• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Legion of Everblight
• Mini Name: Carnivean, Heavy Warbeast
• Painted: 2008

   

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Protectorate of Menoth
• Mini Name: Crusader, Heavy Warjack
• Painted: 2006

   

And other than painting his cloak in Reaper Master Series this miniature was painted in the exact same scheme as his non-epic version.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Protectorate of Menoth
• Mini Name: Grand Exemplar Kreoss
• Painted: 2007

  

I removed the original miniature from its clicky base with an exacto knife then cut it in half to make painting easier. Once it was done I pinned it together and glued it to a small Games Workshop round base that had some cardstock glued on and been drybrushed silver to look like metal plates. You can see the slight difference in poses between my finished work and the original miniature above.

• Manufacturer & Line: WizKids - Mage Knight
• Mini Name: Brass Golem
• Painted: 2005

The fleshtones are my Vallejo Model Color Rose Brown/Medium Skintone/Sunny Skintone combination that I use for a less pink tone. I usually mix just a bit of a medium flesh color in to add a hint of pinkness to the skin but for the Orgun - a relatively monstrous race in the Iron Kingdoms - I went with the stock colors listed above, which results in a slightly more yellow tint.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Minions
• Mini Name: Gudrun the Wanderer
• Painted: 2008

In addition to trying out the P3 flesh wash on Alten's skin, I experimented with mixing P3 and RMS paints with my craft paints to see how they did. As expected the model paints with their higher concentration of pigment dominated when mixing but it was easy to account for on the fly.

• Manufacturer & Line: Privateer Press - Minions
• Mini Name: Alten Ashley
• Painted: 2007

When I first started playing, most locals sleeved their cards individucally and kept them in a deck box. I quickly adopted this method and found a couple products that I really liked - Dragon Shield card sleeves and Ultra Pro deck boxes.  I've used this set up for years - it's quick and dirty but it works.  I never had any problems at all in actual play, but as my army collections started getting bigger, keeping the cards sorted became harder - I started chucking whatever I had played back in the box after each game.  Searching for cards when building armies on the fly started taking longer and longer, so I started looking at alternatives.

Alternatively the Dragon Shield Box will double as a cheap (but less durable) deck box.

A number of locals swear by keeping their cards in an Ultra Pro4-Pocket Album. At first I was a little leery but I decided to try out this method for my Legion cards to see how easy it was to keep cards sorted when every card I removed from the binder to play left behind a blank spot to return it to when finished.

The strap is removable and the loops allow you to clip this to your mini case.

As soon as my first game got underway I realized a big flaw in this method - 4-pocket pages hold cards loose enough to let them slip around and out from under where you had been marking damage.  That was easily fixed though - I slipped my beasts into dragon shield sleeve and in turn slipped those in turn into the 4-pocket page.  The tighter fit keeps the card from moving, and I haven't any issues since.

So far the album has been easier to keep organized, especially once I purchased some sticky tabs to attach to the first page of each model type (warlocks, warbeasts, solos, units, and minions) for quick reference.  I keep blank sheets in the front of the binder to move the cards for my current army into, then remove those from the binder for actual play.

I'm still waffling on which method I prefer more; the quick and dirty or the more elaborate more organized.  Then again I wouldn't be surprised if there was a better solution that I haven't found yet.

Each gamer has their own opinions on the philosophy of game design, and I'm no different.  In my mind, if a game is designed to be played in a competitive format, then it should be designed to abide by the letter of the law.  By designing for the more strict guideline, those who prefer the more casual and/or want to tweak their experience - to make the rules feel more fluffy or appropriate to their own vision of the game - can do so.  Designing from the opposite standpoint results in a game that works for those on the spirit end of the spectrum but will likely negatively affect the word end of the spectrum, as the rules will either fail to accommodate certain interactions or maybe even resolve them in a manner the game designers didn't desire.

Privateer Press seems to take the word-emphasized view of design, which I certainly appreciate.  Each incarnation of their Steamroller tournament system has had its flaws, but for the most part they design their game and format so that it can be played in a highly competitive venue and not break down to dicing-off rules interpretations.  In the past they've even made rulings that seem to go counter to how a rule was meant to be played when it preserved the word of the rule.  For example, the ruling on MkI Vilmon that allowed him to run and still use his Impervious Wall ability.  The rules supported the tactic, so whether or not it was intended it was supported (until the rule was reworded in MkII).

That never did get old.

Bethayne, Voice of Everblight is Privateer's second attempt at a dual nature warcaster/warlock, after Kharchev the Terrible. This time instead of a warcaster who is also a warjack, we have a warlock that can merge with its warbeast at will.

Privateer handled the modeling side of the duo nicely. Rumor is that the pieces will be packaged with a pair of washers and a rare earth magnet so that Belphagor's rib cage can be swapped as desired. Trying to replace the small inner piece during play without moving Belphagor's base on the table seems like a questionable maneuver, but it's definitely an interesting solution from a conceptual standpoint. And at the very least it gives the modeler choices on how they want to assemble the figure.

Get in ma' belleh!

But Melding is an even bigger hurdle from the game design standpoint.  Melding (and un-Melding) seem straight forward, but there are a lot of intricacies of the game which are affected by this process and unfortunately Privateer Press couldn't catch them all in initial release. These interactions have some assumably unexpected consequences on the model in play.  Some examples of the rules-as-written include:

• Belphagor cannot upkeep spells Bethayne cast (and vice versa) because they are technically different models.
• If Bethayne casts Carnivore on a model/unit then Melds, her body (the one not on the tabletop) is the one healed when the Carnivore's healing ability triggers, not Belphagor's.
• When Bethayne un-Melds, her model returns to play.  According to the rules for returning to play, she does so at full health since the Melding rules don't explicitly state otherwise.

