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 toeksn 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.

Crash & Burn

My Repenter is the first warjack I ever painted, back in 2005 when I was just starting Warmachine.  In fact, it was the first Protectorate of Menoth miniature I ever painted, which means it was effectively my test piece for my the color scheme I ultimately decided to stick with.

For the most part I tried doing "razor highlights" for my Repenter, just hitting the edges of the armored plates with thin lines. If you look through the rest of my Warmachine gallery, you'll notice I didn't continue the technique. It just didn't come out as well as I wanted.

Redemption

The Repenter was a big learning experience for me, and although looking back I'm not as pleased with the model, I learned a lot from painting it. I've included the Redeemer here as an example of painting technique evolving. I painted my Redeemer in early 2006, just a few months after the Repenter.

Comparing the two models you can see where my techniques changed. The biggest was abandoning the razor highlighting to return to wet blending. With the size of a warjack's armored plates, just doing edge highlighting didn't work. That changed my approach to every jack I've painted since.

I also got better at determining where on the armored plates to highlight. This has always been one of my biggest weaknesses and after painting the Repenter then looking at it during play, I noticed that my highlights weren't quite where I wanted them. I had to adjust where I placed my highlights to make things look more natural.

The best way to learn to paint is by practice, and that's what each warjack is for the next one that hits your painting table. My Redeemer is definitely an improvement over my Repenter, but if you look at my second Revenger or Blessing of Vengeance you can see continued progress.

For me, that's what's important - I'll be happy as long as I continue to improve. My Repenter might not be the slickest 'jack in my collection but it played an key roll in learning how to paint warjacks better.

Looking over my Legion of Everblight models, it didn't take long for me to decide to go with a color scheme that matched their background in the frozen mountains to the north. I immediately decided to have a cool blue be a dominant color and worked from there, eventually coming up with a 'bone-and-blue' scheme shown below. I won this warpack in a drawing the day of release and I began assembling the models relatively soon thereafter. The paint job was chosen to be unique at the time, but it turned out that since I started a number of people have had the same idea and my models were by no means the first ones done with this scheme.

Many of the techniques I started using on my Legion models were relatively simple and there were a great deal of large expanses to do but still... for some reason I felt drained after painting these up and had to take a break for a bit before picking the brush back up. I don't think I've ever painted a miniature (or group of miniatures) that took as much out of me as the Legion of Everblight Warpack did.

Originally the warbeast flesh started with a touch-up of Vallejo Model Color White over an initial white primer. I usually prime in grey, not white, but I decided to go this route on just these beasts because the alternative - to try and get a solid smooth coat of white over dark primer - was something I didn't want to try. Initially I washed the entire fleshy areas with a mix of Midnight Blue and a tad of Black and then started highlighting back up by adding Cape Cod Blue and eventually White to the mix. I've since changed my recipe and have included the new one below.

My Ogrun skin tones were done in the same manner as my new dragonspawn flesh recipe but my Nyssians have a more intense blue hue. I didn't want every model to have the exact same skin tone but I needed them to all look cohesive on the table so I replaced the grays used in dragonspawn/Ogrun skin with a sky blue. The comparative results are visible below. However one unifying feature I've kept on every model are solid black eyes.

Other than the carapaces on the beast and the bone and the blight on some of the infantry, I decided that I didn't want any warm colors on my models at all. I wanted too look at them and think "frigid." I used a similar color to the studio scheme on the leather but went with a more intense blue for mine. I've also only used the silver family of metallics - no golds or bronzes (which are warm colors) anywhere. For basing I chose a snowy rock scheme for the warpack that matched their origins in the frozen highlands. I started with a layer of concrete patch to represent earth and the rock outcroppings were built using corkboard that was cut down to a usable diameter then roughed up to give it a slightly more natural look. The snow is 4:2:1 mix of baking soda:acrylic medium:water.  I've tweaked the recipe over the years so not all of my models are completely consistant, but I've been pretty happy with my latest batch.

