Thinking Cap: Reeves of Orboros

I know what you're thinking. Anyone who's played with Circle has probably looked at Reeves, thought they were neat and then laughed when they saw the cost of the unit. Furthermore, anyone who's actually played with the unit will probably even agree that they are difficult to use effectively at best or lackluster at worst. They have some neat tricks with War Wolves but the synergy can be a bit off (if a War Wolf charges a target that you shot at, you'll have a hard time shooting that same target again to get another War Wolf in there to trigger Gang Fighter). Indeed, even the UA doesn't seem to offer much as Ranked Attacks is not as helpful when a ranged unit is the one that has the ability. To top it all off, they're pricey and if you really want to max out all of their synergies you're looking at 17 points (full unit + UA, 3 War Wolves, and the Reeve Hunter). That's a lot of points for a bunch of models which will still have a hard time. So I got to thinking and I may have found someone who could make them far more effective: epic Morvahna.

New England Team Tournament 2013

I just realized today that the New England Team Tournament (NETT) is less than 4 months away. It's currently scheduled for July 13th and this year I have to make some difficult decisions. The first decision, of course, is whether I should even attend.

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.

Challenge Accepted: Making Cassius Work

As most of you already know, I am a contributor over at 3++ is the new black.  For those who do not regularly check the site, it's mostly 40k-focused but Kirby has been expanding their Warmachine/Hordes content (and I help!).  Well, with the recent release of 6th edition, they've been pretty 40k-crazed over there lately and I've personally been too busy to post for a while.  Well, I've finally found some time to put up an article that's been on my mind since I started considering building a list for Cassius the Oathkeeper.  He's often considered the worst among the Circle warlocks and my natural response was:

So I apologize for recycling the post here but I figured that those who don't regularly check 3++ might still be interested in reading my thoughts on making Cassius work.

Thinking Cap: In Defense of the Conquest

There’s been a lot of hate out there for the Khadorian Colossal.  There are many who feel like it is the least useful of the Colossals and many will argue that the Stormwall is hands-down the best Colossal out there.  While I will not disagree that the Stormwall is fantastic, I think it’s power is perhaps exaggerated by the fact that Cygnar previously lacked something that had both raw offensive output and damage resiliency.  Indeed, one of the Stormwall’s greatest attributes is that it will be effective in the hands of nearly all of the Cygnarian warcasters since it has both raw melee potential and some effective shooting.  Why then, is the Conquest viewed by Khadorian players with such disappointment?  Let me share some insights I’ve had about the Conquest and why I think it will be equally – if not more welcome – than the other warjacks that Khador can bring.

Editorial: Gargantuan Possibilities

As we rapidly approach the anticipated release of Warmachine: Colossals, we're finding an odd lack of information about the Gargantuans which we can expect to see in the fall.  I suppose it's understandable with Privateer Press focusing their energies this summer more on their new intellectual property LEVEL 7 and their new Bodger's game Heap.  Additionally, I'm sure that they intend on keeping things fairly close to their chest until Lock n' Load and GenCon.  What I see, however, is great possibility for these Gargantuans since we have only seen beneath the surface of two of the Colossals so far (Conquest and Kraken).  What this means is that we aren't really sure what to expect from the Gargantuans, save for the Mountain Troll for which we've at least seen a model.  So what can we expect based on what we already know?  What can we hope for?

Thinking Cap: the Scarsfell Griffon

With yesterday's reveal of the Scarsfell Griffon by Privateer Press, I figured that today would be the perfect day to discuss this model in more depth.  The model looks great (a near perfect match for the concept art) and is definitely a unique take on the typical griffon trope seen in various fantasy settings.  I'm pleased that he looks far more humanoid (like the warpwolves) than animal, as it really fits Circle in both aesthetic and playstyle.  The Griffon will certainly be a welcome tool for particular warlocks and today I want to discuss both what he offers to Circle's warlocks and what you should be thinking when using him or thinking about using him in a list.

