Mini Thoughts - August Errata

Hi guys! I know it's been mostly battle reports lately and hopefully that'll keep going, especially with the upcoming Journeyman League! However this week I wanted to also take a moment to talk about the massive errata that Privateer have just released. For those of you who don't know (if anyone) the latest errata is out and Privateer decided to make some pretty significant changes to help balance the game. I, for one, am pretty impressed that the guys over at privateer have had the guts to effectively admit that they made a mistake with the power of some of their models and have actually made the move to correct it to create a fairer gaming environment. It only underlines their dedication to this game. Now, on to the meat of the article. What was in the errata?

First of all I'll cover the less significant of the particulars. As with any errata the August Errata included a couple of basic clarifications on rules that weren't written clearly or didn't work as intended in RAW (Rules as written for those not in the know). These included a number of minor clarifications:

1. Altering Verendrye and the Trench Busters' Flank to 'other' so they can't flank with themselves. 

2. Durst's misprinted icon got corrected. 

3. The wording on Hayley3 was amended to clarify who in the unit could allocate focus to what. 

4. The wording on the spell Boneshaker was standardised. 

5. An actual duration was included to Thyron's feat so it would end. 

None of these were surprising or game changing and were basically just making the way the game already worked clearer. 

Now in addition to these regular realignments there were some more significant changes:

Firstly the wording on Shake Effect was adjusted to also allow models to shake Blind and Shadow Bind. Obviously this has the biggest impact on Denny2 and Gorman, though several others suffer too. This is part of the balancing, ensuring that these models can't have such a huge impact on the game, so for example a Blind colossal or Gargantuan is no longer completely screwed out of the game. Obviously many Denny2 advocates were unhappy with the change or 'nerf' as it's being called. I'm not so sure it's that terrible though. Obviously it's nowhere near as good, but that's kind of the point of the balancing. If you think about it, though, if you Shadow Bind everything that means that none of the infantry in your opponent's army is doing anything, since they can't shake. But say you're playing a warmachine army, the caster has to allocate one focus each that turn just to get his or her jacks working at all. That doesn't generally leave much left over for doing much of anything else that turn. It's still freezing half the army and then it's wasting resources for the other half. Still not a bad option. Blind does suffer on Gorman, but again it's wasting resources and there's still no way to shake it for heavy infantry or cavalry! 

Next up, and in a similar vein, Hayley2's feat was reworded to completely remove the ability to choose your opponents' order of activation. Now this is half of the feat completely gone. Obviously, again, it is a big deal but that's the point. But again: is it that bad? I don't think so. I've played against Hayley2 several times and sure it sucks that they can have your shepherd or your paingivers go at the wrong time or have the back models activate before the front ones. But if you're prepared and have a solid plan for what your models can do even out of activation it wasn't too bad. Plus for the Hayley player it requires a lot of finesse to know which of your opponent's models need to be activated when. That sort of decision making cuts down on clock fast. 

The other thing to remember is that both Denny and Hayley have had their feats kicked down a notch. But that's all. All their other abilities, spells and tier lists are just as powerful they just can't auto win with a well placed feat as easily. But I bet they still can. 

Next up there was also a change to Hayley's third incarnation to change one of her spells slightly. Temporal Flux now affects all three Hayleys, but also only affects Faction models. There's been some serious salt about this on the forums, with people even saying it's an intentional 'bait and switch' by PP to sell models. It doesn't take into account that the caster and the spell are still very solid or that buying those mercs won't still be super useful. Hell it's Cygnar why didn't you own the mercs anyway? 

Another little update was on the pack warbeasts to clear up a loophole that was being exploited. You can no longer reeve from pack models that die from friendly attacks. You can't have the Twins fuel each other by killing wasps. While this is a big change it's hardly surprising and reeving that way was clearly not intended in development. Not judging people for doing it. It was totally legal until now, when it isn't. Never mind, I guess. 