Dragonspawn/Blighted Ogrun Flesh
Base: Appelbarrel Rain Gray
Shade: Wash Appelbarrel Midnight Blue + Black
Highlight: Midnight Blue up through Rain Gray

Blighted Nyss Flesh
Base: Appelbarrel Sky Blue
Shade: Wash Appelbarrel Midnight Blue + Black
Highlight: Midnight Blue up through Sky Blue

Bone/Blight
Base: Appelbarrel Goosefeather
Shade: Successive light washes of Appelbarrel Brown Oxide + Applebarrel Dark Burnt Umber

Blue Leather
Base: Appelbarrel Midnight Blue
Shade: Wash Black
Highlight: Midnight Blue + Applebarrel Dutch Blue. Edge plates in pure Dutch Blue.

It's pretty out of date, but there are pictures of my painted Legion army on Diminutive Denizens, my online gallery.  I really need to get my photography area set back up so I can update the site with all of the models I've painted in the past year or so.

It was a blast meeting and talking to fellow Warmachine players from across the country like the SOBs. We recorded Episode 50 of the Iron Agenda in the Wabash room late Friday during open play and I think by the end of the episode we had cycled 11 people behind the microphones.

The downside of the Con this year was getting sick, missing the last Hardcore of MkI, and now I'm fighting off some sort of cold/sinus infection.  Still I had a great weekend and am already looking forward to next year.

We'll be talking about the news surrounding Privateer Press, their Next Big Thing, the Retribution, and more here and on the podcast in the near future, so keep an eye open.

Most of the hosts of Fell Calls can still be heard on the Thac0 Podcast, a show about general geekery and geek-related entertainment.

Legion of Everblight Raptors

With the release of Incubi, I shelved my Raptors for a bit while I concentrated on the small-based Nyss troops.  My Raptors sat mostly unplayed until the recent Veto tournament where I dug them out to use as substitutes when needed.  It’s hard to imagine but I had almost forgotten how good they are.  Almost.

Overview

The Raptors are one of the most versatile and dangerous weapons in the Legion of Everblight's arsenal.  They are a quintessential flanking force capable of striking and escaping long before an enemy force can pin them down.

Strengths

Where to begin?  For starters Raptors, along with Tharn Wolf Riders, boast the highest SPD scores in the game.  At a walk they will outpace a running Khadoran warjack by an inch.  In addition they are Pathfinders and Light Cavalry - which allows them to avoid free strikes and make a second move after their combat action.  This all adds up to a maneuverability that is virtually unmatched on the tabletop.

The Dual Shot ability may give the impression that Raptors are a ranged unit, but don't be fooled.  Beyond the fact that as Light Cavalry they may make a Mount attack during their activation, Raptors are Swordmasters and Weapon Specialists with their Nyss Claymores - that's  3 melee attacks per activation.  With their maneuverability almost guaranteeing the charge (and thus a +2 to hit on one of their attacks), a unit of Raptors can decimate an opponent's lines before fading back to a more defensible position.

On top of everything else Raptors are dirt cheap.  They actually cost 1 point less than Warmongers - only 105 points for a full unit of 5 Raptors.  That is a tremendous bargain for the Legion player.

Weaknesses

Although they're an offensive powerhouse, the Raptors don't have a lot of staying power on the table.  Small- and medium-sized bases can't screen their large bases for starters, and on top of that they only have 5 wounds each (8 for the leader).  Their armor is decent but it only takes a damage roll of 20 to kill an unwounded trooper - that's not difficult to do in this game.  Boosted blast damage and spells that damage additional targets without requiring attack rolls are also a danger.

There's also the issue of their average MAT and RAT.  Without the ability to boost their Warmonger-level MAT scores, they're not going to connect with every hit. But their advantage over the ogrun is they get multiple tries instead of needing to trigger Berserk to get more than one attack.

Raptors are not Fearless, and with their high SPD and Pathfinder even one turn of running may put them out of the game.  The Legion player has to be careful around their Abomination-causing models or else risk their ulk hoofing it right off the table.

Competitive Play

For starters the Raptors have the speed to quickly shift focus from scoring area to scoring area.  This can be a great boon in Steamroller-type scenario play where victory is reliant on your ability to take control of various scoring areas.

Even though they're relatively self sufficient, almost every Legion warlock as of Metamorphosis has at least one way to take advantage of their strengths or increase their survivability. Spells like Chiller and Breath Stealer raise their effective MAT to 8 while Critical Decapitation grants additional attack dice.  Even Thagrosh helps out defensively with Death Shroud and offensively with Draconic Blessing.

