Briefing

Execution

Debriefing

• Circle of Oboros (Bernd)

  I played with eKaya for the first time. And it was my first game with a hordes army. The army itself was awesome. The whole Battlegroup had stealth all the time, high DEF values and they can deal a lot of damage. And on top of that, Kaya has a high threat range due to Laris' Animus.

  I needed some time to get accustomed to the Fury manipulation technique and made some mistakes in the beginning, but my opponents were generous, so I didn't have to learn it the hard way. :)

  The game itself was a little strange with three players. Dani didn't move forward at all, and Matthias was not very fast either due to some woods. Thus, I found myself sandwiched between the forces of Menoth and Khador. If we had played with an objective in the middle or a scenario like Killbox, it would have been a little bit more interesting. But without it, I decided to attack the Khador player and managed to take him out.

  I felt a little sorry, because it was his first game. But on the other hand, he held back his forces (I think he hoped Matthias and I would kill ourselves :)) and therefore I decided to go for him. The assassination with the Feral against Sorscha worked pretty good. But again, my opponent didn't know all abilities and therefore didn't see it coming. Matthias, on his turn before mine, engaged my Feral, but forgot about the ghostly ability as well ('Oh nooooo, ghoooooostly!!!' :)).

  But between the Controlled Warping, the Fury mechanics and the Animus of my models, I was confused most of the time as well, so it was a learning experience for us all. :)

  I don't know if the assassination attempt against Matthias was the best idea, but my models were severely damaged and I saw no better option. It failed, but I think it was a nice and funny attempt anyway.

  In the end, the game deciding factor was Dani, because he had the idea that I could throw the Repenter on Kreoss (which worked great and knocked him down) and he told Matthias to use his Feat, which he didn't think of at first (Matthias should put a big reminder in front of him saying 'USE YOUR FEAT'). :)

• Protectorate of Menoth (Matthias)

  First time Hordes, first time three way battle.

  The three way battle part sucked. We should have played something like Mangled Metal, where everyone needs to advance towards the center. In our game, Dani (Khador) held back his forces, and I did not dare advance much towards the Circle Beasts so slowly moved towards a point centered between Circle and Khador. The Circle Beasts were stealthed all the time, and the Pureblood was immune to magic most of the time. Running my Revengers forward to channel through them would have made them easy charge targets for both Warp Wolves - something I was not keen to experience. So I advanced slowly to keep my whole force together and attack with all of them at once.

  The Hordes part was interesting, basically the same game they play totally different. Like when Bernd noticed, he was not able to charge with his Pureblood, as that would have carried him out of eKaya's control range, thus denying him the chance to force the beasts for more or boosted attacks. With a 'jack, the Focus would have been allocated while in the control area, the Focus spending could well happen outside the control area. And you constantly need to calculate how much Fury you need to accumulate for your Warlock's next turn, but you may not stress the Fury level... Must definitely hurry to paint my Trollbloods to experience the Hordes way myself ;-)

  Bernd always manages to pull off nice tricks, both with his Cryx and (since this game) his Circle, as well as with my Menites in the last game. While these tricks look good, they only work half the time. But when eKaya stood before the knocked down Kreoss, I already feared to have lost. I hate fast moving units (when played by my enemy).

  Would it not have been for Dani's advice, I would have forgotten to use my Feat in my last turn. It was so unusual to have my Feat available in a 5th turn, it wasn't on my list of options anymore. But on the other hand Dani suggested to Bernd the throwing attack with my Repenter on Kreoss, so it was only fair of him to reming me of my Feat :-)

• Khador (Dani)

  This was my first ever game of Warmachine, but nonetheless I understood the probably three most important rules!

  1. keep your warcaster save

  2. don't forget your feed

  3. know your enemy

  We played a small game with few points, had no profound bachground story for the game but it still was fun in its own special way.

  The fun factor of the first games will especially with Warmachine be superimposed by rule queries in part or in whole. The rules seem to be very complex at first glance and the possibilities to strongly influence the game through the use of spells, abilities, hyms and what not are always present (at least if you do not forget them and combine them cunningly).

  Some combinations seem to be especially mighty and appear to me - withour experience - relatively unfair.

  It is an assassination game (at least it seems to me) and this fact should not be lost track of for one second.

  The game has the following principle written all over it:

  1. prevent losses in your force specific ineffective range

  2. occupy, destroy or slam/throw/push/hit enemy models on your way to their warcaster

  3. assassinate the warcaster and automatically win the game

  Obviously it is not so simple as it sounds here and there definitely there is no monotony or boredom but I think it is a pity that such a complex game can end so sudden.

  It seems warmachine offers a host of possibilities to create a powerful force and the combination of spells and abilities seems inexhaustible.

  I recognize a lot in Warmachine... damage diagrams similar to BattleTech... combination of spells and units like in Magic... allocation of focus as ressource managment like in 'logistic games' and f course elements from Warhammer 40,000. The topic of warcaster remind me of undead armies in Warhammer Fantasy Battles (although the undead may continue to fight when their general was removed from the game).

  The following points catched my eye dring the game which I unfortunately did not like, perhaps because I do not have experience in this game yet.

  • damage grids hardly have influence on the game, as the game does not take long enough for a 'jack to agonize over a destroyed zone

  • it seems there is no way to play a force specialized on ranged combat, as the ranges of shooting weapons are quite close to each other. Enemies which can be engaged are in close combat in their next turn.

  • fast and close combat specialized troops seem to be at a great advantage

  • boosting of hit and damage rolls of Warjacks seems to be game shortening and rather less exciting. If you want to kill someone you can also do it without boosting (so it seems to me)

  • it also seems to me (again I am laxcking experience, it is just a feeling) that due to the multitude of combination possibilities it is not always possible to create a strict balance between forces.

  Much of what I said sounds quite negative but I wanted to give an honest and uncensored first feedback.

  I think Warmachine is a comparatively strategic game in which you can get completely absorbed and have much fun. I certainly will participate in 2-3 more games if I am allowed to after this feedback ;-)

  Possibly I will like it more after several more games.