Mercenaries: I can do it Better; for the Right Price....

Mercenaries have a wide array of skills to bring to the table.

Before we speak of the mercenary armies we should first mention the mercenaries you can hire on to other armies. If you need a little extra muscle, some support for your warcaster or extra protection for a support solo you can find it here. Everything from mobile artillery to expert assassins is available for hire. If you need some extra (literal) bang for your buck they can provide that too.

Now you can also field armies entirely out of mercenaries, complete with special mercenary warcasters. If there is one thing mercenaries can do well it’s a bunch of different things. Each mercenary is a master of his or her art.

Where the mercenaries begin to fall short it in unity. The variety of mercenaries and the number of “single use” character units means that fielding an army with the same coherence as one of the main fractions is tricky. A variety of masters gives you a Jack-of-all-Trades army.

WE HAVE:

Ashlynn D’elyse – Ashlynn is a swords master and is at her best when she can use that sword. Her spells add to that and makes it harder to hit her and her army; although none make them better at surviving a hit. Her feat adds two dice to all attack rolls and then you choose two to remove, whichever side made the attack.

Drake McBane – Instead of avoiding damage McBane will plough through it on his way to the enemy. This applies to him, his warjacks and to the soldiers as well. His skills help keep him alive, his spells do the same for warjacks and his feat makes a number of his warriors immortal for a round.

Magnus the Traitor – Magnus is a very aggressive and warjack focused warcaster. His abilities and spells are geared towards dealing damage and many only work on his warjacks. His feat gives a bonus move to all his warjacks, allowing them to adjust their positions at the end of the turn.

Magnus the Warlord – This version of Magnus can work with the Skorne but the biggest changes lie elsewhere. Only one of his old spells remains but his new ones have a similar focus on reaching and destroying the enemy. His new feat drastically reduces how the enemy can move around.

Talon – A light warjack that can reduce an opposing warjacks defence.

Vanguard – A light warjack that can take shots for its allies.

Mule – Artillery lugging heavy warjack.

Rocinante – A character guard warjack with a big cannon. Fun Fact: She likes children.

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages – Although technically a Cygnar unit they can be included in a mercenary army under the Highborn Covenant. They are a ranged unit with a variety of special shots.

Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer – The Gun Mage attachment adds to accuracy and ‘jack marshal.

Alexia Ciannor & The Risen and Thrall Warrior – Alexia Ciannor & The Risen unit can slow enemies down while the Thrall Warrior solos the unit creates can do a little more damage.

Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist – A stealthy solo with anti-warjack AOEs and cloud effects.

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator – An aid for your warcaster.

Eryss, Mage Hunter of Ios – An assassin that has a variety of shots, mainly working against warcasters and warjacks.

Eryss, Angel of Retribution – A more focused version of Eryss that does better again Hordes armies.

Ragman – A solo who can help a squad deal damage, at the expense of their well-being.

Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker – An attached support for your warcarter, boosts spell casting.

Rhupert Corvolo, Piper of Ord – A support solo that can ad some speed and survivability to units.

Gorten Grundback – Gorten is a typical Rhuilc warcaster, as in he is a dwarf through and through. He is slow, but he is tough and he can fight. At the same time though he does a good job supporting his troops with spells; even though he only has 5 focus to do it with. His feat is one of the more powerful and interesting ones. It shifts all the enemies over some and lowers several stats by a good amount.

Durgen Madhammer – Durgen likes his explosions, from his weapons to his skills to his spells, so much of it goes boom. He is mostly support; in addition to his spells his Buster cannon is not a bad ranged weapon at all. His feat boosts the accuracy and damage of explosive attacks.

General Ossrum – Coming from someone’s sense of irony Ossrum is a mobility based dwarf. He allows his soldiers to move through each other and some of his spells grand movement bonuses, as well as some damage boosting. His feat boosts armour (very dwarfish) and grants a speed boost (not so much).

Grundback Blasher – A focus efficient Rhulic warjack with a spray attack.

Grundbank Gunner – Another focus efficient Rhulic warjack with a ranged attack.

Ghordson Avalancher – A Rhulic warjack with a blast attack.

