Making Cassius Work

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen of 3++!  I know you are all so fascinated by 6th edition right now (and I was too, initially) but the Steam-Powered Gamer is here to distract you with a belated Warmachine/Hordes article.  Today's topic?  Cassius the Oathkeeper.  This guy is probably one of the most maligned of Circle's warlocks and with the recent releases that came from Hordes: Domination, Cassius actually had a little bit of a boost to his effectiveness.  Before we begin, I do have to say that Cassius is not a very popular warlock because he has some glaring weaknesses and is the "rock" in a meta full of "paper", and that doesn't help his popularity much.  The fact that he also has a bit of "Skornergy" (see my Warmachine/Hordes Glossary for the definition) with one of his spells and one of his most popular abilities doesn't help either.  That said, let's try and find a way to make this guy work by first taking a look at his special rules, since they'll inform the rest of your list and decisions.

Kirby vs Archnomad - List Selection in WM/H

Hi everybody. Kirby and I are going to have a game of WM/H on Vassal in the near future, and I'm using this as an example to talk about list selection in steamroller format games for WM/H. So, without wasting any more time let's get a look in at these army lists. They're 35pts, Menoth for Kirby and Legion for me. 

So, I'm running these two beauties:

Guest Article: Legion Analysis - Vayl, Consul of Everblight

Brush for Rent

            I'm going to start doing some detailed analysis articles on several casters, particularly ones I've played quite extensively, and briefly talk about the tier lists associated with said casters, though it is more focused on them.  The first one is the Legion of Everblight's Ice Queen, Vayl, Consul of Everblight.  Also known as eVayl, she is one of Legion's most dangerous casters.  Her stats are average for Legion, with an average SPD for the faction, and a good RAT.  However her DEF and ARM stats are terrible, and she can't take a hit very well, if at all.  She's still a Fury 8 caster, so expect a lot of beasts to be run with her.  It's not uncommon to see 3-4 heavy warbeasts in her entourage, though always be aware of the fury she's throwing around.  Unlike her prime counterpart, she is a Gunfighter, which means if something terrible has gone wrong and she's in melee, she can defend herself....just pray their armor is awful, or you're dead.  eVayl also has Quick Draw, which won't come up often but if it does, it can stop a critical shot from being taken.  Her final special ability is Serenity, and is another layer of fury management on top of what Legion already has in their arsenal of fury management.

Batrep: pDoomshaper vs eVayl

Hey there people, Archnomad here with a WM/H Batrep between 2 of my friends. Now, I should say in advance that the game was played on an actual board, the Vassal pics are a visual representation I did out of the good of my heart so there are some creative liberties with terrain placement (it didn't exactly match) and unit placement (woops). However hopefully it's good enough. So, here we go....

So, Bryce has pDoomy and Calandra as his lists. He chose pDoomy.

Fraser got bullied into playing eVayl by me. His other options were Bethayne (the smart choice, the one he tailor made to deal with trolls), and pThagrosh.

Discussion: Transition from 40k to Warmachine/Hordes

A lot of Warmachine/Hordes talk lately - you'll forgive us for this I hope considering several of us are now well into the game and we are in the doldrums of 5th edition 40k waiting for 6th... I will be trying to get as many of those Army Comparisons and the Eldar/IG reviews finished for you guys by the end of the month though. Then you can expect 40k out the wazoo as we officially look at 6th edition. There are still at least two if not more 5th edition tournaments coming up on my part so there will be that tricky phase as we transfer all our games to 6th edition (and Biomorph playtesting if it continues). Until then, well let's look at some more Warmachine & Hordes stuff!

There are two things I have come to realise in learning Warmachine & Hordes whilst playing both 40k and Warmachine & Hordes interchangeably. It would seem obvious but there needs to be a subtle yet major shift in philosophy in how you approach the game. Let's see what I mean.

Privateer Press Summer Deals (Hordes)

Greetings ladies and gentlemen, Whitestar333 here with the other half of my evaluation on the Privateer Press Summer Deals.  Just like with Warmachine, Privateer Press is offering deals on 25 point lists for the Hordes factions.  Much like I did for my review on the Warmachine deals I'll be rating these on a 1-5 scale on Longevity (how often you'll use the models in the deal), in a similar style to when I rated the Battlegroup boxes on my own blog, but I'll also rate these based on the Power of the 25 point list in the deal.  Just to clarify, I do mean the 25 point list created from the models you get in the deal itself compared to any other 25 point list you might come across.  This means that I'm not so much ranking them relative to each other, but more sharing my opinion on whether it'll be a solid list playing against anyone at 25 points.  At the end of my review I'll include my [brutally honest] concluding thoughts about the deals themselves!

