Wrathful review: Cygnar part two

Now it has become time for the second part of my Wrath:Cygnar preview. All in all, all the new warjacks Cygnar got are quite good (yeah, I like even Triumph), solo is nice as is the mercenary-UA.

Triumph (Character Heavy Warjack)

The so much hated machine, labelled as "Fail" instead of Triumph by the Cygnar community. He keeps the Defender heavy barrel but swaps defender's hammer for a shield. Quite a loss in melee power, but quite a gain in armor. He's RAT7 (being character and stuff) and has Arcane Precision (aim to ignore stealth). So he just stays where he is and creates a 16" raidus area where Tartarus and the like won't like to enter. Add him Arcane Shield and you have a nice warjack to hold an objective area, something which seems to be quite hard for Cygnar. I can see that losing the hammer is a hard hit but I'd still find a place for him in my army. Heck, at the first when eMagnus' new tier list could take him I was really enthusiastic to try it out, but now mercenaries were denied of their fun, meh. Perhaps a point overcosted, but still cool.

Gallant (Character Ally Heavy Warjack)

Constance's pet jack, with quite a little special. It gains a focus when nearby Morrowans, has Shield Guard and gains Purgation with Constance. If you're playing Precursors Gallant is well worth thinking to help caster's focus load. Purgation is quite situational, but sometimes it might rock. Being an Ally it also works for mercenaries, which seem to enjoy it quite a bit more than Cygnar perhaps. At least MacBain and Damiano might find him really appreciated, as they seem to be quite midline casters. MacBain can give Failsafe to Gallant who them becomes quite a pain to kill. I'm happy with Gallant, he has his uses but nothing too overpowered.

Avenger (Heavy Warjack)

The new warjack on the "new" aka "Centurion-chassis". The main thing about the warjack is of course the ranged weapon, causing auto-knockdown to all models in the AOE4 on a hit to an enemy model. Its range is only 10 and RAT 4, but I don't think these will become huge problems. Just marshall it to Gun Mages and use artillerist on him and you're hitting DEF14 with ease. He is also no lackluster in melee and seems like a solid addition to Cygnar's warjack collection.

Minuteman (Light Warjack)

This little guy is probably my favourite warjack in this book. Perhaps he won't see much time in competitive play but he just seems so much fun. Bounding Leap, Flak Field and two shooting attacks (although, with RNG4), and the possibilities are limitless. With Kraye he may move fast like cheetah, use Flak Field, then jump and walk away. Or move up, Flak Field and shoot stuff dead and backup to a forest. Or think about Siege's feat and Flank Field (equals to dead infantry). I like, seems much fun. Now I want to start a Cygnar army too...

Next time: Storm Strider, Archduke Runewood and Captain Murdoch.

Wrathful review: Cygnar part one

I shall continue on my quest on Wrath and now it's time for the crown jewelry of Iron Kingdoms: Cygnar. Their new warcaster is naturally

Constance Blaize, Knight of the Prophet

The first thing to be noted about Constance is that she is an Ally Warcaster, the first and only so far. This means she works for Mercenaries, specifically for Highborn Contract. This brings up a whole new level of army building as you first have to decide which faction to play with her. More of that later, now more about herself.

Quite mediocre stat line with nothing really special. She has a couple of nice special rules: Flank[Morrowan] and Inspiration[Morrowan]. So, no worries about command checks on Precursor Knights and she can get the job done in melee if needed.

Her spell list on the other hand seems a bit blaah. Transference and Crusader's Call are naturally really good spells and Banishing Ward should be occasionally nice (and you might not need to take eEiryss...). Flashing Blade is an awesome spell if you have the guts to play in the front rank and still stay alive. Sunburst is pretty basic magic missile with some little extra on it, nothing so special here.