Ghordson Basher – A Rhulic warjack that specialises in slam power attacks.

Ghordson Driller – A melee Rhulic warjack.

Wroughthammer Rockram – A short ranged Rhulic warjack.

Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps – A Rhulic ‘jank marshal and ranged unit.

Hammerfall High Shield Officer & Standard – The High Shield attachment adds

 speed and some more power to the squad.

Horgenhold Forage Guard – A heavily armoured and hard hitting squad.

Horgenhold Artillery Corps – An explosive light artillery.

Ogrun Assault Corps – A unit of guys with explosive attacks. 

Herne & Jonne – Two guys carrying a very explosive cannon.

Brun Cragback and Lug – Lug is Brun’s bear pal and together they are form a

strike force.

Ogrun Bokur – A bodyguard solo.

Thor Steinhammer – A ‘jack marshal who can tune up his warjacks.

Gudrun the Wanderer – A drunken strike solo.

Lord Rockbottom – A Priveteer Rhulic solo who uses coins to support.

Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile – This Priveteer helps out with ranged attacks,

especially explosive ones.

Anomaly League Battle Report - Baldur vs Rahn!

Hey folks. Started into Anomaly with a mostly new faction - Retribution.

The club members chose this one for me as it is the faction that I had the least understanding of and a limited choice of. They felt this would give them the most advantages and opportunities for laying a whupping on me. Fair Enough! The faction I had the most concern about was Circle. With so many of my elves toolbox abilities/spells being anti-warjack in specific or reliant on my stealth+pathfinder abilities to allow me to outmaneuver and come from any direction, the Circle seemed to be a natural foil to my lists.  This meant I was going to have to think outside the box.....

The target (and his bodyguard)

So I went toe to toe with Andrew and the great blockhead known as Baldur. This was to be a pivotal battle for the local league as Andrew is arguably the best player. My biggest issue was that I knew he would be bringing a Wold Guardian and that my normal Ravyn lists would have a darn hard time busting up the big rocks at only 18points.
When we revealed our list choices I found that my opponent switched up his expected list (I had expected he would have some reeves and/or woldstalkers with shifting stones to combo shoot and rock block me!) and chose something more streamlined that he thought I would have an intensely hard time cracking with a nasty fast surprise support element.

He played Baldur+Wold guardian+Lord of the feast+Megalith=18points

I brought Rahn, Phoenix, Manticore, Two Arcanists and Eiryss2=17points


We rolled the Anomaly season scenario with the prisoner cages which was a waste as neither of us had single wound troops to free - so we agreed to ignore these.
We set up across from one another - him first. He put Baldur and the Guardian on one side of the powerplant and Megalith on the other. After I placed centrally around the 'Jack repair shop with Rahn on the ramp for elevation bonuses and cover we squared off our advance deploy models across from each other. It was funny how much the lists really mirrored each other!
I gave Eiryss a TK bump out of cover and charged her at the LOTF. This was a POOR matchup. I hit and did a small amount of damage only to get complettely eradicated in responce the next turn. This seems like a waste of such a useful character but it held up the LOTF for a whole turn and allowed me to shift my weaker models a little to avoid any easy opportunity to use his teleoprt into combat ability. In the end it would turn out to be a crucial move....!

Eiryss eradicated!

As the Circle moved forward I TK bumped and moved my Myrmidons forward, taking a few shots at Baldur. This went extremely well as my boosted phoenix rolled 6's on all three damage dice! This was of course transferred to the guardian but that was a great chunk to take out of the big rock. 

Baldur tried to use his instant forest spell and Wold Guardian to block some lines of sight and charges while readjusting his lines to address the positions of my forces. He tried using some earthspikes etc but little came of it. The LOTF boldly ran forward behind the crates putting himself in a good position to make for an assassination run on Rahn. Rahn in response moved further away and put a sacrificial arcanist between him and the Lord. The Guardian got moved (an spun backwards) just enough that with another TK bump the Manticore had a clear charge on Baldur (man I LOVE TK!!) I laid into him pretty good (arcanist assisted combo Strike) and Baldur found himself wishing he had kept a fury to hand the damage off to the Guardian….. He was still barely alive, however. The Phoenix finished off the Wold Guardian and things were starting to look pretty good.