Warmachine Knowledge Request - Circle, Cygnar & Trollbloods

Several friends of mine are looking to start Warmachine, each with a different faction. Each of them asked for help yet there's only so much I can give since I am also learning and not intmately familiar with the factions outside of the one I am currently playing. So, through me, they are asking you for help =D! The armies the are looking at (obviously) are Circle, Cygnar and Trollbloods.

General information about the army and what the general good units/casters and stay away from units/casters would be appreciated. Basics in terms of  playstyle, etc. as well wouldn't go amiss ^^. Here's a bit of brief information from each player in terms of likes/dislikes.

The Deathclock and Sportsmanship

Now I know that many of you are expecting another article about the Old Witch of Khador but I thought I would throw something a bit random.

Deathclock is a timed turn variant for SteamRoller 2012 (the official competitive ruleset for Warmachine/Hordes), which has been gaining popularity in both local and national metas. Deathclock is the same as using a chessclock to keep track of time. At the end of each turn you hit the button and it swaps over to your opponents time; this is an advantage over regular timed turns since it keeps you from having to worry about how long things like your feat turn is going to go and if your opponent has to make tough checks or out of activation movements during your time. 

More Warmachine...and some Hordes!

So something showed up on my doorstep today, new stuff! Vince and I placed an order with Combat Company to expand our Menoth & Khador forces (Vince now has close to every model in the Khador range including...two Behemoths...). Vince also got some new Hordes - Legion of Everblight with a bunch of Warlocks, three Warbeasts and a bunch of solos. More painting to come and I finally decided on my next Menoth caster - Vindictus. Hopefully some bat reps will come soon :).

Guess who's back?

Well it looks like I'm back guys.

Over the last few months I have been forced to focus on school and work and with the 55+ hours spent there I just didn't have the time to write down a decent article. However finals are done and I am ready to go!

I have been planning out what my next few articles and they are going to mostly focus on Khador, my main faction, and the occasion Circle piece.

Making Zaal Work [differently]

Greetings again everyone from the Steam-Powered Gamer!  It's that time again to look at a Warmachine/Hordes warcaster/warlock and figure out what makes them tick and build a list with that in mind.  Much like last time, I don't wish to imply that today's warlock is bad or anything, but merely just want to share some musings I've had with this particular warlock lately to make him work differently than you might see him played typically.  I've largely not been terribly interested in the Skorne, admittedly; they're too heavy-handed of a faction for my tastes.  The only warlocks who really catch my interest are Zaal and Mordikaar, and I've always had a love of animated constructs, so Zaal is a really interesting warlock to me.  So without further ado, let's take a look at Supreme Aptimus Zaal and see how I can twist around the usual take on him - starting with his spell list this time.

Warmachine/Hordes Glossary

Greetings again ladies and gentlemen, it's Whitestar333 from Steam-Powered Gamer here to bring you another fine article, although this time I'm switching gears from our usual list building article and instead I'll share some of the terminology and acronyms used in Warmachine/Hordes.  Some of you might be new to the game and seeking the advice of your peers and mentors but face some confusion when exploring on the world wide web for Warmachine or Hordes advice.  I decided to compile a list for you all with a list of some of the terminology and acronyms that you might encounter in your learning about the game.  I will be honest, I try to update this list constantly on my blog but I figured that since it seems a lot of visitors to 3++ are developing an interest in Warmachine/Hordes, this would be helpful for you all to see.

The Balance of Warmachine & Hordes

So my actual playing experience is still pretty limited and mostly done on Vassal with Warmahordes currently. Hopefully one day Vince won't moan and complain when I want to have a game with him and then we can start going to clubs/groups/etc. However, a lot of reading has been done into the game and factions and one of the most polarising discussions is that of balance.

Netlists and You

Something I've noticed a lot on the Internet is the disparaging remarks 'net-lists' get and specifically anyone who uses them is just being a douche-bag who wants to win no matter what. Whilst this of course is the crux of the ridiculus "how you should have fun" argument, something which is often lost is what the real purpose of most net-lists are and that's the optimisation of a list concept. This is where spamming and "how you should have fun" comes into things with lists such as RazorMarines, triple Fire Dragons/Long Fangs/Dreadnoughts/Ravagers/etc, Venom Spam, Immolator Spam, etc. etc. come into play. These lists are designed, generally, to be the most mathematically potent lists. This means, in theory, the list is good and it's maximised for potential on the tabletop to be able to give the controlling player the best chance at winning games against equally skilled opponents with good army lists.