Feat-wise, Field of Slaughter makes sure the Raptors hit what they want, while Cat & Mouse abuses their immunity to free strikes to let them reposition freely.  Raptors under Foreboding can block entire enemy lines from advancing or use their 5" cavalry formation rules to take advantage of Tide of Blood.  Finally, Decimation lets them either act as artillery platforms for a turn or to chop through bigger targets in melee with the extra attack.

Speaking of ranged capabilities, even though Raptors excel at melee combat, a unit that sacrifices its normal movement can make two Nyss Longbow attacks with a RAT of 8 before taking its light cavalry-granted post-action movement.  That's enough to chew through an entire medium or lightly armored unit.

The lack of Fearless does mean that you have to be careful when running them with Forsaken, Warmongers, or Epic Thagrosh.  However, because they're so fast you can usually deploy your Raptors safely, then move them out on the flank and not have to worry about scaring them with your own troops the rest of the game.

Casual Play

The flexibility of the Raptors allows them to pull their weight in any type of list, so there's no reason they can't be thrown in any list for a thematic reason.  If you want a unit in your Epic Thagrosh all large base army, they can serve that role.  If you want some more melee punch in a ranged-theme list, they can do that too.

Final Thoughts

Raptors are a fantastic unit overall.  They have their weaknesses and suffer from the same glass cannon syndrome as the rest of the Legion but they more than make up for it with their offensive flexibility.  Some might even go so far as to call them borken.

The GenCon 2009 Masters event encourages players to not only demonstrate mastery with a single warcaster or warlock but with their entire faction line-up. A warcaster / warlock that appears in one of a players’ lists cannot appear in another list for the remainder of the Masters event. Mercenary warcasters can only appear in a players’ list[s] if that player is playing Mercenary contracts for the whole of the GenCon 2009 Masters event.

The Masters event takes place over three days, each at a different point level (500, 750, then 1,000).  Each day a player brings new lists.  With this new change a competator is going to have eight different warcasters/warlocks in their lists over the course of the weekend.  Even if they only play one list each day that's four warcasters/warlocks that they have to be able to play well to succeed.

There's also an added tactical element that I think is interesting.  Every player has their go-to caster(s) but now they have to decide when to use them.  Do you bring your big guns out early to try and maximize your chances of advancing from round to round or do you gamble and save them for the finals?

This is an interesting aspect to add to what is effectively Privateer Press's National Championship event.  I hadn't planned on playing in Masters this year but the challenge that's added to event preparation intrigues me.  I look forward to seeing the impact it has on the format meta.

I have to say though that I think Privateer Press dropped the ball on this timing-wise.  By this time many people who planned on going to Masters - who already purchased tickets - have spent a couple months tuning their lists.  Since there was no similar restriction the last few years there was no reason to assume things would be changed this late in the game, but changed they were.  And with just over a month left before the event, too.

A rules addendum like this should have been announced when registration for the event was first opened at the latest.  Doing it this late in the game after registration has been closed and players have already been refining their lists adds a bad taste to what could otherwise be a good addition to the format.

Bellevue WA. June 30, 2009 - Privateer Press is pleased to announce Grind, an extreme combat sports board game for two players ages 14 and up releasing this October. In Grind players customize a team of steamjacks—10-ton, steam-powered mechanical robots—and battle to move a large, spiked ball into their opponent’s goal. The game comes with several highly detailed plastic components, including six Runner steamjack figures, four Crusher steamjack figures, 32 interchangeable weapon arms, two spiked pillars, and the Grinder ball. Also included are a full-color game board, 11 tokens, and custom dice.

I hardly ever played the initial Grind release - it just didn't pique my interest enough.  If I was going to be getting my Warmachine miniatures out to play, I'd rather just play a game of Warmachine.  It wasn't that the concept of Grind wasn't interesting, but it seemed to be cobbled together from the existing Warmachine rules and so suffered from a rule system that wasn't really designed to support it.

Grind Box Art

For the most part I'm interested in seeing how this new version of Grind plays.  By breaking Grind off as its own game, Privateer Press is free to design rules from the ground up to focus on the type of play they want Grind to have.  Warjacks can be armed with weapons geared specifically to use in the Grind arena instead of appropriating Warmachine weapon systems that were not designed with Grind in mind.