But then we get to her feat, where the money is in my opinion. She gains a soul token for each friendly faction warrior model destroyed in her control area. Then she and all friendly faction warrior models in her CTRL area gain +1ARM for each soul token on her. Finally, on the next turn soul tokens turn into focus points. Woaah, this shit just got serious. So, you run your Steelhead Halberdiers / Sword Knights in your opponents face so he has to kill them first. Now your Constance has ten more focus points next turn, is pretty much unkillable and her army is pretty hard to kill either. Maybe worth thinking then is to bring an arc node so you'll have a nice spell-slinging assassination attempt on the next turn?

For her army, she definitely wants loads and loads of infantry and only a warjack or perhaps two. Precursor Knights are the quite obvious, thematical choice and they should work pretty fine for her. After that, already mentioned Sword Knights or Steelhead Halberdiers should be quite nice choices. For her warjack, I'd probably add Gallant to give her some protection from ranged attacks and hitting power. In a Cygnar army she gets the normal stuff: Squire, Jr Warcaster (Arcane Shield to Gallant perhaps) and B13. In a Merc army on the other hand she gets Steelheads as faction models and that might be the route I'd take. You get 30 Steelheads for 18 points, they should be wickedly good with Crusader's Call and for her feat. Then I'd add Nyss Hunters for some ranged support and melee power at the same time (Nysses should approve Transference's boosted attack rolls really nicely). With Gallant your about at 30 points, add a couple of solos and you're ready to go for a 35-pointer.

Next up then: Other Cygnar stuff.

Wrathful review: Mercenaries part two

And so continue my ramblings about Mercenary content in Wrath:

Rover (Heavy Warjack)

I'm not totally convinced about this Warjack yet. It has a basic P+S17 main weapon, a shield (raising its ARM to a respectable 20) and a shield gun. With Point Blank it has three initial attacks which is naturally quite nice. The only special rule it really misses is Reach. Mercs can get a Warjack with reach for six points, paying eight points for a non-reach Warjack seems kinda pointless. Heck, even the Mule (being quite dedicated shooty jack) has reach! I might have to test Rover out before judging it too hard though.

Rocinante (Character Heavy Warjack)

Guard Dog for all my precious Mercenary warcasters? Yes please! At nine points Rocinante seems to be a solid Warjack, if you're planning only include one or two. Also, Defensive Strike is nothing to sneeze at. If Rocinante is chilling out near your caster, he might save you from a nasty melee assassination with it. With Damiano Rocinante gains Quick Work, giving him extra shooting attacks if killing stuff in melee.That seems also cool, so he can kill that odd guy standing in the way, but still keep on shooting normally. One thing worth noting could be Damiano giving Surefoot to Rocinante, and then keeping these two nearby each other. Both being immuny to KD and Damiano having almost insanely-high DEF can't go really wrong. Add Gallant to the mix to take the eEiryss' shot.

Ogrun Assault Corps (Unit)

Already spoiled a while ago. For quite a reasonable price they bring lots of AOEs to the table, and for the first time ever the combination of CRA and AOE. With five-man CRA, even the blast damage raises to a respectable 11. CMA seems kinda pointless with medium bases and no reach, but pairing them up should work just fine. Overall I'm not really convinced, but there might be some insane synergies between them and Durgen's feat.

Ragman (Character Solo)

Ragman has two spells: Bone Shaker and Death Field. Death Field is "the thing" in Ragman (well, at least in my opinion), giving Dark Shroud (see Bane Thralls) to nearby models. The range of Death Field is really limited and it is a special action, so Ragman can't run and give Dark Shroud like Bane Thralls so often do. Still, when he manages to give his aura to a warjack charging another one, that -2ARM might mean the difference of life and death. Bone Shaker is a nice little magic missile, and it has its uses. Overall, very nicely balanced model. Not too easy to use, but effectively used can be a gamechanger. He works for Cryx, Khador and Cygnar. I'm guessing we'll never see him in a Cryx army, but the cygnarians should be cheering for him.

