Game 1 – Retribution (Christoph)

This game was a big loss for me. It was the Revelation scenario and I kept my force slightly right, but the rightmost flag disappeared. I caused a lot of damage to Christoph’s Rahn led force, but I completely failed to challenge for the scenario. He nearly assassinated me too! It was a good game, but I didn’t play well.

Game 2 – Legion of Everblight (Stu/Bye)

I played the TO as this was a bye round for me. I used Karchev as Stu had a Tier 4 Absylonia list. It was a fun game, but the super Angelius was nigh unstoppable. It assassinated Karchev after dancing around my army. The game was great fun and was everything Warmachine and Hordes should be – big machines clashing with large beasts. Stu’s heading over to Gencon so he’s offered to do some ninja shopping for me – woot!

Game 3 – Trollbloods (Jason)

This game was a good example for why you should play scenarios when practicing. It was the Sacrifice scenario, but to date Jason had only been playing ‘caster kills. I went full tilt for the scenario as I had a Devastator who could be ‘sacrificed’ – you got to love ARM 25! Gunnbjorn (proxied) and his ranged-centric list never really got into the game as Occultation on Strakhov spoiled their fun. I won on scenario.

Game 4 – Cryx (Tomek)

Between the bye and the win I was right back in the hunt for a place, but as you can see from above things didn’t go to plan. Tomek won the game and claimed 2nd place.

It was another fun day. I’m glad I didn’t bring Harkevich. I need more practice to figure out what army (if any) works best with him.

Owen

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Control Area and Feats: All warcasters have a control area which is a circle that radiates 2 x FOC from their base. In Rahn’s case that’s a radius of 16”. Only in this area can warcasters allocate focus to ‘jacks, so you need to move your ‘caster if your ‘jacks are advancing. Many spells and feats, a unique once per game mega-spell, effect this control area. A player may measure from his warcaster to any point in his control area at any stage.

Not a lot of damage done to either side so far, but Steve’s next turn would change all that. He allocated focus to the Chimera and Manticore and set about causing some mayhem. The Chimera charged the Drakhun and destroyed the horse. This left just the rider. The Mage Hunters zeroed in on the Juggernaut ‘jack and caused 15 points of damage with their crossbows (they get boosted damage rolls against warjacks) and disabled its left arm. Rahn activated next and feated. His feat is called Arcane Alignment and gives friendly spell casters +2” range on their spells and boosted attack and damage rolls for the turn. He then cast Telekinesis on the Devastator to spin it around so its back was facing the Battle Mages. The Battle Mages focus their attention on the Great Bears and the Manhunter (my assassination solo) and destroy them all. That’s the power of the feat. Ouch! The Manticore activates and puts 4 more points of damage on the Juggernaut with his Cyclone Cannon, taking out its movement.

Okay, I really need to respond before my whole army is gone. The Butcher loads up the Devastator with three focus and then he activates. He casts Full Throttle (three focus) allowing all of his ‘jacks to run, charge, slam or trample without spending focus and it also gives them boosted melee attack rolls. The Butcher shoots a Battle Mage for good measure. The Devastator activates and tramples towards Rahn. The trample is free because of Full Throttle, but uses the warjacks initial attacks, i.e. it counts as having attacked. Focus can be used to gain more attacks, so the Devastator makes three attacks at Rahn. Despite them being boosted (again because of the spell), he only connects with one causing 8 damage points. Rahn has 16 damage starting the game, so I’m only half way there. My Mechaniks run to engage the Battle Mages, in order to prevent them retaliating on their turn. Meanwhile the dismounted Drakhun does 13 points of damage to the Chimera tearing off its left arm.

It’s down to a slugfest at this stage and unfortunately for Steve his dice luck abandons him. The Mage Hunters only manage another 5 points of damage to the Juggernaut and the Battle Mages kill two of the four Mechaniks. As this is 50% lost in a single turn they must make a command check, which they pass. The Manticore manages to kill the War Dog. Rahn, loaded with focus, however only managed 14 points of damage on the Devastator. He could be in trouble next turn.