The final 'nerf' was on the Pistol Wraith who had Death Chill replaced as a critical effect with Stationary. Which is an equally powerful ability but one that can be shaken and can't affect gargalossals. It does undermine the pistol wraith but it's still a powerful and useful tool in the belt nonetheless. 

Now as well as these balancing downgrades there were also some surprising upgrades too. First off the two reputedly 'worst' gargalossals in the game got some pretty cool boosts. The Mountain King gained assault, allowing it to spray on the charge (and potentially twice with Kill Shot) this adds a new layer of playability to the huge troll and also extends its potential threat range with a charge and spray. Not a huge change but a welcome one. The other also-ran the Archangel got an updated animus. Instead of Righteous Flames which set things on fire if they ended their activation (i.e. After already hitting you) within 2", it just sets things currently within 2" on fire. I think that this ability has some real merit to it if used correctly. You can now ride-by combust people with the Archangel or have Abby2 charge in, set a bunch of infantry alight and then teleport away. Or imagine charging Thagrosh into the enemy caster for the assassination but you come up a few boxes short! But oh look, free animus to set the caster on fire. 66% of an extra roll to finish them off! Any Menoth player, myself included, will gladly tell you that any time you can get out some cont. fire is fun times for you. 

It wasn't just the gargantuans that got some love, though. In addition to the Mountain King and the Archangel Skorne's Animantarax got a helpful little boost too. It can now gain Rage Tokens from friendly attacks. Meaning that it can be part of the long standing Skorne tradition of punching your own models to make them work harder! Yay for them. But also on top of that those tokens can now also be used on any attack or damage roll too. 

So that's a round up of the changes made and their impact in my humble opinion. Feel free to comment if you disagree or want to discuss it further. 

Oh wait. There was actually one more tiny change slipped in right at the end. The oft lamented legion Grotesques had their name and sub type changed to Grotesque raiders. Interesting since that probably foreshadows a grotesque based release coming soon! But we'll just have to wait and see I guess!

As always thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

-M

Mini Thoughts - Faction Apathy

Hi guys, no bat rep this week. Instead I want to talk about my factions. I got into warmachine towards the end of 2013 after becoming increasingly disenfranchised with Warhammer and 40k, which had, until that point, been my biggest wargaming outlet. My main gaming parter at the time, Jayke (who is behind the Hall of Legends Blog) and I decided it was time for a change of pace. He'd been recommended to Warmachine multiple times and previously we'd stuck to what we knew but decided this might be the time to shift to Warmachine and get away from GW for a while (haven't looked back since). Moving into anything like this I am always a big sucker for a good story. I care about narrative most of all in most things, wargaming included. So when we were deciding what to play it was the ascetics and fanaticism of Menoth that caught my attention. I considered Cygnar but felt their look was cool but they seemed bland. Khador was too blunt and Jayke was leaning towards Cryx. The model that cemented the decision for me, though, was the fairly newly released Bastion Seneschal. Without doubt that model is one of my favourites in the Protectorate range. As with most things once I get involved in it I tend to over-commit and so I let Warmachine consume me. I kept finding things I loved about it and it's continued to hold my interest for longer than almost anything (my obsession with Assassin's Creed notwithstanding). 

I bought the battlebox, a choir and a Vassal and painted them in a frenzy and didn't much slow down. I didn't play many games at first but once I got into it I loved the mechanics of the game. I loved my faction and some of the cool things they could do. I liked the stories about the Menites in the fiction, Kreoss especially. But the more I played the less I felt like I enjoyed the play style. It's been almost a year and a half now that I've been playing Menoth despite deciding a while ago that I wanted to switch factions; I've persevered. I got better and better with Menoth and I have no doubt that they are my favourite Warmachine faction. Recently, though, I've been feeling really burnt out with the faction. This is by far the longest I've ever consistently played a single faction and I'm getting sick of playing them. I really don't want that to happen. I love Menoth and I want to keep loving them. For now the best way to do that is to walk away. 

