Identifying the Flat Note in WarmaHordes

I have an interestingly ambivalent relationship with Warmachine and Hordes. I first discovered the Iron Kingdoms back when it was a d20 RPG setting, and I've loved it ever since. There really aren't any missed notes in that world, and the art and graphic presentation of both the RPG and miniatures lines is always top notch.

So I was happy to take the plunge into the world of WarmaHordes back in spring of 2014. But almost immediately, I started to hear a dissonant note among the previously flawless symphony of awesome. (Yeah, how's that for a metaphor?)

And I've been trying to figure out where that flat note was coming from ever since.

I think I've got it now.

Here's the thing: I'm a "fluff" guy. I like crunch, sure, but I play miniatures games for the story as much for the challenge of trying to beat my opponent. I'm not a "scenario only" type of gamer, don't get me wrong, but I like a bit of context to my games. Lack of fluff is one of the primary reasons I stopped playing Armies of Arcana, for example. It's not enough for me to just have "Amazons versus Undead" or "Russians versus Germans".

Having said that, I realize that a lot of folks don't give two bits about a setting's fluff and are perfectly happy with generic match-ups. But what I'm primarily seeing when it comes to how WarmaHordes is represented online is an almost willful dismissal of the setting's fluff within the context of gameplay. Which is ironic, considering that the Iron Kingdoms is probably one of the most fluff-heavy games out there, perhaps even more so than 40K.

The realization struck me when I was watching the latest WarGamerGirl battle report. These reports are always top notch (I'm a Patreon backer, because I want to see more!), but I realized what's missing from them is any sort of fluff. Even though they inevitably use a scenario, we're not told what the scenario is about or how the forces on the table fit into the scenario.

In this latest report, we're told that they're using the scenario "Incoming" but, although the setup and victory conditions of the scenario are flashed up on the screen, we are not told what the scenario is meant to signify. What's "incoming," precisely? Is this, like, attacker versus defender, or a meeting engagement, or what? The victory conditions don't help, either. We get the usual "boxes" on the table, but are not told why it's important that the factions control those boxes. (I was also a little disappointed to note the appearance of flat paper terrain in this report.)

Now, it might seem like I'm picking on WarGamerGirl, but I'm only singling her out because she strikes me as being right in the mainstream of WarmaHordes players. The culture of the game seems to focus around abstract, crunch-focused considerations. The game itself encourages a rather unrealistic flow of action, with the two factions lining up opposite each other scrimmage-style in one big long line. The game's pixel-bitching focus on "WYSIWYG" line of sight rules, and the crucial importance of LoS in the game, makes terrain almost a hassle to deal with. I've seen other W/H players expressing their preference for flat paper terrain, since it makes it easier to judge issues of LoS and positioning.

What of it, then? That's the question. Does this crunch-focused culture that pervades the community, that indeed seems to be encouraged by the rules themselves, affect my own W/H gaming in any way? Well, yes and no.

Certainly, I'm free to play the game with however much fluff I wish to inject, as always. But it's undeniable that the greater culture surrounding a game influences how one experiences the game itself; one of the appeals of the "OldHammer" movement is that it's extremely DIY and fluff-focused, both causes near and dear to my heart.

(My introduction to battle reports came in the pages of White Dwarf back in the early 90s, and those reports always had lots of fun little fluffy details, including snippets of fiction based off events in the battle. That's still my idea of a perfect battle report.)

Furthermore, knowing that the seeming majority of W/H players subscribe to this more crunch-heavy approach means that I'm a lot less likely to try and look for pick-up games among my local gaming community. It all feels a bit alienating.

As I said at the top of this post, I still love the Iron Kingdoms setting a decade after my first exposure. And, having identified what's been bothering me about Warmachine/Hordes all this time, I can take appropriate steps to no longer be bothered by said things. But I kind of wish it didn't have to be this way to begin with. I wish the game was more in line with Malifaux, which does an excellent job of effortlessly generating "fluffy" details even through its own crunch. Or, dare I say it, that W/H would get the "Age of Sigmar" treatment...?

Another WarmaHordes Outing

Well, I didn't think it would take six months to the day from the first game, but I had my second game of Warmachine/Hordes a couple nights ago. Once again, it was my Skorne versus Mr. Schimpff's Cygnar. We played 35 points this time, and I was able to field three Titans thanks to HedonismBot's "Chain Gang" tier list.

This game was also the debut of my new terrain system: the board is made up of tiles from Secret Weapon's Tablescapes system (in this case, the "Rolling Fields" set), supplemented with hills and ponds from Kallistra and some woods from Citadel (which, ironically, took the longest time out of all this stuff to assemble, paint, and flock).

