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.

Satyr in the Shadows

Often, when I play Circle, I draw a fine line between the users of living warbeasts and the users of construct warbeasts. Sometimes, they intermingle, but typically I'll stick to one or the other. (Kaya, Morvahna, and Kromac prefer living beasts in my eyes, while Baldur, Krueger, Cassius, and Mohsar tend to prefer constructs.) Typically, when I use living heavies, I tend to favor Warpwolves. This isn't too surprising. All 3 flavors of Warpwolf are very versatile, and they tend to hit harder because of their ability to augment their strength on top of other effects Circle can provide. This tends to leave me neglecting the Satyrs. Sometimes, I don't know why.

The Gnarlhorn's fairly good in its own right. It has a very useful animus (Bounding can be devastating in conjunction with Epic Kaya's Dogpile and/or the Wayfarer's Hunter's Mark), it's a huge threat if it can get a slam off, and it can hit relatively hard with enough support. But we're not talking about the Gnarlhorn here. I want to talk about the oft-maligned Shadowhorn Satyr.

The Shadowhorn has a reputation of being Circle's “light heavy.” With a 13/17/24 defensive spread and relatively low POW attacks for a heavy, it's often called a large-based light much like the Seraph was in Hordes MkI. It does serve its own purpose, though. It's tied with the Rhinodon for the cheapest heavy warbeast in the game, and low cost has its own benefits. It also has a lot of abilities that can directly support Circle's hit-and-run tactics. It might not hit as hard as a Warpwolf, but it can certainly be an enabler for one of the harder-hitters.

One of my favorite Shadowhorn tactics is to use it to set up a kill for a big target. With Bounding Leap, it has greater versatility than other Circle heavies, who generally can only go directly at their target. Bounding Leap opens up a number of possibilities. One such tactic is to leap behind a warjack or warbeast and lock an arm or weapon system, causing them to be unable to break the lock as the attacker is not in its front arc, thus disabling it. I'm more of the one for destruction though. I'll typically activate its animus and throw the target toward my army. This way, I can both knock the model down and get it into the range of a heavier hitter while keeping the heavier hitter safe. Typically, this will result in your opponent being distracted by a heavy up in their grill. I recommend a Druid Wilder when employing this tactic, as not only can she use the animus for free, but you can also wander a little farther due to her Herding ability. With Kaya the Wildborne, this becomes even more brutal, as she can then use Spirit Door to bring the Shadowhorn back so you can wash, rinse, and repeat the procedure next turn.

Epic Kaya can provide some good options for it, as well. While Forced Evolution is typically best used on a Warpwolf due to their higher DEF and the fact that it augments their strength better, it's definitely not wasted on a Shadowhorn. With Gorax support, the Shadowhorn now hits ridiculously hard, and your opponent isn't going to want to charge a DEF 17 warbeast that grants some dire consequences (Reversal) if you miss. Besides, they'll probably underestimate the Shadowhorn anyways.

The Shadowhorn also has good synergy with its beefier cousin. While you lose the additional movement provided by Bounding or the extra hitting power a Gorax could provide, you also get a very powerful slam that will move a minimum of 5 inches (2 from Virility, 2 from Grand Slam, and a minimum of 1 on the distance die). From there, following up is optional; after all, you might just be knocking a model out of a control zone.

The Shadowhorn is cheap, but unlike Circle's other heavies, it's not about picking a target and murdering it. The Shadowhorn plays a more tricky style. It sets up the kill or disables a threat. It also provides support for other living warbeasts in your army. It might not hit hard. It might not make anything else hit hard. But what it does do is create openings for your army. And when Circle sees an opening, they'll not only take it, but they'll take advantage of it. And that's what makes the Shadowhorn worth using.

Where Are the Blighted Swordsmen?

For some reason, I've been looking at Legion a lot lately. I don't know if it's faction envy or just a desire to play them in general. Something about the famed “Legion of Everbroke” has caught my eye. Lots of jokes run rampant in one of my groups about everyone being “closet Menites,” since each of us is occasionally subject to thoughts of minor pyromania. (“Fire good.”) I guess that would make me a closet Blighted? (...You get what I'm saying. I'll work on the wording, but it does work since I occasionally give Cryx a look too.)

