Wargames @ farfaraway.org » MkII

Why Warjacks Rock in MkII…

owen — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:43:39 +0000

Here’s a photo from the middle of a great game I played this week -

My Marauder had used Combo Smite to slam Deathjack towards Tartarus and the Bane Thralls. Unfortunately I only rolled 1″ on the slam, but that’s another story. Anthony, my savvy opponent, saw the opportunity to cause a little mayhem. He loaded Deathjack with focus and used Shake Effect to overcome the knockdown. On his activation Deathjack trampled across the pikeman and wardog (who made his tough check) to make contact with the Juggernaut. He then proceeded to almost wreck it with additional attacks (bought with focus). Beautiful.

I remember when ‘jacks used to get bogged down completely by infantry. Thankfully that’s a lot harder to do now.

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

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

It’s Official: Khador is pronounced KAY-dohr

owen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:44:33 +0000

The MkII rule book clears that up. Thankfully that’s how I’ve always pronounced it! The Brew City Gamers (see video below) posted a nice overview of the book for anyone who doesn’t have it yet.

On a side note – I’m going to stop talking about MkII now. As of this month Warmachine is MkII. If I need to talk about the past (and why would I) I’ll explicitly mention MkI.

Owen

Warmachine MkII Project: Privateers

owen — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:26:11 +0000

This painting project is starting out a little strangely. About 3 months ago I bought 25pts of partially (some almost completely!) painted miniatures from Ugo to start the Privateer army. They included Shae, a bunch of solos and a unit of Sea Dogs. There were also two ‘jacks, but they were only undercoated. What makes this strange is that Ugo is probably the best painter in our club, so those partially painted miniatures set a high standard for the rest of my army. I’m no slouch when it comes to painting, but this is an opportunity to up my painting skills.

So far I’ve cleaned up and completed the miniatures pictured, the unit of Sea Dogs and two Riflemen. In the process of finishing the (maximum sized) Sea Dogs unit I’ve had to paint a miniature from scratch to match Ugo’s style. Here’s a side-by side photo -

The guy on the right was painted by Ugo and the one on the left by me in the last day or so. I think they are of comparable quality, but my guy is slightly darker (obviously with the flesh colour, but also with the duller colours). Ugo uses brighter highlights than I’m used to, so I’m on a learning curve. So far so good.

The 35pt list I want to complete is -

Captain Phinneus Shae
Buccaneer
Dirty Meg *
Mariner *
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Press Gangers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Sea Dog Crew (Leader and 9 Grunts)
2 Sea Dog Crew Riflemen
Mr. Walls Sea Dog Crew Quartermaster
Bosun Grogspar
Doc Killingsworth
First Mate Hawk
Lord Rockbottom

The miniatures in bold are finished. Grogspar is next on the painting table and then the ‘jacks.

Owen

Thagrosh vs Xerxis (35pt MkII Battle Report)

owen — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:18:01 +0000

With the release of the MkII Field Test for Hordes I’ve been looking forward to getting some games in. I’m not a particularly good Hordes player, but I wanted to see how the Legion had fared with the rules changes. I should probably qualify what ‘not particularly good’ means. Around Dublin, and in Ireland generally, there is a very active Warhammer Fantasy Battle scene and the game is played to a pretty competitive level. When it comes to Warmachine and Hordes we tend to be a little more relaxed – we don’t try to build the horrible lists or do gamesmanship things like declaring a charge or trample you know you cannot make in order to gain an extra 3″ of movement. In other words, we don’t try to pull off the weird little tricks that are possible in the rules, but that seem unlikely to occur in ‘real life’. We have a pretty soft meta around here. The reason I’m mentioning this is that you rarely saw a conga line of Idrians or Drakhuns flying through the air, so some of the changes in MkII, for example the new formation rules, have practically no impact on the way Warmachine/Hordes is played around here.

