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!

Thinking Cap: Farrow

I've been going to The Battle Standard in Manchester CT for a couple weeks now and I've had some great conversations with the guys there.  One of the topics that has come up is Dr. Arkadius - one of my favorite warlocks.  Unfortunately, the good doctor has some serious drawbacks and problems and I've discussed them before, notably what he needs to compete with Carver.  Any competitive player will see that Arkadius - and the Farrow in general - have some challenges that need to be overcome in order for them to be successful in a tournament setting.  I've already discussed in the past what Dr. Arkadius needs to make himself a little more competitive, but today I want to look at some ways of giving an edge while still keeping them unique on the scene.  First, we need to discuss what makes Farrow interesting and different from other factions.

Does the Road Hog help?

The recent release of the Minion Road Hog warbeast has been some exciting news.  For the past few months Privateer Press has been churning out their regularly scheduled flow of models and apparently has figured out their product flow problems of the past.  While the release of the Road Hog has certainly been exciting, it raises an interesting question.  As only the second heavy warbeast for the farrow minion warlocks, will it actually help the faction which is traditionally known for being underpowered (or 'needs fixing' like your own votes show)?  Let's take a look at what the Road Hog offers the farrow and how each warlock might take advantage of its abilities.

Editorial: Making Arkadius Work

I have recently signed-on to write for 3++ is the new black to contribute to the expansion of Warmachine/Hordes content.  I decided that since the main audience for the site has been relative newcomers to the game, that I would write an informative set of articles on making Dr. Arkadius work (part 1 can be found here), since he is a challenging warlock to play and a new player might get easily discouraged.  Hell, I was easily discouraged when I played him, and I'm not really a new player anymore.  This got me thinking: why is Dr. Arkadius so "bad" by Warmachine/Hordes standards?  What is needed to make him "good"?  I apologize in advance for the wall of text incoming, but feel free to scroll to the end if you want to see my list of what I think Dr. Arkadius needs.

DOMINATION! READ! NOW! PART 7! FIGHT!

Today is the conclusion of the DOMINATION! READ! NOW! series, and I’m sure you’re all tired of seeing so many exclamation points and capital letters.  To conclude my initial analysis and impressions of Domination, I have a battle report to share with you!  Today’s battle report is pretty special not only because it’s the first I’ve posted on here, but also because it’s against a kid Drew at my LGS.  Drew is a good kid and I’ve been playing games against him for some time and recently traded my old Minions from the good Dr. Arkadius for his Cygnar.  This means that all of the painted models in the battle report today were painted by yours truly!  Let’s begin.