War Machine / Hordes, general discussion

Had this on my Facebook feed this morning, thought it would be of interest.

Mk II Errata

I haven't gone through the rules updates, mainly because I wouldn't know (I still have Mk I).  Just ordered Mk II rulebook.

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Come to think of it, I might have the Mk II as a PDF; I'll have to check.  Oh well.  Would rather a paper copy anyway.

Haven't received my Skorne Factions book yet, but I am going through several sites to see what the Skorne all have to offer. I'm window shopping as it were, mentally building an army before I actually begin to think about purchases.

So to you, a question. How many points can the lot of you field right now? Yes, I know we can play smaller skirmishes, but on the opposite side of the spectrum I would like to know what kind of massed cataclysmic onslaught we can do.

As much as I like the bases (that rounded top edge is great for holding in the detailing), at the same tie, I wish that Privateer Press would have designed their figures to actually fit within these bases.

And speaking of bases, anyone have an extra medium base?

Why? Did you break one or lose one when you...
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dropped the base?

Noooo. This is from a bid I won on eBay. Either the blister was missing the base originally, or the owner took things out to look at them, and forgot to put the base back in.

I can easily craft my own, no big deal. Was just curious is all.

When it comes to the games we all play, I've found that watching tutorial videos helps me.  I can read the rulebook and get an understanding, but having a visual kind of cements things in; watching recorded video reports helps to further that understanding, what with its moments of "ahh, okay" or "I understand now".  This definitely helped when I was learning Dropzone Commander, and I believe it'll help with War Machine and Hordes; if anything, these videos posted here go along with the general feel of this thread.

And, with my search to better understand the game, I came across this app.  You guys may have already seen it, but again, it fits in with the general feel of this thread:  War Room Handheld.  There's also an app for the tablet; truthfully, I would think that the taplet app would work on a laptop if it's running Windows 8 or higher, but that's just my opinion.

The reviews are heavily mixed, but I couldn't tell you how up-to-date they are.  I could, I know how to read, I just don't want to go through everything...  I'm lazy today.

So anyway, here's a video tutorial / guide for War Room, followed by a link to the War Room FAQ.  Enjoy!



FAQ

This is going to sound stupid, but man, after having watched the Hordes Tutorial, I have a better understanding of the game now. After all these years of reading and re-reading the rulebook, I don't know, seeing and hearing it works better for me than just reading. I know there's different ways to learn something, so maybe that's it.

Anyway, I highly recommend those videos. Even if you've been playing for a while, who knows... maybe you'll see something new.

Regarding the War Room app... 'crunch made mention that he and Vader were talking about it before, but that it never really went beyond that point. I would like to give you a little bit more incentive to get this app: the updates.

The app itself is free, with a few items 'locked' until you buy something from the store; in my case, I purchased the Skorne deck. It only cost a little under $7, but I figure it was worth it as it gave me the ability to see everything that army has to offer, even more so that the faction book (which has already become outdated). I haven't looked into the rules too heavily yet to see how extensive they are, so I cannot report on that.

I had started to wonder about new cards and new models. The fine folks at Privateer Press have been putting out some nice models for the Skorne, and I guess there were a slew of figures released with a couple of the campaign books (ie, Devastation). And wouldn't it just suck, knowing I already bought a digital deck, and now I'd have to buy a new one? After all, that's what Games Workshop would do.

Couldn't be more wrong. Fired up War Room this morning, logged in, and I was greeted with a message that said an update was available. I hit yes, and moments later, I was presented with a bunch of new Skorne cards and a rules update. My deck is now current and up-to-date, and as far as I now, the rules are good as well (they're in keyword alphabetical order, so who knows).

So far I give the app a thumbs up, just because of the "free" cards in the deck update. I'll try the army builder feature later today and see how that goes.

Did you test the army builder yet? Vader and I had some concerns about buying any of the decks since there was talk from PP that if/when they release MK3 we will have to repurchase the factions again, plus there was talk in the forum that if/when they release MK3 they MIGHT (to save space) make the MK2 cards unavailable for download. Until we saw a black and white definite from PP, we were holding off... so we never got to play with the extended features from a purchase. Lemme know, eh?

Here is a rundown of the army builder.

The initial creation screen allows you to choose how many points the game is, and if you are playing with reinforcements, specialists, or league cards (more on that later). For the points, you have: 15 points as a duel, with one caster; 25, 50 and 75 as a skirmish, with one caster; 75 points as a grand melee, with one caster; 100 points as a grand melee with one or two casters; 125 points as a battle royale with two casters; 150 points is also a battle royale, with two or three casters; 175 points is a war with three casters; 200 is also a war, but with three or four casters.

For the sake of this example, I will make a 75 point army with none of the options checked.

The army screen looks just like the card deck screen, with an added description bar along the top. This bar shows your points, number of casters allowed, as well as the number of WB, BE, S, and U... which I can only imagine stands for war beasts, battle engines, solos, and units.

