Project Press Ganger: Battlegroups!

It's been a while now but for those who weren't aware, I want to be a Press Ganger. My regular job takes a big time commitment but my spare time is mostly spent on Warmachine/Hordes and I've had some experience running tournaments in the past. I love Warmachine/Hordes and I want to give back to the community and help new people get into the game. I'm already a teacher so it's a natural interest for me and plays to my strengths! I like to think that I'm a good player, know the rules, and am fun to play against (or at least am helpful for those who are looking for advice) so I hope that Privateer Press will agree that I'd be a good candidate to be a Press Ganger. That's all well and good, but there are, of course, some requirements for applying to be a Press Ganger and one of those requirements is making sure that you have fully painted models to demo games with, and that's admittedly been an area of weakness for me. That ends today, however! I finally got two battlegroups fully painted for Hordes!

Convergence of Cyriss thoughts

I, like many of you, was extremely excited to hear the announcement by Privateer Press that they were releasing a new faction for Warmachine.  Of course there were some grumpy people complaining about Retribution and Minions needing more love, but generally I think everyone was pretty excited about the new faction.  There's simultaneously not much and a lot to talk about the new faction and without knowing much about them, I figured it would still be good to review some of what we know about the faction.  There are some things we can expect and assume from the announcement video but there are also some things we can't assume yet and those issues need to be mentioned too.

If you haven't already seen the announcement video (or you need a refresher), take a look at it here:

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.

What's next for Privateer Press?

So there has been something brewing over at Privateer Press within the last week or so.  It started with David "DC" Carl mentioning in a Privateer Press Insider post that he wishes he could share what's going on behind the scenes and then on Monday, Tony Konichek shared his trip to Europe where he received the request from the creative and art directors to draw some sketches of the architecture for "Iron Kingdoms reference."  Surely, this could be considered totally innocuous but Privateer Press loves teasing their community and, like I said, DC has already told us that something is going on behind the scenes and Privateer Press has never been known for sitting on their hands.  No, indeed this past year not only did they outdo their past years by releasing Colossals and Gargantuans, but they also put own a card game, a brand new board game (with new IP), created their first mobile list-building and reference app (with admittedly mixed reviews), and revived their Iron Kingdoms role-playing system (with much approval from the role-playing community).  This has me wondering: What's next for Privateer Press?

Review: Privateer Press Summer Deals

For those who are not following www.3plusplus.net, I wrote two articles recently reviewing the Privateer Press Summer Deals because Kirby asked me to.  I must apologize for those who've already read these articles because I will be recycling them here today, but at least I'm combining them into a single article (which will be found in the future under the 'Review' tab above) and I have downgrading a couple of ratings after some discussion and reconsideration.  While Games Workshop is raising prices on 200+ items, Privateer Press is offering special 25 point deals on products through their online store.  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.  Since each of these deals has a savings of about 25%, you at least know that you're getting a pretty good deal here.  Lastly, at the end of my review I'll include my [brutally honest] concluding thoughts about the deals themselves.

Editorial: Pleasing the Fanbase

Something really interesting has been happening in the month of March.  For those of you who are not aware, Mass Effect 3 was one of the most anticipated video game releases for a long time.  The Mass Effect triology has grabbed the fans by the heart and led them along a winding path of decision-making and plot to create what I believe to be the defining science fiction epic of the last 100 years.  Mass Effect 3, the conclusion to the trilogy, however, has garnered much more ire from the fans of the game than both of the other games combined, and this disgruntled response is due to the ending of the game. 

I do need to add: I have not played the game yet, I have only played the demo and for various reasons that I will not go into now, I have not purchased Mass Effect 3 yet and so I'm only vaguely aware of what the ending of the game actually looks like.  What I do want to write about, however, is a response to this:
To Mass Effect 3 players, from Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare

Troll Colossal: Mountain King

While this has been out for a few days now, I'm surprised at the number of people who have not noticed this.  Privateer Press has been making inroads into all kinds of major gaming events and Adepticon (traditionally 40k focused) has been one of their battlegrounds.  Last year they showed up with the awesome Corvus board with the waterfront and fog effects, blowing some people away.  This year there is work on a mountain pass battle between Khador and Trollbloods.  What's interesting about the board is what you'll see in the planning pictures and labels.

