Warcasters are the stars of Warmachine, and Cryx has no shortage of powerful and fun-to-play warcasters. Today, I’m taking a look at Lich Lord Terminus.
IN SHORT: Tired of fielding the typical Cryx glass cannon? Want to play an unstoppable juggernaut that just keeps on coming? Try Lich Lord Terminus!
STRENGTHS: Terminus is an absolute brute of a warcaster. Base ARM 18, 6 Focus, and 20 health means he isn’t going down anytime soon. Even better, he has Sacrificial Pawn [Undead], so any ranged hits against him can be handed to nearby undead models.
On top of this, he and all undead models within 10” of him are Tough, thanks to his Shadow of Death rule. So even if your opponent kills him, there’s a chance he’s not really dead.
All of this makes him very difficult to kill. His feat, Dragon’s Call, can make him almost invincible. Terminus can collect the soul token of every enemy living model destroyed in his control area, and those souls add to his ARM. The next turn, all those souls get converted to Focus, again adding to his ARM. Yikes!
He’s also fast. With SPD 6 and Flight, there isn’t much that can run from him for long. When he gets there, he can debuff the enemy with Malediction, which reduces the DEF and ARM of all enemies within 2” of him by 2. That puts him at an effective MAT 9, P+S 18. He can also cast Ravager on himself (or have a Skarlock do it for him) to gain Berserk!
Plus he’s an Abomination, so the enemy might run away just from being near him.
And in case all that wasn’t enough, he has a 10” POW 14 spray attack with Continuous Corrosion. Oh yeah. Terminus comes fully loaded.
WEAKNESSES: His feat needs living models. If there are none available, or only a few, his feat isn’t going to help him weather incoming attacks.
Sacrificial Pawn is great for diverting ranged attacks, but spells will still hit Terminus normally. Debuffs can be especially bad.
Also, Terminus is a large based model. Unless he has a Kraken tagging along, there aren’t many places he can hide.
SYNERGIES: Terminus loves a strong bodyguard of undead, both to benefit from Shadow of Death and for him to sacrifice when he gets shot. Mechanithralls can be a cheap, plentiful screen for Terminus. Their support model, the Necrosurgeon, is also very welcome. Terminus is going to take some hits advancing towards the enemy. Having a Necrosurgeon handy to patch him up can easily make the difference.
The Withershadow Combine serves two purposes for Terminus. First, they can clear any debuffs he gets hit with. Second, they allow him to upkeep Malediction for free. Both of these are a big help to Terminus.
Finally, don’t be afraid to take a heavy warjack along. Terminus likes to keep his Focus to himself, but a heavy warjack can screen Terminus from incoming charge attacks and take the brunt of enemy fire.
Another reason to take a heavy warjack is Ravager, which can give not only Terminus, but warjacks in his battlegroup Berserk. This opens up a whole field of nasty possibilities, given how adept Cryx warjacks are in melee to begin with. I prefer the Seether, since it’s Focus efficient and hits like a Mack truck.
JUST FOR FUN: Take a Kraken and the Withershadow Combine. Load up the Kraken with Focus. Use Puppet Master and Ravager on the Kraken, then wade into enemy infantry. Hilarity will ensue as the Kraken gobbles up model after model with free Berserk attacks. If the Kraken misses, just reroll with Puppet Master.
And don’t worry too much about the Kraken removing models from play. Once it eats 3, it’s full.
SUMMARY: Cryx is often a subtle faction to play, relying on our tricks, speed, and special rules to see us through. Terminus plays like a wrecking ball of death. He’s not at all subtle, and that can be a refreshing change of pace for any Cryx player.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
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Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Venethrax
Warcasters are the stars of Warmachine, and Cryx has no shortage of powerful and fun-to-play warcasters. Today, I’m taking a look at Lich Lord Venethrax!
IN SHORT: An army under Venethrax is a lean, mean, soul-collecting machine. Because, if Venethrax is anything, it’s hungry for souls. Nom-nom-nom-nom. He also enjoys moonlit walks through the graveyard, melting people with acid, and causing them to spontaneously combust.
STRENGTHS: Venethrax’s big call to fame is his spell Soul Harvester. With this, a Cryx model or unit can collect souls from living enemies slain in melee. It doesn’t matter where they are or where Venethrax is. He gets the soul. Very few abilities can shut this down, and it can give Venethrax a huge reserve of Focus to cast spells and deal damage.
Another powerful spell at Venethrax’s disposal is Lamentation. All enemy spells cost double to cast and maintain in his control area. With his 14” control area, Lamentation can be absolutely fatal to enemies that require a lot of spell casting in order to function.
Venethrax is also the premiere anti-Hordes Cryx warcaster. He’s MAT 8 and comes with Dismember, giving him an additional damage die against enemy warbeast. Combine this with Dragon Slayer, which allows him to absorb a killed warbeast’s Fury as Focus for himself, and this guy is an absolutely wrecking ball against Hordes armies. As an added bonus, Dragon Slayer gives Venethrax +2 STR and +2 ARM. Not bad at all.
Venethrax’s feat, Charnel House, can make an absolute mess of light infantry. Anything killed in his control area, friend or foe, bursts into a 3” AOE flame cloud that blocks ALL line-of-sight, including Eyeless Sight. It also does 1 point of damage to anyone entering the clouds. This can quickly turn the battle field into one hilarious inferno impeding your opponent’s army.
Finally, Venethrax has Caustic Presence [Corrosion]. Any Corrosion effects on enemies in his control area do not expire. Ever. Combine this with Blood Rain (and AOE attack that causes the Corrosion continuous effect) and Venethrax’s soul harvesting talents, and he can single-handedly devastate enemy infantry.
WEAKNESSES: No debuffs of any kind. His army supports him, not the other way around. Just accept this and move on.
Venethrax has a lot of abilities that trigger on requirements. He needs lots of living enemy models to maximize Soul Harvester and Hordes warbeasts to get the most from Dragon Slayer. Undead models and lots of warjacks are not his thing.
