Bringing out the Legion of beasts. Some list-fu

Thagrosh has become more dragon than ogrun and is the epitome of the Legion to me

When I saw the model above, Thagrosh the Messiah, I knew that I'd found my Hordes model if I ever started to play the game. I think this is a great example of sculpting and creates a real centrepiece for a leader. The big downside I hear of him is that while he hits like a heavy warbeast (he almost is one) he can also die as easily as one if you don't keep him protected. Challenges indeed. Still, I'm sure I'd struggle to resist sending Thagrosh flying over things and laying the smack down on my foes, even I lost the game next turn due to him getting assassinated.

In general, the Legion of Everblight bring a really powerful attacking game that can go right for the throat with their special abilities. Their damage output is high but they can't really take much of a hit. Spreading the dark word of the dragon Everblight seems like fun to me ;-)

I like Warmachine and Hordes primarily for the big beasts and stompy warjacks that it offers and so I'm interested in armies that can run lots of big things, rather than collecting a lot of smaller units. This is particularly relevant when I consider how glacially I am painting the models I already have.

Typhon is a three-headed dragon monster that can breathe fire and throw people around with his bites
It's a dragonspawn that brings three heads, three mouths and three fiery breath attacks. Typhon is expensive but I really like the model

Expensive but tough and versatile, the Carnivean is iconic for the Legion

The Scythean specialises in cutting down infantry but the claws can really hurt an enemy heavy

These three monsters will be the core of my hard hitters and hopefully tear apart anything that's in their way.

Shredders are described as guided missiles with teeth. Small but they pack a punch with their Rabid special ability

Then again I can't leave out the little ankle biter lesser warbeasts that the Legion can bring to the table. These guys are best just let off the lead to go nuts and if they frenzy (a downside of warbeasts) they should already be amongst the enemy so it's not a big deal.


So my army lists for these two warlocks would look something like:
- Absylonia (5 Warbeast points)
- Typhon 12pts
- Carnivean 11pts
- Scythean 9pts
- 3 Shredders 6pts
- 2 Forsaken solos (they help manage the fury of the bigger monsters) 4pts
- 1 Nyss Shepherd solo (more fury management) 1pt

Total = 43points - 5 = 38pts
BUT Absylonia's tier list (a restricted list that gives benefits if you stick to certain limits) makes heavy warbeasts cheaper at the highest level, meaning my army hits 35 on the nose. 35 is one of the main standard points levels for Warmachine and Hordes and would be equivalent to perhaps 1500pts in 40k to my knowledge.

Absylonia, a nasty warlock who is very efficient and running lots of big beasts

With Thagrosh the Messiah, I'd probably drop the Carnivean due to the cost and put in more shredders to benefit from his spells so the army would look like this at 25 points.
- Thagrosh +3 warbeast points
- Typhon 12pts
- Scythean 9pts
- 2 Shredders 4pts
- Forsaken solo 2pts
- Nyss Shepherd solo 1pt


I've played very little of Hordes so any opinions or advice is well received as always.

Best regards,

Pete

Great humour piece from Privateer press.

***The following is completely the work of the Privateer press team and was taken from their website without permission. Please go there to read the original Privateer Insider article and to browse the others. They are a collection of really interesting pieces describing things from the perspective of the PP team. One week might be an editor, next a sculptor, studio painter, artist, playtester, photographer etc. They are like GW's daily updates except that they don't feel like an advert for whatever latest product is on offer. Highly reccomended. The following piece made me laugh so much that I nearly spat out my lunch at my desk - not advised if you want a promotion lol. Hopefully you enjoy***




Typos come with the territory for an editor. Most of them we fix without a second’s thought, but occasionally there are those that make us pause to appreciate the glory of an error-induced perspective.

I’m not talking about the use of “there” instead of “their”—that’s just the wrong word—but about the slip of the fingers on the keyboard that turns “the” into “teh,” “dragon” into “draggon,” or “glory” into “gory.” (Ha! “The gory of an error-induced perspective.” Yes, I can appreciate that. I’m a terrible typist myself.)

For example, before handing over the Trollbloods story for editing, Doug warned me he seemed to be having trouble typing Gunnbjorn’s name. “You’ll have to keep an eye out for any stray Bunnbjorns,” he noted. Whether your mind goes to buff Swedes or rabbit ears, the image isn’t exactly what we had in mind for our new trollkin warlock. Then again, perhaps a conversion is appropriate . . .

While I polish up some awesomeness for your Gen Con enjoyment, here are a few sentences showing the entertaining effect of some of my favorites among the typos I’ve seen—or made!—lately.

A small group of trollin crept through the brush.

Trollin are actually the members of a kriel who have to crawl home after a night of carousing, I think.

The leader scammed the stone construction in progress below.

He was such a good salesman he could sell stone to a wall in the middle of a quarry.

Doomshaper is no fresh-faced walrock.

No, that particular wall of rock has been around for a while . . . “Warlock” seems to give many of us particular trouble, and this is only one variation. Also common are warrocks, which I gather are a new weapon class; warcloaks, which besides being snazzy are actually pretty darn useful in the field; and warclocks, which I must admit have a certain Dr. Doom appeal. Plus it’s always handy to know when it’s teatime.

Guts and Gears podcats are great to listen to while painting.

Their album Stray Thoughts is a howl.