War Room to replace Vassal?

 I want to call this a rumor but really it's more of some reasonable speculation/wishlisting, but I figured it would be worth sharing regardless.  There has been some conversation amongst some friends about Vassal, which has become a popular... what do I call it... game tool?  Well my buddies and I were thinking that with the recent announcement about the upcoming War Room app, that PP might have been giving us some hints about the potential future of this program.

Project Press Ganger: The Requirements

I've been tossing around this idea for some time now: I want to be a Press Ganger.  As much as I still enjoy playing and learning other game systems, Warmachine/Hordes has really stuck with me.  It's a system that I've come to appreciate in Mk II way more than I did in Mk I, and I think my maturity as a wargamer has helped with that.  I love this game and so I've decided that I want to be a Press Ganger - especially since a couple of my close wargaming friends are also Press Gangers.  It's not as easy as just knowing someone and getting in, however.  I plan on chronicling my efforts to become a full-fledged Press Ganger, and now that I've found a store nearby, I'll have a place to call "home" finally.  There are a few requirements for applying to be a Press Ganger, so I need to make sure I can meet those requirements first.

Follow-up: More than just a business

I noticed recently that there was an interesting announcement made my Privateer Press regarding the Boneswarm model.  If you're not aware of what I'm talking about, let me provide some important backstory.  First, the Boneswarm is an old metal model from the old Iron Kingdoms line (made for the RPG) that has recently been made into a playable light warbeast for the Blindwater Congregation in Hordes: Domination (see my spoiler on it here).  There was some drama about the transition of this old Iron Kingdoms model into the Minions line because there was a significant price increase (which I discussed towards the end of this article) from $10 to $19.  Privateer Press has prided itself as being a company that stays connected to their player base, and this was a surprising move for them, and there were some unhappy customers.

DOMINATION! READ! NOW! PART 4! WARBEASTS!

Okay so why do people play Hordes?  I imagine that if they really wanted to play with lots of infantry then Warmachine probably suits that better than Hordes.  No, if you want to play Hordes, you're likely interesting in the big tools of war known as warbeasts!  Domination brought us some unique and exciting warbeasts!  Unlike Warmachine, new warbeasts have to be considered not only for their battlefield performance, but for their animi, as they are effectively a new spell that our warlocks have access to.  Which warbeasts are my favorite from Domination?  Let's find out!

DOMINATION! READ! NOW! PART 1! ART!

ZOMGWTFBBQ I PICKED UP MY COPY OF DOMINATION YESTERDAY!!!!

I'm sure I will not be alone in reviewing everything that's awesomesauce in Hordes: Domination.  This is our first "real" book since Mk II for Hordes, and it's time for us to join the Warmachine players with our own Battle Engines!  Here's a spoiler though: ours are better.  Instead of focusing on particular models for Part 1 (of 7) of my DOMINATION! READ! NOW! articles, I will be focusing on some of the overall "vibes" I'm getting from this particular book.  We'll look at the particular factions, what new play-styles have emerged (there are lots!), and what you will likely be seeing across the table.  Some of our old warlocks now have some new tricks up their sleeves, and it's your job as a good general to know what kinds of things they'll be up to.  Let's dive right in!

Learning Center: Focus in Warmachine

In our second installment of learning how to play Warmachine/Hordes, we will discuss the main tool of your warcaster in games of Warmachine: Focus.  While Hordes has rules which are playable against Warmachine, today we will be focusing (pun intended) on some of the rules that apply specifically to Warmachine.  Last time we discussed the core mechanics, specifically how we use dice to represent the results of our desired actions, specifically looking at attacking with melee or ranged weapons.  Let us look again at the cards of the two warcasters we were comparing: Coleman Stryker and High Exemplar Kreoss.