While Venethrax has two powerful spells in Dragon Slayer and Lamentation, both are SELF only. He can use one at a time, and switching between the two during the battle can be dangerous if he hasn’t harvested enough souls.
Also, while Venethrax can really rough up light infantry, heavy infantry with their multiple hit boxes can ignore his Caustic Presence and the damage from Charnel House without too much trouble. They also offer him less chances to collect souls.
SYNERGIES: Without debuffs, Venethrax needs troops that are self-reliant. This means models like Banes under Bane Lord Tartarus, Satyxis Raiders, Blood Witches, Revenant Crew with Captain Rengrave, and other models that can reliably hit their targets.
With Bane Thralls supporting him with Dark Shroud, other units collecting souls, and Dragon Slayer active, Venethrax is very capable of taking down any enemy warjack or warbeast on his own. Alternately, don’t be afraid to take a beefy Cryx warjack. With a heavy or two and soul collecting units, Venethrax can keep his warjacks fueled and happy, and he can hang back with Lamentation up to mess with the enemy caster.
With Caustic Presence, anything that causes Corrosion is going to get a boost. Bile Thralls and a Defiler anyone?
JUST FOR FUN: Need to charge a gun-line? Worried about getting there in one piece? Does Everblight’s Eyeless Sight have you down? Not to worry!
Take a minimum sized unit of Revenant Crew and another melee unit with Reach. Satyxis Raiders will work for this example. Run the Revenant Crew up with 5 models spaced apart in a line abreast. Keep the leader back as far as possible.
Activate Venethrax and use his feat.
Have the Satyxis Raiders charge the Revenant Crew in the back. They should be easy pickings (effective DEF 10 against MAT 6), and will burst into a wall of flame the enemy cannot see through.
Move your army up under the flaming wall cover. Next turn, the Revenant models revive. No losses! This technique can be expanded with two Revenant units for an even larger flame wall.
SUMMARY: When Venethrax gets going, he can be flush with ridiculous amounts of Focus. When the enemy composition doesn’t include warbeasts or plenty of living infantry, he can feel a little underwhelming. He is not bad. I find him an absolute blast to play, but his performance will depend on your opponent’s army much more than other Cryx casters.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Scaverous
Warcasters are the stars of Warmachine, and Cryx has no shortage of powerful and fun-to-play warcasters. Today, I’m taking a look at Lord Exhumator Scaverous!
IN SHORT: Falling somewhere between Asphyxious’ raw power and Deneghra‘s expert debuffing, Scaverous has a spell for every situation. He’s also one tough dude to put down.
STRENGTHS: Scaverous’ main strength is his versatility.
Both of his attack spells have dual purposes. Excarnate is a POW 13 magic attack that can generate a new small-based undead infantry model. Feast of Worms is a 4” AOE that hits for POW 12. It also leaves an AOE that debuffs ARM by 2. That includes when the AOE is fired, which makes the blast damage very respectable. It also makes it a debuff that doesn’t actually have to hit the enemy to be effective, or can be targeted against a less agile enemy nearby.
Scaverous comes with the always awesome spell Ghost Walk for giving his own units some added mobility, and can decrease enemy mobility and DEF with Icy Grip. This spell can only target enemy warrior models or units, but it also prevents them from running or making special attacks. Watch out, though! They can still charge.
But the most exciting spell is Telekinesis. With this, Scaverous can place a model 2” away. Not impressed yet? Let’s combine this with his feat, Black Gate, which gives out boosted magic attack rolls, reduces his spell COST by 1 and increases enemy spell COST by 1.
With Telekinesis and Black Gate, Scaverous can play chess master with the board, moving 7 different models, molding the battlefield to suit his needs and hinder his enemy.
Scaverous also isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. With base ARM 17, 7 Focus, and access to Death Ward, he can conceivably fortify himself to ARM 26 with support from a Skarlock or the Withershadow Combine. Go on. Just try to assassinate him at range.
And with his P+S 14 scythe Avernus, Scaverous can Thresher through living enemy infantry and reap their souls for even more spell casting. The combination of Thresher and Cull Soul is just sick!
WEAKNESSES: Scaverous does a lot of things well, but he doesn’t do any one of them exceptionally well. He’s a generalist, and he suffers a bit because of that. It’s both his greatest strength and weakness all at once.
Also, his feat, while powerful, can only aid a fairly limited number of models in the Cryx arsenal. If you’re looking to do the maximum amount of damage on feat turn, Scaverous’ army list doesn’t have much flexibility.
SYNERGIES: Taking models like Warwitch Sirens, a Skarlock, and the Withershadow Combine are almost always good choices. Since these models benefit from Scaverous’ feat, that makes them even better.
Death Ward can boost the ARM of a full unit or a single model. I like to put it on a powerful warjack. For this, Erebus is at the top of my list. With Death Ward on Erebus, it has DEF 14, ARM 20 and Poltergeist. Yeah, it’s sticking around for a while. As the cherry on top, Erebus has an affinity with Scaverous that lets him collect soul tokens for the Lord Exhumator.
Scaverous likes his arc nodes. Not only can they deploy his attack spells and debuffs at great range, but they’re a powerful assassination vector on feat turn. 2 Excarnate spells back to back with boost attack and damage rolls are not to be trifled with. It’s not going to be enough to put a caster down, but it’s going to leave one heck of a dent in most of them.
JUST FOR FUN: Scaverous’ Telekinesis spell brings a lot of board manipulation with it. What goes great with board manipulation? More board manipulation! Try bringing a Reaper along for its Drag ability.
Hit the target with Telekinesis. Hit the Reaper with Telekinesis. Now activate the Reaper, move up, and Drag in the target. Proceed to beat the target to death with unit of your choosing.
Total distance between Reaper and target at the start? 18” Total distance at the end? 0”
SUMMARY: Lord Exhumator is another fun and powerful Cryx caster. What he lacks in raw talent in any single category, he makes up with in versatility and his insane ability to manipulate models on the board. Scaverous is a fantastic caster, and a fine addition to the Cryx line.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
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Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Witch Coven
Jacob Holo: So which warcaster should I do next?
