Totengräber's Workpläce

Mourn is complete except for his base. Six Feet Under is 80% finished (minus the base). Solar is 90% finished except for he base. Red Riding Hoodoo is 90% finished including the base. I’m working on getting these done for demos at Gen Con.

Joel and I have both gotten pretty excited about the new Warmachine rules. I think it’s not so much that the rules are so much better, but just that it’s the “new hotness”. I’ve always felt like the enjoyment of all tabletop games is based on your opponent and his/her attitude. With Warmachine, for some odd reason, I’ve found this is particularly true maybe because of the Page 5 syndrome or maybe just that it’s very combo-based and caters to people who are very competitive. So, hearing that a lot of the really competitive players are leaving the game due to the new rules actually makes me want to play it more. In either case, I purchased a lot on eBay that included Magnus the Traitor and several ‘jacks and a couple of units of infantry solely for trying out the new rules.

Here’s the list I used:

• Magnus the Traitor
• Mangler
• Renegade
• Nomad
• Dirty Meg
• Talon (marshalled with Meg)
• Orin Midwinter
• Steelhead Halberdiers (x6)

Joel brought:

• Fiona the Black
• Alexia w/5 Risen
• Sea Dogs (x6)
• Mariner
• Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile
• Buccaneer
• Mangler

For the most part, I am ambivalent about the way points are done now. It sounds kinda silly saying, “Let’s play 25 points.”, but really it doesn’t seem to matter. At the same time, I think saying one ‘jack at 6 points is the same as another ‘jack at 6 points is a little weird.

Neither of us had played the MKI rules in quite some time, but I had played more often than Joel. I won the deployment roll and had him deploy and go first.

The first turn saw us each move our models forward, but no combat took place. Alexia created a Thrall Warrior. It turns out we forgot to make her roll a skill test to do that. Oh well.

The next turn, Joel moved his stuff forward more.He fired the Mariner’s AOE attack and killed a few Steelheads who passed their command check. On my second turn, the Nomad charged and killed the Thrall Warrior. After measuring, it turns out he could have reached the Mangler. Orin Midwinter cast his Lightning Stroke into the Sea Dogs, killing four of them (Nice!). The Renegade tried to take a long shot to hit Fiona on a hill with the Obliterator and failed to hit her or anyone else. Steelheads charged the Buccaneer and did little to no damage.

Third turn, the Mariner fired again using MacNaile’s Double Powder Ration and targeted the Mangler. He did some damage to the Mangler disabling his movement. His Mangler attempted to Slam the Nomad in an effort to take out Orin, but failed the to hit roll. The Buccaneer Netted my Mangler as well. Foina popped her feat making all my attack and damage rolls one less die – harsh!. The Nomad tried to do damage to his Mangler and failed for the most part. Orin took out the two Thrall Warriors attacking my Mangler.

On the fourth turn, Fiona attempted to assassinate Magnus, doing only 7 points of damage. My mangler died as did my Nomad. On my turn, Magnus kept all his focus, knocked Fiona down with the Mechanical Arm and sliced her up with Foehammer.

All in all, a very fun game. The new rules make things a little less confusing like how terrain affects charges and what happens when a ‘jack’s system is disabled, among other things. I like the game a little bit more now. I’ll definitely be playing it again.

At our local store, Games To Die For, one of the players is running a Warhammer Fantasy campaign. I didn’t get to play in the opening mega-battle, but I was able to get a game in with a gentleman named Bill. We met up yesterday at the store at around 6pm and got started soon after that. We were told by Aaron, the guy running the campaign to place an objective on the board worth 200 points to the player who controlled it at the end of the game.

Here is the list I played:

• Saurus Scar-Veteran w/Charm of the Jaguar Warrior, great Weapon, Shield, and Light Armor (124 pts)
• Skink Priest w/dispell Scroll x2 and made Level 2 (150 pts)
• Saurus x19 w/Hand Weapon and Shields and Full command (239 pts)
• Saurus x20 w/Hand Weapon and Shields and Full command (250 pts)
• Skink Skirmishers x10 w/Blowpipes (72 pts)
• Kroxigor x3 (165 pts)

Bill’s list went something like this:

• Herald of Khorne mounted on Juggernaught
• Bloodcrusher x2
• Bloodletters x15 w/Full Command
• Bloodletters x15 w/Full Command
• Flesh Hounds of Khorne x5
• Screamers of Tzeentch x4

This game actually went pretty quick based on my experiences with Warhammer in the past. First turn, we both inched forward trying to stay out of charge range of the enemy except for the Skinks who moved in and took shots at the Flesh Hounds, doing no wounds. The Screamers moved to my left flank, the Flesh Hounds moved somewhat toward my right.

Second turn, the Screamers passed over the Kroxigors and one unit of Saurus causing me to lose one Saurus and one Kroxigor ending up behind both units. The Flesh Hounds charged the Skinks who killed one of them by standing and shooting. They subsequently lost combat, ran and were destroyed by the Flesh Hounds. His Bloodcrushers moved down to my left flank.

Third turn, We both inched forward some more and I lost more Saurus and got some wounds on the Kroxigors thanks to the Screamers. I turned the Kroxigors to help out the unit of Saurus on my right.

Fourth turn, his Bloodcrushers and a unit of Bloodletters charged my Scar Vet and Saurus unit. The other unit of Bloodletters charged the other Saurus unit. The Champion and his unit were decimated while the other Saurus unit destroyed a number of Bloodletters in Bill’s turn and then finished them off with the help of the Kroxigor on mine.

Fifth turn, Screamers killed more Saurus and wounded more Kroxigors, leaving me one. In my turn, the Screamers were charged by the remaining Saurus and destroyed.

Sixth turn, the last Kroxigor finally died in combat with Bloodletters and the Saurus fled from charges to the rear from Flesh Hounds and Bloodcrushers.

We called the game at that point giving Bill a victory.

In hindsight, I should have taken more Skinks to be able to shoot at the infantry units and reduced the number of Saurus just a bit. 1,000 points is difficult to build an army in sometimes and I never really like tailoring an army to my opponent.

All in all, a really fun game.