That does what???????

It's been said a lot, and I'm going to say it again, Warmachine and Hordes have a very steep learning curve for new players. We've all had those moments in games when the rock solid plan to rip the enemy Warcasters head off that we'd spent our opponent's turn maliciously formulating falls apart because of an obscure ability on a minor solo comes out of left field. Some find this a challenge to overcome whilst other find this a daunting prospect and get frustrated very quickly. "How can I keep this all in my head? I'm not buying all of the books/faction decks just to figure out what everything can do!" is not an uncommon statement from new, and sometimes not so new players. It would be impossible to retain everything about all models and their synergies, let alone that few of us have the free time and cash to pick up all of the books for both games and memorise them! So. I thought I'd list a few of the resources that are available out on the interweb to get things rolling. If you have a favorite that I've missed then drop it in a comment!

PP Forums

Ok, lets start with the most obvious first - the game maker's forums. This can be a really mixed bag, usual forum rage posts aside (c'mon, they get them on every forum!). the Mk2 rules section can be invaluable if you're not sure of how to interpret a particular rule or not sure that the trick that was pulled on you in your last game was entirely legit. There are also faction specific communities for discussing everything from strategies, model strengths and weaknesses and complete lists. as with any forum, you can sometimes get as many conflicting answers to a question as replies but sometimes the little nugget of truth and inspiration can be sifted out! one flaw in the forums is the search engine, it's not that great.

No Quarter Magazine

This should be available from the store that you get your figs from. It's PP's own publication and includes previews, battle reports, sometimes a bit of tactica, hobbey articles and so on. can be a little light on actual 'discussion' at times but still a good read to keep up with whats new.

Battle College

This Wiki has been running for a number of years and, as well as discussions on each individual Caster/Lock, Jack/Beast, unit and solo in the game also has section on general tactics as well as list discussion - though the Mk2 versions of these sections is still looking a little sparse.

Podcasts

there are a large number of WM/H focussed pod casts out there, each with it's own flavour and focus. A review of these has already been undertaken on this blog - have a look under 'Ana_su_posts' and you'll find his 3 part blog.

These are the four that jump to mind for me, as I said, it's not necessarily an exhaustive list so please use the comments to add your own favourites.

Cheers

Warmachine / hordes errata

New errata available at the PP site:

http://privateerpress.com/warmachine-and-hordes-errata-update

plenty of general tidy ups as well as a few model specific entries - Mr. Snook you may want to check out the change to E-Gaspy's feat!

Privateer Press 10th Anniversary sale

For those of you looking to get a new faction and start from the battle box, look no further:

http://privateerpress.com/privateer-press-10th-anniversary-sale

from the web site:

Pick any battlegroup box set, the associated faction tokens, and receive a free copy of WARMACHINE: Prime Mk II or HORDES: Primal Mk II as well as a free Privateer Press tape measure!


What’s more, we are offering free shipping worldwide^† on purchases of WARMACHINE and HORDES battlegroup box sets , giving everyone a chance to get into these two great games wherever they live in the world.

the free shipping only applies to the battlebox portion of the order but you still get a rule book and tape measure for free!

Check it out.

Cheers

chris

Seether Conversion WIP

Hey all,



Just thought I would chuck up the pictures I
took of the Cryx Plastic jack kit I am slowly
turning into a Seether (I hope).

Started with just magnetising the chassis so I would have 2 customisable Helljacks but once I got onto the Slayer claws I thought about how much I dislike them for their wussiness.



So after a big dig through the bits box I hacked up some 40k Bulldozer blades and after some dremel action viola! Supa-Clawz!

Now the claws seemed too much for the model so the only reasonable course of action was to make it a more baddass Jack than just a Slayer. So I picked up some chain from a craft store and now the arms are basically done. Next step- Sort out a more suitable looking head (giant tusks perhaps) and add some evil-Cryx style spikes, ridges and other paraphenalia to the upper torso.

See you at Nicon.
Iain

Something rotten this way comes

Playing Cryx is a bit of a double edged sword, yes the general spikey nastiness of the models is awesome and they're interesting to paint BUT how much rotten and decayed flesh is there to paint???? When you have a couple of full units of Mechanithralls, the necessary Necrosurgeon unit, some bile and bloat thralls - not to mention the caster is also usually on the colder side of living and breathing - it can be a little daunting. I used to have a quick and dirty method that involved highlighting up from GWs Ghoul Grey but it always seemed a little, well... grey! When the FoW Cryx book was released I quickly jumped in trying the PP method given  in there. Whilst it looked great it took FOREVER to get right! not to mention, not having access to the P3 paints made some of the colour choices guesses at best.

So, one night with the Mech'thrall unit staring balefully at me from under it's base coat, I decided to have a bit of a play around. thankfully this really paid off and I ended up with a method that looks (IMO) great, really bruised and rotten but only takes around 3 hours to do 10 Mechthralls!

I wasn't taking photos through the Mech'thrall marathon, so I've repeated the work with a Necrotech and Scrapthralls to give you the idea...

OK, so when I'm painting up my shambling legion I always work from a black undercoat and deal to the metallic parts first. these usually involve dry brushing or heavy washes that would cause havoc with a lighter colour next to it. So, stage one is to add a base coat of GW Rotting Flesh:

2: add a wash of Liche Purple with a small amount of Catachan Green, this wants to be really watery. you also want to make sure it still has a reasonably strong purple tint - this gives the 'bruised' look of the settled fluids that a copse seems to take on... so I've read in books, honest! 