H.P. Holo: Those ladies with the disco ball.
Jacob Holo: You mean the Coven?
H.P. Holo: Yeah, them. Their disco ball is cool.
Requested by H.P. Holo. Sort of.
Warcasters are the stars of Warmachine, and Cryx has no shortage of powerful and fun-to-play warcasters. Today, I’m taking a look at the Witch Coven of Garlghast!
IN SHORT: The Coven has no less than six ways to help get their army where it needs to be. Six! Just keep them far away from the action. They do not mingle well with others!
STRENGTHS: Focus 9. You read that right. This is a Focus 9 caster. That control area stretches 18” out from the Egregore (the aforementioned disco ball). On top of that, the three witches can enter into a Perfect Conjunction which reduces the COST of all their spells by 1. That’s crazy good! The Coven also has a host of ways to augment mobility and ensure safe delivery of their army to the enemy. Let’s step through them.
For defense, their spell Occultation can give a whole unit Stealth. Always nice to have. Their feat, Nightfall, reduces enemy MAT and RAT by 2 and limits enemy line of sight to 5”. The feat may be purely defensive, but it’s great for that closing-in turn when the Cryx army is most vulnerable.
Infernal Machine gives our already speedy warjacks even more speed in addition to increased MAT and Terror. Ghost Walk let’s a unit ignore free strikes and terrain. They can even walk through walls. Veil of Mists allows the Coven’s army to see through and walk through anything in a 4” AOE. This can create some very surprising charge lanes!
And for the last mobility booster, they have Curse of Shadows. Put an enemy unit at -2 ARM, negate their free strikes, and let the Coven’s army walk right through them.
Let’s recap that, shall we? 2 ways to hinder enemy attacks. 1 speed increase, warjacks only. 3 ways to ignore free strikes. 2 ways to ignore terrain. 2 ways to pass through enemy troops. If you need your army somewhere, the Coven can get them there!
To top it all off, they have Stygian Abyss, a POW 12 attack spell with critical Shadow Bind (pin a model in place and reduce its DEF by 3). With 9 Focus, this magic attack is extremely accurate, and can be a great assassination vector all by itself.
WEAKNESSES: Most warcasters and warlocks operate at peak efficiency until they drop dead. Not so with the Coven where the loss of a single witch can be disastrous. Each dead witch means 3 less Focus, which shrinks their control area and prevents them from achieving a Perfect Conjunction. With a pitiful ARM 12 and only 8 health on each witch, they drop easily.
Keep them safe! At all costs, keep them safe!
SYNERGIES: Since the witches of the Coven are experts at delivering elements of your army where you need them the most, warjacks and infantry that hit like a ton of bricks are ideal, though be careful with infantry that have low MAT scores. The Coven does have a DEF debuff, but it’s a temperamental one that requires a critical hit to a single model.
Banes are a personal favorite of mine, and the Coven can augment both flavors. How about adding Stealth to the Bane Knights or Ghostly to the Bane Thralls? They can even do both at the same time with plenty of focus to spare.
Arc nodes are critical to a Coven army. Pick your favorites. Take at least 2. Don’t look back.
A skarlock is also a worthwhile addition. Have one follow a unit, dispensing Ghost Walk or perhaps helping the Coven bounce Infernal Machine from warjack to warjack.
Finally, the Coven likes a big, beefy warjack to maximize the use of Infernal Machine. Even a humble Slayer is an absolute beast with that spell. SPD 8, MAT 9 and Terror on a 6-point model? Ouch. And don’t be afraid to take multiple heavies. With 9 Focus and Perfect Conjunction, the Coven can keep up just fine and still sling some nasty spells.
JUST FOR FUN: The enemy warcaster is on the other side of the map. They have just emptied their focus casting upkeep spells and powering jacks for running. They’re safe from harm, right?
Wrong!
Keep all 9 focus on the Coven. Use a skarlock to place Infernal Machine on an arc node. Give the arc node a focus with a Warwitch Siren’s Power Boost. Now run that speed demon up 18” and give it line of sight to the enemy warcaster.
With 9 Focus and Perfect Conjunction, the Witch Coven can unload a lot of pain. For best results against most warcasters, fire 3 shots and boost the damage every time you hit.
SUMMARY: The Coven is not a beginner’s warcaster. Their mobility support role takes some getting used to, and mistakes can quickly become fatal. But in the right hands, no terrain, building, or phalanx is going to stop their army from reaching the enemy caster and tearing them to bits!
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Skarre
Warcasters are the stars of Warmachine, and Cryx has no shortage of powerful and fun-to-play warcasters. Today, I’m taking a look at Pirate Queen Skarre!
IN SHORT: The first version of Skarre is a massive force multiplier. She can make her army hit with pin-point accuracy, and on feat turn, they hit like Khador heavy warjacks! But nothing is for free. Her abilities will burn through her troops and even her own health if you’re not careful.
STRENGTHS: Here’s an interesting Cryx caster. Skarre has no debuffs. Does that make her weak? Heck, no!
First, Skarre has an excellent support spell in Dark Guidance. This gives friendly Cryx models an extra die on melee attack rolls. ALL OF THEM! As long as they’re in Skarre’s control area. It’s a costly spell at 4 focus, but it makes Skarre’s army a terrifyingly accurate one.
Next up is Backlash. Plant this spell on an enemy warjack. Now every time it takes damage, its controller takes a point of damage too. This is a great way to soften up an enemy warcaster!
Skarre may be a 6 Focus caster, but she can operate far beyond that limit. By sacrificing a friendly warrior model, Skarre gets d6 extra focus next turn. Also at the cost of a friendly trooper model, Skarre can auto-hit an enemy with a magic attack called Sacrificial Strike.
Skarre’s feat, Blood Magic, is a devastating combo of offense and defense. Skarre sacrifices up 5 health. For each point of damage she takes, her army gets +1 STR and +1 ARM.