List Building: eGrissel 35 points

I want to shift gears a little bit this week.  With my order of a Dire Troll plastic kit and Mulg coming in this week, I want to revisit my plans for my Trolls.  They have been an army that I've wished to assembled off and on for some time now, and they've always been fun to play against.  When I first started playing Hordes I remember playing against a Troll player far more than anyone else and I quickly learned to respect the blue-skins.  Today I want to discuss a warlock who has faced some negative press since her arrival, but I've loved her model since it was released: Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels.  In particular, today I want to do some list building with her based largely on theory.  She strikes me as quite the interesting warlock and she has such an awesome model that I want to find a way to make her work.  Let's jump right into it!

Warmachine League Escalation

I guess technically the League that I'm in is an Escalation League, but the club isn't calling it that.  Either way, each week is one round and the League will last a total of 6 rounds, with two rounds at each of 3 different point levels: 15, 25, and 35.  We're only allowed 2 warcasters to use throughout the event, so after some thinking I've narrowed my two choices down to Constance Blaze and Jeremiah Kraye.  Today I want to share my plans for escalating both of my lists for each of these warcasters up to the 25 and 35 points levels and what my game plan is.  I've spent far too long with just the theory of playing Cygnar and it's time I test my theory on the actual table!

Thinking Cap: Kaya and the Celestial Fulcrum

All of this week I want to plug the facebook page for Steam-Powered Gamer so that you all can go there to get updates on the latest posts.  You'll also note that with this blog I try not to just repost the latest releases by Privateer Press, because I figure you can get that everywhere.  I laugh when some new model comes out because the Iron Agenda Blogging Network explodes with reposts.  Well, when those releases do come up, I'll instead share them on the Facebook page so that whenever you come here, there will be a quality article to read.  So head on over because I think you'll "like" what you see!

Lately I've had some thoughts about one of my favorite and underrated warlocks: Kaya the Wildborne.  While her epic form often gets a lot of attention for being really powerful, I tend to actually think that pKaya has a lot of potential to be a really effective warlock.  I've played around with her a lot since I started playing Mk II and I've found her to be quite effective, but she does have some weaknesses, and my recent thoughts have centered around mitigating said weaknesses with a particular model: the Celestial Fulcrum.

Mercenary Unit Attachments: The Warcasters

Yesterday I wrote about the ever-rare Mercenary Unit Attachments, a recent addition to the game introduced in Warmachine: Wrath.  These attachments allow an attached mercenary unit to count as friendly faction models, as well as giving them some other abilities which I discussed.  While there are only three of these MUAs available, they are not seen often on the tables from what I've seen, and I wanted to discuss their merits.  For today, I will be looking at the various warcasters which could make the most use of these MUAs and their charges - often because they'll have a feat or spells that only affect friendly faction models.  This is a long post, so I'll wait until next week to look at some sample lists which feature Mercenary units and their MUAs.  Let's look at how each warcaster in each faction could take most advantage of having new friendly faction models.

Mercenary Unit Attachments: The Officers

Something that I have found interesting lately is an apparent lack on the tables of one of the new rules in Warmachine: Wrath.  With the release of this book there were some exciting new additions to each faction, but the most notable were of course the battle engines.  There were some other new additions, however, that I'm shocked have not seen more use on the table or mentioned in Warmachine articles, and I figured I would give these guys some attention (which they rightly deserve!).  Granted, there are only three of these guys to choose from, so if you're a Cryx, Retribution, or Mercenaries (duh) player, this article will not apply to you, but seeing as Cygnar, Khador, and Menoth represent some of the most popular factions on the tables, they deserve some attention given to their wonderful Mercenary Unit Attachments.

List Building: Amon Ad-Raza - 35 points

I'm really excited about the new store that I've been attending.  Everyone has been really nice, cool, and I've been able to get a couple of games in against some great dudes.  This has also been great for me getting more excited about Warmachine lately, as I've mostly focused on Hordes for the past couple of months.  Today I want to share with you all some recent thoughts that I have had regarding a particular warcaster: Amon Ad-Raza.  Did you know that there are only two warcasters who do not have steam-powered armor?  I want to talk about Amon because he seems to be another one of those warcasters that is often overlooked for his more "tournament worthy" brethren, and Amon has a special place in my heart because he piqued my interest back in Mk I when I originally played Menoth.  While I don't play Menoth, I do try to stay aware of every faction's abilities and capabilities and it's a good exercise to do list building for another army, so here we go!  This time we'll start with Amon's feat.