Time to finish this. I put three focus on the Devastator and activate the Butcher. He casts Full Throttle again (it isn’t an upkeep spell) and uses his feat, Blood Frenzy, which gives all models in his control area an additional die on damage rolls. The Devastator activates and does a special attack called Rain of Death where it lobs short ranged grenades. Everyone in base-to-base contact with it suffers a POW 18 blast hit! That would have finished Rahn except that the Force Field spell makes him immune to blast damage. Damn! I use a focus on the Devastator to buy an additional attack. It is boosted to hit because of Full Throttle and boosted damage because of the feat. Rahn is squished by the towering ‘jack.

The Aftermath

This was a pretty small game, but I hope it highlights some of the cooler aspects of Warmachine. It is a game of brutal damage and devastating effects, but it is pretty well balanced and no faction is considered vastly superior to any other. Steve played like a true gentleman in this game. He had a chance to finish things early on by hitting the Butcher with all of those Mage Hunter attacks instead of the Juggernaut. It would have been a much shorter battle report had he taken the easy kill, so if you suffered through the report this long you have him to thank!
Hordes is the feral cousin of Warmachine that features fantastic warbeasts and their warlock handlers. It has a completely different magic mechanic, but is fully compatible with Warmachine. Next time I’ll write about this other cutthroat game from Privateer Press. Whatever you play, remember to “play like you’ve got a pair!”.

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The nation of Khador has been expanding their borders aggressively, having consumed the country of Llael and encroached into northern Cygnar. Their warcasters have been at the forefront of this empire building, leading massive armies to conquer their former neighbours. This activity has not gone unnoticed by the stealthy Iosans and their rapid armies have moved to intercept and assassinate these human warcasters. The Retribution of Scyrah cares little about the wars of other nations. It is the scalps of those warcasters that they seek.

The Protagonists

This battle report is aimed at giving an overview of how the mechanics of Warmachine combine to make a compelling, tactical and exciting wargame. Steve Coleman and I lined up two 25pt armies with a very simple mission – assassinate the opposing players warcaster. 25pts is a smallish game, but sufficient to show the main aspects of the game. I had my beloved Khadorans led by the walking beatstick that is the Butcher of Khardov. This warcaster lives for the sound of battle and the smell of blood. He is an unstoppable monster that can support his troops with his potent magic and push his warjacks to excel in combat. The rest of my force was comprised of two warjacks, a Juggernaut and a Devastator, a couple of small units and a couple of solos. The ‘jacks of Khador have the most formidable armour in the game also have the ability to absorb as well as dish out a lot of damage. They are typically slower than the ‘jacks of other nations, but what do you expect of constructs that are over 10 tons in weight!

Focus: this represents magical ability in Warmachine. Every warcaster has a Focus stat and this finite resource is what they use to cast spells, boost attacks and support their warjacks. It is replenished every turn, but there is never quite enough to go around!

Facing the might of Khador would be Adeptis Rahn, an arcanist beyond compare. His ability to manipulate magic and support other mages in his force is stunning. He has amazing spells to support every element of his army and blast his enemy with arcane blasts while doing so. He has one of the highest focus stats in the game, so he can put out a lot of support and/or hurt every turn. Making up the rest of Steve’s army was made up of two myrmidons (warjacks to you and me), a the much feared Mage Hunter Strike Force with Commander, a unit of Battle Mages and a couple of solos. The warjacks of the Retribution tend to be more specialist and nimble than those of Khador. They also sport an Arcantrik Field that can absorb damage before the ‘jack itself is damaged. Nifty! One of Steve’s warjacks was a light ‘jack named a Chimera. This ‘jack has a couple of nice tricks, but it also has a feature known as an arc Node. All factions (apart from Khador, doh!) have access to arc nodes that allow warcasters to bounce their spells through the ‘jack. This are very useful in keeping your ‘caster out of harms way. Remember, the mission in this game is to assassinate the opposing ‘caster.