NQ 40 - After action report

One of the best ways to enhance your abilities as a player is to learn from your mistakes. Even better than learning from your mistakes is learning from someone else's mistakes. This article will cover, in detail, the battle report found in No Quarter #40 between Chris Walton and Will Hungerford. It will be greatly beneficial to have a copy of this magazine on hand for this review.

As a dedicated Circle Orboros player, it is always a little disturbing to read battle reports by Privateer Press staff using Circle Orboros models. The reason is that the people who write the rules for my faction never seem to be able to effectively use those models. The NQ#40 battle report is no exception. Nevertheless, Chris's abysmal performance serves as a great learning opportunity for the rest of us.

Is there really an InfantryMachine?

Now something your gonna here quiet often is that Warmachine/Hordes should really be called Infantrymachine because of how you are gonna take infantry over Warjacks/Warbeasts. Now I will admit that this statement was extremely true in MK I but in MK II this statement is actually far from the truth. Now I admit that there are a few factions that want to take mostly infantry due to the general power level of their infantry but besides those few factions? Let's take a look and see what factions want to play the so called "InfantryMachine".

First Place: Khador/Cryx

Circle Orboros Theme Forces part 3

This is the final installment of my Circle Orboros Theme Force review. Please note that I will be going to once a month updates at the beginning of the year. I need to take some time to work on a book I've been meaning to write and to work on some professional stuff. I'll continue to write about Hordes and will hopefully be able to produce better quality material with the lighter schedule.

Hour of Reckoning Baldur, the Stonesoul

Privateer Press

Baldur is back and he's pissed. This list bears a significant resemblance to primal Baldur's theme force. Like Baldur the Stonecleaver's list, this list focuses heavily on construct warbeasts and an initial burst of speed on turn 1. The main variable here is Baldur himself who has gone from a board control warlock to a sort of denial warlock. This list should enable you to get up-field quickly and then lock into position.

Making Dr. Arkadius work - Part 1

Hello good ladies and gentlemen, this is Whitestar333 from Steam-Powered Gamer again, this time telling a tale of a doctor who no one believes in, who lives in the shadow of a great pig leader.  That's right, I'm talking about Dr. Arkadius, one of the most maligned warlocks in the game of Warmachine/Hordes.  In fact, there is a large majority of players out on the internet who believe that Dr. Arkadius is the worst warcaster/warlock in the entirety of the game - and they might be right.  I, myself had believed in the good doctor, and I started playing him some time ago because I wanted a challenge - and a challenge I received!  I'm not here to tell you not to play him, but to warn you that he is not for the feint of heart and he requires some skill to make as competitive as some of his peers  I am here to share my insights with him on how to make him most successful and in a later post I will share a 50-point list that I think will play to his strengths, as well as the tactics to consider when playing him.

Looking At Your Heavy Hitters

Warjacks and warbeasts are a fundamental part of the games Warmachine and Hordes. You will be hard pressed to find a list that doesn't include at least one jack or beast and most likely that will be a heavy. There are many reasons for this but the most simple of these is that jacks and beasts have the easiest time hitting and killing an enemy caster with their ability to boost either the to hit roll or the damage roll.

Now I think one of the most important things to consider when selecting a jack/beast is this: How will this compliment my army? What will it do inside of the army? As a Khador player I often times select just one Warjack because I want to run as many infantry and I select a jack that can kill both a Warcaster as well as a warjack; however when I run my Circle I select beasts for both their ability to kill as well as the animi and abilities that they bring my army. For example compare picking a Feral Warpwolf over a Woldwarden.

The Trollbloods Explained

Deviant Art

The Trollbloods Explained
(from the perspective of a Druid of Orboros)

The Age of the Molgur
Some 2,800 years ago, the Trollbloods worshipped the Devourer Wurm. They were part of an ancient collection of Devourer worshippers known as the Molgur. The tribes of the Molgur were the enemy of civilized man, raiding his villages, besieging his cities and laying waste to his citizenry.

The Trollbloods did not continue in their devotion to the Devourer. They eventually strayed from these beliefs to worship Dhunia, the embodiment of Caen's fertility. The Trollbloods incorrectly believe that the Devourer ravaged Dhunia, impregnating her with the many races on Caen. The truth is that the two are intricately and fundamentally connected. They represent differing aspects of the same planet.