Unbinding Unbound

No Quarter released a new variant format for Warmachine/Hordes in their latest issue. (#36 – get it!) The format, called Unbound, is an alternate way of playing games of 150 points and higher using 3 or more warcasters/warlocks. However, instead of using the typical turn structure, each player takes a number of turns in each round equal to the number of starting warcasters/warlocks per side plus one. A few things about the round change as a result (for instance, focus allocation is at the beginning of a turn rather than during the control phase), but you can check out the magazine for the specifics. I want to deal with tactics. Specifically, how it can affect feats.

The timing of your feat in a game is always key, but Unbound brings about a whole new dimension to this. Because there are now multiple turns in a round and you can only activate so many models (and only one warcaster-/warlock-controlled battlegroup) in a turn, you do lose some of the power a feat can provide in a multicaster game. For instance, in the 150-pt non-Unbound tournament I was recently in, I was able to combine Prime Butcher's feat while also barreling Sorscha in, reaping the effects from Blood Frenzy. This is impossible in Unbound. Because Blood Frenzy lasts for one turn only, other battlegroups don't benefit from it. It's restricted to The Butcher's battlegroup and models you activate during that turn. Privateer is pretty lenient on what you can activate during a turn (in fact, a decent number of non-battlegroup models can still activate), but you still have to be careful about what you activate when. Of course, turn-length spells such as Rhyas' Dash, Irusk's Battle Lust, or Caine's Deadeye are affected by this as well, but since those typically go on one model/unit (Dash being the exception here), it doesn't affect them too much; you're just activating a specific unit right away.

Round feats have less timing restraints. You typically want them to go off early, considering using them on the last turn of a round will have very little effect, since the round will reset right away and all those benefits will go away. Some feats, like Mohsar's Disjunction, received Unbound-specific errata to deal with this. Many did not, so these have to be kept in mind.

The turn structure brings about a lot of interesting points, though. While only one battlegroup goes, a good number of other models/units can activate with them, and often times you're spending your round tailoring each turn to a certain number of units while making sure not to overcommit or undercommit models and make later turns in the round very quick and/or very devastating. You also have to keep in mind that your opponent can keep track of what hasn't activated, concentrate on killing them, and leave you clueless as you have very few models to activate and all your plans ruined. The alternating turns brings about a lot of tactics that must be considered, and games might actually take a little longer as a result. Do you be “that guy” who kills everything before they activate? Does your opponent activate a section of the board on the opposite flank in order to try to gain an advantage there? Which battlegroup gets to do the smashing? Which battlegroup do you need to be afraid of? There are lots of questions surrounding an Unbound game.

I'm not sure what to think on the format yet. I like big games, but I rarely have time to get one in. I do want to try a few Unbound games, though. I like the combinations you can make in a normal 150+ better because of how feats can be combined, but I'm willing to give it a go. It's really more of a matter of when. In theory, it seems to be a pretty good way to keep players in the game in large games with long turns. But on the other side, there's a bit more bookkeeping involved, resulting in a bit more brainhurt. But I'm going to try it before I bash it.