The Game

Warmachine is usually played on a 4’ x 4’ battlefield with deployment in 10” wide on opposing sides. Steve’s Retribution force deployed between a wood and hill with the large Manticore myrmidon in the centre of his army. It was surrounded by Battle Mages who had Rahn in their midst and a Soulless Escort capable of absorbing enemy magic attacks attached. The Iosans view the phenomena of Soulless being born as a true sign that Scyrah is dying. To the left of this unit is the Chimera and beyond it is a Magister, a veteran Battle Mage. deployed. The Mage Hunters and Commander are advance deployed (up to 6” beyond the standard deployment zone) to the front and right of the rest of the force. Finally, an Archanist, a Retribution mechanic deployed beside the Manticore.

Casting Spells: Every spell has a Focus cost and this is deducted from the wascaster’s total when cast. If the spell is cast on a friendly unit then only the range needs to be checked. If it is in range it’s cast. If a spell targets an enemy the ‘caster check range and then must roll to hit. They player rolls 2D6 and adds their focus (FOC). If this total equals or exceeds the enemy’s defense (DEF) it is a hit. Spell effects are then resolved.

Across the table my red Khadorans deployed beside a hill with the warjacks up front. Just behind them was a unit of Mechaniks, the Butcher and a War Dog. The Mechaniks, as their name suggests, are adept at repairing ‘jacks in the heat of battle. The War Dog offers protection to a ‘caster through counter charging the enemy if he gets too close and increasing the ‘casters Defense stat in melee. In my previous article I mentioned the stats briefly, but I’ll go through the basics of combat when the action kicks in. On the far right flank a mounted Drakhun was ready to chase down whatever came near it. On the left flank stood the formidable Great Bears of Gallowswood, a trio of battle hardened veterans with the capacity to utterly destroy both ‘jacks and units.

Steve won the dice off, so the first Turn would go to him. He allocated one focus, from Rahn’s eight, to the Chimera to allow it to run on its activation. Warjacks function like any other unit, but they can be allocated up to three focus to allow they to run, charge, boost attacks and perform power attacks, such as slams, throws, and headbutts. Rahn cast Force Field (three focus) which allows him to control the direction of missed blast shots. He also cast Polarity Shield (two focus) on the Battle Mages which prevents them from being charged. The remaining two focus are left on Rahn and they boost his armour. He then advanced forward. The rest of his force moved rapidly forward and the Arcansist assigned one focus to the Manticore to allow it to run.

On my first turn I allocated one focus to each ‘jack and then ran most of the army forward. The Butcher walked up behind them and cast Iron Flesh (two focus), from his total of six, onto the Great Bears, which added +3 to their DEF. I was afraid of the Mage Hunters firing their crossbows through the wood at my precious (and expensive) unit. The Commander with the Mage Hunters granted them the Phantom Seeker ability allowing them to ignore line of sight when targeting. Of course I forgot they have an ability to also ignore the focus boost to armour and spells that add to DEF and armour (ARM). They are Mage Hunters after all. Doh!

On his next turn Steve had Rahn upkeep both spells. Some spells can last from one turn to another. The ‘caster must spend one focus at the start of the turn to keep a spell of this type in play. Again his army advanced up, thankfully he wasn’t in range of the Great Bears. On his left flank he moved the Chimera up to arc spells at the Drakhun. Rahn first cast Chain Blast, an offensive spell, through the arc node. He hit the Drakhun with ease. This spell has a power (POW) of 12, so Steve would normally roll 2D6, add it to the 12 and compare that to my ARM. If the total exceeds my Drakhun’s ARM it does the amount of damage it exceeds by. The Drakhun’s ARM is 19, so Steve decided to boost the damage roll giving him an extra D6. Thankfully he only rolled 9 on the 3D6 and only managed to do two points of damage. The Drakhun has ten boxes of damage. Since that wasn’t enough Steve used the Telekinesis spell to move the Drakhun 2” and spin him around. This is important as models need line of sight (LoS) to charge. They can still walk into combat, but they don’t get a movement advantage or cause more damage on their initial attack. The Magister charged the Drakhun, but failed to cause any damage. He missed with his first attack and the second just bounced off of its armour.