Anyway, during the week Harry, a Skorne player, and I fought a 35pt game using the new rules. I had Thagrosh leading my force with a healthy balance of beasts, units and solos. I wanted to try out a bit of everything. Here’s my list (which I wrote up on Forward Kommander as it now supports Hordes) -

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
Nephilim Soldier
Carnivean
Shredder
Shredder
Blighted Nyss Archers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Blighted Ogrun Warmongers (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
The Forsaken

That’s exactly 35pts (when you factor in Thagrosh’s +5 Warbeast points). I’d have to be careful to keep my non-fearless troops away from the abominations in the army, but other than that it’s pretty straight forward. Thagrosh, the Carnivean and the Warmongers can hit pretty hard. The Legionnaires are a great defensive unit and the Archers are decent at taking out lightly armoured troops or combining ranged attacks to threaten moderately armoured enemies. The Nephilim is a decent counter punching beast and the Shredders make good transfer targets with a useful animus.

Harry’s force (which I wrote up in iBodger and emailed to myself) comprised of –

Tyrant Xerxis
Cyclops Brute
Rhinodon
Titan Gladiator
Agonizer
4 Cataphract Arcuarii
6 Paingiver Beast Handlers
6 Praetorian Swordsmen

I’m not very familiar with Skorne having only fought them once before, but Xerxis seems like a solid beat stick as are the heavy beasts. I really wasn’t familiar with this army (I even forgot to ask Harry what Xerxis’ feat was until he was about to do it!), but there’s nothing like learning what a unit does by plying against them!

I’m going to write the report in my terrible narrative style again, but I’ll comment on the MkII changes at the end.

Several days ago Thagrosh had send a scouting party of Striders ahead of his force to kill all of the inhabitants of a small mining settlement. His army needed to rest and recuperate after the long march south and the supplies, and fresh meat from the slain miners, should sustain his force for a couple of days. As they approached the miners’ huts the Striders seemed to have done an efficient job as there was not a living person in sight. Thagrosh had been distracted for the last few hours. Everblight’s ever active mind was revealing an intricate plan that sucked him deep into the Dragon’s vision and away from what was going on around him. The real world was a dream through his eyes. Even in this trance like state one unsettling thought began to surface, why had the Striders not reported back to him.

Pain pulled him from Everblight’s mind into his surroundings before he fully registered the significance of the missing Striders. He felt the Carnivean howl as brutal blows smashed the life from it at the edge of Thagrosh’s senses. He tried to see through it’s eyeless vision, but it was too late. Something had destroyed the creature. Thagrosh focused all his will to draw it’s energies back to him. He was at the fore of his army and he could not afford the time it would take to bring another beast from the rear. They had been ambushed.

Black and gold armoured troops appeared on his right. He recognised them as the Skorne, desert dwellers from the East. Maybe they were drawn to this settlement for supplies too and the presence of the Striders had alerted them to his approach. It did not matter. He needed to react quickly. He ordered the Warmongers and Archers forward on the left, hoping to outflank his unseen opponent. The Legionnaires were hopelessly outnumbered on the right, but he ordered them to hold to the last Nyss. He forced the Nephilim Soldier forward and through it’s sight saw the Skorne Titan that had destroyed the Carnivean.

Seeing it made his outflanking plan seem foolish. This Titan could rampage through his moving troops without rapid intervention. He moved forward and called the Warmongers back to take on this beast. The charge from the Warmongers was brutal tearing chunks from the Titan, but still it stood defiant and struck two of the blighted down. To make matters worse a lumbering Rhinodon appeared between the houses. Thagrosh forced the Nephilim forward to finish the Titan which it did with a grace against which the Skorne beast could not defend.

Thagrosh was aware of the Archers shooting at something on the left, but neither he nor his beasts could see at what. On the right the Legionnaires were faring poorly. They had taken down a couple of the large armoured Skorne, but their numbers were dwindling quickly and another unit of the enemy was closing in.