Press the warlocks button (or was casters,whatever),and you get the card list, as well as a visual as to how many points you get towards a war beast. For this, I am picking Xerxis, the Fury of Halaak. Press the + icon on the right, and now all the warlocks turn red, indicating you cannot pick any more. Also, the points count on top has gone from 0/75 (75+0) to 0/80 (75+5), showing that my warlock choice has given me five extra points.

**If you tap on your warlock, one of the icons to come up is a paperclip; press that, and you get a list of attachment units.**

My next choice, in no particular order, is going to be infantry. I hit Merc/Minion units, which shows me all the mercs and minions that will work with my faction. I scroll down, find Gaterman Posse, and hit the + icon twice, giving me the maximum of that unit type I can field; I am also asked if I want to field one leader with two grunts, or a leader with four grunts (per unit)... there is a point difference. I mark a leader with four grunts for both. The posse is now red, showing I can't field any more.

I then go to the solo section and add two task masters, as they come in handy to drive those minions. Almost a must.

So far, I have spent 22 out of my 80 points, and looking at the status bar, I have one warlock, two units, and two solos.

Okay, I've added a few more selections, but I just noticed something: I don't see any war beast options. What the hell? A quick search online reveals an answer... because you can have armies with multiple casters, those casters would have specific 'jacks or beasts assigned to them. So, press the word army on the right of the screen; this shows you your army so far.

On your warlock, press the paperclip icon; this will bring up a list of the 'jacks or beasts that can be used with that particular caster.

*Remember how you have points specifically for a beast or 'jack? You cannot build an army without that unit! I tried to make an army without a beast, and it wouldn't allow me to finish.

Okay, now that that is squared away...

You can save and email your army list if you like, as well as name it.

What I like here is that you cn now take your army into the fight section, either from the main menu, or from the menu button at the top left of the screen. You are then given the choice of solo, host, and join. I don't know what host and join entail, but I do know you need to be logged in. So, let's go to solo.

Here you can pick an army list you've created. Select one, you see the card list. Press play at the top. You know have a different view of your card list.

Press the name, and you get the card's information In this case,I opened up a war beast. Press a weapon, and you get a selection of rules for the weapons; press on an ability, and you get the rules for all associated abilities.

Then there's this: instead of pressing the name, press the health counter. Using the same beast, I now have the life spirals; I can select which spiral, factor in the damage, accept, and just like that, the beast's information has automatically been adjusted. A spiral that has been completely boxed appears with an X on it.

So there you go... the army builder. It's nice, convenient, and saves paperand ink. It's eco friendly!

Now, the league cards. These are special characters or units that can only be played specific games. They kind of change the units a little bit; as an example, a Gladiator Titan now has the option to be diseased, which spreads a pestilence to any unit within a certain area. Or there's the Titan Cannoneer that can shoot poisonous projectiles. Or or or.

I was looking for some Skorne and Tau images today when I stumbled upon this amazing conversion...  would hate to see the recoil from this set-up, but regardless, it's a nice model.

The changes, they are a comin'.

If you've been keeping up with the Privateer Press posts on Facebook, you'll know that MkIII is on the way, with the release of the new rulebook happening in mid-late June. If you haven't been keeping up, guess what? MkIII is coming out in mid-late June; whole new ruleset, different point system, and tweaking of models and cards. Oh! Also, the time frame has jumped two years, so expect some changes in the stories as well.

With the tweaking of models, this is nothing new; there will always be new casts or kits. But the cards, I'm afraid to say, you'll have to get once again. With regards to the War Room app, if you bought decks this year, you'll get a cost reduction (I believe half cost), but if you bought them before January, yep, you have to buy those all over again as well... so much for the whole "free card updates" they were spouting, ehh?

Each week since the announcement, Privateer Press has been releasing announcements and "sneak peeks" as to what has all changed. I haven't been following the different factions or forces so I can't tell you what's going on with your specific builds, but a couple common changes are that warjacks start the turn with... whatever it is you guys use to power and operate your 'jacks and abilities. With Hordes, a common change is that when a warbeast dies, we get to collect the fury points. This was done to balance out the early and end game. Let's see... there was something about bringing War Machine and Hordes closer together in an effort to avoid confusion. Don't know what that means, but I haven't been following that either, so there.

With the new release, each force / faction is also getting a new battle box; these are still made of plastic, but the plastic is colored in that particular force's main color: for example, the Skorne battle box figures are dyed red. That's kind of neat. Also, each battle box comes with the streamlined rulebook, some terrain (you know, the flat sheet of paper with a printed map) and I believe something else, but I can't remember... oh yes, a new warlock or warcaster! Gnome Games is offering a preorder special... the battle box and deck of cards for $55, which really isn't bad, I think that that is the suggested retail price. BUT, in addition, if you do the preorder, Gnomes will give you 10% off future War Machines purchases (which kind of drops his prices to something a bit more manageable). I ordered my preorder set from some other dealer online, got both the box and the deck for $53, no shipping fee. While I like Gnome Games and I like the owner, I just can't justify those costs of his.

So once again Privateer Press is doing exactly something they said they weren't going to do, and it costs the players more out-of-pocket? I was going to do a nice sarcastic "I'm so shocked" or "can you imagine" but at this point I'm too disappointed in them to give a shit anymore. Love the game and the subject matter, but... about a year ago Vader and I were playing on the tabletop pretty often, just quick skirmishes with no terrain. We got the urge from playing the official video game available on Steam, and of course that game uses a modified MK2, while we just had MK1 stuff. We looked at War Room, but there's something to be said for getting the cards in hand.

The thing there that set me off was looking for faction decks, which I found out PP phased out during MK2. Instead, they sell individual cards. That is awesome, since you only have to buy the cards you need for the models you have, BUT... if memory serves we got our MK1 faction decks for a whopping $14.99. Don't remember how many cards they had. The MK2 individual cards are $0.50 a piece, including 2 for the warcaster, plus shipping which I didn't even bother getting to. So my problem is the price, just for my models... 2 warcasters is 4 cards is $2. 2 'jacks is 2 cards is $1. 2 units and 1 solo is 3 cards is $1.50... so I'm paying $4.50 (plus shipping) for 7 cards?! Okay, that's not bad... but say there were 50 cards in that MK1 faction deck box for $14.99... now you're looking at $25 for the same thing because they decided to make it easier for us?

The game came out, they said they wanted to be better than their competitors, so no faction/army books. They said MK2 was going to be 100% compatible with MK1 so people wouldn't HAVE to upgrade. MK2 comes out, it's not compatible, so new rule books.... then they release the faction books... then they release the new plastic models, then they phase out MK1 altogether. They release War Room, and say IF there's a MK3 it will be several years out, but if you buy decks you won't have to pay for the updates...

They have turned into what they disliked about the industry. They have become what they set out to defeat. And I am disappointed... sorry for stealing your thread... every time PP has a new release I get whiny about their constant betrayals.

By all means, comment and vent away. And perish the thought of this being "my" thread, because it's not; it's a general discussion on WarMaHordes.

I understand where you're coming from with the cost and doing exactly what they said they wouldn't do. If they wanted to keep that policy, they could have easily made an errata. I do know from what I've read that they even were considering making a Mk2.5, but I guess there's quite a bit that's changed... not so much the mechanics of things, but of abilities and whatnot. And I don't know, on one hand I can see people complaining, but on the other it's been six years since the last rules improvement (or overhaul)... which is by far a lot better than Games Workshop.

While I didn't like the fact the PP came out with faction books, I kind of grew to like it as it makes for a handy reference... but too bad that became outdated real quick. Now, I just go to the Battle College website; it may not have the exact numbers, it does go into tactics, pros and cons of a particular model. For numbers, a quick search can turn those up. Coupled with War Room, yeah, there's no need for the faction books.

I think that my biggest complaint with PP is when they switched from pewter to plastic. Not only does it ruin their entire motto, but they never reduced the pricing to match the product, unless you want to say that plastic injection costs just as much as metal. But, as much as I hate the move to plastic, I like the ease of assembly and painting.

All told, I don't think this is going to be too big a hassle. PP has always posted the new rules online, so you don't have to buy the book; the only thing you really have to buy are the cards which does admittedly suck, but I'm sure someone will be posting images of the cards... probably on reddit.

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On a different note. $0.50 a card? Really? But the models come with cards! Unless you're talking about buying cards of things you don't have so you can plan future purchases. Save yourself some money, check out Battle College; that's where I spent a lot of time planning and building my army before I bought the figures. I also just checked the deck pricing in War Room: $7 a deck. That could be because those decks are now "out dated"; when the new ones move out, I'll check the prices again.

The models do come with the cards... the reason I was looking at buying cards was all my models were first generation, so they all had MK1 cards, and I also had the MK1 faction deck. So, if Vader and I (or I and your beasties) were going to delve into MK2, it would be a tad cheaper to buy the cards than to buy all new models.

But since you mentioned it, I haven't yet checked Reddit for a warmachine sub... they have everything else game related... hmmmm... I spend so much time on there looking for ways to offend the masses I forget to check for useful stuff!

Don't know how accurate this is, or what updated version of Mk3 cards these are, but if you wanted to check things out for your faction...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Warmachine/comments/4kqqr0/massive_mk3_faction_deck_spoiler_dump_read_at/

An ongoing project, but well worth a look. Maybe. Essentially a free player made version of War Room.

http://conflictchamber.com/

Not even a month in, and there is already an errata for Mk3.

errata