Sylys Wyshnalyrr (Character Solo)

A warcaster attachment that gives a free upkeep, some range for caster's spells and mini Signs&Portens for magic attacks. At two points he seems like a solid choice for pretty much every caster (who doesn't like an extra focus, eh?). He works for Cygnar, Khador and Retribution. In a Khador army he is a nice alternative for Wardog. Both of these options are really good, and the choice is more about personal preference and playstyle. In a Cygnar army, erm, why would you take it over the Squire... Retribution and Mercenary armies on the other hand get their first warcaster attachment. At least Rahn should enjoy him, giving S&P to magic attack gives more reliable assassination runs and he surely upkeeps at least one spell. On a Merc army at least MacBain should find a true friend from Wyshnalyrr, being able to upkeep one spell and still use his feat fully.

Constance Blaize, Gallant and Kayazy Eliminators are Allied models/units and thus can work for Mercenaries. I'll comment these later, when handling their respective factions.

Wrathful review: Mercenaries part one

Yay, here it is: the first real post about WM/H and specifically about the newest book for Warmachine: WRATH. What surprised me the most about this book is the number of Warjacks in it. I was waiting (and hoping too) every faction to get a unit, perhaps two. Now the only real unit is Ogrun Assault Corps and Khador got a two-woman unit Kayazy Eliminators. Anyhow, here's my thoughts about Mercenary content in Wrath:

Captain Amador Damiano

I like this guy a lot, he will probably become one of my favourite casters for Mercenaries. Sure foot, Deadeye, Death March and Warpath are all excellent spells, and Convection is pretty basic POW12 missile almost all the casters have. Death March with pretty much any unit (Kayazies, Boomhowler&Co, and even basic Steelhead Halberdiers) sounds good to me. I haven't yet thought throughly what is the best target for Sure foot, but at the moment a heavy jack surrounded by (Death Marched) Boomhowler&Co seems cool. Everyone has to like DEF14 Boomhowler's company with immunity to KD, eh? Another nice choice might be Damiano himself (though that means dropping Warpath) or giving it to Rocinante (his own character warjack, more of it later) who stands near Damiano. Deadeye is pretty straightforward spell, naturally, it just makes shooting easier. Best target for the spell seems to be Gun Mages, but other valid targets might be Nyss Hunters, Steelhead Riflemen (though this might be a bit overkill, see Moneyshot) or Steelhead Heavy Cavalry. Warpath gives nice little movement to Warjacks (I can move them out of the way and stuff), and it still gives the +3" to threat range of all Warjacks in Damiano's battlegroup.

Damiano has no other special rules besides Paymaster[Steelheads]. He can give either Reform or Moneyshot to gain +2 to ranged attack and damage rolls to a Steelhead unit once per turn. He has five coins, and after that the special rule is useless. Moneyshot should be really good with Riflemen, making two-man CRAs, giving RAT9 POW15 (rerolling misses). Nine point unit can make five of those per turn? Yes please! Or giving it to Cavalry's blunderbusses, resulting then in RAT7 POW14 shots. I can approve these too...

Damiano's feat was the point in which I was most disappointed when I first heard of it. But the more I've thought about it, the more I like it. +3 to STR and ARM is pretty straightforward, but after all, it is nice. I've had trouble cracking highly armored armies, this feat should resolve those problems.

My armies & what's up next

What I forgot from the first post was my armies. As I said there, I started with Protectorate of Menoth, which was my first love for a long time. Actually for the whole MKI time, which was two or three years. PoM army expanded quite a lot from the start and I was able to play 1000 point games. When starting WM/H again I got frustrated about PoM and decided to try Khador. Butcher's new miniature was just released back then and I had to get it. Soon I got interested in Hordes and decided to give it a try starting Trollbloods. I first bought Battlebox, but right from the start my go-to casters were eDoomshaper, eMadrak and Calandra. Trollbloods has been my "main army" ever since, but I've had my fair share of "other small armies", including both Farrow and Gatormen for Minions plus most recently, Mercenaries. I also started a Circle army but it somehow ended up to my brother. Oh, I almost forgot, I also started a Cryx army one night when I wanted to play something nasty.