It's not hard to look at the wording of the Melding rule and see what Privateer was trying to accomplish.  And it wouldn't be too hard to play by the spirit of those rules, but that spirit is open to interpretation by different players.  Friendly games are one thing, but in a tournament who's interpretation is correct?  The Bethayne player?  Her opponent?  It goes without saying that the tournament organizer's ruling is final but no TO should be forced to decide between the spirit of a rule and its actual wording.  That's a slippery slope to start down!

In my opinion it's a good thing that Bethayne isn't going to be released until January.  It gives PP time to identify and patch the holes in her rules before she's released and legal on the tournament scene.  I love the concept of the model, but should a virtual beta period like this be necessary?

Privateer Press's rules are written to be played in a competitive format - as unique as Bethayne's concept is, should Privateer Press be designing models that require this much work to make perform exactly as desired within the rule system, especially now that rulings in the Privateer Rules Forum only come periodically now?  Is the resulting uniqueness worth the initial confusion?

the...

LEADER!!!!

The studio picture of the Legion of Everblight Hex Hunters unit has just been released, showing the full unit of these sorcerous elves, minus UA whose existence was spoiled earlier last month. I'm not a vest man myself, but the biker mages aren't bad overall.

But they do bring up one aspect of PP's unit design that came up in discussion at the FLGS during the last tournament - the unique non-leader. We were discussing Idrians at the time as one of the biggest offenders, but the Hex Hunters here are the same way. Looking at the unit, we see four sculpts that are duplicated and two unique poses.

Two? I'm not against variety, but why the second unique pose? Why not just one unique pose so the leader is obvious? In general it's possible to figure out who it's 'supposed' to be by looking at the packaging and/or the book the model appears in, but it seems to me that there's no real benefit in the second unique pose, plus it costs PP more since it's an extra sculpt to commission.

I've played quite a few games where after deployment my opponent has pointed out which model is the leader of his unit, indicating a sculpt other than the one that actually fills that role. On a few rare unfortunate cases (mostly MkI) after I eliminated the leader sculpt mid-game I was informed that the casualty wasn't the sculpt that the player used as the leader.

In general unless it's a winner-bracket tournament match, I'll let these slide but polite point out the intended leader and ask the player to mention it ahead of time if he's using a different sculpt. But for my models I try to avoid the mess all together - that's why I base all of my unit leaders standing on rock outcroppings while the rest of the unit stands on the flocked 'ground' of the base.

I've seen players who paint their leaders with some sort of visual marking instead, and if done prominently enough that works well too. A thin line might not be sufficient but a different color helmet or cloak will make a model stand out clearly on the battlefield an mark it as a leader model.

Warmachine and Hordes are open-information games. All spells, effects, abilities, and all other characteristics of your models are available to your opponent at any time. So make sure that your opponent knows what models are leading your units. After all time spent discussing which model is which is time you're not playing!

Spirals aside, I definitely think that the Hordes cards came out looking better than their Warmachine counterparts. The contributor is the card backgrounds themselves. Where the Warmachine card backgrounds are gear-filled and busy, the Hordes cards have more organic and subtle designs without light-effects. They encourage the eye to look past them instead of jarring the eye to stare at them like the Warmachine cards do. The cards just feel less busy overall, and as a result also feel more spacious and less cluttered.

The spiral issues is just a personal gripe of mine that isn't going to change one way or the other. Spirals aren't going to change (unfortunately) so it's just something I have to accept. Although I will say the MkII Spirals are definitely better than their MkI counterparts. The spirals are larger and each aspect has a different colored background, making it easier to follow them around the spiral.

So overall the MkII Hordes cards are definitely a step in the right direction. There are a few areas of design that could be improved but overall it will definitely service for the next couple years.

Buh-bye now

The actual construction of the new templates is pretty rudimentary. The template itself is sized at 4" x .75", so I cut the required shape out of a piece of balsa wood I had left over from an old terrain project. A simple cut-out would have been more than sufficient as a template, but I went online and found a fire texture that I resized and printed out to glue to the template. Making a template "pretty" is hardly necessary but the most convenient templates and game aids are those that are immediately recognizable for what they are at only  a glance.

4" x .75" Wall of Fire template

Just like the tokens that I create, I used UHU glue on the templates, since it doesn't warp thin surfaces when applied like PVA glue will. But first I took a sharpie and edged the wood black to make it look more finished. You can do this after applying the label but then you run the risk of marking over it. Edging the template first means you can afford to be a little sloppy.

After that dries, I apply the glue thin enough and make sure the edges are covered (so the paper won't peel up) and then apply the printout, making sure to affix it evenly.

Old & new wall size comparison

I only applied the fire to one side of the wall templates. I could have done both just so I didn't have to bother with flipping the template if I grabbed the wrong side, but if I ever play a faction that has access to the other wall spells - like Searforge - I'll place their wall on the reverse side for convenience.

Samples, Pre- and Post-assembly

Now that the Forces of Warmachine: Protectorate of Menoth book has been released I finally sat down between applying coats of primer to some miniatures to put together some tokens for my Protectorate force.  I still had my set from MkI but enough abilities were renamed for me to decide to redesign a new set instead of using Youngwolf7's design.

I did a little editing to the graphic used on the Privateer Press gallery page to create the background for my tokens, and added some text layers to create what's pictured above.  I used .75" cubes or .75" faux scrabble tiles I picked up at the local craft store to give the tokens some width and heft.  They can usually be found in the woodworking and scrapbooking departments respectively.  Mosaic tiles are another option, but those are concave and/or have an irregular surface, making these better surfaces for gluing.

Since I started this post talking about the issues I have with the PP and GF9's offerings, I suppose I should go into a little more detail on what I think makes good tokens.

Ease of Handling

I mentioned the materials I used to add some width to my tokens.  One of the biggest complaints I heard against the first generation of Privateer Press's hordes tokens were the odd conical-shuriken-style fury counters, and the paper-thin spell tokens weren't much better.  GF9's were marginally better, but I heard complaints from some of the local players about those designs as well.