I think the table came out looking quite nicely. My actual gameplay, however, wasn't so nice. Six months proved far too long a gap, and I'd forgotten pretty much everything I'd picked up in the first game. W/H, as I soon remembered, is not a system that rewards muddling through. It's like chess; order of moves and combined arms count for everything, and you really need to think at least a couple moves ahead. During the first turn, I had that distinct feeling, not experienced since grade school, of showing up for a test and realizing you haven't studied at all adequately. Gradually, it all came filtering back, but by that point I'd all but lost the game.

On the other hand, my two Titan Gladiators did manage to have some fun rending puny humans limb from limb and tossing their corpses into other humans, so it wasn't a total loss...

Some pics from the game, then, taken by me and my opponent:

We've committed to not going so long again before our next game. Hopefully it'll be a bit closer next time!

Bolt Action After-Action

After spending the whole winter painting miniatures, it would have been rather foolish of me not to try and get in some games as the weather warms up.

To that end, I've been networking with some folks via my local Meetup group. The local Malifaux fan base is growing, and I hope to get in a gameday in May with as many people as I can gather. This past Saturday, however, I had an opportunity to meet with another gamer who boasts an extensive collection of WW2 miniatures, which he uses for Bolt Action.

I've read through the BA rulebook, but this was to be my first game. My opponent, Steve, was also a bit rusty on the rules, having not played in nearly a year. In a welcome change from my usual role, Steve offered to host at his studio, and laid out a fantastic 5x5 table with plenty of nice terrain and lovely figures. I was also delighted to learn that he shares my interest in early-war Eastern Front, and we did a simple Meeting scenario between two 1,000-point forces of Russians and Germans.

Somewhere in the late summer of '41, then...

An army blanket served suprisingly well for the table cover.

Initial units moving onto the board: an SdKfz halftrack with Panzergrenadier passengers, and a BA-6 armored car.

 The game got off to a great start for the Russians when I was able to race my BA-6 up the road and nail the German halftrack with my 45mm gun. The 'track was set ablaze and the SS men within bailed out.

The beast appears!

 Steve graciously offered me the choice of which force to play, and I had to go with the Reds in large part because the list included one of those great early-war Soviet tanks, the multi-turreted T-28. In 1/56th scale, this thing is delightfully massive. Nevertheless, I fully expected it to get taken out due to its thin armor.

Sure enough...

 Once Steve got his Panzer III on the table, it was all over for my humble T-28. It did manage to put some hurt on the SS Panzergrenadiers, who had moved up behind a stone wall, before that happened, though - the T-28 boasts a turret-mounted howitzer, just the thing for Hitler's running dogs. And more hurt still lay in store for them...

The Red Tide

 Being familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of Soviet tactical doctrine, I elected to simply push my three infantry squads in waves up the center of the table. No finesse here, no sir! Steve was hampered by some really bad dice rolling that kept most of his forces off the table as I was advancing. That SS squad was really the only thing standing against my advance.

But not for long.

 Exacerbating Steve's bad dice luck, my die were on fire, and I took out the battered SS squad with a truly phenomenal run of dice rolls from my mortar team. The center was wide open!

To add insult to injury, as Steve moved his Panzer III up the table I was able to snipe it from long range with my 45mm anti-tank gun concealed in a distant orchard.

 The game ended after six turns, as prescribed by the scenario, with a Russian victory. In the end, a unit of regular German army troops had moved up and established a rearguard behind a line of hedges, decimating a squad of green Russian recruits who were charging forward singing patriotic songs, but it was all for naught. A squad of NKVD was flanking their position around the flaming halftrack, and the Germans were left to slip back to their lines and await the inevitable Soviet onslaught...

Urrah!

"People's Choice" Voting Is Live!

Although I think most people sign on for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in order to motivate themselves to paint lots and lots of minis, there is a prize component to it as well. One of those prizes, appropriately called the "People's Choice" award, is open to everyone for voting.

If you enjoyed any of my own entries in the Challenge, I'd appreciate a vote. You can vote for any of the entries I posted, or even just a single figure...or my entire body of work! Head on over to the blog to cast the vote, and while you're there, take a look at all the other fantastic entries and maybe cast a vote or two for some of your other favorites as well.

Last of the Skorne (For Now...)

As I mentioned in my last post, I've finished up the remainder of my Skorne collection, or at least that which was needed to bring my available forces up to a 50-point list. In conjunction with getting some new terrain tiles finished (more on that in another post, I'm sure), it looks like I'm set to start playing Warmachine/Hordes on a more regular basis very soon!

But first up, the units!

I took a four-model unit of Farrow Bone Grinders, both because they provide some nice synergies for my caster and because the models are absolutely awesome and I will hear no words against that position.

Goal for 2015: work on sharpening my lighting and photography skills a bit.

Next is a six-figure unit of Nihilators. Did I say the Bone Grinders were badass models? Well, they've got nothing on these guys. The two-handed khopesh-style swords, the massive metal plates shoved through their flesh to serve as armor... If these guys perform half as good as they look, I'm thinking we'll be seeing lotsa carnage on the field.

Clearly these guys are big Cannibal Corpse fans...