At the moment Trollbloods and Mercenaries are the two armies that interest me the most. Minions also have a soft spot in my heart, but they are so limited I feel pretty much everything is tried out already. I have tried all the Trollblood warlocks besides pDoomshaper and pMadrak and enjoyed pretty much them all. From Mercenaries, MacBain has been my favourite and hopefully soon Damiano will join the ranks of the sellswords.

So, what's up next, you wonder. Naturally it must be Wrath breakdown. Yeah, it is done in every other blog or podcast and yeah, no one might read this one, but I'm still doing it bravely. At least it will sort my thoughts about what's in Wrath.

Introduction

Hey all, nice to see if anyone reads this! I guess the first post should be started with who am I and why amd I starting this blog.

So, my name is Teemu, and I'm know as TheEmu on most of the forums (pretty much everywhere it is possible). I use a stupid looking emu as my avatar to be identified a bit more easily. I'm a 21-year-old guy living in Turku, Finland. I study mathematics at the university (that might have an impact on some of my opinions, don't know).

I started wargaming with Warhammer 40 000, specially with Space Marines (is there another way to start miniature gaming than Ultramarines?) eight years ago or something. It was rather casual gaming, couple of young kids playing around. We didn't really have a clue about the rules even. A couple of years later we tried Lord of the Rings miniature game with quite the same mentality. Next we hopped to Warhammer Fantasy Battles at the time of Battle for Skull Pass (seventh edition Warhammer starter box). A few months later we found out that there was a tournament coming and decided to go for it. The tournament was arranged by a local gaming club (called Ordo Aboensis, btw), and there we found out that the club arranged weekly gaming nights too. I got hooked and started going there weekly. About the same time I had a group of friends with which we played Iron Kingdoms RPG and from there we found out about WM/H. We ordered some miniatures (I bought pKreoss, Castigator, Devout and Dervish, if anyone is interested). At the club we found more people who were interested about WM/H and we started playing quite regularly. We had quite nice player base before the announcement for MKII, but when the announcement hit we pretty much everyone fled to other games (myself pretty much to Warhammer). There was no point playing as the new rules would change everything and it would be horrible and unplayable and horrible and DOOOM.

Then came MKII. At first we were sceptical but we decided to give it a shot. I can't say I was instantly hooked again, but after a couple of months I got hooked well. At the same time GW released their muchknown eight edition for Warhammer which gave me the final thrust for WM/H (eight edition is not bad per se, but it's nothing compared to WM/H, in my opinion). Nowadays we have again quite regular player base with weekly gaming nights and bi-monthly (or about that) tournaments. In a year WM/H rised from a game no one knew to the biggest game played in our club (right past Warhammer and 40 000). I became a Press Ganger and am also the chairman of our club. We've organized quite a lot nice tournaments, but one to mentions was the Nordic Open Tournament, which was held in March 2011. We had players from four countries, and I'm really really proud of the event. Hopefully we'll see even more people in NOT2012.

In recent times we have tried other games too (not to replace WM/H but to supplement it). We went through Flames of War, because WW2 is awesome, but the game was not my cup of tea. Next we tried Infinity, because those models are gorgeous, but we didn't like that game much either. Now we are semiactively playing Malifaux (we got to it, well, because the models are awesome...), which seems like an excellent game. There's just one problem with it. Every time we play it we wonder why aren't we playing WM/H...

Nowadays, I'd categorize myself as a tournament player or competitive gamer (if I had to). I'm anyhow much more of a gamer than a hobbyist, though I much prefer playing with nicely painted armies. Though, too often I see myself playing with unpainted force. I throughly enjoy thinking about lists and different model interactions (metaing some might say). This is probably the main reason I'm starting this blog, I want a place to talk about WM/H stuff when everyone else is asleep or bored with my ramblings.