Either way, I was looking through Legion models in Primal Mk. II the other day, and I stumbled across a unit that, honestly, I'm surprised I don't see on the other side of the table that often. Which unit is this? The Blighted Nyss Swordsmen. And I constantly wonder why. On their own they look solid: fearless, high MAT troopers with weapon master. They hit as hard as Bane Knights, and while they are fairly squishy, they also have relatively high DEF for a melee unit, which is tough for most to hit (barring your boosted Chain Lightning/Ashes to Ashes/other similar spell).

Let's look at the Swordsmen compared to some other Legion melee units. They arguably compare best to Warmongers, even more so because they share the same point cost. You get two Swordsmen per Warmonger, but the Warmongers have enough ARM to survive hits as they get in. Damage output is roughly equal between the two, but in my mind the Swordsmen are slightly better, since a) you have twice as many guaranteed attacks, and b) they won't attempt to kill each other if they have nothing else to kill, since Swordsmen don't have Berserk. You sacrifice Reach, but you can get a similar effect with the Abbot and Champion, since they grant Overtake and Cleave, which can give the benefits of berserk and reach without the nasty side-effects. I also happen to see Legionnaires a fair deal, and while they are fairly cheap as a 4/6 unit, they don't hit nearly as hard, or as often. They do have reach and CMA, but their ARM is still fairly low without Defensive Line, and their DEF is anything but great. Once again, I think the Swordsmen win. Did I mention that the Swordsmen are faster than both?

You can say what you want about Legion being a beast army. Even Legion lists I've seen recently have been more balanced, and I think the Swordsmen are a fine addition to any list. After all, most warlocks have something in their arsenal that the Swordsmen can benefit from.

• Prime Lylyth doesn't get as much use out of them due to her small control area and her tendency to stay in the backfield, but if things get sour her feat can make them even more deadly. Plus Swordsmen love finding a target that has been Parasited...

• Prime Thagrosh can throw Draconic Blessing on them, giving them attack power rivaling Khadoran Doom Reavers. Add in Thagrosh's own abilities in Fog of War and Death Shroud, and you have a solid, hard-hitting melee squad that will get into combat and wreck face.

• Vayl doesn't offer too much for them, but remember that Chiller CAN be cast on a unit. Throwing it on them early can help clear the way for Vayl and her beasts to get in and wreck face with Incite up.

• Rhyas brings her own tools to the table, granting Occultation to let them cross the field safely, Dash to do it even faster, and a feat that, with the Abbot and Champion, can give them 3 attacks if they manage to kill something, including a teleport and an Overtake move or two.

• Absylonia and Bethayne both bring Carnivore to the table, increasing their already high MAT and giving a nice RFP ability. Bethayne also comes armed with Ashen Veil to help them cross the field. Who said that spell had to go on Hex Hunters?

So really, only eLylyth and eThagrosh don't have anything that directly benefits them, but that's because they're either extremely ranged-focused (Lylyth) or beast-focused (Thagrosh). But still, the majority of Everblight's chosen can get fairly solid use out of them, and the point cost isn't exactly through the roof. Legion's only a beast army? Let's see what they say when these weapon masters start tearing them to shreds.

In Which I Ramble on Color Schemes

When I first started playing Warmachine and Hordes 4 years ago, one of the things I thought most daunting about the hobby (besides managing everything going on, which I can do in my sleep now) was painting the miniatures. I am NOT an artist. I never was, nor do I really intend to be a hardcore artist. Regardless, though, everything in this game looks better when it's painted. I got tired of being the guy who was known for the armies with that “raw pewter look,” so I finally decided to take the plunge. And when I started? I was bad.

(Circa 2008)

So I looked to a few friends in my group for tips. It took a couple years, but I finally began to get the hang of some of the other techniques besides just coloring in the lines. Drybrushing and washing took a while to learn, but I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it. Some details (particularly faces) are still rough on me, but my painting skill has come a long way since then.