Readability/Recognition

Whoa boy, this one is a biggie, and one I think I'm going to be disagreed with about.  When I put a token down on the table, I and any opponent that see it should be able to immediately know what it represents.  If there's any confusion or wondering what a token represents, it defeats the purpose of using tokens in the first place.

This is the biggest reason I am not a fan of the new PP and GF9 tokens.  Since they have a fixed set of symbols on them, every player uses them to represent different spells and effects, even for the same caster.  For most casters, their spells don't even have appropriate matching symbols.

GF9's first generation of tokens were much better.  Each caster had their own set, with tokens for all of their spells.  The down side was that they used small tokens and tiny fonts, making them almost unreadable at a distance and almost as poorly designed as the symbol-based sets.

Size and Footprint

Tokens need to take up as little space as possible and still be able to convey whatever they are representing.  The original GF9 tokens tried to accomplish this but wound up using a design for their spell effects that were too small to be readable.  Their second attempt keeps the small design, but doesn't need the real estate to just display a symbol.

Then there's GF9's Warclaws.  I don't know what to say - these are perhaps the silliest, most unwieldy, and ultimately worst Warmachine/Hordes token design to date.  I don't really know how to describe how silly these tokens are.  They pretty much compile all that has been bad about the previous iterations into one nice steamy pile for what I assume is some sort of convenience in obtaining maximum crap at once.

So far the .75" square surface area has been plenty for me to write out the name of any of the spell effects necessary for either of my forces.  It's readable from a distance on the tabletop and does what it needs to without being obtrusive.

Cost

Here's the final one, and the kicker.  If someone's biggest concern is putting the least amount of work into picking up something that will work for them, a set of Warcogs or Warclaws are around $12 from GF9.  They're not pretty, they're not the best designs in the world, but since you can re-use the tokens for any warcaster, it's a single expenditure and you've got what you need.

For me, an hour of assembly time and about $5 has purchased all the tokens I'm ever going to need.  When future books come out, it will take about 5 minutes to update my set with no additional monetary cost.  For a little bit more work and less monetary cost, I get what is in my opinion a superior product.

Exemplar Errant Seneschal

I was expecting to see the Exemplar Errant UA in the new No Quarter, but not a new synergy solo for the unit.  Granting Hunter to Errants, as well as having both Hunter and Pathfinder himself, really makes him feel like a Strider Deathstalker type model... but clad in white heavy armor?

Don't get me wrong, I think this guy has some very nice rules that can be especially difficult for an opponent in scenario play.  He can sit just out-of-sight behind/in forests and take pot shots, and since he can sacrifice Errants when he dies, stay in an area far longer than a single 5-wound solo would normally be able to.

In the likely event that the Errant UA grants them Pathfinder,  the unit is going to start feeling a lot like Reeves of Orboros.  My only real concern there is that it doesn't match the aesthetics of this model IMO.  Maybe it's just me, but having them dodge through the woods like that doesn't mesh with the plate armor.  If they had lighter armor sculpted on them, sure...

In the end though, that doesn't really matter.  I think that the addition of Hunter means even fewer effects that are going to work against the unit's effective RAT 6.  No concealment or cover, and already no spell-granted buffs because of Blessed.

But unlike most ranged troops that you engage to shut down, MAT 7 is a big threat, and their P+S 9 Weapon Master swords toss out an average damage roll of 19 (23 on the charge).  They're not going to kill many heavies that way but if their UA grants Assault (or even Assault & Battery!) they're going to pair up a pretty significant attack with their current strength in an attrition game.

Exemplar Errant UA

That's right; I'm doing it.  Even after the last two disappointing Protectorate previews I'm going to talk about my hopes for the upcoming Exemplar Errant Officer and Standard Bearer.  Errant themselves are solid, and if the Temple Flameguard are any precedent their UA will boost them into the realm of teh win.

In Mk I, Errant were known for their outrageous point costs but now a Protectorate only pays a whopping 5 points for a minimum unit or 8 for a max.  For that point cost you can field an efficient jack-of-all-trades unit with at least one ability to help them fill any roll on the table:

• Melee: MAT 7, P+S 9 Weaponmaster means an average damage roll of 19 (23 on the charge).  That's enough to kill even most unbuffed Shield Wall troops.
• Ranged: Although their RNG is only average, RAT 6 is very respectable and Blessed means their crossbows will be able ignore most non-terrain defensive buffs.
• Attrition/Speed bump: ARM 16 is respectable and helps survivability against Shield Wall troops.  Bond of Life means you can keep that one important model alive until the end of the unit.

So what do they need a UA for?  To answer that you have to look at the rest of the Protectorate army, where you'll see the Errants' weakness is that there are units that can serve most roles better.

• Melee: All Exemplar sport the same MAT as the Errant and hit even harder.
• Ranged: Idrians sport better range with better RAT & POW once you factor in Combined Ranged Attack and Prey.  The Protectorate also has a glut of AOE options.
• Attrition/Speed bump: Temple Flameguard are cheaper, faster, and have a slightly better defense.  Zealots as well.

Errant UA Bare Metal

With the Protectorate's cheap warjacks and fantastic support pieces space for units and solos tends to be at a premium.  I can't afford much redundancy, meaning my unit choices have to be able to pull a lot of weight compared to the points I spend on them.  If I take Errant I'm doing one of two things: purchasing an all-purpose unit because it's all I can fit in, or banking they can fill a role "well enough" (comparatively) and hoping to get lucky enough to get some mileage out of their flexibility.

As much as I like Errants I find myself taking TFG+UA far more often if I need a speed bump because I can use their SPD 6 and Reach to run and tie up an opponent and fire off Iron Zeal (and usually Tough from Rupert) to keep them alive for a round.  Bastions have seen play as heavy hitters lately just because of their reach higher-damage weaponmaster attacks.  Redeemers and Vanquishers play the ranged role because of the Choir.

