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

• 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

Related posts:

1. Painting Cheat Sheet (Legion of Everblight)
2. Feralgeist: Assembling and Painting Guide
3. Khador Mortar Crew: Painting Guide

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

Related posts:

1. Feralgeist: Assembling and Painting Guide
2. Building Balsa Wood Houses
3. Basic Basing

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

Related posts:

1. Widowmaker Marksman: Complete
2. Mariner Heavy Warjack: Work in Progress
3. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 1)

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

Related posts:

1. ANNIHILATION Campaign System (Files)
2. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 2)
3. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 1)

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.

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!

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

Related posts:

1. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 1)
2. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 2)
3. Epic Warmachine and Hordes

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

Owen

Related posts:

1. MkII Model Update: Changes to Legion of Everblight
2. Learning to play Hordes: Part 4 (Mini Battle Report)
3. Building Armies using Army Builders!

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

Related posts:

1. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 2)
2. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 1)
3. Playing Warmachine and Hordes Online using VASSAL

• 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

Related posts:

1. Updated Legion of Everblight Photographs
2. Painting Cheat Sheet (Legion of Everblight)
3. Fully Painted for MkII

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

Related posts:

1. ANNIHILATION Campaign System v1.1
2. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 2)
3. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 1)

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 -

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

Related posts:

1. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 1)
2. ANNIHILATION Campaign System (Files)
3. ANNIHILATION Campaign System v1.1

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

Related posts:

1. ANNIHILATION – A Campaign System for Warmachine and Hordes (Part 2)
2. ANNIHILATION Campaign System (Files)
3. ANNIHILATION Campaign System v1.1

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 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.

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

Related posts:

1. Learning to play Hordes: Part 3 (Battle Report)
2. Learning to play Hordes: Part 2
3. Learning to play Hordes: Part 1

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.

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.

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.

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

Related posts:

1. Learning to play Hordes: Part 4 (Mini Battle Report)
2. Learning to play Hordes: Part 2
3. Learning to play Hordes: Part 1

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

Related posts:

1. Learning to play Hordes: Part 4 (Mini Battle Report)
2. Learning to play Hordes: Part 1
3. Learning to play Hordes: Part 3 (Battle Report)

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.

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

Related posts:

1. Learning to play Hordes: Part 2
2. Learning to play Hordes: Part 3 (Battle Report)
3. Learning to play Hordes: Part 4 (Mini Battle Report)

OVERVIEW
Okay, I’m a little behind the curve on this, but I had my first online game of Warmachine using Vassal. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a program that let’s you play a large variety of board game and tabletop wargames over the Internet. There is an excellent Warmachine and Hordes module available for it that offers loads of maps, terrain and sprites that represent every miniature released up to Metamorphosis. Installing it and getting it up and running is pretty straightforward and I’m not going to talk about it here as they have a getting started guide.

FEATURES
Vassal is not a computer game, though. It purely gives you all of the pieces and controls to simulate what happens on the tabletop. You still need to know the rules and have the cards for your individual miniatures. It has some pretty nice features including auras, ways of marking continuous effects, highlighting ‘caster control areas, showing melee range (including reach), showing deployment zones and mosh pits, beautifully rendered boards and loads of terrain. Oh, luckily you can roll dice and measure distances too! Here’s a screen shot from half way through my game against Phil, who is based in Hamburg, last night -

We played a 350pt MkI game to celebrate the release of MkII! Off the table you can see used focus counters and some AOE templates. On the table you can see the two armies bearing down on each other. I’ll go through the controls in the next section. Another lovely feature is the ability to track Damage Grids through Vassal. There are grids for all ‘jacks and ‘casters and default grids for multi-wound infantry and solos. As you can see it’s also easy to change the label for any miniature or grid.

CONTROLS
Each miniature is an individual playing piece and can be moved separately. As mentioned above, things can be overlayed on the miniatures and playing surface. For example, you can see several auras on certain miniatures to represent upkeep spells above. Each miniature also has a ‘white shadow’ at the rear of their base to indicate that all miniatures have moved. This can be cleared at the top of each turn with the click of a single button.

You can ‘cycle’ through the artwork for each miniature. For example, a ‘jack has it’s basic art, a blank base that shows LoS and facing and a wreck marker. This is useful when attempting precise movement past terrain or near other miniatures. Here’s a quick run through of the keyboard controls that I found useful (though there is a right-click menu on every miniature that allows you to access every control) -

Movement

These controls allow you to precisely move a miniature a certain number of inches and turn while doing so. you can select several miniatures at once and move them together. An alternative to moving like this is to lay down a tape measure and dray the miniatures into position using the mouse. The nudge movement is particularly useful when moving miniatures into B2B.

Combat Ranges, Control Area and Miscellaneous

The melee and control area overlays are very useful as they save a lot of potential fiddling with the tape measure.

CONCLUSION
Vassal works well and is fast to use. Arrange a game with a friend, fire it up and setup a voice chat (e.g. using Skype) and you have a good substitute for playing a ‘real’ game. In my case playing a game I love against my good friend over 1000km away was possible when otherwise it wouldn’t have been. It won’t replace the face-to-face battle over beautifully modelled terrain with nicely painted miniatures. After all, it’s important to be able to look your opponent in the eye when you crush them. Maybe we’ll use a video chat next time!

Owen

Related posts:

1. Epic Warmachine and Hordes
2. Learning to play Hordes: Part 4 (Mini Battle Report)
3. An Introduction to Warmachine

Related posts:

1. Feralgeist: Assembling and Painting Guide
2. Commodore Cannon and Crew: Complete
3. Bane Knights: Complete

Here’s my Warhammer tournament check list -

1. Army (Miniatures, Movement Trays)
2. Dice (D6s, Scatter, Artillery, Turn Counter)
3. Templates (Flame and two Artillery)
4. Measuring Tape (or two)
5. Army list (At least two copies, but I prefer four; one per game and one for organisers)
6. Rulebooks and Paperwork (Army Book, Rulebook, Rulepack and Ticket)
7. Army Case (Case, foam trays and covers)
8. Tray (for moving the army between games)
9. Pen/Pencil and Spare Paper
10. Super Glue
11. Special Army Counters (e.g. Wood Elves Forest, Spell Markers, Tunnelling Team Markers, etc.)
12. Calculator

For Warmachine and Hordes I add the following -

13. Unit cards and card sleeves
14. Drywipe pen
15. Focus and Fury counters

I also bring paracetamol and loads of water as they are long intense days, so some emergency supplies may be needed!

Owen

Related posts:

1. Epic Warmachine and Hordes
2. Building Armies using Army Builders!
3. Fully Painted for MkII

As you can see the interface is quite slick. You can use the site for free and without setting up an account, but in order to save lists and collections you need to have a (free) account. One of my favourite things about this tool is the army building itself – it is simplicity with options (such as UAs) remaining greyed out until they may be legally included. The icons are clear and it is easy to select min/max units and the like. The printing controls are particularly nice with several different options including whether to have damage grids printed and printing the list and grids on separate pages.

All of the above are great tools that are being actively updated and edited not only to reflect the MkII changes, but also to add more features. I use all three at the moment – Warmachine & Hordes Builder for MkI, Forward Kommander for MkII and iBodger for lists on the go. I’d like some interoperability between the three, but some exchange of lists between Forward Kommander and iBodger would be great!

Owen

Related posts:

1. Tournament Check List
2. Fully Painted for MkII
3. Mr. Walls: Complete & Privateer Army Progress

ASSEMBLING

The join between the two parts of the body needs some putty (often called green stuff or brown stuff). These are two part puttys that you blend together and then let air dry. I rolled very thin sausages and laid them across the joins, then with a wet sculpting tool I smoothed the putty across the join and removed the excess. Once it is air dried (I usually leave it 24 hours) I grabbed the Dremel again, but this time with a filing attachment and smoothed over the putty work. The miniature is now ready to prime.

PAINTING AND BASING

1. Priming: As I was going for an ethereal look I primed the miniature using a white spray and then a watered down coat of Skull White.
2. Blue: I washed the whole of the Feralgeist with a slightly watered down Asurmen Blue wash. I then drybrushed all raised areas with Skull White with a small amount of Asurmen Blue.
3. Skeleton and Rubble: This whole area was coated with a heavily watered down Graveyard Earth. The skeleton was then drybrushed with Bestial Brown, Snakebite Leather, 1:1 Snakebite Leather / Bleached Bone and finally pure Bleached Bone. I then painted the flat skeletal surfaces with a heavily watered down Bleached Bone.
4. Base: I glued (using watered down PVA glue) Builder’s Sand to the base. Once dry it was painted with a heavily watered down Graveyard Earth. One or two larger stones were dotted with Codex Grey. I applied a small amount of flock using PVA glue and then painted the base edge Chaos Black.

That’s it! It’s such a useful addition to any Hordes force and so easy to paint that there is really no excuse for not fielding one. Thraka Green or Baal Red, or any wash for that matter, could be used in place of Asurmen Blue, so producing a Feralgeist that fits the theme of your army is pretty simple.

Owen

Related posts:

1. Iron Lich Asphyxious: Painting Guide
2. Gorman di Wulfe: Painting Guide
3. Great Bears of Gallowswood: Painting Guide

I grabbed the camera tonight and got more photographs of the Legion. That’s everything that I have painted so far. Epic Thagrosh, the Strider UA, Raptors and Harriers are still in their boxes, but I don’t intend to start painting them until the run up to Hordes MkII next year.

Owen

PS There are much bigger versions on flickr if you click through.

Related posts:

1. Legion of Everblight Photographs
2. MkII Model Update: Changes to Legion of Everblight
3. Painting Cheat Sheet (Legion of Everblight)

Nyss Basecoat (Undercoat Black)
a) Codex Grey / Chaos Black 5:1
b) Codex Grey / Kommando Khaki 1:1
c) Kommando Khaki
d) Blue Ink / Black Ink / Glaze Medium / Water 5:1:1:2

Nyss (Blue Armour)
Blue Ink / Glaze Medium / Water 1:1:1
Highlight – Space Wolves Grey / Blue Ink 5:1

Nyss (Flesh)
Space Wolves Grey / Glaze Medium 1:1
Blue Ink / Glaze medium 1:5

Nyss Striders (Cloak)
Greatcoat Grey / Ultramarine Blue / Glaze Medium / Water 2:1:1:1

Beast (Horns and Scales)
Base – Graveyard Earth/ Water 1:1
Wash – Black Ink / Glaze Medium / Water 1:1:1

Beast (Flesh)
Purple Wash (Homagaunt Purple / Glaze Medium 1:10)
Space Wolves Grey DB

Beast (Flyer Flesh)
Space Wolves Grey / Water / Skull White 2:3:1

Beast (Cloth)
Ultramarines / Shadow Grey / Black Ink 1:1:1
Wash – Black Ink / Glaze Medium / Water 1:1:1

Beast (Gums)
Red Gore base
Dark Red Ink

Incubi
Undercoat White
Black out armour, trousers etc.
- Nyss Part

a) and b) as above
Watered down Asurmen Blue on Nyss Flesh
Gryphonne Sepia on white based hair
Asurmen Blue on Armour
Devlan Mud on Trousers
Watered down Graveyard earth on Straps
Boltgun Metal on Buckles etc.
Fortress Grey on Eyes

- Beast Part

Purple Wash as on the beasts
Space Wolves DB
Baal Red wash on bloody areas
Watered down Graveyard on horns
Watered down black ink on horns

You’ll notice that I don’t list every type of miniature I’ve painted. Instead I try to capture the main colours and blends used and the areas of a miniature they were applied to. This cheat sheet is important when you progressively add to a faction as is usually the case in Hordes and Warmachine. I don’t strive for every unit to look exactly the same, but I do attempt to have consistency between miniatures in an army. I incrementally add to the list as I paint something that has a different style.

I use Evernote to capture my painting notes as I usually paint in front of my computer, but a pencil and piece of paper (provided you don’t lose the paper!) will do the same job. Anyway – take notes, your army will thank you!

Owen

Related posts:

1. Khador Mortar Crew: Painting Guide
2. Warpwolf, Wolfen, Warpwolf?
3. Updated Legion of Everblight Photographs

Now I just need to muster the courage to tackle assembling Karchev!

Owen

Related posts:

1. MkII Model Update: Changes to Legion of Everblight
2. Warmachine MkII available to download
3. Karchev the Terrible: Assembled

1. I usually wait until the miniature is fully painted to base it. This is a personal preference, but it is a shortcut too as you’ll see in the next step. The first step is to cover the base in (slightly watered down) PVA glue and coat it in Builder’s Sand. General purpose Builder’s Sand is great as it has a mixture of textures, but is still quite small. Once coated, wipe off the excess sand from the edge of the base (I usually just use my finger or an old brush) and leave it to dry.

2. Here is where the shortcut comes in. I apply a very watery mix of Graveyard Earth (1:1) to the base. Because it is so watered down the texture and different colours of the sand still show through slightly providing natural highlighting. Once dry I often pick out 1-2 stones with a medium grey colour (say, Codex Grey) and coat the base rim in black to cover up any stray paint (usually caused by drybrushing).

3. Finally, I glue some static grass (flock) in place with PVA glue. While still wet I tap the base of the miniature over the flock container to release any loose grass. I try to only use a small amount as it is more important to provide visual relief than fully coat the base.

There you go – very basic, but effective. An easy addition to step 2 is to apply two simple drybrushes of Snakebite Leather and then Bleached Bone. As I said I’ve been using that same scheme on my Khador stuff for around 5 years, and because it is consistent it helps to unify the miniatures. For the Cryx I added some patchy snow, but again because of the common basis I can use mercenaries in either army without their bases standing out.

I went for something a little different on my Legion of Everblight, but that’s an article for another sleepless night!

Owen

Related posts:

1. Making Beach-style Bases
2. Great Bears of Gallowswood: Painting Guide
3. Feralgeist: Assembling and Painting Guide

Owen

Related posts:

1. Updated Legion of Everblight Photographs
2. MkII Model Update: Changes to Legion of Everblight
3. Painting Cheat Sheet (Legion of Everblight)