Battlefield Bangkok

Okay our first store leagues are in the launch process, we’re aiming for 6 or more people per league to get things rolling.  The leagues will be

• Anima tactics : 100 Points
• Warmachine : 350 Points (No Hordes)
• WoW Minis

If you have any suggestions for other leagues or would like to run and organize a league then please let us know. To join the above leagues the cost is 200 EXP or THB 100, let me or the store team know and we’ll sign you up!

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The long awaited new faction for War Machine is on the way.  Releasing in September, Forces of WARMACHINE: Retribution of Scyrah will provide everything players will need to field the new faction, including model statistics, background material, and a modeling and painting guide. The book will be written for use with the upcoming new edition of game rules, WARMACHINE Mk II, which releases early 2010. Privateer Press’ bimonthly No Quarter Magazine will feature articles in issues #25 and #26 that will allow players to use their Retribution of Scyrah models with the current WARMACHINE rules.

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Make sure you let us know if you want to pre-order your copy of the book and any starter boxes that may be announced

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It’s here at last. May 1 10AM we open the doors.  Something of a long time dream come true for me, after all, every gamer geek dreams of working in a gaming shop, or owning one

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On Friday we’ll have the tables set up for demo games with board games, card games (VTES I expect) and miniatures (Anima and Warmachine) . Snack and drinks will be available all day as well as a lucky “roll” on every purchase over THB 1000 to win a promo prize!

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Also don’t forget that the following membership cards get you an immediate 5% discount on all purchases at the shop

• MBMG International Football League Player
• Paradigm Infinitum Games Shop Member
• Kinokuniya Member
• Piyarom Sports Club Member

Come join us for a weekend of gaming at Battlefield Bangkok

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When we first started playing Warmachine and Hordes, we looked in the book where there is a list of battle sizes and the time it should / could take to play them , and we laughed out loud. We were playing 500 point caster kill matches which needed two to three hours to play. We even had a couple of 4 way matches that lasted around six hours. So the idea that one could finish a match in.. 30 minutes was , ha laughable.

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But how times have changed. Briefly we got faster, and then as we got more units and deeper into the game we got slower and slower, analysis paralysis was creeping in, and if you were on the loosing side of a three hour match, it started to get dull, and lets face it, if you’re loosing, you want to loose fast, and get on to the next match.

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And so we started to implement time limits on turns, playing around with 15 minutes a turn and gradually turning the screw as we saw that shorter turns forced not only a change of how one played but also in what an army consisted of and how units were used.

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From there the next step was scenarios, and that seems to be the sweet spot, no more 6 round ballets as the warcasters all stay way back and avoid getting hit.  Nope scenarios introduced the “charge in now or be too late” fun to our games. It no longer is an issue of keeping a warcaster alive, but more important to get him/her to the right location, hit with the feat or kill the enemy caster…and then die a glorious death as your army sweeps to victory anyway.

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Mosh Pit scenarios at 1000 Points have rarely made it past round 3. playing 12-14 minute turns with “one” two minute mayday allowance this has meant matches are over in 90 minutes. At 500 we’re at 6 minute turns. This has really freed up our matches immensely, meaning more matches, more things to try and more of a “charge and be damned” attitude as the next match is just minutes away!

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INTRODUCTION

Self-proclaimed privateer and notorious criminal, Phinneus Shae led the so-called “Shae Mutiny” abroad the MLS Exeter some seven years ago. Since then, Shae has been the captain of the Talion and has preyed upon merchant and Cygnarian shipping along the Broken Coast. Captain Shae never enters battle without his crew of crusty sea dogs and the infamous Commodore cannon.