Therein lies my hope for the UA: to make the Errant equal to the top dogs in one of the above categories so that they can better compete with table-time.  For example while SPD 6 Flameguard that advance in Shield Wall may very well be giving up the charge, SPD 5 Errant with an ability like Defensive Line could move forward while firing to help thin out potential attackers before hand and still sport sufficient melee abilities to cause casualties once engaged.  Or just run 10" at ARM 18 - outracing the TFG in Shield Wall by 4" but lacking Reach to tie up models.

I could rattle off the abilities I hope that the Errant will pick up, but the short of it is they're just one or two rules shy of fighting for space in my lists.  Between flexibility and the aesthetics of the Knight Exemplar, the UA could very well turn them into my favorite unit.  But then again, now that I jinxed it...

Complete schedule and details are available on our site,  or keep up to date by following us on Twitter. See all the fun-filled convention activities and preregister at the DieCon home page. Registration for DieCon X is only $26.00 until April 15th. After that, registration increases to $31.00 – still an amazing bargain. Online payments will be accepted via PayPal. Those particpating in Hardcore will have an additional 5 dollar fee which goes towards a personalized 2010 Official Hardcore dogtag. Remember to select "PP Hardcore" under the list of Saturday events to reserve your spot today and enter your requested personalization at that time. Our schedule is listed below…

Friday June 4th

2:00 PM - Iron Agenda Presents: Battle for Steelwater Rails: The Iron Agenda podcast will kick off our first day with a specially designed event. This 35pt Warmachine and Hordes event features one of the most iconic steam creations: Trains! Custom scenarios created by the Iron Agenda podcast will have players throwing down while being part of an overall story about the railways of the Iron Kingdoms.

20 Point Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw Hardcore (immediately following the above): Our 20 point mangled metal and tooth and claw hardcore will take place after the completion of the Iron Agenda’s Train event. Our first day of Privateer Weekend 3 finishes off with just the casters, their beasts, and jacks. Warcasters and warlocks will direct their jacks and beasts against each other in flesh ripping, metal sundering action. One list per participant is allowed. Each turn will be 3 minutes and games will last only 30 minutes so you gotta be quick. Remember, this is a mangled metal/tooth and claw event so not only does assassination win the game but eliminating all the jacks or beasts does too. Also remember, this is Hardcore so all models must be painted and based. Will the machinations of men win out? Or will the unbridled fury of beasts reign supreme? Prizes TBA.

Saturday June 5th

9:00am - Official Mark II Hardcore: This is the big one, boys and girls. This is the pinnacle of Warmachine and Hordes gaming. It is a rare honor that Privateer Weekend attendees will have to compete in the first official Mark II Hardcore event. Bring your best 50 point Warmachine or Hordes list and throw down with the best of the best. Each player is allowed a single 50 point Warmachine or Hordes list and the army must be fully painted and based to participate. All games are timed. If time runs out, put down your dice and let your opponent rip into you. In order to survive in this intense combat you had better not only know your army but your opponent’s army as well. However, with a unique intense format also come unique prizes. There is a 5 dollar fee to participate in Hardcore which goes to a dog tag for each participant. All participants who preregister for Hardcore will receive a special personalized dog tag for playing in the event. Official rules and prizes for Hardcore will be forth coming but get your 50 points painted up now. You will not want to miss out on this once in a life opportunity.

9:00 am - 75 points Steamroller 2010: This will run concurrent with Mark II Hardcore. Hardcore not your thing? Then how about a grueling 75 point Steamroller 2010? This event will feature both Hordes and Warmachine factions in a standard Steamroller 2010 scenarios. The official rules for steamroller 2010 can be found here. Prizes to be announced.

35 point random caster event (immediately following the above): This event will follow the Mark II Hardcore and 75 point Steamroller 2010 events. Are you the master of your faction? Can you win with any caster? Time to prove it then, buttercup. Bring a single 35 point list that does not include a caster’s warjack or warbeast points and 6 caster choices for your faction. In addition to a printed list a player needs to have each of their 6 caster choices listed on a sheet of paper numbered 1 thru 6. At the beginning of each round, the tournament organizer will roll a die 6 to determine which caster will be used for that round. Scenarios will be taken from the Steamroller 2010. Retribution players are allowed to duplicate 1 warcaster choice in their list to fill it out to 6 spots. Mercenary list are allowed to duplicate warcasters to fill out their 6 spots but they must use each available warcaster for a contract at least once. Prizes to be announced.

Capt Saultydog's Trivia Challenge: All day Saturday. Know what the prefered food is for a Gorax in heat? Know how many hull boxes a Cyclone has? Then you might be ready to partake in the Captain's trivia challenge. Particpants are welcome to pick up a trivia packet at the beginning of the day and complete over the course of the day. All entries must be turned in by 9 pm that night. So, do you know more about the Iron Kingdoms than Captain Saultydog? Prizes to be announced.

Sunday June 6th

9:00 am - 50 point Steamroller 2010 and Warmachine Weekend Qualifier: One last chance to play in a steamroller event before the weekend concludes. This event will feature both Hordes and Warmachine factions in standard Steamroller 2010 scenarios. This 2010 steamroller has an added twist. The winner of this event will receive a free pass to Warmachine Weekend and automatically be qualified for their invitational event. Other prizes to be announced. The official steamroller 2010 rules can be found here.

9:00 am - 25-35-50 point Escalation event: Want to do something a bit different than a standard Steamroller event? The escalation tournament is designed to test players by making their casters excel in various army lists. Each player designs three lists from a single faction. The first list is a 25 point Mangled Metal or Tooth and Claw list. The second list is 35 points and is built off the first list. However, the second list may add troops and solos in addition to more jacks and beasts. The 3rd list increases the point total to 50 points and is constructed off the second list with additional troops, jacks, and beasts. The 25 point list will be played in round 1, the 35 point list in round 2, and the 50 point list in round 3 and on. Take note, you can only ever add onto a list, never take away. For instance, a player can start with a 6 man unit and increase it later to 10 but the converse is not true. Prizes to be announced.