I've talked about my dislike for custom dice in my Mosnterpocalypse reviews, and that unfortunately applies here as well.  I'm trying to hold back from passing judgment until after I see the rules but the use of these custom Action Dice is a little off-putting.  If the game's good it can overcome that though, so I'll wait and see.

Finally is the sticker shock.  Grind is going to retail at $70.  That puts its competition up in the range of some of the more premium board games - games like Arkham Horror ($60), Battlestar Galactica ($60), Shadows over Camelot ($60), and BattleLore ($80).  That's some stiff competition for a first foray into the board game arena.

Since we already have games like Arkham and Last Night on Earth, Grind will have to be really good for my gaming group to pick it up.  I'm willing to wait and see how it plays, though.  Hopefully Privateer will have some demos running at GenCon.

My most recent run-in with good terrain gone bad was after DieCon when I discovered a few of my models with decent sized chips in them.  Most of them only came out for the four rounds of Hardcore, so they hadn't seen much play.  The likely culprit is the play surfaces themselves - 4x4 foam table tops with sand glued down for texture.  While the sand drybrushed well to make the table look nicer, it also had the tendency to turn the tabletop into sand paper and damage models that happened to topple in play.

I like a nicely terrained table but sometimes I'd just rather have something that's more playable.  Hills that are both steep and tall make placing models along their edges difficult.  Forest templates that are warped - no matter how nicely flocked - are unstable surfaces for figures.  There are actually a number of potential pitfalls for forests in particular... for example trees that are permanently affixed to the template base can interfere with placing miniatures.

Is a finely built yet potentially damaging piece of terrain simply analogous to the fantastically converted model that for whatever reason suffers when it comes to playability on the table?  There are a number of Warmachine and Hordes models that suffer similarly.  A prime example is the Seraph, which hangs over its base so far that it can be difficult to maneuver models around it on the tabletop.  Should gameplay suffer for art?  Should art suffer for gameplay?

I enjoy fielding painted miniatures whenever I can but I find myself unfazed whether I'm playing on particleboard, cloth, or a flocked tabletop... whether I'm using a fantastically painted and sculpted piece of terrain or felt cut to size.  Does this mean I have a double standard when it comes to tabletop aesthetics?

Thagrosh, the Messiah

On Episode 29 of Iron Agenda I gave my initial impressions of Epic Thagrosh, along with the rest of the new models the Legion of Everblight received in Hordes: Metamorphosis.  Ever since I saw the sculpt I knew that I wanted to be able to play the Messiah with confidence, and that meant a lot of practice to get a good feel for him and what he can do to overcome his weaknesses.

My experience with the Messiah has confirmed many of my earlier opinions regarding some of his deficiencies, but with a few tournaments (including an official Hardcore) utilizing him under my belt,  I feel confident enough to talk about him in more depth.

Fluff

I had been waiting for Hordes: Metamorphosis ever since Hordes: Evolution was first released, primarily to see how an event as epic as Everblight consuming Pyromalfic's athanc would be handled while maintaining balance on the game table.  We've always known that some personalities in the Iron Kingdoms defy tabletop rules.  Was Thagrosh to be elevated to those ranks, already occupied by the likes of Voyl, Toruk, and Vinter? Fortunately for Legion of Everblight players and modelers the answer was a resounding no.

Privateer Press did an excellent job with the character of Thagrosh, the Messiah.  It wasn't until Evolution that the relationship between the ogrun that was Thagrosh and Everblight was spelled out in black and white.  During Thagrosh and Goreshade's meeting we got a glimpse of how even as Everblight's host Thagrosh was still allowed to maintain his sense of self and make decisions on his own.  It also said a fair bit about Everblight himself - that he was willing to sit back and trust the mental compulsions he placed in his warlocks that accompanied their blighting to work towards his ultimate goals.

With Metamorphosis, the Thagrosh/Everblight relationship shifted.  After consuming Pyromalfic, Everblight has taken a more dominant role in their braided existence.  Now we almost pity Thagrosh as he fights just to retain his individuality.  Meanwhile Everblight's ego has swelled to draconic levels.  Given how he attracted Toruk's attention the last time he raged out of control, it's no surprise that even Everblight's warlocks sense the danger in his unchecked aggression.