STATS -

Shae has fairly average stats for a warcaster with a bit better than average DEF and a low ARM. His SPD of 6 is in line with most of the privateer army and he can easily keep pace with them. Shae’s STR score of 6 generally doesn’t come in play as there is no need to throw him. Shae’s MAT of 7 means that he’s quite handy in melee and that can be boosted up to 9 with Storm Rager. His RAT is a disappointing 5, especially for someone who likes to use his hand cannon. Shae’s DEF is 16, which is pretty good but it is still best to keep him screened or behind cover. Being base-to-base with a Mariner or Freebooter for both the screening bonus and Lash (immunity to knock downs) is a toss up because his ARM of 14 means that he can take a pounding from blast damage. Shae’s health boxes of 16 and ARM of 14 generally means that if an enemy warcaster gets a line on him, he’s probably dead. Two good hits and it’s game over. Shae’s CMD is typical for Mercs at 8. He rarely needs to use his CMD to rally fleeing units though as most privateer models are fearless or Rockbottom can make them auto-pass CMD checks with coin (Bought Loyalty). Lastly, Shae’s Focus stat is an average 6. He usually doesn’t go jack heavy so he rarely has focus problems.

WEAPONS -

Shae is armed with a generic hand cannon and a mechanikal saber called Squall.

Hand Cannon – Shae’s hand cannon is typical. RNG 12, ROF 1, POW 12. Useful for taking potshots at opponents of mid to low ARM. With the Commodore slamming models around and Shae’s Blow the Man Down Spell, he usually doesn’t need to boost to hit with the hand cannon as there are plenty of knocked down models to shoot. Boost the damage roll instead.

Squall - Squall only has a P+S of 12 so, at first glance, it looks pretty pathetic for a warcaster’s main weapon. However, Storm Rager boosts it up to 14 which is respectable. Additionally, Squall has the Beat Back ability which can work great against infantry in conjunction with his Swashbuckler (described below). He can really cut through a mass of infantry in this way.

ABILITIES -

Amphibious Armor – This ability, when used, generally results in cat calls and insults from your opponent about playing without a pair. I don’t see it that way. I see it as using the strengths of your warcaster properly. Basically, this ability allows Shae to freely enter deep water where he becomes generally untargetable. Additionally, it also allows Shae to ignore movement penalties from both shallow and deep water so he can charge across both and take an opponent by surprise.

Dodgy - Dodgy allows Shae to move 2″ after being directly hit by an enemy attack. This is best used when he is shot or hit by a spell so he can then move 2″ into better cover (or under water, if possible) or even out of range of the enemies’ guns. It can also be used when hit by melee attacks but it will provoke a free strike so only move out if staying means death (like if you got a Deathjack with a bunch of focus down your throat!) Additionally, you could move just a bit to stay engaged but deny a charge from a different model.

Field Promotion – I always forget about this one and I don’t think I’ve ever used it. It allows you to promote a Swab in a Sea Dog unit to a Mate (if the Mate has been destroyed). The Swab to be promoted must be within Shae’s CMD range.

Ground Work – It’s not as good as Sea Legs but it’s close. Shae can be knocked down but, when he is, it doesn’t reduce his DEF nor is he auto-hit in melee. So boring “knock the caster down and kill him” assassination attempts are a lot harder to get off against Shae.

Swashbuckler – This is Shae’s infantry killer ability. Squall has a 360 degree front arc and Shae gets to attack every enemy model in his melee range for free. Too bad he doesn’t have reach. After all these attacks, he can then move 1″ from Beat Back, use a focus and attack all enemy models again. And continue on moving until he runs out of focus. Great for wasting troopers but you’d best be sure that you don’t leave Shae in middle of the enemy unsupported afterwards.

SPELLS -

Blow the Man Down – This is Shae’s only damaging offensive spell but it is a great one and often saves his bacon when he’s in danger. The RNG is 8, cost is 3 Focus, and POW is 15. The model damaged is knocked down or slammed if it’s a critical hit. With a POW of 15, it isn’t that hard to damage the target. If I am going to cast this spell, I will probably boost the hit (both ensuring I hit and hoping for a critical) and the damage (especially if against a high ARM warjack). This will suck up 5 focus but it could be a life saver. Slamming a jack back into another jack and knocking them both down is worth it. The Commodore does the same thing with its cannonball attack so that’s potentially 4 enemy jacks on the ground. Jack heavy Khador lists, for example, absolutely hate Shae and the Commodore.

