Initial thoughts on Commander's Crucible in SR2014

So with the release of Steamroller 2014 we are introduced to a new format for Warmachine and Hordes games.  Enter "Commander's Crucible".  I have been trying to break down this format mentally in prep for playing it at TempleCon and for me this format feel very much like Mangled Metal with Icing on the cake.  You have a 20-25 pt battle group and then your icing aka your 15pt support.   Character restrictions aren't to bad unless your dealing with Character Jacks and or Character attachements.  

• Ret and Mercs will have to figure out which battle group most needs Sylys and Skorne will have to do the same for Marketh  
• I don't expect a huge amount of Khaor, Cryx and Minions as those faction players historically have had issues with running large amounts of jacks.  I still think the factions have three casters that can get the job done well, but it will be up to those players to find out which ones they like in order to do it.  Though I think the inclusion of the Withershadow Combine in every list in a format that will have alot of scrap piles laying around should make many Cryx players semi-happy.
• Other factions though will be able to do things like put a Janissa, Black Frost, Lord of Feast, Winterguard Deathstar, Errant/Piper/Book combo, etc. in every list, 
• Even though I would think that though they aren't super excited about 20+ pt battlegroups, Mercs would be excited for the chance to have their character units and solos in as many of their lists as they want.

In the end it's a new format though as I said it draw likings to older elements of Steamroller like pre-character restrictions and Mangled Metal.  Though in part I am curious if this is a covert way of playtesting and seeing how much of an issue the game would be if they lifted Character Restriction in our present game state.  In the end all I can say is try the format before you determine you do or don't like it.

Would you like to play a game?

Do you like to play wargames?
Do you (or did you) like to play Magic the Gathering?
Do you (or did you) like to play chess?
Do you like to play games with a clear and concise detailed rules?
Do you like to play games with a developed lore and background world?

If you answered yes to the above five questions than I can honestly say that Warmachine or Hordes is a
game you will enjoy and you should read more.

Video Battle Reports 3 - 6

So I failed to keep up with the video battle report posting so to catch the blog up here are the videos we have produced and posted on Youtube since the last blog post.

Battle Report #3:

Battle Report #4

Battle Report #5

Battle Report #6

We have agreed to do a weekly Friday release so there should be a video up once a week all through 2014.

Warmachine Kickstarter & Journeyman Warcaster sneak peek.

Reblogged: http://endgamegaming.net/

So the next Warmachine book to be released is "Venegence". Some models have already been released by Privateer Press for this new expansion such as the various Solo Jack Marshalls like the Cygnar Stormblade Captain, Menoth Exemplar Bastion Seneschal, and Khador Iron Fang Kovnik.

Well this week we are now privy to some more rules and the release of two new warcasters.  One for Cryx and one for Cygnar.  These rules were released from PP for the new up and coming Vengence Book were as a result of their Privateer Press's Kickstarter for "Warmachine: Tactics".   The Kickstart is not even 24 hours in and as of this post are sitting at $509,219 of there $550,000 goal.  So yeah this thing is going to happen without a doubt.  It's nice to see Privateer press entering into the computer gaming arena with there IP, we all know what Dawn of War did for Warhammer 40k.  Maybe it will do the same for Warmachine.

 Looks like running "more jacks" just got a little easier

New Cygnar Warcaster


New Cygnar Warcaster Stats

X-Wing Miniatures Game - In Review

So last night I had a good friend come over and he showed me X-Wing the Miniatures game.  

First Impressions
The game appears to be a heavy movements game.  And by movements game I mean you will win or loss the game based on how well or poorly you move your ships in the space provided.  Dice didn't seem as strong of a factor in the game due to the focus mechanic and the chance to hit via hits,crits, and focus on the attack dice.  So where other games you have the potential of lady luck kicking you in the nuts, with the embedded focus mechanic you are more likely to keep her vengeance at bay.  This also drives towards movement being so critical.  If your opponent can capitalize on your movements there is a much higher chance of doing enough dmg to knock out your ships early on.  An in a game of only 3-6 ships in your fleet even a single lost ship is a crippling blow.  

My List

Now I will not admit to any level of expertise (seeing as just above I admitted to only a couple games in), so take what I say next with a grain of salt.  After the couple mechanics learning games, we hashed out a 100pt Rebel List (100pts appears to be this games standard "tournament" format at the moment) which looks like this:

(X-Wing) Biggs Darklighter (25) w/ R2D2 (4)

(X-Wing) Red squadron Pilot (23)

(X-Wing) Graven Dreis (26)

(A-Wing) Green Squadron Pilot (19) w/ push the limit (3)

Total: 100pt.