Obviously I have no intention of stopping playing altogether and I'm definitely not going back to Warhammer (the grass is sooo much greener over here that I'm pretty sure they've paved over the grass back there). So the best thing to do is switch faction so I can keep playing without completely destroying my will to continue with the game. 

Luckily there's more to this game than Warmachine. For anyone who's been keeping up to date on the Facebook page or has read my Sword<Pen<Brush articles it's clear where I'm heading next: Legion. I've wanted to go to Hordes after Menoth since day one. The first decision, again, was which faction. Looking over the Big Boy Factions, I don't like the ideology or appearance of Circle, and Skorne's background entices me but the models don't inspire me (though I could see myself ending up there). Trolls and Legion were the only real choices in my eyes. Trolls look awesome and the background is solid but they only feel like a '7' to me and I was looking for something to really dig my teeth into. Legion on the other hand? Dragon-powered super-soldiers with an engrossing backstory and cool development? Sold. The ascetics of Legion appealed to me, a kind of combination of grace and savagery that I enjoyed. The stories though? Oh! By far Legion has the coolest fluff! I bought and read through Evolution and Mutagenesis (I highly recommend it - they're available on the PPDigital app for a pittance) and fell in love with the characters. Lylyth particularly seemed like a cool, fierce, independent character. Thagrosh is a badass, a despotic leader and obedient servant all at once. Saeryn is a mystery and her twin is a Ninja. Absylonia is an amnesiac horror but is actually motivated by a profound sense of family. All of which are bound together by the will of a pretty awesome draconic character in Everblight himself. 

I'm gushing a little. 

Ahem. 

On top of that I felt that their play-style felt more comfortable for the way I like to play and so they were ticking all my boxes. I planned to shift my focus away from Menoth to Legion months ago. In fact I even wrote a post in September last year saying I was finished with Menoth. But then I got a few more models and so on. I wanted to start playing Legion at the start of this year and I failed spectacularly. 

I bought and painted up the battlebox and had a go with it, but by that point my meta was coming to the end of a journeyman league and it wasn't easy to get a 15 point game. So I got a hodge-podge of other models and was able to cobble together a 35 point list. But this was thrown together and I decided I didn't want to play until I could come up with a proper 50 point list. This meant I wanted a decent array of different models to give me a bit of variety on the board before I started playing. Obviously this set me back quite a bit. I bought a trio of heavy beast kits and magnetised them then wrote up a couple of lists with them in it. But these still felt like I was missing key components. 

Now, though, my latest order had a Raek, Naga, two Angelii and a pair of Seraph/Neraphs along with Typhon. Now all I'm missing is infantry and a few of the less common solos and light beasts. I've got a couple of lists I'm happy to play with written and ready to go. I'm honestly excited to play them. It's got me enthusiastic to play again after losing substantial momentum and getting tired of Menoth. I still like Menoth and I am coming back to them. In fact I'm going to have one more Menoth game before I start playing Legion in June (honestly this time I swear). 

I've been putting this off for quite a while, wanting more and more stuff before I felt comfortable playing but I'm finally there and I can put the Menoth to one side for a while. I'll be back, and I feel like I've found my comfort zone with Menoth and I'm eager to try something new!

I'll have my final Menoth bat rep (for a while) up next week, and following that I'll be on a well deserved holiday with my wife for a while so I won't be posting anything. Following that I'll put up a CitTM about the lists I've written and then I'll start out with my learning Legion bat reps!

For updates and a history of my Legion painting as well as other photos and updates check out the Mitsuharu on Minis Facebook page!

-M

Mini Thoughts - Gargantuans Wave 2

So, just like they hint-dropped at Adepticon, PP's SmogCon announcement was the next evolution of Gargantuans! More good news! And unlike the recently announced Colossals, these are pretty much all brand new beasties, not just variants on the old models. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet the video on the Gargantuans is here: http://privateerpress.com/privateer-press-prime-video-channel/gargantuans-evolved. 