Coup de Main – Shae’s “Helping Hand” spell is signature to his reputation of haste, mobility and sending his pirates down the enemy’s throat before they can react to it. Coup de Main, for a cost of 3 Focus, allows all friendly models/units in Shae’s CTRL area to charge at SPD +5 without spending focus or being ordered. This, in conjunction with his feat, really allows for amazing speeds out of an pirate army and generally ensure that they get in the first charge.

Phantasm – This spell is worth casting on the Sea Dogs or Press Gangers on the first turn and upkeeping until they are engaged in battle. Then you drop it. Phantasm is basically an anti-Snipe spell where ranged attacks against the unit are at RNG minus 5″. It’s another way of keeping the pirates safe before they get their charge off. It’s a cheap spell at a cost of 2 Focus. Other people may say to cast Phantasm on the Commodore and upkeep it the whole game but I’ve never seen that as useful because the enemy is usually moving away from the Commodore, not towards it!

Scurvy – Scurvy is great fun and best used against cavalry. Firstly, it stops a unit from giving or receiving orders (so no cavalry charge). Secondly, it drops the unit’s CMD by 2 and then forces them to make a CMD check or forfeit movement and then another CMD check or forfeit action. I’ve had Troll Long Riders sitting on spot and doing nothing for 3 rounds with Scurvy on them. Try to use against a unit which is outside its warcaster’s CMD range because the -2 CMD is on the unit, not the warcaster so the unit could use the warcaster’s full CMD to prevent the forfeited movement and action. Scurvy is RNG 10, costs 3 Focus and is upkeep.

Storm Rager – Storm Rager sees a lot of use. It gives a +2 MAT, STR, and ARM bonus to a warrior model and makes the model immune to CRAs and CMAs. If Shae is left with two focus, always cast Storm Rager on himself because it’s much better than camping focus. In best case scenarios, Storm Rager is best used on Hawk because it makes her extremely dangerous at MAT 9, P+S 11, Weapon Master, and 3 attacks. With her Acrobatics, she can get anywhere and it’s not unusual to see Hawk charging warcasters. With Storm Rager on her, she has a much better chance at assassinating. However, Storm Rager’s RNG is only 6, so that means Shae needs to be closer to the battle than he is usually comfortable with so I rarely put Storm Rager on Hawk because of RNG difficulties. In a 1000 point, Talion Charter army, putting Storm Rager on Bart is brutually effective as his own abilities of Blood Quench + Storm Rager can get his ARM up to 25 and his P+S up to 23 (as long as he killed a living model with each attack).

Torrent – Torrent is a strange spell that is hard to control and rarely used by me, mainly because it is useful against ranged-oriented armies (ie, Cygnar) which I rarely fight against. It creates a 4″ AOE that moves around the battlefield blocking LOS and preventing enemy models inside it from using ranged or magic attacks. Note that the torrent is NOT a cloud effect so things that ignore cloud effects (like Everblight Eyeless Sight) do not ignore Torrent. Those models’ LOS will still be blocked. Torrent is potentially useful but it really depends on the composition of your opponent’s army. Hiding key models behind the Torrent to avoid getting shot to death by the Black 13th from a million miles away would be a good use of this spell.

FEAT – Godspeed

When compared to some other feats out there (like eVlad’s or Darius’s), you look at Godspeed and wonder where the fairness is. However, Godspeed really isn’t all that bad and it is completely in character with Shae’s theme of speed and getting his army where it needs to be. Godspeed allows all friendly models in Shae’s CTRL area to immediately move up to 3″, ignoring rough terrain and free strikes.

What are the best uses for Godspeed? I can think of several. In scenarios where you need to be somewhere fast, pop Shae’s feat right away and move closer to your objective. Also use Godspeed when you are setting up the infamous Sea Dog charge and you need a couple extra inches to reach the enemy. As well, after a Sea Dog charge from the previous round (assuming enough of them are still alive and on their feet), use Godspeed to move them back 3″ and that will allow them to charge again. Lastly, Godspeed can move models here and there to either create good charge lanes or move models to safety and behind cover. Shae benefits from his own feat so he can jump into a lake with its allowed movement.

