Winter 2012 Holiday Bundles: Hordes

Much like the Warmachine Bundles offered by Privateer Press for the holidays, today I will look at the Hordes holiday bundles and rank them on the same criteria (Power Level and Longevity).  It's taken me a while to fully evaluate these lists and there are some very interesting differences between the Hordes bundles from the Warmachine ones.  Notably, the Warmachine bundles included the plastic battlegroup box (and so you would normally get a second warcaster to play).  These bundles do not include the plastic battlegroup box (except for Skorne, for some reason) and, in the case of these bundles, that is actually more of an advantage since the rest of the bundle isn't limited by warbeast choices.  Also, the Hordes bundles include a full-sized rulebook instead of the pocket sized one - probably since there's no battlegroup warcaster and they wanted to offer a fair deal.  What's also different with these bundles is that there isn't even a Trollbloods holiday bundle, which is very curious.  Instead, there are two Minion bundles - a great boon for anyone interested in starting the Thornfall Alliance or Blackwater Congregation.  It's great the Privateer Press created separate bundles for what is, essentially, two separate factions.  Well, let's jump into it!

Winter 2012 Holiday Bundles: Warmachine

As you may already know, Privateer Press has put out some 25-point holiday bundles for purchase on their online store.  They've been doing this with increased frequency the past couple of years and this time it's good to see that these bundles include warcasters outside of the normal battlegroup boxes (kinda).
It's cute that they're including metal ornaments with the bundles, but I'm sure most people will be glad to have a good starting point for adding another faction.  Also, each bundle includes a mini-copy of the rulebook (40k fans have been calling for this for their game for literally a decade) and the tokens for the faction.  On top of the discount for the models themselves, this is a pretty nice chunk of stuff to receive for free, so keep that in mind with my value rankings.  I will include the tokens in the discount calculation, but there's currently no $-value attached to the mini-rulebook so keep that in mind.  Also, it's worth considering that with the exception of the Retribution and Mercenary sets, each of the deals includes the battlegroup box for the faction, meaning that you do get 2 warcasters out of the deal so you have some options.

Like I've done in the past, I will be reviewing these boxes for their monetary value, power level on the table, and longevity (how good it is for building a force in the future) and instead of giving an objective score, I will instead give them rankings relative to each other.

Editorial: the Karma Deck

A couple of weeks back I was having a conversation with a long-time friend about 40k.  We often will discuss Warhammer 40k and, despite me rarely playing the game anymore, he appreciates my insight on various topics.  For now, I still keep up-to-date on the goings-on of 40k.  I think of 40k like an ex-girlfriend: we broke up a while ago and while I will never return to her, I do admit that I like to know what she's doing and how her life has changed.

During the course of my discussion with my friend about 40k, I had an idea come upon me.  We were discussing how dice can throw everything and it can be really frustrating when the dice are supposed to come back to help you, but sometimes never do.  It's a poor consolation that the dice should have rolled average over the course of a game but don't.  I came up with an idea that might maintain a level of randomness that is necessary for a game but with a greater degree of predictability and with proper probabilities that dice don't really offer.

Miss Warmachine/Hordes Pageant

Okay, so my last poll ended a billion years ago and I've been far busier this year with helping the fiancee plan the wedding (although she's definitely doing most of the work).  As a little aside, feel free to check out her wedding blog over there on the top right of the page!  We're doing a Steampunk wedding and while it's going to be awesome, there's been a lot of work crafting the stuff we need - as if weddings aren't crazy enough to plan as it is.  I digress.


After the results of the last poll (see below) we now have your votes for the sexiest female warlocks and it's time for the ultimate showdown: The Miss Warmachine/Hordes Pageant!  Indeed, make sure to cast your vote for who you believe should win the title of Miss Warmachine/Hordes!  These finalists have been taken from our previous polls but this time you should also weigh their accomplishments, background, and tabletop performance in addition to their sexiness.  By the end of the year we will have our Miss Warmachine/Hordes herself!

Mercenaries? In a Tournament? With Character Restriction!?

My post earlier this week on Gorten got me to realize that I've always wondered how my Fiona list would do in a tournament setting.  She's a fun warcaster and she brings some interesting tricks to the table that most people wouldn't be used to seeing all in one package.  I like the list I have for her but there are a lot of specific synergies and I worry that any other 'competitive' Mercenary build would miss out on some of the elements I include in her list - most notably characters that I'd like to take with Broadsides Bart.  Bart was never really a strong list for me anyway, and seeing as they're really the only two mercenary warcasters I owned, I didn't give tournament dreams much of a thought (Fiona is too time-consuming for Hardcore).  Now, with Gorten, I can build two lists that I like but without the usual concerns about character restriction which will undoubtedly be in SR2013.  So let's say I'm going to attend a SR2013 tournament, at 35 points.  What lists would I actually bring?