(Finished 4/13/11)

But I'm not here to talk about the evolution of my skills. Today I wanted to talk about something I've been musing over with my Retribution army, which is just now getting its first major dose of paint besides the “battle box.” It got me thinking about how each army has its own divisions and themes. And while it is possible to paint everything in the same scheme, it does have one negative side effect: everything DOES look the same. While it's true that you want a nice, uniform look to your army, not every model uses the same themes.

The Retribution actually serves as a good model for this. I divide the Retribution's troop selection into two distinct themes: on the one hand, you have the heavily-armored Dawnguard. On the other side, you have the Mage Hunters, who have little if any of the armor plating the Dawnguard sport, but a lot of leathers and cloaks. In between, you have the Battle Mages and Houseguard, who borrow some elements from both sides. The Houseguard share a lot of elements with their Dawnguard cousins, but they're not as pronounced as the Dawnguard's. The Battle Mages have a theme of armor plating in common with the Dawnguard, but they also sport cloaks not that different from those on most of the Mage Hunters. It's my plan, because of this, to sport two main themes when I get paint on them. Mage Hunters are going to have a lot of grays, with green cloaks. Instead of the traditional white, my Dawnguard models and myrmidons are going to have a lightish blue theme.

The key, in my opinion, is that while you can have some distinct themes, you still have to tie them together. My main Retribution theme is the light blue (armor), trimmed and complemented by the greens (power nodes, cloaks), and neutralized by the grays (leathers, etc.). Obviously I lean each subtheme of the army towards the respective colors, but to tie them together I bring elements of the others into it. For instance, my Narn is predominantly gray and green as a mage hunter, but his shoulder pads are being done in my blue base color. My Dawnguard Scyir receives similar treatment due to the cloth parts on his model, which are done in Iosan Green. Warcasters and warlocks are no exception, either; I'm currently repainting Kaelyssa in my new thoughts for my mage hunter scheme. That said, she's wearing warcaster armor; despite the presence of leathers and cloak, she's got a fairly good blue presence.

This isn't necessarily restricted to Retribution, either. Circle players can have a basic theme for models more related to the Wolves of Orboros, and a completely different one for their Tharn, using a few greens to tie things together. A Cygnaran army could go completely different routes between its Trenchers and Stormnouns. Cryx can vary between living and undead schemes. Be creative with your variances. You never know when inspiration might strike.

Mohsar Goes Hardcore

Ended up with a 2-2 finish in the four-round hardcore. I managed to get “lucky” and draw the first round bye. (The only problem is that I wanted to play.) So after waiting around for an hour and taking a few pictures, I finally got my first game in against eSkarre.

I'm going against Skarre, Deathjack, a Leviathan, a Nightwretch, a full unit of Satyxis Raiders (with Sea Witch and Captain), a Necrosurgeon and Stitch Thralls, and a Warwitch Siren. I get some Pillars of Salt up early to block the Raiders' and Deathjack's advance, but he goes around. Skarre uses her feat, leaving Mohsar and Megalith useless while making herself, Deathjack, and Leviathan invincible for a turn. I use the Warpwolf Stalker to try to get into position, but I can't hit the Nightwretch to save my life. I get one last shot when Skarre charges the Warpwolf and fails to kill it, but I left her alive by one. Meanwhile, Mohsar was playing with his new friend...

Next round I got paired against one of the two Legion players. This one had Saeryn, a Carnivean, a Raek, 4 Shredders, 2 Scathers, 2 Forsaken, a Shepherd, Gudrun, and Totem Hunter. The Wolf Riders are the MVP's here, as they take out the Totem Hunter, Gudrun, a good chunk of the Carni, and manage to get a blow on Saeryn. This was the only game I had a feat in, and it caused a couple Shredders (those who didn't die to a Crevasse) to frenzy and get in the way of the Carnivean, who was already toying with a Pillar of Salt. Things got a little fishy in the end, but time was called and I had enough of a presence in the Killbox (read: Megalith) to get myself a win.