Metamorphosis presents the reader with a sympathetic view of Thagrosh's struggle.  The reactions of his warlocks show us how terrible Everblight's hubris is.  The summons they all experience at the end of Metamorphosis highlights just how dangerous Everblight has become to his warlocks as well as himself.  All of which makes for a very interesting character to follow in the fluff.

Overview

Although perhaps not obvious at first glance, Epic Thagrosh very nicely fits the Glass Cannon motif that the Legion has become known for.  He and his warbeasts bring an overwhelming force to the table but the Messiah himself is deceptively easy to defeat.  It will require a balancing act from the Legion player to maximize Epic Thagrosh's destructive capabilities without overexposing him, but woe be it to his enemies if that balance is maintained.

Strengths

The Messiah has two main strengths on the battlefield.  First is his personal melee capability.  With the POW of his weapon, Rapture, and the strength increase Epic Thagrosh received in his epic form, he can deal a massive P+S 18 with reach.  Aided by True Strike, the Harrier's animus, he's able to hit even the highest DEF warcasters/warlocks without issue.  This impressive melee output is complemented by Rapture's Eruption of Ash (a carryover from his non-epic form) and his Claw, which hits for a respectable P+S 14 itself.

With Wings Epic Thagrosh gains freedom of movement similar to many Legion beasts.  Although tempered by Hubris and a Warmonger-SPD, it still allows Epic Thagrosh to ignore models and terrain when repositioning on the battlefield - a great boon when you consider some of his weaknesses.

On the other side of the stat line, we see Epic Thagrosh's role as a warbeast-support warlock - a role at which he excels.  With Dragon Storm, a feat which grants his beasts extra movement and an attack, and Glory of Everblight, which amounts to Signs and Portents for Epic Thagrosh and beasts within his control area, it's clear that his beasts are going to be bringing some serious pain on the tabletop.  Even Unnatural Aggression can be upkept on a beast to grant it even greater movement.  With the superior mobility of most Legion warbeasts, anything that lets them get around the table faster and/or easier compounds that strength.  Finally Flesh Eater allows Epic Thagrosh to remove a target from play while simultaneously healing himself or a warbeast - a nice little two-fer even if it is a tad on the expensive side to cast.

Although a beast-warlock at heart, Epic Thagrosh can support his troops in one minor way.  Dragon Blood grants a respectable ARM boost to an entire unit as well as the potential of damaging any model that destroys them in melee.  It's not the most impressive troop-buff in the game but it can be handy if Epic Thagrosh decides to bring a melee or screening unit to the table.

Weaknesses

Ah, and here we are.  Every silver lining has a cloud, Epic Thagrosh has big fat cumulonimbus hanging ominously overhead.

First is Epic Thagrosh's personal defenses.  Nemo and Severius, the old men of Warmachine, have higher DEF scores than the Messiah.  Even offset with a respectable Butcher-level amount of health, his lower DEF combined with a large-sized base means Epic Thagrosh is particularly vulnerable to being hit with ranged/magic debuffs or just straigt assassination.  One would expect clouds and Epic Thagrosh's Wings to mitigate these difficulties, but there is more for the Legion player to consider.

Hubris is simultaneously the best and worst ability Epic Thagrosh possesses.  It fits his fluff so perfectly that it's hard to complain, but Hubris basically ties Epic Thagrosh in place if he can't kill all the enemy models in his melee range before he starts moving.  The problem can be mitigated with activating other models first (delaying the casting of Glory of Everblight) or Slipstreaming him out of combat, but neither are guarantees and even worse, dictate the Epic Thagrosh player's order of activation for him.  Even a bigger problem are models like the Seneschal and Gudrun the Wanderer who stick around after losing all their health.  With Epic Thagrosh's defensive shortcomings as mentioned above, it may only take one turn of corralling him for an opponent to finish him off.