Did I mention her middle name is “sacrifice”?
Defensively, this can help her army weather that scary gun-line’s shooting before she closes for the kill. Or cause her army to hit with terrific force when they do close, AND put a damper on any reprisals. It’s a superb, flexible feat.
On top of all of that, she has a Great Rack.
No, seriously. She has a weapon called a Great Rack. She knocks people down with it. Oh, Privateer Press! You’re so punny!
WEAKNESSES: A lot of Skarre’s abilities come with unconventional costs. Her feat and her sword consume her health. Her special attack and one of her spells eats up friendly models with every use. Skarre can be her own worst enemy if you’re not careful.
She’s also squishy with only 16 health and 15 ARM. Having access to extra Focus from Ritual Sacrifice does help, but keeping her safe is still very important.
Lastly, her lack of an ARM debuff means certain models really need to hit home on her feat turn, or they’re just not going to make a big enough dent.
SYNERGIES: Skarre greatly benefits from having a Skarlock to cast Ritual Sacrifice every turn, supplying her with extra focus for “free”. Cheap infantry to sacrifice is also a must. Mechanithralls or Scrap Thralls are probably the best route, though any cheap infantry can work.
And while we’re taking Mechanithralls, might as well throw in a Necrosurgeon to heal Skarre after her feat.
With Dark Guidance benefitting melee attack rolls and her feat boosting STR, Skarre’s army is happiest close in and personal. And since both of these abilities boost everything in her control area, the more attacks her army puts out, the bigger the benefit. Infantry with multiple attacks like Mechanithralls, Blood Witches, and Satyxis Raiders work superbly with Skarre, and can help get the most out of her abilities.
Skarre can also benefit from some of our formidable melee jacks. The Harrower is particularly impressive. Its high ARM of 18 (high for Cryx, I mean) gets boosted up to 23 with her feat, and its thresher attack will tear enemy infantry limb from bloody limb under Dark Guidance.
JUST FOR FUN: Pick a beefy enemy warjack. The more health the better. Tag it with Backlash. Use Dark Guidance. Feat to boost the STR of your Satyxis Raiders. The P+S of the Raiders should be about 7 or 8 less than the ARM of the warjack, for optimum results.
Now charge the warjack with your Raiders. Each damaging hit will do 2 points of damage to the enemy warcaster. That’s a potential 20 points of damage! If there are enough Raiders to seal the deal, then congratulations! Game over.
SUMMARY: Skarre may not be the lean, mean, debuffing machine a lot of Cryx casters are, but she certainly gets the job done. With ways to boost melee accuracy, melee damage, and armor, she can turn our most humble infantry into absolute superstars.
That is before she vaporizes them to fuel her abilities.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
The Dragons of Jupiter: Cover Rough Sketches!
Kaneda’s dropfighter ground to a halt just outside the city. Explosive bolts blew the rear hatch open. The locks holding his armor released.
“Move out!” Kaneda shouted.
Crusaders stormed out of the dropfighter. Kaneda raised his Gatling gun and followed. He stepped off the metal ramp and onto the moon’s surface. Ice crunched under his boots. Leftover gel from the bombing run still burned in patches on the gray, drab buildings. Crusaders splashed through shallow pools that quickly refroze.
“Spread out! Secure those buildings!”
Jupiter’s storm-wracked face rose in front of him. Kaneda paused and looked at the planet. It filled the horizon from end to end. Ten years had passed since he’d seen the mighty gas giant with his own eyes. And now he was home again, on Europa, with ice under his boots. He even recognized some of the buildings. The nostalgia of the moment hit him harder than he thought possible, and he hesitated.
The second thing that hit him was a needle grenade exploding in his face.
Excerpt from The Dragons of Jupiter, by Jacob Holo
Oh, man! I have been so excited about this! Robert Chew (a.k.a CrazyAsian1) has begun working on the cover. He produced a few rough sketches for me to review, and I have to say, they have me giddy with excitement.
The cover is set up to wrap around the book, so most of the left half will be on the back cover. The front prominently features three crusaders, elite heavy infantry that are the antagonists of the novel. A lone dragon, one of the protagonists, hides on the back cover, ready to ambush in ninja-like fashion.
Robert has been great to work with. As we began to discuss the specifics of the cover, his attention to detail has been very impressive. Just to give you an idea, below is one of the first things he asked me during the concept phase.
“Now the purely logical side in me is wondering how Kaneda and his fellow Crusaders could heft around gatling guns. In my mind gatling guns are very heavy. The gun itself, the power source to get the barrel spinning, and the ammo. I’m wondering if the Crusaders use exoskeleton power armor to help them carry this stuff around. I could see them carrying this stuff around in space with 0G’s, but on the surface… Could you provide some insight into that for me? This will determine the character designs so I need to know.”
Ladies and gentlemen, that attention to detail is the sign of a true professional. Even at this early stage, Robert has done a superb job of capturing the look and feel I’m after. Check out these quick character studies Robert did of the crusaders.
The helmet designs are Robert Chew’s signature touch, and they have a striking profile that I just adore. I’m absolutely thrilled he’s letting me put them on the cover. I may ask for a few minor tweaks to the crusader armor, but they are already a fantastic design.
The first rough sketch I posted is my favorite, but the other two are also quite impressive. Check out this one.
And the last one.
And finally, just for laughs, here’s the original picture I sent Robert. As you can see, my crack PowerPoint skills were pushed to their limit.
Seriously, though. In my defense, I am not an artist. However, it did get the job done of communicating the layout to him … and it probably gave him a chuckle too.
Having an awesome cover for my book isn’t too far off now. After that, it’s time to publish this bad boy!
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Dungeon Master Writes Novel that Writes Campaign that Writes Novel
Last year, I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time. My wife got me started on the hobby. I played a character I affectionately remember as the “Burninator”, a wizard whose first response to any problem was to set it on fire.
It was loads of fun, but I wanted more. I wanted to drive the campaign, create the mood, and tell the story. I wanted to be the Dungeon Master.