In the last round I got paired against eStryker packing an Ironclad, Stormclad, 10 Stormguard, Gun Mage Captain, Journeyman with a really annoying Charger, Reinholdt, Rhupert Carvolo, and 3 Stormsmiths. I call the Charger annoying because it took out 2 of the Wolf Riders and a decent chunk of Mohsar before I tied it up with the Woldwatcher. We traded a lot of blows, though. A couple of Crevasses and the Stalker took out most of the Stormguard in one turn, and a missed charge prevented the Stalker from boxing the Ironclad, running back via Lightning Strike, and coming back to work on the Stormclad (who ultimately finished both my heavies). I got Stryker down to about 5 before time was called, only this time I'd lost the attrition battle for the 2-2 finish.

I thought the list worked well though. Mohsar did get caught in melee twice (though it survived the assault from the Raek), but all of my games were close. The list performed well, just fell a little bit short a couple times. It's looking like my next major tournament is going to be at the end of next month, and probably a 150-point monstrosity. I'm starting to get a few ideas, but more on that at a later date.

Preliminary: East Lansing Hardcore

Tomorrow I'm going to a Hardcore tournament up in East Lansing. I'll report on it on Sunday in full, I'm just going to do a quick once-over over my list and a loose plan for it. For starters, the 35-point list is:

• Mohsar the Desertwalker
• Megalith
• Warpwolf Stalker
• Woldwatcher
• Woldwyrd
• Shifting Stones
• Stone Keeper
• Tharn Wolf Riders (3)

There's not a lot to get in the way, so I want the Watcher to stay close to Mohsar to prevent a ranged assassination. Knowing there's a pretty good Retribution player up there, I'm going to want to protect some fury for transfers in case of Kaelyssa. The lack of models also means that placement of Pillars of Salt is crucial, but I wanted to keep model count down because it's Hardcore and time is an issue. The two heavies are my primary damage output, and the Wolf Riders provide a good flank that can come in for an assassination (especially if I can get Curse of Shadows on their prey target). The Wyrd can pick off targets depending on upkeeps (and in a practice game I played did a good chunk of damage to Calandra with Bullet Dodger up), and the Stones can give me better positioning, or they can heal when necessary.

My main problems during the little testing I did revolved around dice (as in another game I was having trouble hitting an unbuffed Scythean of all things), so I'm pretty confident the list can do something. I'll be posting updates throughout the day on Twitter (@arkanikawmh), so stay tuned to that, as well as the full report here. (Hopefully with pictures!)

The "Purpose of This Blog" Post

I decided to start up a new blog. I play a lot of Warmachine and Hordes. I own four armies. (For those curious, I play Khador, Retribution, Circle, and Trollbloods.) I tend to think about these games a lot. Not just the games I play or the lists I make. I tend to think a lot more generally. I'll take something and plan out everything I can do with it. This happens a lot when new models come out, when I start "theorymachining" (thinking up tactics to use before even laying the model on the table) and building lists based around those models. As it is, I don't take the approach some take where they make a list (or lists) for the next tournament and play the hell out of it until the tourney. My play style is a lot more varied than that. There's a reason I play four armies. I get bored playing the same thing over and over again. So whether it's something new or a new spin on something old, I can't play the same thing forever.

So thus, my brain races with lots of new tactics, and I've decided to use this blog to let some of them out. I have a few different things I'm going to go over, and with any luck regularly update:

• Model Tactica (Not just warcasters or warlocks either. In fact, my first post will be one of the warjacks in the banner, none other than the Khadoran Kodiak. This won't be entirely limited to my 4 factions either. I will occasionally work on my theories with models from other factions too.)
• New/Interesting tactics and follow-up reports discussing how they work (or don't) on the battlefield.
• Tournament Reports (This Sunday I plan to report on a Hardcore tournament I'm attending in East Lansing on Saturday.)
• Painting (Mostly in terms of my own progress. These will be sparse, but I have this insane dream of taking my Retribution army to GenCon this year and fielding every model released up to that point fully painted. So expect me to start and blog on that progress at some point.)

As for the name? Arkanika has meaning for two of my factions. Naturally Retribution comes to mind, as their myrmidons run entirely on arcanica. Add in Khador's tendency to replace their C's with K's (Kapitan, Kommander, High Kommand, etc.), and you've got a winner. Don't worry; I'll be working on the other factions as well.

I will be creating a Facebook page and a Twitter feed for Arkanika as well. (Links forthcoming.) For now, I'm going to start working on that Kodiak post.