If a Wold falls in the forest......

Megalith in turn slammed the Manticore out of the way and the LOTF once again maneuvered forward to try and take a shot at my arcanist. This would allow him to close within reach of Rahn as well. He was just over a half an inch short! Ooooh so close! Baldur moved back out of the way and healed himself up as best he could.

Rahn TK’d megalith 2 inches and turned him backwards to exclude charging. The Phoenix was then TK’d around so his facing put the LOTF straight in the Phoenix’s front arc. Unfortunately as I moved up I forgot to fire the Phoenix combustion ability and my attack roll was insufficient to kill the circle model. Standing back up, the Manticore moved back into Baldur and took a few more swings but failed to fell the warlock.

In a last ditch attempt to secure victory, the LOTF moved out of combat with the Phoenix (who promptly missed his free strike) and moved into the arcanist and Rahn. His thresher like attack killed the arcanist (damn it - I was hoping for the season unlock where I lose no models in a game!) but he failed to harm my warcaster. He then used both of his soul tokens to no avail failing to even hit with each roll.

The Phoenix prompty charged and ended the LOTF, while the Manticore pummelled Baldur and ended the game. 



Game Over

What did I learn?

1) I LOVE TELEKINESIS 2) Even Wold Guardians die if you do enough damage to the warlock 3) Warlocks REALLY need to be holding a fury for handing off damage even if they think they are safe. 4) I LOVE TELEKINESIS 5) Trying something completely different can be really rewarding and fun.5) I LOVE TELEKINESIS

If I was playing the same game over I would also drop one arcanist in favour of a mage Hunter Assassin and a full 18 point list. I think the addition of this would really help in that I would have one more throw away unit and would also have greater opportunity to keep the pressure on his warcaster or LOTF early on.

Bottom Line: I will definitely be trying Rahn again, which is great because prior to this I really didnt have any interest in using him (or for that matter actual understanding of how he was meant to be used ) and had instead kept myself firmly attatched to Kaelyssa and Ravyn.

Thanks for checking this out - hope you have as much fun in your next game!

Retribution of Scyrah: The Art of Combat

Here is the next in our series of "first impression" articles by gamers in our club - trying to explain Warmahordes factions as they see/understand them thus far - mostly for the benefit of other new gamers. I hope you will enjoy the insight, feel free to contribute comments and advice, and check back weekly for more updates and info.

“The most inscrutable forces of the natural world are weapons at our disposal.” -Wrath

The Retribution of Scyrah uses exotic and synergizing abilities to earn victory.

These "Angry Elves'" (as they have been dubbed around here)  most powerful abilities generally aren’t meant for dealing damage but winning a more subtle advantage. Re-positioning your enemies and using bizarre modifiers are bread and butter for the elves.

The Retribution uses more advanced technology in their armies and that shows in their abilities. Almost every elfin unit can earn some minor advantage over the enemy. The magic starts to happen when every unit does earn a minor advantage over the enemy. Those add up, sometimes even exponentially so, and suddenly the advantages don’t seem so minor.

Suddenly your opponent will be cursing the knockback that keeps them from reaching the guy that is giving all your spellcasters attack bonuses.

WE HAVE:

Ravyn, Eternal Light – Ravyn is a warcaster with good combat ability and some potential to support her troops. Her abilities give her lots of damage potential and many of her spells can help her or her troops or both at the same time. Her feat boosts ranged attacks and gives Swift Hunter for some extra mobility.

Kaelyssa, Night’s Whisper – Kaelyssa is a support caster with an anti-magic flare. She can drain focus/fury from enemies and she has counter magic spells. Some of her other spells allow her troops to attack those on the back lines with relive ease. Her feat gives stealth out to her army and prevents charges.

Adeptis Rahn – Although Rahn is a backline warcaster calling him support might not be quite right. Rahn focuses on controlling the enemy, knocking them around the battlefield. His combat ability is based around the same thing, keeping the enemy away from him. His feat boosts the range, accuracy and damage of spells in his control area.

Griffin – Incredibly fast warjack.

Hydra – A warjack that can generate and store focus.