Anyway here's my run down of the new Gribblies:

Glacier King

First up on the docket was the latest Troll model, the Glacier King. Horluk's newest buddy is a mountain king that's been in the fridge too long, and come out all badass. As well as a typical 'big fist' (yeah literally) he has something called 'Wind Thrower'. Possibly a crit freeze spray? Maybe not, have to wait and see on that one, but the fists definitely do have some kind of freeze ability. Its animus 'frozen ground' is a knockdown effect, and it sounds like it affects models within so many inches of it. Assuming that this Gargantuan has the same medicore MAT as its predecessor I'm sure auto hitting in melee will be a nice touch. Also it'll give any troll caster access to a small range knockdown effect too, which can be all kinds of useful. Just ask anyone who's seen pKreoss. On top of that it has an ability called 'snowfall' that grants concealment around it. While this might have a cost or a trigger, anything that can help a troll brick across the board with fewer casualties will always be appreciated. 

Storm Raptor

Next up was the Storm Raptor. And bird is the word. Described as 'Krueger's best friend' this little lightning pigeon is the latest addition to Circle. This is the fastest Gargantuan so far, at SPD 7, and with Flight this beastie can whip across the board pretty fast, ignoring terrain along the way. On top of that it has some combination of animi and special abilities that allow it to give boosted electrical attack and damage rolls. Meaning that this thing synergises like crazy with a bunch of other circle guns. Also giving Krueger access to an animus that can boost electrical attacks is just... I mean... Wow. 

Blightbringer

Now here's the one I'm most interested in. Legions new beastie, the Blightbringer. To be honest it's not... Exactly what I was expecting. It looks a lot more bug-like than the majority of Everblight's roster to date. It seems that this gargantuan is more of a utility piece like the new colossals. All they said was that it was constantly spewing ash that could take on a number of abilities. These include causing magic in the area to fail (limited range no spells? Or maybe even a nice little upkeep removal. Kinda AOE Banishing Ward?). Concealment to nearby models. I'm assuming some kind of Ashen Veil? I suppose there's enough prowl in Legion that it could have an extra layer there. And finally one that reduces 'defence and health of enemies' so maybe it'll be like Belphagor's animus or Saeryn's spell of the same name? Interesting. The way they're speaking about the Blighted Breath also imply it's an inherent ability, meanning that its animus is still unknown (more on that later). Those claws look pretty handy too!

Desert Hydra 

Typhon has effectively shown the world three heads are better than one. And what's better than three heads? Five. That's right. They've been talking about it in the fluff forever but it's finally on the tabletop. Skorne's new Gargantuan is the Hydra. Desert Hydra to be precise, although I'm not up enough on my extraordinary zoology to know how many sub-species of Hydra there are. Much like its younger cousin Typhon, the Hydra has the 'multiple heads' special rule. Meaning five heads get 5 initial attacks. That's five Sprays. Or Five Bite attacks. Or any combination of the two. And Five sprays off a huge base? That covers some ground. 

Oh, that's the other thing. There's a model for it. A very nice model. I mean, sure, it looks like a real pain in the ass to assemble and paint, but look at it. Worth. It. Other than the five heads thing (as if that's not enough for you) they didn't really go into much else about it. Its animus wasn't discussed either (I'm getting to it). This looks like a nice little addition to the Skorne forces (pending actual rules obviousl)y. 

Animi

I said I'd get to it! So you might have to bear with me a little on this one. First off the animi of the Blightbringer and Desert Hydra were conspicuous in their absence. Strange not to mention them when they did for the other two. However they also spoiled this art of the Blightbringer:

Now, when Exigence hit everyone was a bit confused by the Warbeast packs. I mean they sucked. I read dozens of articles and forum chains trying to figure out how they were supposed to work. It seemed like they were set up to fail. They didn't do anything that their factions couldn't do better, elsewhere already. Surely PP in their wisdom and foresight must've had a plan? But we couldn't see it. Maybe this is why. We didn't have all the pieces. Put these things together and maybe, just maybe the Blightbringer has something to offer Blight Wasps? Maybe it can spawn them? Or convert enemies into them? The art certainly indicates a link anyway. And from there I don't think it's too much of a leap to think that maybe the Hydra can do something similar for the Scarabs? Obviously this is all just speculation but it seems to make sense to me at least. 

