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.