Phoenix – Regeneration and enough flames to make Menoth proud.

Houseguard Riflemen Unit – A long ranged unit.

Riflemen Officer & Standard – The riflemen attachment gives some more power

 to the unit.

Dawnguard Invictors – A ‘jack marshal unit with ranged attacks.

Invictor Officer & Standard – The Invictor attachment adds to the accuracy of

the unit.

Heavy Rifle Team – Light artillery piece with Armour Piercing.

Mage Hunters Strike Force – A stealthy unit that is good at damaging warjacks.

Strike Force Commander – The Mage Hunter attachment adds to their ability to

strike at the enemy WITHOUT LOS!!!!!.

Arcanist – Repairs and boosts warjacks.

Mage Hunter Assassin – A fast, stealthy and deadly assassin.

House Shyeel Artificer – A spell caster with the ability to reposition foes

Soulless Escort – An anti-mage support attachment for any Retribution unit.

Menoth: Burning Crusade

Here is the next in our series of "first impression" articles by gamers in our club - trying to explain Warmahordes factions as they see/understand them thus far - mostly for the benefit of other new gamers. I hope you will enjoy the insight, feel free to contribute comments and advice, and check back weekly for more updates and info.

“Conviction is more lethal than any blade, truth stronger than any shield.”

-Prime Mk.II

PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

The Protectorate of Menoth fights the glory of Menoth, the creator of man with a plentitude of ability buffs and BURNING FLAME!
Often lacking in basic ability they instead use a lot of buffs from prayers to grant them the strength and survivability they need.

The priests also have many abilities to counter and undo enemy spells, limiting your enemy’s options in that regard.

When it comes to their own offence the Protectorate prefers melee and flame weapons. Simple flails and relic swords are wielded along sided with the latest in flamethrowers. They like setting things on fire a lot.

The Protectorate does not have as much ranged capacity as other factions so those defensive buffs will be very important if you want to stay alive long enough to use those flamethrowers.
 

WE HAVE:

High Exemplar Kreoss – Although he is a member of the Knights Exemplar Kreoss’s place is support. Most of his spells defend his fellows and the ones that don’t are offensive spells that work just as well channelled through arc nodes. His feat (in the name of Menoth!) is one of nastiest out there, knocking down all the enemies in his control area and at 7 focus that is not a small area.

Grand Scrutator Severius – An old priest who calls down the will of Menoth to aid the faithful. He has a balance of offensive boosts, defensive boosts and damaging spells for channelling. He can also preach and convert an enemy trooper into a faithful. His feat completely shuts down spell casting in his control area for a round, and at 8 focus that is even more so not a small area.

Hierarch Severius – Siverius was promoted to Hierarch, the “Pope” of the Protectorate. The spells have changed but their general purpose is the same. There is a slightly heavier emphasis of the offensive spells, he even has a ranged attack he can channel so he will always have use for those arc nodes. His feat ether sets the undead on fire or gives him control of the living for one turn.

Repenter – The flames of redemption spray from this warjack’s flamethrower.

Revenger – A defensive warjack carrying an arc node.

Crusader – A melee warjack.

Vanquisher – A ranged warjack that sets things on fire with its blasts.
Blessing of vengence - a character version of the Revenger (conversion)
Fire of Salvation -character version of a crusader (conversion)

Choir of Menoth – A warjack support unit.

Daughters of the Flame – A nimble and quick strike/assassination unit.

Exemplar Cinerators – Armoured knights whose brutal swords unleash flame...

Also worth Noting: Herne & Jonne. This Dwarf and Ogrun artillery team has proven to be a very popular mercenary unit in many club games here and has actually seen more play in Menoth forces than in any of the pure Merc lists. They fill a great role of laying down some very impressive template fire as the more close range warjacks make their way up the field.More units/solos etc.  for this VERY popular army are sure to make an appearance throughout the next year here at the club.

Circle of Oboros: I brought my own Forest!

Here is the next in our series of "first impression" articles by gamers in our club - trying to explain Warmahordes factions as they see/understand them thus far - mostly for the benefit of other new gamers. I hope you will enjoy the insight, feel free to contribute comments and advice, and check back weekly for more updates and info.