Other Stuff

In addition to the Gargantuans the video had another little sneak at the end. A few flashes of something just as exciting but much less clear. A Gator with candles on his face? Epic Calandra? Some kind of imp gremlins? A Grotesque? Kromac? With Rathrok?!? If that's PP's way of apologising for the recent errata to Circle affecting Kromac then... 

Looks like there's some pretty exciting stuff coming our way in the next year or so. And I for one, can not wait. 

I'll leave you with one final image:

*slow respectful applause*

Don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates!

-M

Mini Thoughts - Reznik

Continuing my long overlooked Mini Thoughts articles I would like to talk a little bit about the High Executioner of Menoth himself - Servath Reznik. Reznik is probably one of my favourite casters in the fluff, with a lovely model to boot. It's especially nice when all that loveliness is also tied to a brilliant rule set to go with. 

The first and most important thing to know about Reznik is he is a bad-ass, smash mouth take-no-prisoner type caster. From his spell list and abilities to his feat Reznik is designed to kill people, hopefully enemy war-nouns. His stat line is impressive on its own and he can clearly bring the hurt to virtually any opponent, but that can easily be coupled with his spell Engine of Destruction (EoD) to bring him up to ridiculous levels of smashery (MAT 11 P&S 18 anyone?) and at a cost of two there's plenty of focus left after using it to really lay into someone. You can then couple that with his Purgation ability on his sword (giving addition dice on melee attack and damage rolls vs a target with an enemy upkeep on them) and his feat (stripping focus and fury from everyone in his control range) to handily murder anyone in his 12" threat range (under EoD). 

As well as the blunt force aspect of his rules Reznik also has some nice movement shenanigans for his battlegroup to further facilitate his assassination focused play-style. First up he had the ability Witch Hound allowing one model in his battlegroup to advance and make an attack each time a battlegroup model is hit by a spell. As well as that he has Perdition, a damage spell that allows a warjack in the battlegroup to advance if the spell does damage, once per turn. These abilities are circumstantial at best but against the right armies are devastating. 

He also boosts a pair of upkeep buffs, the typical Menite staple of Ignite, giving +2 to melee damage rolls and critical fire and the devastating Iron Agression, hands down one of the best warjack buffs in the game. This spell lets one jack run and charge for free as well as giving an additional die on melee attack rolls, and can crank a great jack into one that makes your opponent cry, especially if it's stuck on a jack like the Avatar. 

Generally Reznik's gameplay is brutally unsubtle, plodding up the field until you can get close enough to deliver Reznik to your opponents face. Even the toughest war-nouns in the game get squished pretty quickly when charged by Reznik under his feat and EoD. Moment of anecdote, just this week I managed to kill Terminus on the turn after his feat using Reznik. Ouch. 

Now I'm a big Reznik fan boy but I'm not blind to his weaknesses. First of which is his low Focus. 6 is fairly average as these things go but with so many battlegroup effects on his card he wants to take a jack heavy list and also wants to be quite greedy with his focus meaning he feels pretty starved most games. Really he wants to be taking a focus efficient battlegroup and a Heirophant. And Wracks. And maybe a Reclaimer. Seriously that 6 does not go as far as you'd really like it to. 

The other issue with Reznik is that his aggressive play style means he's often pretty far up the board, increasing the risk that someone else will get to him for the assassination first. With Def 14 and armour 17 with very little to camp he has a solid defence but not enough to be dependably survivable, especially against an opponent who can boost rolls. 

