Battle Report for Warmachine Beginners – Part 2

Part 1 of the battle report is here.

Control Area and Feats: All warcasters have a control area which is a circle that radiates 2 x FOC from their base. In Rahn’s case that’s a radius of 16”. Only in this area can warcasters allocate focus to ‘jacks, so you need to move your ‘caster if your ‘jacks are advancing. Many spells and feats, a unique once per game mega-spell, effect this control area. A player may measure from his warcaster to any point in his control area at any stage.

Not a lot of damage done to either side so far, but Steve’s next turn would change all that. He allocated focus to the Chimera and Manticore and set about causing some mayhem. The Chimera charged the Drakhun and destroyed the horse. This left just the rider. The Mage Hunters zeroed in on the Juggernaut ‘jack and caused 15 points of damage with their crossbows (they get boosted damage rolls against warjacks) and disabled its left arm. Rahn activated next and feated. His feat is called Arcane Alignment and gives friendly spell casters +2” range on their spells and boosted attack and damage rolls for the turn. He then cast Telekinesis on the Devastator to spin it around so its back was facing the Battle Mages. The Battle Mages focus their attention on the Great Bears and the Manhunter (my assassination solo) and destroy them all. That’s the power of the feat. Ouch! The Manticore activates and puts 4 more points of damage on the Juggernaut with his Cyclone Cannon, taking out its movement.

Okay, I really need to respond before my whole army is gone. The Butcher loads up the Devastator with three focus and then he activates. He casts Full Throttle (three focus) allowing all of his ‘jacks to run, charge, slam or trample without spending focus and it also gives them boosted melee attack rolls. The Butcher shoots a Battle Mage for good measure. The Devastator activates and tramples towards Rahn. The trample is free because of Full Throttle, but uses the warjacks initial attacks, i.e. it counts as having attacked. Focus can be used to gain more attacks, so the Devastator makes three attacks at Rahn. Despite them being boosted (again because of the spell), he only connects with one causing 8 damage points. Rahn has 16 damage starting the game, so I’m only half way there. My Mechaniks run to engage the Battle Mages, in order to prevent them retaliating on their turn. Meanwhile the dismounted Drakhun does 13 points of damage to the Chimera tearing off its left arm.

It’s down to a slugfest at this stage and unfortunately for Steve his dice luck abandons him. The Mage Hunters only manage another 5 points of damage to the Juggernaut and the Battle Mages kill two of the four Mechaniks. As this is 50% lost in a single turn they must make a command check, which they pass. The Manticore manages to kill the War Dog. Rahn, loaded with focus, however only managed 14 points of damage on the Devastator. He could be in trouble next turn.

Time to finish this. I put three focus on the Devastator and activate the Butcher. He casts Full Throttle again (it isn’t an upkeep spell) and uses his feat, Blood Frenzy, which gives all models in his control area an additional die on damage rolls. The Devastator activates and does a special attack called Rain of Death where it lobs short ranged grenades. Everyone in base-to-base contact with it suffers a POW 18 blast hit! That would have finished Rahn except that the Force Field spell makes him immune to blast damage. Damn! I use a focus on the Devastator to buy an additional attack. It is boosted to hit because of Full Throttle and boosted damage because of the feat. Rahn is squished by the towering ‘jack.

The Aftermath

This was a pretty small game, but I hope it highlights some of the cooler aspects of Warmachine. It is a game of brutal damage and devastating effects, but it is pretty well balanced and no faction is considered vastly superior to any other. Steve played like a true gentleman in this game. He had a chance to finish things early on by hitting the Butcher with all of those Mage Hunter attacks instead of the Juggernaut. It would have been a much shorter battle report had he taken the easy kill, so if you suffered through the report this long you have him to thank!
Hordes is the feral cousin of Warmachine that features fantastic warbeasts and their warlock handlers. It has a completely different magic mechanic, but is fully compatible with Warmachine. Next time I’ll write about this other cutthroat game from Privateer Press. Whatever you play, remember to “play like you’ve got a pair!”.