I told our group about my writing hobby and how I thought one of my books would be a great setting for a campaign. It was an urban fantasy novel called Time Reavers, and it had plenty of formidable monsters to fight and interested powers for the characters to use. They basically said, “Sure, why not? We’ll give that a try.”
I went to work, feverishly converting the creatures and abilities from my novel into a coherent rule set, using Pathfinder as a template. The result was Time Reavers: A D&D Campaign, and it was a surprising success.
The players really enjoyed the unique setting. These weren’t skeletons and kobolds anymore. They had to contend with a whole new bestiary. Every encounter was a mystery, every new creature feared for its unknown strengths and weaknesses. Even their own abilities were revealed piece by piece.
The group enjoyed it so much that I am now running my second campaign with them. That’s great just by itself, but the biggest benefit came as a complete surprise.
You see, Time Reavers was a dead novel to me. I’d written it years ago and tried to get it published. That failed, so I tossed it away and moved on to another story. I’ve done this repeatedly over the years. It’s just the way I handle my hobby. I always try to look forward and not dwell on a failed experiment.
But running the campaign sparked my creative juices. I crafted new scenarios that didn’t exist in the book, and I even designed totally new creatures. The players came up with solutions I hadn’t thought about, indirectly adding their own creative spark. When the campaign finished, I looked at my notes and realized I had the blueprints to totally revitalize my novel.
And so I did just that. It was strange revisiting a dead project, but also a lot of fun. I revamped the main character, added a secondary protagonist and some old-fashioned conflict between the two. I wrote two brand new action scenes, spiced them up with one of the new creature types, and cut the fat out of the third act.
It took months. The 58,000 word urban fantasy novel I started with became a 70,000 YA urban fantasy novel, and it’s a much stronger story than its predecessor.
So what’s the next step? Well, I’m going to try to get the thing published. And if that fails, I’m going to do what I’m doing with The Dragons of Jupiter. I’m going to self-publish.
Wish me luck!
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Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Blood Witches
Requested by Frank. Thank you for your support!
Infantry may not be the stars of Warmachine, but that doesn’t make them any less important. From screening high priority targets to overwhelming a foe with sheer numbers, infantry plays a critical role, especially in the armies of Cryx. Today, I’m taking a look at the Satyxis Blood Witches.
IN SHORT: These cursed ladies are cheap, fast, and very accurate killers. They can also make people explode into clouds of gory mist, and that’s just cool.
STRENGTHS: With two attacks each and Gang, Blood Witches are capable of handling most high DEF, low ARM infantry out there. A pair of Blood Witches operates at effective MAT 8, with a P+S 12 and a P+S 10 attack each. Two Blood Witches working in tandem have solid odds of hitting anything up to DEF 17, and they make short work of DEF 15 or lower.
They’re fast, and have decent hitting power, but their real trick is Bloodletting. This ability triggers when they take out a living model, and can be used in two ways. Blood Mist turns enemies into cloud effects, which you can use to protect your Blood Witches from reprisals or screen the slower portions of your army.
Death Strike takes the STR of the model killed and shoots it at another model within 4”. There is no roll to hit. Just pick a target and roll for damage. The POW is going to be low (normally around 5 or 6), but if high DEF low ARM enemies are nearby, this is one more way to deal with them.
As the cherry on top, their blood razors are Magical Weapons, which is always a nice tool to have in an army list.
WEAKNESSES: Blood Witches are weedy. With DEF 13 and ARM 13, they’re not going to stick around very long. To make matters worse, they have CMD 8, which gives them a good chance of running away once they take enough casualties.
Deploying Blood Witches in pairs is critical to success. Without the benefits of Gang, their accuracy is average and hitting power is quite low.
And while Gang works on all enemies, Bloodletting needs living models. However, this just comes with playing Cryx. Lack of living enemies shuts down a lot of our cool abilities. Bloodletting is just one of them.
SYNERGIES: Blood Witches already have excellent accuracy. What they lack is raw hitting power. Warcasters that have ARM debuffs or STR buffs can get a lot of mileage from Blood Witches. Fortunately, Cryx has plenty of those.
The Blood Hag, a 2 point unit attachment, is a superb addition to a team of Blood Witches. Her Blood Shadow, which turns the entire unit Incorporeal for a round, has many defensive and offensive possibilities. If you’re tired of your Blood Witches getting shot to pieces before they can close, try a Blood Hag.
In addition, she can prevent enemy Tough rolls, stop enemy healing, and Dispel enemy upkeep spells with a hit. She also gives them an extra point of CMD, which can help prevent them from running away at the worst possible moment.
If you like Blood Witches, then for 2 points, you’ve got to try the Blood Hag. She’s just that good.
JUST FOR FUN: Note that the rule on Bloodletting says “living model”. It does not say “living enemy model”. Does that mean what I think it means?
Yes! You can exsplode your own Blood Witches to provide cloud effects for the rest of your army! For that matter, you can even sacrifice your own Blood Witches to make Death Strike attacks.
Heck, you’re playing Cryx! You can even have a Necrosurgeon recycle them as Mechanithralls. Just remember that Blood Mist removes the model from play, and that Gang only works on enemy models.
SUMMARY: Blood Witches may be on the lower end of powerful Cryx infantry, but they come at a bargain price and have a nifty set of tools. Smart use of their abilities can screen the rest of your army and take out high DEF targets. Plus the whole bloody explosion imagery is just so cool.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
In Death Ground by David Weber and Steve White – Book Review
IN SHORT: A race of genocidal alien bugs has targeted humanity, and they’re coming after us with a lot of ships. I mean, A LOT OF SHIPS.
WHAT IT IS: Expect lots of extremely detailed and well-written combat. Stuff blows up in this book. LOTS of stuff. The military tech of In Death Ground is coherent, detailed, and well thought out. There’s a lot to take in, but I never felt overwhelmed. Even with all the SBMs, AFHAWKs, primaries, heterodyne lasers, force beams, plasma cannons, sprint-mode missiles, and a ton of different ship classes, the novel delivers it at a controlled pace, doling out a few new pieces of tech in each battle. This keeps the combat fresh and exciting.
WHAT IT IS NOT: The characters, while distinct and entertaining, are not the real stars here, and it shows. The viewpoint bounces around quite a bit. As soon as I got comfortable with one group of characters, I had to learn a whole new cast. These viewpoint shifts paint a great picture of a war on multiple fronts, but at the cost of character development.
WHAT I THOUGHT: In Death Ground is fun. The action is fast paced and exciting. Every battle has some sort of interesting twist to it. It’s just a great page turner. Without a doubt, I enjoyed following humanity’s struggle against this unstoppable, genocidal alien juggernaut.
The technical details give it a layer of depth and consistency that just feels right. Humans have the technology advantage. The bugs have massive numbers and just don’t care about casualties. The tactics each side employs are well thought out and consistent within the setting … for the most part. Sometimes the bug “we don’t care how many of us die” mentality can come across as a little stupid.
On a thematic level, this is not a complicated book. The military characters are very heroic. The politicians are complete scum. And the bugs are the bad guys. Period. No question about it. I mean, they even eat human babies, for goodness sake. There is no ambiguity here.
The novel does show a little of the bug perspective, but only in a military tactical sense. At no point does the reader get any insight into why the bugs invaded or who they really are. They are faceless, remorseless killers that serve as foils for the heroic humans. That’s it.
But that’s okay. This is an action novel. I wanted spaceships to blow up in exciting ways, and I got it. If that’s what you’re after, then In Death Ground will not disappoint.
VERDICT: Recommended.
Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Goreshade
Warcasters are the stars of Warmachine, and Cryx has no shortage of powerful and fun-to-play warcasters. Up next is the Goreshade the Bastard!
IN SHORT: Do you want to try a caster that plays like no other in Cryx? Feel like leaving all the arc nodes at home? Want to stomp around with some extra warjacks? Tired of your opponent’s feat getting you down? Well, search no further! Version 1 of Goreshade has you covered!
STRENGTHS: Goreshade the Bastard has a very powerful spell list. He comes with two great spells for supporting his battlegroup, a spell for removing enemy upkeeps and animi, and he can SHUT DOWN ENEMY FEATS! Wow, just wow. He has two powerful ways to debuff enemies, and he doesn’t need arc nodes the way other Cryx casters depend on them.
Shadowmancer gives Goreshade’s entire battlegroup Stealth and Dark Shroud. This includes him and his companion solo, Deathwalker. With this, it’s possible to have an entire army benefit from Stealth. Many factions have ways to neutralize Stealth, but not a whole army at once! On top of that, anything engaged by the battlegroup is going to be at -2 ARM. Nice! No need to hit the enemy with a debuff spell!
And speaking of easy debuffs, Deathwalker has big debuff aura. Any living enemies within 5” of her are at -2 DEF and -2 STR. Just run Deathwalker up. It’s debuffed! And if she dies, Goreshade can make a new one by killing a living enemy model.
Soul Gate gives Goreshade a powerful tool for relocating warjacks. At the expense of a trooper model in his control area, Goreshade can move a warjack to that location. The warjack cannot activate afterwards, so here’s what I like to do. Hit the enemy hard with the warjack, then teleport it away to safety. Yoink! The enemy has no chance to counterattack.
To compliment his already formidable arsenal, Goreshade has Hex Blast. This POW 13 AOE spell not only causes decent damage, but can clear enemy buffs on a direct hit. It can even clear debuffs inflicting your own troops, just as long as you’re cool with vaporizing a few of them.
And then there is his spell Mage Blight. In Goreshade’s control area, living enemy models cannot cast spells or use feats. Period!
WEAKNESSES: Goreshade can cast a lot of very powerful spells. He just can’t do it all at the same time. Mage Blight costs a massive 5 Focus! Shadowmancer, Soul Gate, and Hex Blast all cost 3 Focus. Even as a 7 Focus caster, there’s only so much he’s going to be able to do in one turn. Picking the right spells for the right situation is key. To top this off, he has no upkeep spells and cannot collect soul tokens. With Goreshade, every Focus counts.
Goreshade is on a medium base, with all the disadvantages that brings. He has access to Stealth through Shadowmancer, but watch out for enemy models that can bypass that defense!
Goreshade’s Feat, Dark Summons, allows him to bring 6 new Bane Thralls into play within 3” of him. These Bane Thralls can then activate freely. This certainly has punch in the right places. However, the feat does not scale with larger games. In smaller games, the added weight of a whole new unit can be devastating. But in larger games, it can easily fall flat.
SYNERGIES: Goreshade works well with a solid combination of powerful warjacks and infantry. Those warjacks are going to need some Focus, but Goreshade needs to be pumping out high-powered spells. Focus efficiency is absolutely essential. Warwitch sirens are excellent additions to help power the warjacks. As an added bonus, they have built in Stealth.
For warjacks, the always-efficient Seether can help with Goreshade’s Focus woes. Warjacks with Reach are also powerful, allowing you to maximize the effects of Dark Shroud. The Desecrator is also a good addition, since it can Accumulate from nearby Bane models, such as those from Goreshade’s feat.
To support Soul Gate, I recommend taking a group of cheap infantry like Mechanithralls. When the time is right, run one to whatever location you want to Soul Gate a jack to.
And speaking of Banes, any of them work well with Goreshade. There are going to be Banes in the army no matter what, so why not take some more? More Bane Thralls are my first choice. They follow the Stealth theme and bring their own Dark Shrouds. This can relieve some of the spell-casting pressure from Goreshade once the two armies lock in melee. On top of that, Bane Lord Tartarus can help any of the Banes kick more butt.
Alternatively, just about any infantry unit in Cryx can benefit from the battlegroup’s Dark Shroud or from Deathwalker running into the midst of their next target.