BATTLEFIELD ROLE -

Shae is primarily an infantry support caster. In his case, he supports pirate units with speed (ie Godspeed and Coup de Main) and protection (ie Phantasm and Torrent) as well as boosting solos with Storm Rager. Shae doesn’t really bring anything for jacks and has no jack-specific spells. Shae can play two roles – supportive or combative, depending on your playing style. With Storm Rager, 6 Focus and his Beat Back and Swashbuckler, he can bring the hurt himself but I really don’t think he should be on the front lines like that with his low ARM. I always use him in a supportive role and protect him with good use of terrain.

DEPLOYMENT -

If there is deep water on the battlefield, I’d personally gravitate towards that terrain feature with Shae. Between normal movement, Dodgy and his feat, he has lots of opportunities to jump in the water and go for a nice safe swim. Otherwise, deploy Shae central to your army but in the rear. He’s going to want to catch all models in both his feat and for the Coup de Main spell.

SUPPORT AND SYNERGIES -

One of the interesting and useful things about privateer armies is that the main unit, the Sea Dogs, rely on solos to support them, not the warcasters. So, generally, you don’t need to be using lots of spells to buff them up. This is good for focus saving.

One good support model to use in a Shae army is Dirty Meg jack marshalling either a Buccaneer or a Freebooter. Her Drives benefit the Freebooter almost as much as focus from a warcaster and the Buccaneer generally only needs to boost one attack roll anyway. Dirty Meg, basically, saves up some focus for Shae.

The other absolutely necessary model to include with Shae is the Commodore cannon, mainly because the Commodore can only be fielded if Shae is in the army and the Commodore is the best artillery in the game, hands down, so there’s no reason to not include it.

If you are going to go fairly jack heavy with Shae, then recommended jacks for him are the Freebooter (for its SPD and Hammerfist after Shae or the Commodore knocks something down), the Buccaneer (to net things so the Commodore can easily cannonball it) and the Mariner (for its Lash, great range on its gun and 2″ Tresher). The Mariner can easily hit things with its Ship Gun after the Commodore slams something down.

For infantry, it’s obvious – Sea Dogs and the necessary privateer solo support – Hawk, Doc, Rockbottom and Grogspar. If you got the points, throw in a unit of Press Gangers too. Many people prefer the Press Gangers over the Sea Dogs because they hit harder and are naturally Tough but I prefer the Sea Dogs for their versatilty and Mr. Walls. Mr. Wall’s No Quarter charge order will get the Sea Dogs farther than the Press Gangers and also give them Terror and Fearless.

FINAL NOTES -

Shae, and the privateers in general, takes quite a bit of getting used to and you may end up losing a fair bit when you start with them. But don’t lose heart. When you get the hang of them, a properly controlled privateer army under Shae is a force to be reckoned with and is easily a match for any Warmachine or Hordes faction. They have enough tricks up their sleeves to handle almost any situation.

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Concept : 2 vs 2 mixed Warmachine and hordes battle groups, 500 points per faction, 7:30 minutes turn for each player. Scenario victory conditions only. No caster kill win. Once per game each player may declare a 5 minute extension to a turn.

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Victory : Each side secretly chose a faction that was attempting to penetrate enemy lines, one VP was awarded for each model from the chosen faction that exited the opposite side the table. No VPs for kills or Caster elimination.

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Team Selection : As Kris plays no Hordes faction so he needed to be a WarMachine player, Each other player prepared in advance a 500 Point Hordes and WarMachine list, in secret. The draw was then done. Kris was Mercs, Chris was drawn next and was the Hordes faction to side with the Mercs, and he revealed Legion. Wuffy was drawn next and was the WarMachine faction for Team 2, he revealed Menoth which left Kobby as the Hordes player for Team 2, and he revealed Circle

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So set up was.