Such complexes were used by skorne breaders to develop their enormous warbeats.

Enormous breaded warbeets would be yummy! But, alas, we get only aspiring DJs out to spawn a skorne revolution in techno-bone-crunch-hypno-groove.

Perhaps if he had a hungred trollkin warriors with him he could take it.

Appropriately enough, it takes only a few trollkin to make up a hungred. Fewer if any are full-blood trolls or they haven’t had any breaded warbeets in a while.

The ink contains enough poison and noon-organic material to resist the trollkins’ regenerative powers.

Tattoos made with such ink become invisible for several hours in the middle of the day, making that the perfect time for job interviews and meeting the parents of potential mates.

Dragonspawn are a vicious funtion of draconic blight.

Because what’s more fun than blight? Making dragonspawn from it! Crunchy on the outside, oily on the inside . . .

The Lancer raised its sock shield to intercept the Revenger’s spear.

Spear-repellant textile production is a burgeoning industry in the Iron Kingdoms. Cygnar prefers athletic styles but has yet to master moisture wicking, while Khador is developing a proprietary wool blend from the coats of several indigenous ovine species.

Forgot one more troll.

Hey all,

I just realised that one more troll I like and would definitely find cool to play with is the one and only: Mulg the Ancient.



He's really old, has a rune-carved mountain on his back and carries a tree as a club. I've read a few battle reports and it seems like he is quite the beatstick as well. Battlecollege describes his melee abilities thus "Mulg is a premier beatstick. His damage output is insane, if you send Mulg to kill something it will die, guaranteed."

Sounds good to me.

Unfortunately this all comes at a price. While he costs a lot of points, I'm more worried about his cost in dollars. $59.99 retail and $44.99 even with the Warstore's discount is a hefty chunk of change. I will definitely consider it but let's see if that job application goes anywhere first.

Warmachine/Hordes, how well can a 'fun' army play it?

Good day to all of you at the beginning of another week. So this weekend was very busy for me as I moved into a new apartment with my wife. We'll now be in Frederick, Md, so a little further in the commute but a lot cheaper on rent and a great town to live in. I need to find a good gaming group there now and when I've got a bit more money, the harcore Frederick Fight club Mixed Martial Arts gymn is calling me.

Thanks go to Old Shatter Hands for pitching in and not only helping us load up the van with furniture, but then driving up in his car with more furniture, helping us unload (including a sofa bed that weighed as much as a real space marine!) and then getting back in time to have a birthday celebration with his wife. You sir are the man and I owe you big time.

In addition, he was good enough to give me a Trollbloods Warpack he had lying around and didn't want.
Trollblood's warpack. Privateer Press' picture

So my future plan is to get into HORDES (and WARMACHINE) and see what I can do to build up a small army. Now I don't have the latest rules yet and I've never played so I am mostly free from the lure of the most powerful or popular units. I've also read than in the transition to Mk2, Privateer Press made sure to tone down the more powerful units from the 1st edition and to add utility to the weaker ones so that no model will ever be completely useless on the table (GW could try doing this with the Tau's own Aun'Va...). So my plan is to just collect the models I think are coolest looking or most fun and see if I can make a good army out of them. Some people say that WarmaHordes is all about power playing so we'll see if I can work around that just with fun and good tactical choices.

So my army starts with the warpack above. That gives me the tragic hero Madrak Ironhide, an albino warlock who took up a cursed axe in order to save his people, a troll axer who gets to smash faces and cut down infantry and two troll impalers who throw ten-foot long spears at anyone who gets in their way. What's next?


Borka Kegslayer is a priest of Dhunia (the troll earth goddess) who likes drinking, fighting and sex. He carries a big club called Trauma that causes brain damage, his special feat is a barroom blitz, he's followed by a pygmy troll with a keg and has a spell called Mosh Pit. If that isn't just too cool for school, I don't know what is :-)


The Dire Troll Blitzer is a massive beast with a WW1-pilot-goggle-wearing pig on its back that is manning a machine gun. Nuff said.


The earthborn dire troll is so adaptive that his fists can take on the power of the enemy's weapons. Flying fist to the face with the strength of your super axe Mr. Butcher of Khadov...yes please!


These Runeshapers are so cool that they can make rocks come swirling up out of the ground. Loving the models and loving the vibe.


Now these Kriel Warriors are pretty neat, not the coolest troll models I've ever seen but they are solid. More importantly they let me take....


A CABER THROWER WHO CHUCKS A CABER MADE OUT OF GRANITE!!! Can't really say more than that. It's just a shame he can only do it once per game.


Speaking of big stones, why not carry a rune-carved magic one into battle that will make your buddies a lot tougher? Works for me :-)


Last of all, let's bring out some tough, hard-fighting champions led by a meanie with a pirate eye-patch.


So that rounds me up to:

- Madrak Ironhide/Borka Kegslayer (not sure on the rules for multiple warlocks)
- 2 Troll Impalers
- Troll Axer
- Dire Troll Blitzer
- Earthborn Dire Troll
- Runeshapers
- Kriel Warriors with a caber tosser.
- Krielstone bearers
- Trollkin champions

I have no idea if this a legal army or whether it is balanced/good/effective but who cares? I will slowly move towards this in my collection of Trollbloods and put up posts as and when I get time to collect, paint and play.

All the best,

Pete