That was the least of his problems, the Rhinodon was now hurtling towards the Warmongers and Nephilim. With a swipe of it’s tail it dropped two more Warmongers, but failed to hit the Nephilim. Thagrosh urged the Nephilim to the right to block the units of Skorne and hoped that the spiked Skorne beast would not strike it down. The gamble paid off and the Nephilim swooped to engaged the enemy troops.

Now was the moment for him to join the fight. He barrelled towards the Skorne beast and swung with all his might. His repeated blows struck home, but it’s impressive armour prevented him from taking it down. In the distance Thagrosh could see the Skorne warlock approach with his maces held ready for combat. Now he needed the Carnivean back in action. Using Everblight’s gift he brought the destroyed beast back by his side.

The enemy warlock urged his force to inflict brutal damage and charged in damaging the Carnivean, but failed to destroy it. The spiked beast attempted to break it too, but was having difficulty hitting the Legion creation. On his right the Nephilim Soldier miraculously held and blocked the advancing Skorne troopers. This was his opportunity. He forced the Carnivean to make room for him to engage, but in it’s fury it started to strike the Skorne warlock. Between it’s vicious jaws and powerful claws the Carnivean, which was the first victim of this encounter, finished it. The Skorne warlock had been felled by it’s anger. The settlement and supplies were Legions to exploit.

So, that is MkII then (well, at least the Field Test). Unsurprisingly it plays much the same. I forgot Vengeance on the Legionnaires twice during the battle, so there is more to be considered during the Maintenance Phase. I also forgot about Abomination early in the battle, resulting in the Archers not taking a Command check when the Warmongers strayed close to them. Neither of these were game changing. Harry got pretty unlucky at the end. He should have wiped the Carnivean out a second time, but then again my damage roles on the Rhinodon were terrible! He also should have taken out the Nephilim soldier, but again his dice abandoned him. When the Carnivean struck down Xerxis he was had four fury for transfers, but Harry had run too hot in his turn and both of his beasts were fully loaded. That said, Thagrosh was sitting on full fury and could probably have finished him too. It was an excellent game, but without any beasts frenzying (there was only one Threshold check in the whole game, and it was successful) or the need to Shake Effect we didn’t get to test out most of the newer aspects of Hordes MkII.

Owen

Forces of Warmachine: Khador Cover Art

owen — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:43:13 +0000

I’m really looking forward to this. It’s like getting loads of new toys, but they aren’t new – they’re just seriously revamped. I’m particularly looking forward to running the Butcher with several ‘jacks.

Owen

Warmachine MkII available to download

owen — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:41:51 +0000

I was going to say that making a set of wargames rules available for download wasn’t exactly unprecedented as GW have done this with their Specialist Games range. However, that’s not quite correct, GW punted the games they no longer wanted to fully support onto the web as free downloads and left it to the community to support them. The Privateer Press move is unprecedented, having released what is essentially the pre-print version of their MkII rules for Warmachine. This demonstrates a great faith in the fanbase, but it’s not surprising that they have that faith in them. Warmachine fans are passionate and PP have rewarded that passion with the field test and now this pre-release. If anything this will boost the sales of the physical book.

I’m still downloading them (rules and cards) as the Privateer Press server is being blitzed at the moment. My plan to be fully painted by MkII is in tatters now with this release four months early! Oh well, life is tough. I’ll just have to console myself with reading the MkII rules.

Owen

Fully Painted for MkII

owen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:02:48 +0000

I’m pretty good at keeping the ‘lead mountain’ under control. I only have about €150 of unpainted Warmachine and Hordes stuff. In order to get ready for MkII I’m not going to buy any new Warmachine bits before the Forces books start to roll out in 2010, so this is an opportunity to get all unpainted Warmachine bits painted. I have Karchev the Terrible, a Mortar and the Drakhun Dismount to paint. Not too bad. There’s more Legion of Everblight stuff to do, but I’ll probably set myself a similar goal leading up to the Hordes MkII release.

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

Owen