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Team One

• • Kris : Mercs
• • Chris : Legion

Team Two

• • Wuffy : Menoth
• • Kobby : Circle

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Deployment : Wuffy won deployment and elected to go first this was followed by Kris, Kobby and then Chris. Once deployed it tuned out that Circle was opposite Legion and Pirates opposite Menoth. No mixing of deployment locations with Team 1 due to the Abomination issues from many of Legion forces. Advanced deployment was a couple of wracks and lots of pirates.

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The game progress at a frantic pace, so many things to consider and with our new decision to use time limits, the turns really flashed by, mistakes made, models overlooked, much more “war like” than previous games of “all the time in the world to think”

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Combat didn’t take long to initiate , turn one the pirates hit the wracks and took them both out along with the attacking pirates. Turn 2 the Menoth fire bombers crisped a mass of pirates and Menoth and the Pirates went to war in fine style. Legion and Circle were a little slower but Kruegar popped his feat early and tried to nail the Blight Ogrun and War Mongers. No deaths though they were mauled. Next turn Gorton popped his feat, Landsided Kruegar and some Circle models as well as the Menoth Jacks. Killing off Kruegars feat and leaving Circle exposed as the Legion crashed in. Meanwhile Pirates vs Menoth was going badly for the Pirates and the Harbringer also waded into combat for good measure. Legion (Team 2s yet to be declare running team) got into a slug fest with Circle and proceed to decimate the entire army. Sadly the Carnie that took out two Circle heavies without a scratch got Tornadoed into a crevice and died! Next turn Kreugar met the sharp end of the last Blighted Ogruns spear and died. However the crushing of the Circle force was all for nothing as the Pirates folded up on the flank and the Menites rushed through the break in the line. There was little that the remaining mercs and Legion could do other than take grim satisfaction in moping up the remaining Menites and Legion forces as Wuffy lead his strike force through the shattered line of Pirates and off the table, including the Harbringer!

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Winner : The battle lasted just 90 minutes and 5 turns , with victory going to the Menoth / Circle army, though Circle celebrated with just 3 standing stones left. Menoth exited 6 models to win the game, even though there was one turn left, the Team 1 runner faction (Legion) had only 5 models on then board and could not surpass the 6 of Team 1. Victory Menoth / Circle.

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Summary : Great game, everyone enjoyed the fast pace, constant confusion and the time to relax between those turns to watch the other players go through their turns at pace, pondering on what the other players might forget. The Scenario based victory conditions also made the game fun than straight up caster kills.

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Game Highlights
• Menoth burning Pirates to a crisp, certainly showed that Menoth have the right weapons to halt the Pirate charge
• Carnie eats Tree and wolf. Turn 3 The Legion carnie charged and devoured a Legion Tree, and then Frenzied next turn (Shepherd assisted) and charged over and ate a wolk on the next turn
• Tornado. Total shock and horror of watching an unwounded Carnie get thrown into a Crevice by Tornado!
• Merc Driller, takes down Menoth Guardian with a drill kill.
• Chain lightening. Was scary but thankfully the Legion army was mainly high armour with hit points and survived the multiple shocks without too much harm

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Battles raged across the fields of war this past Wednesday with multiple factions taking up arms.

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First up was a 750 Rage, Rivets and Solos with Kromac and the Circle taking on a confident Dominic Darius. Darius had witness last weeks royal massacre of the ciricle by Khador and felt the battle was going to be a mere formality of handing him a medal and getting his butt kissed by a hairy wolf… not quite the way it turned out. Luck desered Darius from the get go as his forces missed everything. Given a blunderbuss and a barn door, his forces would have missed, that was how badly it was going. Even his half jacks couldn’t repair his Jack’s fast enough and the forces of Kromac ripped a trail of cogs and screws right up to Darius and then ripped his head off and played footy with it, until that was, one of the Warp Wolves got hungry and ate it. All said and done, not a day to remember for the blue boys.