Debriefing: Fiona

Yesterday I wrote up a battle report for my first time playing Fiona.  It was a lot of fun and was a really close game considering that I was matched up against eHaley, who is traditionally considered a top-tier warcaster for Cygnar.  While there was a couple 'Oops' moments we realized after the game where both me and my opponent forgot some rules (that you can't headbutt a larger base, Storm Striders have 360 LOS, etc.) the dice were really on my side and I shouldn't have won.  Even still, the experience itself was valuable and I was able to reflect on the list as a whole and how to use it in the future.  So now I'd like to debrief the battle report and reflect back on what I learned from the experience.

Thinking Cap: The Underdogs Part 2

Yesterday we discussed the advantages of looking at the often underrated models/units in each faction.  While I often will look for these underdogs to a fault, playing with them can be a valuable exercise for keeping one fresh in their gaming skills.  Today I want to look at some examples of underdogs in each faction.  Naturally, they can find their way more easily into some lists than others, but are found less often than some of their counterparts in the same faction.  Also, consider that these are my observations based on the tournaments I've attended, the reports I've read from tournaments, as well as personal observations in the game clubs that I frequent, but your meta may vary (of course).

Thinking Cap: The Underdogs Part 1

I've always been supportive of the "underdog", regardless of game or genre.  This affiliation of mine with the under appreciated could be seen as a fault occasionally, but I see it as an advantage.  Regardless of what game you play (miniatures or otherwise) the player base is always capable of discovering the most 'optimal' tools at their disposal, it's part of being human and wanting to win.  I believe, however, that trying to make units or models which are generally considered 'sub-optimal' is a great exercise for a number of reasons which I wish to share with you all.  Today I'll discuss the benefits of playing with these underdogs and what you should be looking for in order to make them work.  Tomorrow, in Part 2, I'll discuss some of the most under-appreciated underdog models/units and reasons why you should reconsider trying them out and making them work for you.

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.

Geomancy vs. Gallows Groves

With the release of the Circle Gallows Groves, a question has come up in my mind about whether or not the Gallows Groves are all that spectacular.  Don't get me wrong - I think the models are great and I'm pleased to see a cheap 1-point filler option in Circle, but I look at the Geomancy ability and wonder whether being able to channel through the Gallows Groves is really all that spectacular.  Today, let's look at these two options in-depth and try to consider not which one is better overall, but discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.  Lastly, I will look at the collection of Circle warlocks and make recommendations on which I think is the better choice (if at all) for each.

Steamroller Theory - Reinforcements Part 2

Steamroller 2012 brings a lot of new elements to the table in tournament games, and the most different of these is the idea of reinforcements.  Yesterday we took a general look at the rules for reinforcements and analyzed the kinds of considerations one needs when choosing what models to take for said reinforcements.  The biggest factors, in my opinion are: low time usage, ability to dislodge an opponent from a scoring zone, and defensive capabilities or staying power.  I already looked at the choices that a Circle player might have to fill the 7-point reinforcement slot in a 35 point game, and that seems to be the trickiest to fill, compared to the 10 points that a 50 point game would have to fill.  Consequently, today we will look at some solid choices (in my opinion) for each faction that attempt to fit all three of the criteria established yesterday.

Steamroller Theory - Reinforcements Part 1

One of the biggest additions to the Steamroller tournaments in 2012 has been the Reinforcement scenarios, often referred to as "flanking" scenarios.  What these entail is a squished deployment zone with the expectation that additional models will enter on the other side of your deployment zone in future turns.  This has been a little controversial with Warmachine/Hordes players because this is a very different mechanic introduced en masse into the game.  While yes, there were units that could utilize an ability called Ambush, they typically are more expensive for their abilities than other comparable units (Bog Trogs, Kossite Woodsmen).  Today I want to focus on the rules for Reinforcements, discuss considerations for and differences between the 35 and 50 point levels of games, and highlight a couple of reinforcement options that may be overlooked or underestimated.  Let's first take a look at the scenario rules first.