Weekend Long Events

Painting competitions: Warmachine and Hordes is not just about pushing little figures over a table.  This year we’re honoring the hobby by adding painting competitions to our repertoire. Players will have the chance to submit minatures for the painting competitions starting at 2 pm on Friday June 4th through 10 am Sunday June 6th. Judging will be done on each category on Sunday June 6th and prizes will be handed out at the final ceremony.

Catergories are
a.) Best painted warcaster/warlock
b.) Best painted warjack/warbeast
c.) Best painted unit
d.) Best painted battle group
e.) Best conversion
f.) Best diorama

Capt. Saultydog’s Brainteasers: At various tournaments, participants will have the opportunity to win door prizes based off their Iron Kingdoms trivia knowledge. People currently participating in an event that has one of Capt. Saulty’s Brainteasers may submit their answer anytime during the tournament. At the end of each tournament, Capt. Saulty will draw answers and the first correct answer will be awarded the door prize for that event. Prizes to be announced.

Tide of War: During the course of Privateer Weekend, participants will have the chance to earn Tide of War points to compete for the Privateer Weekend Champion award. War points are awarded based on the size of the game played and whether or not the player was victorious. These games include both tournament games and friendly games played outside the tournament scene, but yet on the Diecon premises. A player does not need to play the same faction each game unless he/she is in a tournament. Games may range between 20 and 100 points. A player may not play the same opponent back to back. When the game is not a tournament game, both participants are responsible for notifying judges before the game begins, where it is being played, and the outcome of that game. If the players do not notify a judge, then the game will not be counted. So what goes to our overall War Champion? Well, we're keeping that hush, hush for now but the prize is absolutely huge. Let’s just say it will be something large and fully playable.

Hopefully the list of unique and exciting events has piqued your interest into attending Privateer Weekend 3 at Diecon X. Please check out http://privateerweekend.gamestlouis.com or http://www.diecon.com for more information or PM PG D.Vader or PG AslainKheog. For hotel information check here for special rates. Hope to see you there!

* 35 participants are need for Hardcore. If this number is not met, a Steamroller 2010 50 point event will be ran in it’s place.

The cover is a draft of a flier that was put together for the first Privateer Weekend at DieCon 8.  I have a similar one featuring Lylyth that I'll use when I do something similar for my Legion cards.

In a few days I'll finally have my hands on my MkII version of my Protectorate cards. Even if I'm not completely happy with the layout and design of the cards, they'll still be better than playing off of the printouts that we've been using since the MkII pdf was released.

"Hordes is Risk Management, where Warmachine is Resource Management."

I cringe every time I hear that.

The analogy comes from the fixed amount of focus generated by a warcaster as opposed to the way that forcing and leeching works for warlocks and their beasts.  Unfortunately, it breaks down completely when you actually consider the implications of the labels.

Hordes is Risk Management

The risk involved in Hordes centers around the manipulation of fury between the warcaster and the warbeast.  If he does not manage this resource effectively, his army won't perform optimally.  In fact, in some cases it can lead to the army self-destructing if it frenzies at inopportune times.

Warmachine is Resource Management

Focus is a resource that a warcaster uses to power his jacks, but it is a resource he can only distribute in the beginning of his turn.  The warmachine player has to allocate that focus by playing the odds of him being able to achieve his goal for each model/unit for the round as his plan plays out.  This is risky, because if he mis-allocates focus, misjudges probability, or doesn't get the rolls he needs to execute all of his plan, then he will not get the most out of his resource for the turn.

What it boils down to is that both focus and fury are resources that must be managed efficiently or you run the risk of putting yourself at a tactical disadvantage.  This is true of both games.  So while the statement "Hordes is Risk Management, where Warmachine is Resource Management." is catchy, I don't think it's accurate enough to use when describing the two games.

Granted, the rules play just as well either way, and there are plenty of communities that are using the MkII printout exclusively and aren't having any issue.  It's really just a psychological thing, but since the MkI rules are still solid enough to play, I'm finding it difficult to give up my cards for some printouts.

January can't get here quick enough.

Angry Mob or Menite Party?

Privateer Press has tightened up their forum policies since the the Warmachine field test and are currently in the process of updating their forum software.  Whether or not that means they are more hardline regarding doom-saying and complaining on their forum will be seen soon but the forums will definitely be busy for the next few weeks.

I've discussed the optimism I have towards the new rules before, and that still holds true.  I'm going to be going through at the very least the Legion of Everblight, my own faction, to compare changes but only so far as to keep me from trying to play MkI rules and styles in a MkII world.  Then the glorious re-education process begins.

After throwing around a few possible casters, I decided on some of my lesser-used options to see how they changed in MkII.  I was curious to see if they and their battlegroups would fit my playstyle better now, or if I would be able to change my playstyle to better suit their abilities.

My first selection was to go with Grand Exemplar Kreoss.  Kreoss has always been my favorite Protectorate warcaster from a character perspective, so I felt it was time to give his epic incarnation some more attention to see how it would hold up.

I paired him with the Avatar right away.  The free focus, the spell immunity, and the reach on his sword made him a strong heavy to anchor my lines.  Even if he couldn't wreck face on his own - which he certainly can - he can still act as a tar pit and give the rest of the jacks a clearer path.

Reach was also given to the Reckoner in MkII, which I decided to include so as to allow him to potentially attack multiple jacks under eKreoss' feat easier.  My final heavy choice was the Fire of Salvation - I hoped to surprise some people with it's extra movement and catch them unaware.

My light options were highly dependent on what I owned.  The Devout was added as another Reach jack and the potential Spell Ward if necessary against Cryx.  I wanted to add two more jacks in with my last 8 points to give my opponent more to deal with but I only own a single Dervish.  So ole 'Penty got thrown in as the last bit of filler.