JUST FOR FUN: Got to bring some pain to the enemy, but can’t reach him? No problem! First, run a model forward in roughly the direction you need to go, somewhere between 9” and 11” from Goreshade. Activate Goreshade and charge your own model. Now feat, and place those Banes 3” further towards the target. For added silliness, have Bane Lord Tartarus Curse the target.
Now charge in with those 6 new Banes. They can reach a target roughly 23” away from Goreshade’s original location! And let’s face it, 6 weapon masters hitting with effective MAT 8 POW 13 charge attacks is scary, scary, scary!
For even more hilarity, run the Deathwalker over to the target. Now they’re effective MAT 10!
SUMMARY: Goreshade the Bastard is a fun warcaster within Cryx. He has a very unique spell list, can support jacks better than most of our casters, and has two effective ways to deliver debuffs. Besides, the guy can teleport jacks around and shut down enemy feats! There’s a reason he’s called the Bastard!
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
Hordes Gargantuans Review: Circle of Orboros
IN SHORT: The Horde Gargantuans rulebook is here, and once again Privateer Press shows their top shelf support for an excellent gaming system.
As with previous releases, every Hordes army gets a host of new additions that mix up the game in exciting ways. In the past, Privateer Press has shown their skill in maintaining game balance while still adding tons of exciting new options. Fortunately, this rulebook does not disappoint. Every main faction gets a new warlock, one of the new gargantuans, and a mix of beasts, units, and solos. The rulebook itself is full color, and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous!
Today, let’s take a look at the new additions to the Circle arsenal!
MORVAHNA THE DAWNSHADOW: Morvahna is back and she’s riding a goat! Okay, granted it’s a really cool looking mountain goat, but it’s still a goat.
As before Morvahna is most comfortable surrounded by lots of infantry. At first glance, she looks like a risky warlock that can either really pay off or blow up in your face. She has no less than 3 abilities that drain her health. Her feat, Blood Sacrifice, returns infantry in exchange for health at a 1 for 1 ratio. These models lose their actions the turn they come back.
Second, Scales of Fate allows friendly attack or damage rolls in her control area to be rerolled. Very powerful, but pricey. This ability costs her d3 damage each time. And last, her weapon has Life Trader, allowing her to gain an additional damage die by suffering 1 damage point. She’s also squishy with DEF 15, ARM 15, a large base, and only 16 damage points. Ouch!
To counterbalance this, she has two abilities that help her regenerate health. Imperishable Conviction gives her 1 damage point for each friendly killed in her control area. Carnivore gives a friendly model or unit +2 to MAT. Any living models they kill means d3 damage points for Morvahna.
Is this enough? I’d say that’s up to player skill more than anything else. Liberal use of Scales of Fate can be absolutely devastating under the right circumstances (say, an assassination run), but if the attack goes south, it can leave Morvahna very vulnerable.
RAZORWING GRIFFON: It slices! It dices! It’s a trampling light warbeast!
The Razorwing Griffon has a slew of rules that make it appealing to trample with this light warbeast. The very fact that it can trample at all is novel, though I picture it swooping over its enemies while slicing their heads off.
First, it tramples over anything, regardless of base sizes or obstructions. Second, it adds the POW of its weapons to the trample, which gives it P+S 12. Third, it has Amuck, which means all those trample attack rolls are going to be boosted.
And if you can’t trample, it has 3 P+S 12 attack. For 5 points? Yeah, I’d buy that.
RIP HORN SATYR: At 9 points, the Rip Horn is the most expensive Satyr to date. It also hits the hardest and has the best ARM. Basically, there’s not much to this guy. He’s a solid beat stick. Nothing too flashy. He has the typical Satyr Hard Head rule, so slams from this guy are going to hurt. His animus, Bulldoze, helps him get to the target of your choice, and Aggressive gives him a little extra Fury efficiency. SPD is excellent for a heavy. Just point him at a target and smash it to bits.
THARN BLOOD PACK: Here’s a new type of heavy infantry for Circle, and they’re built for offense. They have high SPD, MAT, and RAT scores, but their DEF and ARM aren’t too great. However, they have the potential to put out a lot of attacks.
First, they can shoot and then charge thanks to Assault & Battery (Order). Next, they share the Lord of the Feast’s Heart Eater rule, allowing them to collect corpse tokens from living enemy models and use those tokens to buy melee attacks or to boost rolls, including ranged attack rolls. Did I mention those ranged attacks are POW 13? Imagine boosting a few of those, eh?
Given that this unit relies on corpse tokens to maximize its effectiveness, and is kind of squishy, I think they’re a little tricky to get the most out of.
WARPBORN ALPHA: At 3 points, this unit attachment is pricey, but he greatly enhances his unit of Warpborn Skinwalkers. First, they hit harder thanks to Tactics: Rapid Strike. Every Skinwalker gets an extra attack! Second, they have some added resilience thanks to Granted: Blood Drinker. When they kill living enemy models, they get to heal a little. The Warpborn Alpha is a fantastic addition to this unit, and really helps bring it to the next level.
Finally, I assume the lack of Reach on his Pole Axe is simply a typo and will be corrected in a future FAQ.
WOLDWRATH: Now that is a health spiral! And ARM 20 too! Nice!
Okay, let’s get this out of the way. Spell Ward is a double-edged sword. You’re either upset Circle buffs can’t affect it or you’re glad enemy spells bounce off its stone hide. Me, I think Spell Ward is worth it because it’s a powerful denial tool. There are a lot of absolutely nasty spells out there that can really cripple a gargantuan’s effectiveness.
Imagine Warwitch Deneghra’s Crippling Grasp on this model, dropping its SPD, DEF, STR, and ARM. Not a pretty sight. Now let out a sigh of relief, because this guy can’t be targeted by enemy spells. Gargantuans are prime debuff targets, but not the Woldwrath!
Its animus is also pretty neat. Magic attack rolls against models within 10” of the Woldwrath gain an additional die, which can then be boosted for a total of four attack dice. Many warlocks and especially Druids can benefit from this synergy. Extra accurate Force Bolt rolls? Bring it on!
