wondered how it had gone so badly…

I had a game against Steve last week and Saeryn was taken down too easily. It was a good game, but it showed me something loud and clear – I CAN’T USE DELICATE WARLOCKS.

I’ve had pretty good success with the beat stick that is Thagrosh, but when it comes to the other Legion warlocks I really struggle. I’ve played subtle and tricky ‘casters in my Cryx and Khador (well, maybe not so subtle) factions and I’ve always gotten on okay with them.

The subtle Legion warlocks that I own are a real problem for me – Lylyth, eLylyth, Saeryn and Rhyas – I can’t figure them out! When I win with Thagrosh I think I’m playing the Legion of Everblight as if they were Khador. The Carnivean is pretty close to being a Khadoran ‘jack. He can certainly dish out a lot of damage. Maybe that’s my problem… I need to go cold turkey on the Carnivean. I haven’t really used the Angelius that much, so maybe it’s time to take him out a bit more often and figure out the slightly more subtle side of Hordes.

Okay – I’m off to make up a couple of lists and think about how they might play.

Owen