On top of this in a meta game sense Reznik does have a whole lot of tricks and sneaks but they come with caveats that, to a knowledgable oppenent, are pretty easy to avoid triggering, and he doesn't play to scenario very well. When I'm making a list for the Executioner I generally just make an assassination delivery system for Reznik to reach the other carter with enough jam units in there to keep me from losing on scenario before he can get the killing blow in. 

Overall I think that Reznik is a characterful and (perhaps more importantly) fun caster to play. He's also simple, and doesn't require much finesse to play well, but can really shine in the hands of a canny oppenent who can set up some strong charge lanes to score the win. 

He's definitely a big favourite of mine and hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll put up a battle report using him at 50 points after the tournament I'm playing next week. 

-M

Mini Thoughts - eAbsylonia

The other day PP released the cards for the new Exigence warlocks on their WarRoom app (if you haven't already go get it right now) and completed the set of models for them too by adding a rhino?!? No seriously the Skorne guy is riding a huge (literally) Rhino of Doom. I digress. In a month or so I'll be hanging up my Menofix and getting Blighted as I dive brush first into Legion so the model and rules that I was most interested to see were the rules for Legion's new lady. 

I don't know if you've seen the model yet so:

Nice, right? In terms of the model I'm liking the pose but I'm really hoping that it's way more balanced than it looks. And I mean structurally. Cos it looks like it's going to be pretty top heavy and every hobbyist knows that means she gonna fall over. Lots. And chip that paint job you poured blood, sweat and tears into. Maybe it's deceptive, though, and carefully set up so it all works out nicely. Maybe that's one of the reasons she's on a Medium base now. 

Anyhow model aside the card came out with the new rules which is the main thing, right? Stat wise the Daughter of Everblight gets an extra pip of STR to bring her two claws up to P&S 14 which is always appreciated. The rest of the stats are the same until you get to her defences. One less DEF in exchange for two more ARM and boxes. Interesting but DEF 15 is still pretty solid to be honest and ARM 16 is joint second highest in the whole faction (eThags takes the top spot with 17 but he is a half-dragon monster). Speaking of monsters she still has abomination on there so be careful of where your Shepards go for the game.  Best of all though she gets an extra melee attack at P&S 12. That's 3 initials, baby! That means an extra dose of hurt to whoever she goes for. Still sitting at a reasonable 6 focus which is ok but you'll be wanting some help along. 

As well as the stat changes the special rules have also kicked her up a notch. Resourceful is gone and instead we get Conferred Rage which lets the battlegroup charge and power attack for free. Game changer. I'll let that sink in. Sunk in? Good cos there's more. In addition to that awesomeness if eAbs destroys any enemy models her whole battle group gets +2 SPD and MAT when they activate. This lady is leading a hell of a charge. Mutations are gone and flight is now standard. Duh: look at the wings. Grevious Wounds and Spirit Eater are gone but remember that extra P&S 12 stinger from before that's got a nifty little rule that lets her steal a focus or fury each time it hits. Perfect for assassination runs when your hits strip off their defences before you even roll damage. Lovely. 

Spells? Oh there's spells. First up you get Fortify which we've seen on a few models recently but it's pretty cool so no complaints. +2ARM and un-knockdown-able for it and models B2B for 2 Fury and upkeep. Fair. Next we have the prime model's feat as a spell (thank you) 2 Fury every battlegroup model in CTRL gets d3+1 healing once a turn. (Insert evil laugh). Next up we have a little one Fury throw away called Return Fire. When one friendly model (not battle group and not unit) is targeted by a ranged attack it gets to make one attack (not necessarily at the shooter). Most likely this means one model doesn't get shot for a turn or you make them pay for it if they do. Win-win. Finally nice little ace up the sleeve for 2 Fury there's teleport. Because what a flying SPD 7 dragonspawn loves is that extra 8" of threat (or hiding if you need to). Plus this lets you charge the warnoun get a stinger in to strip them down a bit and trigger Conferred Rage then use the power you stole to teleport out of the LOS of your battlegroup so they can get tidy charges and finish the job. 