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Next up Dark hearted Fiona took on Vlad in a 500. Fiona fielding a couple of Jack’s, a full unit of Croe’s bad boys and some other assorted riff raff. Against an interesting combination of Khador cavalry and Yuri and his Manhunter gang…plus the obligatory fire and hope Mortar.  Well as it was for the Blue’s so it was for Croe and the barn door. Miss after miss and then the cavalry and the single Kodiak Jack stormed in. Blood everywhere and while a counter attack from Fiona did finish off the 3 Khador Cavalry she was left horribly exposed and with Yuri’s gang coming at her fast. Even her feat failed to stop the reds from cutting down her forces. A last throw of the dice she moved up to get range for an attack on Vlad…and forgot about the Man-o-War Drakhun counter charge.  That left her with 3 wounds left and no line of site to Vlad. Next turn just to add to the general all round horror, she got boiled alive the next turn by the Kodiak Vent attack… nasty!

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So the reds were feeling confident. And faced Madrak in a 500, Scorcha in for the reds.  The terrain was awful. It was a double champions brick and the reds really became very tentative early on, unable to find a way through the brick, even with the Kazyak Assassins and underboss they dithered around and waited for the Trolls to attack, which they did and then it was all down hill from there. Madrak maintained Sure Foot whch mean Scorcha couldn’t get penetration on the Brick and the Iron Fang Pike men couldn’t knock anyone over.  Greylords were burnt alive by the Pyre Troll, and the only good news was when Hawk managed to take out the fell caller, though with sure foot running he was never going to be needed. In the end Scorcha was left almost alone and made one last effort to get to Madrak, it failed and she died under the stomping champion boots.

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Well my last three ladder matches were all robberies. Defeat thrust into the jaws of victory, though the Vayl vs Darius battle would have been rather humorous to have won considering I was taking out Darius with shredders and Harriers and needing 14+ on 3d6 to damage him….and he had 5 hits left! It was all looking good with Darius frozen for 3 turns until the question was asked of Vayl who had drifted a little too close to combat…”What is her Armour”, crunch splat and that was the end of Vayl . I do hope Epic Vayl gets a bloody melee weapon!

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But the battle before that was just saw horribly wrong it beggars belief. Shae and his pirate scum were getting sliced into tiny pieces, it was a massacre beyond all belief, the VPs were massing and Shae had yet to get a single one, even when the Butcher was knocked down by the bloody Mule he laughed, and he laughed off all the melee attacks that followed, and then he got hit by Bradigan and that hurt, but we killed him next turn. Doc was rushing up with the medical kit, the Mule was engaged, the entire Pirate forced was in collapse.. and then Shae hit Butcher with Blow the man down… and killed him. I must have had 20+ VPs stacked up… and I was killed by a lucky shot from Shae… GAHHH!

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Then last week Everblight vs Trolls, last turn, it’s all square with 8 VPS each, just my caster to go, I need one VP, just need to kill a Fellcaller engaged with my Shephard. Bootsted attack. I needed something like a pathetic 11 to hit….and missed…. hit my Shephard…killed her… lost by one VP, on the final attack of the game on my own turn! But as well all decided, it was a gutsy shot, and will be remembered long after a draw would have faded from memory.

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On the upside a Khador / Merc shooter 500 gave the Circle a mauling that they won’t forget in a hurry, Khador lost “one” model.  And scrappy was the champion of the day, pinning Baldur and then surviving a mass assault by everything that could get to him… and then holding Baldur down.  No fear, to spells, good night to the Druid! Too bad it was a friendly match

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It’s been a long wait but I just got a product update email from FRP with the magic words “It’s here” in it! I Pre-ordered both the Warmachine Rulebook: Legends HC and SC just a couple of days ago, so the order should be processed very shortly and the books with us in a week or two. Now we just need to wait for all the models to be released, two new ones I saw released today were Epic Eiryss ( Yea order your own no one is borrowing mine )  and Captain Jeremiah Kraye, for Cygnar rabble. Interestingly I also saw this available, Legends Legacies Reinforcement Kit, no idea what it is, it’s only $5 so might have to buy it to find out

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New Khador Solo : Koldun Lord

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