 “We hunt on the wind.” - Forces of Hordes: Circle of Orboros

Circle of Orboros

          The Circle of Orboros uses mobility and terrain manipulation to get an advantage over its enemy.

The Circle is a mobility faction; running around the enemy to pick their battles. Even when your opponent has more than enough strength to take you down if they can’t reach you to do it you can still win.

Even the slower Circle models often have a mobility advantage through pathfinder. Combine that with creating forests and other rough terrain and suddenly they are not quite as slow. Plus, instead of boosting power or defence Circle support often helps with mobility. Either speed bonuses or a teleport towards the destination.

From experience: Teleporting a heavy warbeast from the thick of battle to beside the enemy warcaster/warlock can change things up really quickly.

And don’t forget to place your portable forests in convenient locations, many of the Circle aren’t hindered by them or even benefit from their presence. Something many of your enemies will not be able to say.

WE HAVE:

Baldur the Stonecleaver – Also known as the Rock of Orboros Baldur is has abilities to help him get the most out of the construct warbeasts of the Circle. Because the Wolds are slower (but have pathfinder) Baldur creates forests slow down the enemy. His feat turns the ground in his favour, cover for all of his friends, rough terrain and no pathfinder for enemies.

Kaya the Wildborne – Kaya specializes in living warbeasts, granting all of them a bonus to hitting. She is not much of a fighter herself, but she can teleport her warbeasts around the field and cast some other support spells. Her feat allows her to hand out and then leach fury to re fill her stock.

Kaya the Moonhunter & Laris – The epic Kaya brings her personal warbeast to the fight. She also has slightly better stealth granting, not quite as good teleportation and some different skills that make her a little better in combat. Her feat allows her to force her warbeasts from anywhere and then have them teleport to her side.

Mohsar the Desertwalker – Instead of bringing his own forest Mohsar brings his own desert to the board. And the desert is harsh; Mohsar is a support caster who can hinder his enemies, even as he takes a toll on his ‘allies’. His feat prevents channelling (such as with arc nodes) and leaching.

Grayle the Farstrider – Grayle is a hunter, fast as the wind, stealthy and deadly. He does not have a lot of ability to support his troops though. His feat gives out stealth and allows for additional movement bonuses.

Gorax – A light warbeast that benefits from injury. Its animus gives stat bonuses

at the price of frenzying next turn.

Woldwatcher – A light construct warbeast that generates forests from its kills.

Its animus prevents some common secondary effects.

Shadowhorn Satyr – A heavy warbeast that can jump around. Its animus adds

boosts some power attacks.

Gnarlhorn Satyr – A heavy warbearst that specialises in slams. Its animus boosts

some power attacks twice.

Pureblood Warpwolf – A slightly weaker warpwolf that can support other

warpwolfs. Its animus gives magic weapon and blessed to weapons.

Warpwolf Stalker – A warpwolf hunter with a sword. Its animus gives sprint to

the target.

Woldwarden – A heavy construct warbeast that can cast spells. Its animus creates

a forest around the caster.

Wold Guardian – A defensive heavy construct warbeast. Its animus reduces

damage of ranged attacks on the caster.

Druids of Orboros – A spellcaster unit.

Druid of Orboros Overseer – The Druid attachment has its own spells, adds

advanced deployment and beast master (essentially a hordes ‘jack marshal).

Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers – A ranged unit with a spell casting druid as its

leader.

Shifting Stones – A support unit that uses teleportation to move itself and allies.

Stone Keeper – The Shifting Stones attachment adds a spell caster to the unit.

Reeves of Orboro – A ranged unit.

Warpborn Skinwalkers – A unit of beastly melee combatants.

Druid Wilder – A solo that supports your warlock and uses animus.

Reeve Hunter – A striker solo.

War Wolf – A wolf trained to fight beside the Wolfs/Reeves of Orboros.

Lord of the Feast – A teleporting solo that can literally eat through units.

Khador: General Winter and lots of Steel Plate

Welcome to the first of our articles written by new players from our club trying to explain their impressions and understandings of the various factions of WarmaHordes.

Also, our first official league "MACHINATIONS" has begun. We are now deep into unlocking the secrets of UMBRA. and are looking to order the new second season package complete with badges and other such goodies!!!