I considered Reznik for a long time but decided to switch to Amon as my second list at the last minute.  As above, jack ownership played a large part of model selection, so instead of three Crusaders I added two and the Fire of Salvation.

To fill out the list, I switched to lights with Reach to add both model count and threat range to the list, going with a Devout and a pair of Revengers.  There was no more arcing Sandblast in MkII but I hoped Powerful Charge would help me start building Synergy early.

Round 1: Brakus' Cryx

My first game was against Brakus, and he brought a pretty hard hitting Cryx force. I knew that using eKreoss, I was probably going to be giving up the charge in exchange for a round of retaliation with his feat, but Brakus could (and did) feat after engaging to mitigate that and give himself a second round of attacks unmolested.

Luckily the Avatar with Inviolable Resolve survived and kept everyone in place with his Gaze of Menoth throughout Brakus' feat turn.  On my next turn, I feated and I was able to wipe out everything but Skarre and the Leviathan.  The Deathjack would have been harder to kill but with the Fire of Salvation's ability to dispel Death Ward, I got the last few points of damage in I needed to wreck him.

Kreoss took some big hits from the Leviathan but I was able to use the Avatar's Gaze to pin him down long enough to get to Skarre and take her down.

Round 2: LegalGun's Cygnar

Round 2 I had to face a heavy-focused Kraye list.  I wasn't looking forward to dealing with it but at least it wasn't the Kraye and triple hunter combo.  Choir should be legal in Mangled Metal.

LegalGun sent in his Hammersmith as his first strike and hit my lights that I had positioned out in front, but didn't quite finish them off.  The Avatar Gazed and ran to hold the Hunter in place while the other jacks wrecked the Hammersmith.  Next turn Kraye feated and sent in the Centurion and Rowdy, while the Defender took some shots, brutalizing my Reckoner but leaving my other jacks functional.  I counter-feated, had the Fire grab the Centurion's shield to deny him that armor, then wrecked him with my forces.  I did some fair damage to Rowdy, and Kreoss one-shotted the Hunter himself, but the big move was Gazing and running the Avatar up to catch Kraye, setting up a next turn Avatar-kill.

Round 3: Rassi's Protectorate

Rassi's always been a huge Amon fan, and MkII has only made him a better caster.  I thought about bringing my own Amon out but I had devised what I thought was a nice way around his Avatar to jump on Amon before he expected it.

As usual, I left my lights out to get charged first and put the Avatar out on a flank with Gaze up, then positioned the Fire where it didn't have LOS to where I thought the Avatar would wind up.  I was right, and it trashed a light, triggering the Fire's ability to move in the Maintenance Phase, still keeping the Avatar out of LOS.

Then, during my turn we realized I was thinking MkI Gaze rules (you having LOS to him, not him having LOS to you) and my assassination run went bunk with Kreoss hung out to dry.   Rassi had his jacks start things up and Amon himself finished Kreoss off.

Final Thoughts

We're going to miss playing at Game On! but they went out with a fantastic event.  I'm really enjoying the MkII rules - things like jacks being able to charge over rough terrain (even if at half speed) just make the game more fluid and it's harder to get pinned in and left out to dry.

I'm not sure how much MkII play will pick up in St. Louis before we get stat cards we can play from, but as a whole the community is ready to hit the ground running.

I'm sitting back in my room after day 1 tired but still ready for tomorrow's events.  I arrived last night with Brakus so we were there for the 500-point Mixed Steamroller event that kicked off the weekend.    There were already a lot of familiar faces showing up, which was a bonus.  Last year I met a lot of great players at Warmachine Weekend and it was good to see many of them making it back.

I took a couple Protectorate lists, one featuring Kreoss and another with Severius, but I wound up using the Kreoss list all event.  Anticipating some of the tougher competition I knew I was going to see down here, I put together some dirty shenanigans that worked extremely well through the event.

First round I faced a Kaelyssa-led Retribution force in No-Man's Land, which I was able to win on scenario.  Still Kaelyssa was a constant threat in the backfield with that dart gun of hers, and Vilmon (who was engaged at the time) was one of her first victims that game.

After that I ran up against a Darius force in Mosh Pit.  With Anastasia netting me first turn the typical Idrian Road Bump tactic let me keep enough out of the Mosh Pit to claim it and win the game.

My third and fourth rounds were two drastically different Deneghra lists.  Third round I faced Brakus, which was entertaining considering we were going over lists together the night before.  He brought Deneghra but hung back just a bit first turn then feated second, wiping out his two units (Revenants and Biles).  Deneghra launched a strong counterattack but she didn't have enough models to seal the deal and I was able to finish her off.

Fourth round was a mind-screw list featuring all sorts of command-affecting craziness.  I wound up feating second turn to kill Nightmare (Harm + Holt, then a charging Redeemer no less) and an arc node, then spread out to claim enough areas in Process of Elimination the next two turns to win.

Final round was against a Sorscha list.  She used her feat first turn to start taking out Idrians, but it turns out that Protection of Menoth and the armor bonus from Go To Ground helped half of them stay despite Winterguard sprays and CRAs.  I wound up getting a little too close after that and Sorscha was able to charge Kreoss in a last ditch effort to keep me from claiming the Mosh Pit, but she ended her turn out of focus and with Kreoss (who hadn't feated) with 3 life left.

All of my opponents were really good sports and it was a fantastic event overall.  The 750-point event started while the 500-point one was going on so I wasn't able to join that.  Josh and Flanzer had planned on making it down for it but got here late so they (and Intern Tim) played their first games of the weekend in the 350 MM/TC event that took place afterwords.

I gave my lists for tomorrow some more though so I'm going to tweak those tonight before turning in.  Then it's up for another 9:00am start and likely constant tournaments until midnight again.  Something tells me I'm going to be exhausted when I roll into work Monday morning.