There's also the minor issue of Epic Thagrosh being an Abomination.  A double-digit CMD score does help with this somewhat but it only takes one bad roll on a Command Check for your Swamp Gobbers to flee, and that might have been the turn you wanted to rely on their smoke cloud to protect yourself.  And then there are the Legionnaires - supposedly Thagrosh's bodyguards and excellent targets for Dragon Blood... if only they weren't afraid of him.  Sure, the chance of their flight is low, but why risk it when you could bring Swordsmen instead?  Especially now with the Abbott and Champion unit attachment.  Balancing Abominations with non-fearless models is nothing new to Legion players but it's yet another thing to consider during army construction, deployment, and movement.

Competitive Play

As much as I like Epic Thagrosh, I don't feel that he's as competitive at the Masters-level events as Saeryn and Epic Lylyth.  He brings a number of weapons to the table but his susceptibility to assassination means he's going to have a hard time with the most optimized lists currently driving the meta.

One of the keys to playing Epic Thagrosh is to keep the pressure on your opponent.  Epic Thagrosh's beasts have to be doing as much damage as possible each round to blunt any potential counter attack.  That means both identifying and neutralizing the biggest threats to Epic Thagrosh as well as trying to keep an opponent reeling and unable to launch an optimal counterattack.  That's not a strategy that is unique to Epic Thagrosh but with his large base size and lower defenses the Epic Thagrosh player has to be mindful of how much danger he's in so he can decide how much to extend from round to round.

With the release of Metamorphosis models, Epic Thagrosh will gain a number of near auto-includes. Typhon is the first worth mentioning, as his animus Excessive Healing and his affinity make the Messiah extremely survivable, to say nothing of how Typhon will benefit from Glory of Everblight. The Nephilim Protector can help protect Epic Thagrosh as well as use its animus to stand him up so that being knocked down doesn't slow his advance.

That doesn't mean he only benefits from post-Metamophosis models.  Under Glory of Everblight almost any Legion warbeast will be deadly but a Seraph or two will be particularly so.  While the Carnivean sports more initial attacks, Dragon Storm can allow an Angelius or two to run or charge over the enemy's line, then get a second movement and extra attacks after the end of the turn.  The Nephilim Soldier's Massacre animus allows charging without being forced and will allow Epic Thagrosh to send warbeasts in to unleash their full Fury in attacks, all under the effects of Glory.

In fact, combining Slipstream and Massacre on an Angelius or two  (who are already Ravenous) will allow the winged terrors to be placed 2" (Slipstream) before charging 10".  If they kill their charge target, both Massacre and Ravenous trigger, allowing the Angelius to move 5" and make another attack for free -- all before being forced even once.  With additional 3" movements from Ravenous as the Angelius continues to kill and the 7" move of Dragon Storm, the Angelius can strike from over half a table away.  A Shepherd or two to extend Epic Thagrosh's Control Area for forcing and leeching can help get the most mileage out of this tactic.

Though expensive to cast at over half his FURY stat, Black Chasm can be a make-or-break spell in some games.  The short range means Epic Thagrosh can't cast it safely from the rear but a 4" AOE of knockdown on enemies damaged by it can clear lanes, drop defenses, and slow advances.  Casting it and Glory of Everblight does require all of Epic Thagrosh's fury; but if he casts Glory first, then Black Chasm will benefit from it. The result is a risky combo that leaves Epic Thagrosh without transfers but can win games if successful.

Casual Play

Between the fantastic sculpt and how much fun Epic Thagrosh can be to play, I see him having a strong presence in the casual environment.  There are other warlocks in the Legion army that can run beasts as well as Epic Thagrosh but he is by far the most fluffy warlock and the best looking on the tabletop.

A big huge beatstick warlock to accompany some big huge beatstick Legion warbeasts that run hot off Glory with Forsaken and Shepherds to support them sounds like a lot of fun.  Seraphs can provide an excellent crowd control element to the list and combined with a few utility beasts you can have a solid beast-heavy low model-count army.

Another option for Epic Thagrosh is a Shredder-heavy list.  Rabid and Pack Mentality can make a handful of Shredders deadly.  Add in Glory of Everblight and Dragon Storm, and those little walking mouths can be even more dangerous.

Final Thoughts

Thagrosh, the Messiah is  big, brutal, and can get some amazing mileage out of his warbeasts.  Although not the most competitive caster, he certainly has a bag full of trics.  With proper applicateion, Epic Thagrosh will be a force to reckon with on the table.