Finally we come to the feat. It's... A weird one (to me at least). Her battlegroup gains +2 STR, flight and reach for a round. Opens up a lot of charge lanes and adds a bit of threat range too. But combine that with Conferred Rage and you have a battlegroup of 'roided up monsters that fly, charge for free and potential have +2 to SPD and MAT to boot. That's a pretty scary alpha strike if everything clicks into place (it won't but even 70% is going to mess people up). This does mean that you'll want a healthy sized battlegroup to take advantage but odds are if you're a Legion player you want that anyway!

No news on the App about the theme force yet but I'm hazarding a guess it'll be gribbly focused. 

Overall a pretty nice new addition. A beast heavy caster for a beast heavy faction. Not looking very subtle but who needs subtlety when everyone else's dead? I'm pretty impressed and I'm looking forward to seeing some lists with her in soon. 

-M

Mini thoughts - Vengeance

I know that I'm a few months late to the party but I wanted to discuss a couple of the models that have become available to Menite players like myself in the most recent Warmachine Expansion, Vengeance. The two models I want to discuss are eReznik and Tristan Durant. Again I know the rules for these guys are old news now and all but with the models themselves only recently released (and my eagerness to buy them next week driving my planning) I wanted to give my opinion. 

Reznik, Rock of Ages

Yes, I know it's Wrath not Rock but how can I pass that up? And speaking of things too good to pass up:

Oh my word that's a nice merciless fanatical warlord. I'm a big fan of the prime version of Reznik, he's a no nonsense face smashing force of destruction that makes your enemies into Wracks. The new version is the first Warmachine battle engine caster (second overall with Lylyth3 as the first with her elk sled). I don't think anyone could dispute that this is a lovely model adding a totally new dimension to a caster while retaining his intimidating style. What is in question to some extent is the playstyle for the newest addition to the Protectorate. 

The first thing to consider, and it's hard to ignore is that Resnik is Huge. Like literally. That's a Huge base meaning 1) he can get a lot of models in his arc (especially since that badass spear has reach) 2) his control and command are augmented by his huge-osity 3) he is a great target for our enemies and he's impossible to screen with anything short of a collosal or battle engine. 4) charge lanes become a bit tricky on a crowded board especially since, unlike Lylyth's sled, we don't get trample. This is big, tactically and will certainly have a big effect on positioning though a healthy SPD 7 isn't bad for getting about on the board. At least his special rule Lamentations of Suffering means so long as he's camping one focus non magical ranged attacks automiss as well as the customary ARM boost, which hopefully will help him stay alive. 

The original Reznik was a melee caster of the first rate, more than capable of winning pretty much any scrap he got himself into. Epic Reznik is clearly meant to be played aggressively too. His Take Down and Flame Burst special rules are there for smashing people up and with only one offensive spell it's all about breaking faces in close combat. 

Speaking of spells the big guy on the chariot has a very different approach to his younger self. Engine of Destruction is gone replaced by Creators Wrath, which costs 2 but boosts all melee attack and damage rolls and gives him effective Blessed to crack magically defended foes. EoD is a devastating spell and CW seems to lack the same level of offensive punch but I think that this spell can also be potent if applied correctly. On the charge both Reznik and his mount will get boosted attacks and if you then buy one or more you've easily got your money back on the spell, plus with the chariot's speed you have an innate EoD style speed boost from the original and while you're not getting +4 to MAT and STR you are getting +d6 meaning you could potentially have an extra 6 on each. Add in the fact you ignore spells adding to the DEF or ARM of your enemy and it's a potentially destructive combo! 