To our players:

We have decided to do something radical. We’ve been paying a lot of attention to our forums and talking with our players at the conventions this summer and it’s clear that the anticipation for MkII is driving everyone a little batty. Many are excited, some of you are a little afraid, but the suspense is killing everyone and the speculation is killing us! So after a great deal of deliberation we have decided that the best thing we can do for the mental well-being of our community is to completely change our plans and do what we said we wouldn’t: we’re going to put all of the MkII rules and model information online as PDF downloads, because four more months is just too damn long for everyone to be holding their breath.

There are some disclaimers and explanations that need to accompany this.

First, the rules and stat info are final. While the books and cards are still in layout and will be for the next few weeks before they go to press, this is the final form this information will take. So you can be confident that nothing you see here will change between now and when the rules come out in book form unless we find an editing mistake at the last moment that needs to be corrected. But our development on this is locked. You have the final data.

Second, as the book and cards are still in layout, and because we want to give this information to you now, you’re getting the no-frills version. The rules PDF is the book layout but does not include any backgrounds, art or diagrams. And in several places, you’ll note that icons are displayed by name rather than their graphic (these are waiting to be plugged in) and there are many instances of ‘see page XXX’, which is a placeholder for a page number that gets filled in as the very last thing we do in the layout process once we know that nothing is shifting around in the layout anymore. As well, the model info is being taken directly from our development files, so they’re not nice, neat little cards. Each model’s stat info is on a separate page as just the data with no graphical layout or whatnot.

So while this is an unpolished, un-beautiful version of what will be found in the final product, and while you’ll have to read around the ‘XXX’ and icon names, it IS the final information, and we know that’s what everyone is dying for right now anyway. Think of it as seeing a movie before all the special effects, color correction, sound track and sound editing take place. It’s the movie, just not how it’s meant to be presented.

A few final notes; once again, we want to thank our community, all of you players, for your involvement and feedback in shaping the MkII rules. While we know that this has been an inconvenient transition, we do believe that all of the changes made in MkII will improve the play experience for the community as a whole, and we also believe that this process has yielded the best possible final product. We hope that you will see the impact and the influence that your feedback has had on what MkII has become.

While you will no doubt be eager to take everything for a spin, please be aware that our ‘official’ events will continue to be supported with MkI rules for the remainder of the year. Naturally, what you do in the privacy of your own game store is up to you and your opponent and the event organizer, but as far as we’re concerned, MkII will not be supported in organized play by Privateer until January when the book comes out.

And a final word to our Hordes players who still have a much longer wait ahead of them; please know that we are working very hard to put out the Hordes MkII field test as soon as possible. Because of what we have learned through the MkII field test, we believe our first public draft of the Hordes MkII rules will much more closely resemble what the final rules will look like. Because of that, it is our intention to make the Hordes MkII Field Test rules official upon posting so that Hordes players can continue to participate in our organized play events alongside WARMACHINE players until the Hordes MkII book comes out next summer. The caveat of course is that things WILL change, but probably much less dramatically than some of the WARMACHINE changes that we observed.

Thank you all for your patience, your feedback, and your continued support.

And play like you’ve got MkII…

Matt Wilson
Privateer Press
Chief Creative Officer

*To download the files, right-click, then save as.

Here is the link.

I don't play a lot of 1-1-1-1 events, so I didn't have any stand-by lists to bring out for the event.  I decided to build my first list around Feora running as a super-solo, camping on her focus to increase her survivability and let her function as a beat-stick caster as necessary.  For my warjack I went with the Avatar of Menoth for a couple of reasons.  First was the fact that he wouldn't be a focus drain on Feora, and second was that I could use Gaze of Menoth as a form of crowd control to corral my opponents.

Even though Feora's feat does a great job of infantry thinning, I decided to go with the Holy Zealots and Monolith Bearer as my unit of choice.  Their strengths almost go without saying at this point - they're such a strong addition in this format.  They can throw down hard hits, they can clear infantry with their bombs, and Greater Destiny lets them weather almost any assault unfazed.  Finally, I threw in the Vassal of Menoth to support the Avatar.  Ancillary Attack would let me throw down another P+S 19 sword attack but my main plan was to use Enliven to keep the Avatar alive.  With ARM 21, he could take a single hit from almost anything then slide back and away out of reach and position himself for the counterattack on my next turn.

The caster of choice for my second list was Severius, primarily because I don't play him much.  I knew right away that the old man wanted an arc node in his list but I wasn't sure I wanted to give up my beat-stick warjack slot to a light.  The Blessing of Vengeance is good, but I knew I'd be seeing heavies all day, and so decided to risk the additional system and bring a Guardian.  Reach was nice, and I might be able to use some of Severius' ample focus to power it's Ward of Retribution.

Initially I added the Vassal (primarily for Enliven again) and Idrians and their unit attachment but I decided to back them out and re-arrange the list around some less competitive models to see what kind of results I could get with them.  I added a full 10-man unit of Flameguard Cleansers and with the left over points added High Exemplar Gravus to the list, primarily for his mobility and threat range from a flank.

Round 1: Randy's Trollbloods

My first game was against a new Trollblood player who was out for his first tournament.   There was a forest a little ahead of my deployment zone just left of center, so I put the Cleansers on my left flank, the Guardian in the center with Severius and the Vassal behind, then Gravus right beside them.  My plan was to run the Cleansers forward, then run the Guardian where at least one Cleanser was blocking charge lanes to him and arc Holy Vigil on the Cleansers to slow down the Champions.  Meanwhile Gravus ran first turn around the right of the forest to come in from the flank turns 2-3.

In the end the Cleansers did their job of spraying the Champions on the way in, holding them up with Holy Vigil-boosted DEF 16, then stabbing themselves in the back to light up the Champions.  Gravus and the Guardian were able to get the drop on the Mauler, which left Madrak with just his Fellcaller and a couple Champions.  It took a couple rounds to tie him down and get through his armor and scroll but in the end I was able to take him down.