 Apply the wash liberally to the flesh areas. Allowing it to gather at the edges of the metal and clothing really helps to make the flesh stand out after it's highlighted:

3. Once the wash is dry, I usually angle the lamp down close to the models to speed things up a bit, mix a blend of Liche Purple, Catachan Green with a small amount of Rotting Flesh to provide the first highlight. you want to make sure you leave the areas where the wash gathered exposed to give good depth to scars, open wounds etc...

4. progress for 2 more highlights making the difference between shades quite strong, helps with the emaciated corpse look:

 and the final highlight:

And there you have it, just a few extra details and colour to add and you shambling horde is done! you can vary the look by adding more or less green to the mix or a little red to get the "fresher" look, but the similar base colours will still allow all of the models to have that coherent look. Here's a pic in slightly better light and a few more details added:

And there you have it, with just some basing and a bit more work on the Necrotech to go and they'll be on the table! hopefully this post will inspire a few of you budding Liche Lords to get your armies on the table with a little more colour!

Cheers

Wellington Shattered Grounds League - Week 4

The end of the road is here, after 4 weeks slogging it out with 61 games played between them all, the Thundercliff Peaks season of Privateer Press' Shattered Grounds league has drawn to a close in Wellington. There really was a last minute shuffle at the end of the league with Jimmy loosing his top spot at the last minute - with mitigating circumstances admittedly, but even that was at least half his fault ;o) - and Mike Snook leaping in in the last week with 11 straight undefeated games under his belt!

We finished the final week off with an afternoon of 25point 1-1-1-1-1 games. For those unfamiliar with the format:

1 Warcaster / Lock
1 Heavy Jack / Beast
1 Light Jack / Beast
1 Unit + UAs
1 Solo

Khador players could substitute the Dismounted Drakhun or Berserker for the light jack, legion could substitute 2 lesser beasts for the same.

At the end of the afternoon, and the league, the final results were:

It was great to see Alex no longer relegated to the status of Belgium, though Tom's Gators should probably slink off back to the murk from whence they came....

OK, the next season of the league Rotterhorn, runs from the 20th June to 17th July, if anyone in Wellington is keen on joining in then let me know. If any players from this season have any feedback on how this one was organised then feel free to email me or comment on this post.

TTFN

Chris

Wellington Shattered Grounds League - Week 3

Ok, only 1 week left and things are still up for grabs with only 5 points separating the top 4 places. 

there will be a league finale at the Hutt Club this Saturday. I'll email round full details later this evening :)

Thresher photos. Finally.

Hey there -
I have finally got my act together and managed to throw together some random photos from the recent Thresher Tournament from several weeks ago.

Matthew's Circle army advance into Sergio's Skorne amidst the ruins

Chongs Lylyth looks fairly lonely out there. Hmm, Jimmy's Bronzeback looks hungry...
(It should be noted that when filming the Thrallblacks Battle Reports, Jimmy bolts the camera tripod to baby Titans. He plays Skorne; its expected of him)

Chris Otton, (Thrallblacks Grand Chancellor or something) unleashes his Cryx to spread out and take on the heavy Warbeasts fielded by Chris Parkin (Battle Report video host blogger extrordanaire)

Jimmy's magnificent Bronzeback looms over Chris Ottons Cryx.

Newcomer Jay here brings his Cryxian horde to square off against Chong's Legion of Everblight. Poor bastard had never played against a Hordes army before the tournament and spent all day playing vs Hordes. Someone should talk to the TO about that...

Chris O, one the Bloggers on this very site masses the servants of Toruk against Jimmy as punishment for giving up his Cryxian armies to return to his Skorne roots.

Che's Retribution of Scyrah army fight over the dockyards with Teds Khadorian Warjack army

A fight of the big bases. Ric's Khador army fight over a hill with Thresher Winner Chris Parkin

The same fight from the Legion side.

It wasnt until afterwards that I realised that I didnt take an even amount of pictures of all the armies, and that I had a disproportionate amount taken of Jimmy's Bronzeback. It was a very nice paint job afterall.

I intend to take more photos next time :)

Ana Su

Rhyas Versus e-Skaare

Here it is, part deux to our first effort.
this took me effing ages, so enjoy.

Untitled from James Braid on Vimeo.

Wellington Shattered Grounds League - Week 2

Week 2 draws to a close and there has been a bit of shuffling around in the league ladder. Though the top and bottom two places remain unchanged, everyone else has been using their gaming time to get a couple of games in  and up the ante on the game size with Chris R and Scott getting a 100 point 2 caster game in! I have a feeling a little proxying was the order of the day but big ups to the guys for giving it a go. The 8 league points for playing that size game pushed Chris into a comfortable 4th place with Scott making his way nicely up to mid table. Matt managed to get 3 games in this week - one of them being a 50 point game against yours truly in which we discovered that P-Kreuger is not necessarily a good match up against a Tier 4 Mortenebra list! Evil? Me? MWA HA HA HA HA!!! Seriously though, a good game in which a horde of Scrap Thralls did their usual - stood in front and took all of the ranged attacks whilst the 5 Heavies did the business :) Tom (of Tank Engine fame on this blog) has managed to get his @rse in gear and get a game in this week ;o) so just need to get Alex off nil points or we start calling him Belgium!

Well, enough rambling, here's what you really want to look at:

Till next week guys and gals!

Chris (PG_Pelarel)