In addition to this eRez has 3 other upkeepable buffs. Lamentation (forcing your opponents spells to cost twice their focus or fury) is very useful on a caster who's more likely to be up the field and in people's faces. Iron Aggression makes a lovely return as one of the best Jack buffs in the game (in my humble opinion) to allow your jack boosted attacks and free charges, slams and tramples so long as you upkeep for 1 focus. Interestingly unlike his former version this Reznik has a very nice unit buff in Death March, granting a unit +2 MAT (nice) and Vengence, making one unit hard hitting and responsive, and meaning that this version wants at least one unit in there to enjoy the benefits. In addition to these buff spells however Reznik is also packing a single offensive spell called The Flesh is Weak, which is a 4" AOE at POW 12 and RNG 8 that causes the models (not unit) hit to be unable to run or charge (living and undead only, so no constructs) putting a crimp in your opponent's counter offensive but at a pricy 3 focus (the cost of all of the spells except CW) it seems like a last resort but a good ace up your sleeve. 

All of this is all well and good but what gets me salivating is the feat. And oh boy it's a good one. First off all enemy models in his control range get -2 DEF. On it's own that's very nice against some armies like Cryx where our weapon masters only want to connect to do some serious damage. We're not stopping there though, oh no. On top of that every enemy model also becomes a powderkeg waiting to take down their colleagues in a blaze of glory to the Creator. Yes, that's right every boxed enemy (by a melee or ranged attack) in control explodes in a 4" AOE that causes a POW 12 fire damage roll (not blast damage for those immune but it is fire meaning some models will shrug it off entirely) and then the model is RFP meaning no corpses or souls and any disabled or destroyed effects won't activate! Hilarious and great for clearing out swathes of infantry this feat will make and alpha strike that could leave your opponent crippled. 

I for one am seriously looking forward to putting this big guy on the table one I get him built and painted and figure out what to bring along with him!

Initiate Tristan Durant

If you're a warmachine fan and you haven't already I strongly recommend getting a copy of the Rites of Passage anthology from Skull Island Expeditions as it gives a great insight into each of the new novice casters. Lucky me the narrative for Durant paired him with the High Executioner, one of my favourite casters. I love the idea of the novice casters and this is another model I'm keen to try out. Plus it doesn't hurt the model is so nice:

Tristan comes with 4 focus, a very squishy stat line, a couple of spells and a very interesting special rule. First things first 4 extra focus for 3 points is nothing to sniff at especially in an army already teeming with jack support all of which will buff Tristan's jacks as readily as anyone else's. 

The spells are pretty solid. One is a 2 point upkeepable ARM boost that also stops the jack and models B2B immune to knock down, push and slam effects. The other is an old favourite Immolation but the 4 FOC means the accuracy of the attack is unreliable at best. 

As far as I'm concerned one of the more interesting things about the Protectorate's future caster is True Sight. It's pretty wasted on Tristan since his only ranged attack is Immolation (which as I stated above is low accuracy and only actually gains 3" of threat vs stealth but will take any advantage over DEF buffs it can). I've read a few people bemoaning this addition to the journeyman and I understand but why I'm pleased with it is because he's a journeyman. That means there's a good chance that we'll soon have a fully fledged warcaster with a full repertoire of spells and abilities and then True Sight can come into it's own. It's not a special rule that's especially great now but it is a promise of a very interesting development that's coming. 

As far as battlegrouping goes I've heard some people talking about a Tristan/Judy combo, especially with the harbinger to keep him alive - that seems to be quite a popular idea. I can't deny the appeal and that it had definitely occurred to me too. However I think I'll mostly use Tristan to bring the Redeemer to the table more often. It's an expensive jack to run and most casters don't want to be pouring that much energy into a light. But a free 4 focus to keep it fully stocked and bombarding the enemy every turn without having any impact on the caster's valuable reserves? Yes, please. I have a nice idea for a pKreoss list with this combo for a nice pop 'n' drop salvo that still leaves all of the High Exemplar's focus intact. Delicious. 

All in all these are two models I'm itching to try out and I can't wait to slap them on the board and tell you all about it. 

-M