Plastic Warbeast Kits are here!...

Zoidberg...?

...sorta.  It looks like Privateer Press finally unveiled their first of the plastic warbeast kits, and it's no surprise that it's the Legion heavies.  Anyone who has put the metal models together already knows that these kits were nearly the same anyway, so they were the easiest to transition to plastic (compared to the Troll and Circle beasts, who will need more drastic resculpts).  I am guessing that Skorne might be next, as the Gladiator, Sentry, and Cannoneer kits are already pretty similar as well.  We also get our character warbeast kit, compatible with the plastic kits: Proteus!  Looks like Privateer Press is really pushing the Cthulhu theme with Legion now...

Spoilers: Lots of Domination stuff!

Alright so yesterday's post featured some detailed reviews of the actual Domination cards for some Warbeasts, but there has been a metric TON of spoilers on the Privateer Press forums!  Not terribly surprising, considering that the book will be out in two weeks.  Not only do we have rules and stats but even some tier lists!  I'm a huge fan of tier lists, and they were the reason why I even got into Mk II.

Alright so here's everything that I have synthesized while trolling through the Privateer Forums:

Spoiler: Domination Warbeast Cards!

I have long given up on my Minions.  I once played Arkadius and loved my 4 lovingly-converted War Hogs, but alas, it was not meant to be.  I was frustrated with the lack of options and decided to delve into my original choice for a second Hordes faction: Legion.  But I digress.

I've been waiting to see what this guy does!

This weekend is Warmachine Weekend in Springfield MO, and something interesting has happened: some PP staff have been playing with some new models from Domination!  Not only do we get to see these new beast models, but the cards have also been spoiled - with their blessing!  How awesome is that?!  Very smart PP, spoil these awesome new models in a time when other companies (*coughgamesworkshopcough*) are cutting down on spoilers.

Showcase: Two Player Box

I received the Two Player Box for a couple days now but I've been waiting until I got home to open it up and see what's inside.  I am not disappointed!  There is TONS of stuff in this box, and certainly well worth the $100 retail pricetag.  Even though other starter boxes or other games (like the Isle of Blood or Battle for Black Reach) have more models, Privateer Press made sure that this box provides everything you need to get into the whole hobby, and not just the game.  Anyway, instead of writing 15,000 words, I'll just give you 15 pictures (that's what they're worth, right?):

Learning Center: Warmachine/Hordes Core Mechanics

So its been a busy week but I hope that my articles have inspired you to at least be curious about Warmachine/Hordes if you have not played before!  If you have played before, I hope that I might have inspired you to start playing again.  I will be writing two more articles that will follow in the next couple of weeks, explaining the differences between fury and focus, and some of the more common special rules in the game.  If you want to learn the basics, this is an article for you! 

Warmachine and Hordes are two different sides of the same coin - a miniatures game where big steam-powered machines called warjacks are thrown into combat against giant beasts of flesh and bone!  Do you dream of giant robot combat?  Do you get excited by the idea of giant 6-limbed elephants slamming giant werewolves into the ground?  This is definitely a game of brutal combat, hardcore, aggressive and tons of fun!

Editorial: More than just a business

Today we have an editorial for you by me!  I make no claims to be an expert in business but this article comes more from my observations of the past few months and my limited knowledge of human nature.  Warning!  Great Wall of Text incoming!  TL;DR can be found at the end

Something new and strange is happening in the world of business today.  Thanks to the internet, the world is becoming increasingly connected on a global scale.  No longer am I limited to my experiences in my own town, state, or even country, but now I am connected to other people in other parts of the world.  This has huge implications in all areas of our lives but as a teacher, I am really feeling the impact in my classroom and feel like this is changing what it means to be a successful business.