KHADOR

“You can’t ignore a Khador Warjack. It just keeps coming, shrugging off everything you throw at it.”

-Paraphrased from Prime Mk.II

The Khador army doesn’t believe in subtlety nor that you can bring too much power to the battlefield.

Khador is the nation of the north, the Russian iron kingdom. Good things do not come in small packages in Khador; their entire warjack line up consists of heavy warjacks, and many of those are the heaviest fielded by any faction.

To fill in the space between heavy warjack and soldier Khador has man-o-wars, men wearing steam-powered armour, and other medium based troops. Although Khador is not without its quick and nimble elements its backbone will always be made of unyielding steel. Ice and cold wind is also part of the army’s theme; General Winter has not abandoned the north.

The basic Khador strategy involves advancing, engaging and locking down the enemy. Khador will win almost any straight out exchange of blows. In my short but violent personal experience, I have yet to see a Khador warjack be destroyed in a battle (my own units that face them have no such limitation, however.... ugh!)

WE HAVE:

The Butcher of Khardov – Possibly none could illustrate the straight forward nature of Khador better than the Butcher, the only Warcaster not to have a single special rule attached to him. His spells boost combat ability, except for the offensive Obliteration attack. His feat boosts the damage of melee attacks, no more, no less.

Kommander Sorscha – Sorscha is an assassin and she uses her army to set up the moment where she can rush in on the opposing warcaster. Her spells and abilities are also geared to her doing things herself. Her feat freezes all the enemy she can see, allowing her to simply walk by them.

Destroyer – A walking piece of artillery to blow things up with.

Juggernaut – The basic Khador warjack, armour and carries a big axe.

Man-O-War Shocktroopers – Armour soldiers who are almost as tough as warjacks.

Kossite Woodsmen – Ambushing bowmen that can show up from the sides of the battlefield.

War Dog – A loyal guardian for your warcaster that can rush the enemy and return to its master’s side.

Widowmaker Marksman – A quick and stealthy sniper.

Portents of things to come...

Kreoss slowly rolled up the scroll and placed it back carefully in its intricately carved bone tube. If any of the assembled noticed the uncharacteristic shake in his hands they had the discipline not to react. He looked up at the Harbinger who simply nodded, as if to confirm the contents of the scroll. Gazing upon her countenance hovering high above him, he could actually feel the hand of Menoth guiding the fate of the world, bringing them all to this place and in this time. The tremble disappeared as his resolve was forged anew.

Kreoss turned to his brethren and spoke in  a voice that barely rose above a whisper but carried to each of them like the strongest wind. "These scrolls of ancient scripture have spoken true, the time of prophesy is at hand. We must not falter. The sons of the Dragon must be put to heel and the heathen be purified in fire, else the world be consumed in darkness..."

Thus begins the battles for the Brutal Frontier.....

Welcome to the new web blog for the N.C.C. Games Club. Here you will find information concerning phases of our Warmachine/Hordes league play, Battle reports, Modelling reports and well as spotlights on the other games we will be playing concurrently.

Right now we are in the process of learning how to play the game. Once you have receieved a few demos you will find it goes much easier and much quicker. The majority of the Warmahordes rules are pretty user friendly and reasonably intuitive once you get going.

CLUB INFO:

NCC - Room 108 - Tuesdays - 2:30

Club Liasons - Mr Craig and Mr Bunton

Club President (we need to come up with a better title for him!) Ryan Henderson

Club "Master of Arms" - Andrew Beach. Mr. Craig's assistant Andrew is the one who will usually lock up the room/shut down the club after Mr. Craig has left. His knowledge of the rules is as good (or often better) than Mr. Craig's. He is the "Go To" guy for most of your gaming questions and needs 

League Game - Warmachine/Hordes (aka warmahordes). We have started with 18 point lists to get a feel for the game. Bigger games will happen as students begin to speed up their game time and models become available.


 Armies available:
Retribution (2+ casters)
Mercs (2+ casters)
Khador (2+ casters - includes actual starter force)
Menoth (2+ casters - includes actual starter force)
Circle Orboros (2+ casters)