The Drakhun got his revenge on my turn; he spun around and smashed the Magister, but the Chimera was still lurking nearby, so his vengeance was going to be short-lived. Again the Khadorans advanced forward. The Devastator is the most heavily armoured warjack in the game so it ran right up close to the Battle Mages. It couldn’t charge them due to Polarity Shield spell. The Butcher decided to send his Obliteration spell towards the Mage Hunters. I knew it would miss as they have the Stealth ability (all ranged attacks originating from more that 5” away automatically miss), but I was hoping for a lucky deviation. Attacks with a blast template scatter when they miss, just like in Warhammer, and I was hoping for a lucky deviation. However, I forgot Force Field allowed Rahn to decide the direction of deviations in his Control Area, so he sent it harmlessly away from the Mage Hunters.

Part 2 of the battle report continues here.

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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

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This is just a short battle report of a game Steve and I played before Christmas. It was a 35pt game between Khador and the Retribution. Steve’s army was -

• Kaelyssa, Night’s Whisper
• Chimera
• Griffon
• Hydra
• Dawnguard Invictors (Leader and 5 Grunts)
• Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard
• Soulless Escort
• Mage Hunter Strikeforce (Leader and 9 Grunts)
• Mage Hunter Commander
• Arcanist
• Ghost Sniper
• Mage Hunter Assassin

The Mage Hunters scare me. Advance deploy ‘caster killers with Stealth. When they lined up across the table I knew I’d have to keep a distance between them and the Butcher. The Ghost Sniper frightened me too.

• The Butcher of Khardov
• Devastator
• Juggernaut
• War dog
• Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts)
• Great Bears of Gallowswood
• Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts)
• Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard
• Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
• Man-o-war Drakhun (without dismount)
• Manhunter

Okay, my battle plan was to keep the Butcher behind my ‘jacks and let the rest of my army run interference. If I can stall Steve’s ranged threats and let the Butcher get to the heart of his army then I might have a chance. The Manhunter and Drakhun would act as flanking threats.

THE GAME
This shot is from about half way through the game. The Widowmakers were to the right of this picture, but fared badly against the Mage Hunters. One of them did manage to take out the Commander and the Manhunter killed a couple before he was killed.

The IFP performed much better storming forward to kill a couple more Magehunters and take out the Chimera. The Great Bears stormed out of the woods into the Hydra and wrecked on their charge. One of them was picked off, but the next turn the remaining two were within walking distance of Kaelyssa, who had feated. The Butcher cast Fury on them and feated. The Great Bears missed with three of their four Backswing attacks, but the one that contacted nearly killed the Retribution ‘caster. The Drakhun hunted down the Ghost Sniper and Assassin and was now close to Kaelyssa.

Steve’s retaliation was swift. The Invictors wiped out the remaining Great Bears and the remaining IFP. The Mage Hunters dropped loads of shots onto the Drakhun, but barely managed to damage him. Kaelyssa sensed real danger and charged the war rider. She completely stuffed up her attacks and was now standing in front of an angry horse.

The Khadoran ‘jacks were primed to cause havok. The Juggernaut was loaded with focus and had the Griffon in it’s sights. The Devastator was about to show some Invictors was it was like to be up close when he rained down some death. However, before they could do their thing the Drakhun ended it by trampling the Retribution ‘caster with his horse’s attack!

It was a good game. A lot of Khadorans died to the Mage Hunters, but it was necessary to keep them away from the Butcher. The only damage done to the Butcher was with Whiplash and the Ghost Hunter. My ‘jacks were completely stalled by Kaelyssa’s rough terrain AoE. Steve cast is on my Devastator and completely stalled their movement through a narrow gap between rough terrain. They never got into the game and this in turn stalled the Butcher. It meant I had no use for Full Throttle, which was the spell I really wanted to try out!

Owen

PS Sorry for the poor quality photos – I took them on my phone.

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