On top of this, its ranged attack can put down electric POW 10 AOE’s, and its fists will knock down nearby targets. You don’t even have to hit your target. Just hit something near them. This is great for setting up assassination runs. All in all, I really like this gargantuan.
SUMMARY: Privateer Press continues to release exciting new models for every faction at roughly the same time. They have shown a strong commitment to game balance and to supporting owners of all factions. The releases in this rulebook are a fine example of their dedication to the game and to the fans.
All in all, Gargantuans is another top-notch release for a top-notch game.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.
Hordes Gargantuans Review: Trollbloods
IN SHORT: The Horde Gargantuans rulebook is here, and once again Privateer Press shows their top shelf support for an excellent gaming system.
As with previous releases, every Hordes army gets a host of new additions that mix up the game in exciting ways. In the past, Privateer Press has shown their skill in maintaining game balance while still adding tons of exciting new options. Fortunately, this rulebook does not disappoint. Every main faction gets a new warlock, one of the new gargantuans, and a mix of beasts, units, and solos. The rulebook itself is full color, and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous!
Today, let’s take a look at the new additions to the Trollbloods arsenal!
HUNTERS GRIM: Trollbloods get a warlock unit! Plus, anything with a bowler hat gains extra cool points in my book. I love these Trollblood models!
Grim’s feat is excellent for ranged-heavy Trollblood armies. Any Cygnar player with Rangers knows the power of Mark Target. Toss in Snipe for extra range, mix and serve. With a few models forward marking targets and the rest of the battle-line holding back with Snipe, Grim’s feat turn can be absolutely devastating!
The guns of the Hunters Grim are pretty nice too. Grim’s Headhunter lets warbeasts charge enemy models for free. Muggs can knock enemies down, and Krump can lay down large POW 10 traps to keep the team safe. Nice!
Once the range drops, Grim’s spell list has some neat tricks. Mirage gives a model or unit Apparition, which can help the target close faster or disengage from melee. Mage Sight can let his battlegroup ignore Stealth, cloud effects, and forests. Good stuff. But I think Mortality is the best. This debuff will drop DEF and ARM by 2 for a whole unit. Just picture that with the Mountain King’s spray attack on feat turn. A 10” spray attack at effective RAT 9 POW 18? Yes, please!
Overall, the Hunters Grim look like a flexible addition to the Trollbloods team. They have support for both warbeasts and infantry as well as a potent feat with ranged armies.
NIGHT TROLL: Wow, this guy is one freaky-looking troll! Can’t wait to see the model!
For 4 points, this light warbeast brings some interesting stuff to the table. Its claws can paralyze living models, reducing their DEF to 7 among other maladies. It comes with Stealth and Eyeless Sight, stock. And it has an interesting animus, Beguile. Basically, living enemy models within 5” of him have to advance towards him.
Note that this is not “directly” towards, just towards, so it’s not as powerful as it first sounds, but it is still very potent. Still, I can see this ability really messing with enemy charges. It creates a 5” bubble around the Night Troll, and that can mean a lot of failed charge vectors. Not bad for a 4 point light warbeast.
TROLLKIN WARDERS: These guys are slow, heavy infantry that are going to take a concerted effort to get rid of. If you want to bog down an enemy, these guys look like they’re up to the challenge. As soon as you damage one, their ARM shoots up to 19, among other benefits. They don’t have the same offensive power as, say, Trollkin Champions. But they’re cheaper and are going to stick around much longer. Not bad at all.
TROLLKIN SORCERER: Here’s a 1 point solo that brings some very interesting tools into the mix. He has an attack spell, Ice Bolt. Nothing too exciting there. However, he also has Arcane Antidote and Winter Storm, and these are worth a look!
While the Sorcerer is a solo, it is assigned a client Trollkin unit thanks to its Adjunct rule. Arcane Antidote allows the Sorcerer to clear enemy upkeep spells off his client unit. Very nice, especially against foes like Cryx or anyone who likes to toss around debuff spells.
If the Sorcerer uses Winter Storm, enemy models activating in his command range lose Eyeless Sight, Flight, and Pathfinder. Yikes! That’s going to be nasty against Legion!
All in all, this guy brings some nice abilities to the table for only 1 point. And you can have 2 of him.
FENNBLADE KITHKAR: So here’s a 2 point Fennblade solo. Nothing too flashy. Good offensive abilities. Good defensive abilities. The main synergy with this model is Tactician [Fennblades], which allows nearby Fennblades to ignore other Fennblades for line of sight. Again, nothing too flashy. I could see some potential use out of it, since the Fennblades are medium based models and sometimes a big mob of them can get in the way of each other.
That said, the Fennblade Kithkar is not a part of the unit, so if the Fennblades have a buff spell on them, he won’t benefit from it. Same goes for Fell Calls. So, yeah. Nothing too exciting here. Just a solid solo with good rules and stats.
MOUNTAIN KING: At first I was like, MAT 5? Really? On a 20 point model? What the flip? But then I saw its animus, Amuck. Ahh, now it makes sense.
With Amuck and Kill Shot, this guy can charge forward, Sweep a whole mess of infantry with boosted attack rolls, eat them for health, and then cut loose with a free ranged attack. He may not start with high health, but his regenerative abilities are top notch. Between that and the ARM buffs Trollbloods have at their disposal, the Mountain King is one tough customer to put down.
Just think about this for a moment. +2 ARM from the Krielstone. Maybe another +2 ARM from an Earthborn Dire Troll’s Elemental Communion. Add in double doses of Whelps for munching on, and the aforementioned boosted Sweep attacks. Let’s face it. If the enemy doesn’t kill this guy in one turn, all they did was piss him off!
SUMMARY: Privateer Press continues to release exciting new models for every faction at roughly the same time. They have shown a strong commitment to game balance and to supporting owners of all factions. The releases in this rulebook are a fine example of their dedication to the game and to the fans.
All in all, Gargantuans is another top-notch release for a top-notch game.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.