Round 2: Peter's Cygnar

Peter's other list featured Longgunners as his unit choice, so I was relieved he went with the closer combat option.  The game started out with the same opening moves as round 1, then Peter used Arcane Shield, his feat, and the Sword Knights' Defensive Line ability to engage my front line with uber-armor models and start killing my Cleansers.

I retaliated by moving them to tie up as much as possible, cast Holy Vigil on them, and feating to deny him focus on the next turn.  A few lucky sprays killed some of the Sword Knights but not many.  On his turn he split his Sword Knights, sending a chunk of them to go deal with Gravus, which left me an opening to go for the assassination on the following turn.

That turn the Guardian was allocated a full three focus (in case he had to trample into place), Severius threw two Immolations at Stryker for decent damage, and the Cleansers walked around (tempting free strikes, but being near enough to Stryker that that would have been bad) and stabbed each other in the back to catch Coleman in the explosions and finish him off.

Round 3: Stu's Cryx

When I saw Stu's list, I knew I needed to switch over to my Feora list.  I was going to need as much anti-infantry capability as possible to deal with the what was effectively two units of Weapon Masters that would be coming at me.

My strategy switched slightly... without Holy Vigil to increase my defenses, I had to use the Avatar with Enliven and the impending triggering of Holy Monolith on the Zealots as bait to set up a counterattack.  Feora threw down a Wall of Fire to block charge lanes from some of the Bane Knights to help minimize my losses.

Stu countered by trampling Nightmare into the middle of my Zealots and hitting the Avatar with Tartarus.  He Cursed my Zealots as well and the Bane Knights and feat-produced Bane Thralls started hacking into the Zealots.  Fortunately, I was able to use the Avatar to wreck Nightmare, and the resulting explosion lit up almost all of his Banes.  Feora stepped back just out of Mageblight range and feated, catching almost everything else on fire.

From there Stu kept using Mage Blight to prevent me from pulling any tricks and we started whittling down what little remained of each others' forces.  When time was called, the only things left alive were Feora, Goreshade, and a Deathwalker, which squeaked me by on VPs.  It was a very close, well fought game.

Round 4: Brakus' Cryx

For the finals I sat down unsure how I was feeling about facing Brakus' list.  I felt I had enough anti-infantry in my Feora list to deal with the Bile Thralls, but if one of them got through it meant wiping out my troops and leaving me without anything to slow down Terminus and the Deathjack.

Brakus got first turn and ran forward, so I advanced my Zealots in response. It was an attempt to put just a couple in Purge range to try and draw them in close enough to kill the remainder, before they got to the heart of my Zealots.

In short, a lucky deviation caught Rengrave and that an Enlivened Avatar kept running forward to tie Terminus back, while Feora charged the Deathjack with Engine of Destruction up.  After ripping an arm and the cortex off on her charge attack, she missed two more attacks and failed to break armor once, so couldn't finish him off.  The Deathjack received Ravager next turn, managed to kill a DEF 16 Zealot, regrew it's missing arm, and then was able to roll high enough to hit Feora a few times and eat her. NomNomNom.

Concluding Thoughts

I wound up picking up a unit of Bastions with the gift certificate I received for second place.  I've broken them out and have started cleaning and assembly but there are a few pieces ahead of them in my painting queue.  They seem to be roughly the same quality as the rest of the Protectorate line, so I'm satisfied with them so far. Will report again on how they paint up.

It was good to see all of the new players out for the tournament - of the 13 player,s I'd say roughly half were people who I don't see at the table on a regular basis and a few were up for their first tournament ever.  The vets and rookies alike were courteous and every game was fun.  The 1-1-1-1 format isn't my favorite but the event was still a great time.

Privateer Press has already stated that when Warmachine MkII is released, the Hordes MkII Field Test will begin.  At GenCon they confirmed that the Hordes MkII Field Test will be essentially "tournament legal" and that MkII will be the supported format.  And that's when I get my new faction.

All of the doomsaying aside, most people are expecting some fairly significant change to the Legion of Everblight come MkII.  If Terminus is any indication, wings are expected to no longer evade free strikes; a major blunting of the Legion's maneuverability.  Other models - like the Seraph, Incubi, and Raptors - have a reputation as being overpowered or open to abuse and are expected to be rebalanced.

I'm not going to whine about the changes.  I'm fully ready to adapt to and embrace the new play-style, but that's ultimately my point - the Legion is expected to play differently.  The magnitude of this change is still up in the air, but in all honestly I'm excited about it.  I get to take the models I really like and the army whose fluff I dig, and experience them from a new perspective.  In addition, it will hopefully mean hearing less whining about facing the Legion as well, which will make playing them an all-around better experience.

Once I started looking at Legion MkII in this way I realized there wasn't a need to go looking for the new hawtness, the new hawtness is coming to me in just a few months.  The Retribution is still interesting, but the temptation isn't as strong as it was before.  Maybe at the end of 2010 when all of MkII has been released and we've played with the final version of the MkII rules I'll revisit the idea of expanding to a new faction but for now I'm ready for some MkII Blightning.

Around St. Louis, cut-out cardstock templates have been replaced by brass rings that can be found at most craft/hobby stores.  These rings are  found in 3", 4" and 5" diameters, making them perfect for the various AOE template sizes that Warmachine and Hordes use for cloud effects.

The handy thing about these rings is that you can drop them around and between models with little difficulty.  It's possible that you may still have to drape one over a model if it's standing right on the edge of where you want to place your template, but 90% of the time using rings grants you a flexibility in template placement that a solid cutout doesn't provide.

As a side note, most folks carry these these by clipping them to the side of their army transport bag with a carabiner key chain.  When it's time to play you can unclip them from your bag and carry them to the table, using the carabiner to keep them together when not in play.

You can see from the link above how cheap a handful of rings is, so I recommend picking up a handful to try out the next time you're in your local craft store.