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Monday, September 19, 2005

WARMACHINE – Opening Gambit

I was recently treated to a beginners game of WARMACHINE™ by Privateer Press, presented by Brian, a member of the Privateer Pressgang.

Brian took the time to allow myself and Charlie to run a game, and he walked us/talked us through it from setup to finish. This took a lot longer than a normal game.

Brian was very patient with us and gave us tips along the way - so if Privateer Press reads this, please give him an extra Kudo or whatever you get for being a great "Press gang" person!

I really enjoyed the game, though I must say the turn sequence is tricky to get used to, from the standpoint that it is different from any other game I've ever played - but it is not difficult to play!

Basically, WARMACHINE™ is a fantasy game based in the Iron Kingdoms. Various factions are constantly at war, for different reasons. The factions are Cygnar, Khador, The Protectorate of Menoth, Cryx, and of course, ever-present Mercenaries.

I was playing Menoth and Charlie had Cryx.

Menoth is a very serious religious army. Their primary goal is to burn the heretics. And that means basically everyone else!

Cryx are the Undead army in this game. They have some pretty cool spells and feats.

And speaking of spells and feats, you can run an all troop army, but in order to run an army with the large warmachines or Warjacks, you have to have a Warcaster.

Correction!

Brian popped in for a visit and kindly posted in comments that, while it is true you can run an all infantry army (but what fun is that!?) you still must have a Warcaster as your leader. Make sense! Thanks again Brian!

Your Warcaster provides 'focus points' to other members of your army, which enable them to accomplish more in a turn than normal, or to increase their power during an attack or during the damage phase of their attack.

In addition, War Casters may use focus points to boost their spells, or save their focus to raise their own defense.

Charlie won the game by Warcaster Kill.

I tried everything I had to kill his Liche but in the end Menoth was vanquished by the death of their Warcaster.

I really enjoyed the game and recommend it for several reasons:

1. The rules are far less expensive than, say, GW rulesets.
2. The figures are at LEAST as nice, if not better than GW figures, and at good prices.
3. The figs paint up so very nice, it's a shame not to get into this game!

I recommend you do a bit of surfing over at the Privateer Press site and explore the gallery. Their newest figures aren't in the gallery yet, so check out their new releases pages as well!

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