The soon-to-be-previous edition of Warmachine was originally released early in 2010 and since then the game has grown quite large. Since then each year has brought out a new book furthering the story, releasing new models, and adding new unit types to the game. Since 2010 we now have Battle Engines, Colossals, Gargantuans, a new faction, a relatively poorly reviewed video game (sorry PP :( ), new warnoun types like a warnoun unit, and continued support from Privateer Press.
 |
| Ah yes Warmahordes! |
As a game it has evolved over time to being considered by many to be a solid choice to get into and has been growing in many different avenues. From the hyper-competitive tournament scene to the local slow-grow metas, Warmahordes has filled out that spot in many player's hearts for a game that was just clear on the rules, quick, fun, and brutal. As a veteran player of wargames my personal interest started as Gee Dubs made it clear that they did not care about the hobby but the profits. While I do understand that these guys need to make money to keep going and ultimately they are all businesses, I at least want to have the illusion that the company is interested in keeping the hobby alive and well. That and Gee Dubs kicked their prices to the point where I would need to sell an organ to start an army these days.
So now here we are at the cusp of Mk III. Already PP has released some information about changes we can expect as far as rules go in a recent podcast of theirs as well as from the forum. Point costs are being changed to help reflect accurate point values for smaller models, the focus is coming back to the Jacks/Beasts, pre-measuring, and more! With that in mind here are my top three wishes for Mk III:
Re-vamping the Warnouns
 |
| Pug3 on Cavalry option |
I agree with PP on their site that the Warnouns serve as a central part of your army and whichever one you choose is going to reflect a different play-style/personality/etc. The thing that bugs me is that despite best efforts there has been a power creep in the Warnouns to where some are just not really viable choices for use. There's something to be said if you brought the Testament of Menoth versus Butcher3. Could you win hypothetically? Sure. Will you have a good probability of winning? Probably not. Ignoring the effect of matchups I think ultimately what I want is having a relatively equal playing field for all of the faction's Warnouns so that I don't feel like I have screwed myself over by taking someone versus the obviously viable choice. I think every faction has the community choice of who is the worst and who is the best and honestly I'd like to see more diversity from a re-vamp.
Keep the options open
 |
One appeal many players have for this game is the steam-powered robots or giant monsters that smash everything around them. While I appreciate PP doing what they need to in order to bring the focus back on the battlegroup I also hope that they do not try to pigeonhole or punish players who might want to try running small battlegroups. Currently some casters are considered the "infantry" specialists and I would like that to remain if possible. It's too early to tell if they are going to make infantry/units so costly that you can only take 1-2 but I would like it to remain around 3-4 personally. I think it's what makes this game great is that the different casters bring their own playstyle and I just hope that the ones who love their troops more than the jacks/beasts don't lose out during the effort to bring back the jack.
Don't let older units "die out"
 |
| Dinopugs are still viable solos |
The best way I can explain what I mean by this is my anecdotal example. The unit that got me into Warmachine and my first faction of choice were the humble Deliverers of the PoM. I got excited about the idea that these civilians used rockets to rain death down in the name of their god. If I remember right it was the first infantry unit I purchased also. Then I found out through time, gaming, and research that they were just...meh at best. I heard the phrase "yeah you can take that but X or Y does it better so why take A?" I've heard, read, and even said that phrase about more than the PoM's units, and I'm sure that mains of other factions have their own story like this. I'm not saying every "old unit" is useless (have you seen the Exemplar Errants lol?) but I guess what I'd like to see in Mk III is that every unit has a chance of belonging somewhere in their faction lists. PP made the unit for a reason, I'd like that reason to stand the test of time.
I'm sure I can come up with other wishes and hopes but with it being so close to release time in June I'm just excited. My friend Josh had found some info that they knew about this edition for 3 years! Well with that length of time studying, tweaking, twerking, making dank memes, and doing their best I think this will be a fine change. Still there's always the chance that things get dicked up, so here's hoping PP that the new edition is solid like we all hope for and here's to more years of not being THAT guy in terms of companies!
Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment