Those of us who have embraced the fourth iteration of Privateer Press’ tabletop skirmishes game Warmachine, were in for a treat this week as the rules for the three new model kits, set for release in February, hit the Warmachine app. Two forces are enjoying the February releases, the Orgoth and Khymaera factions. Let’s look at the full list.
ORGOTH
First we see a new Cadre for the Orgoth, the Cursebound. The Orgoth Cadre offers up a total of eight models, led by a new Cursebound Warcaster Oriax, the Soul Slaver. In addition to the new caster those who purchase the kit will receive a character solo, Halexus, The Warlord, a Ravener heavy Warbeast(‘jack?), a Grhotten Keeper solo, a Grhotten Champion solo, and a three-member unit of Gnashers, the shock troopers of the Cursebound. MSRP is $109.99
KHYMEARA
The Shadowflame Shard Army Expansion is built around a new Warlock Nyxyan, The Stygian Coil. It also features three new solos Wraithwing Paragon, Spinner, and character solo Ryvyn, The Onyx Rampant. There will also be two three model units included, the Talon Lashers and the Wyrmspine Cinderbacks. MSRP is $129.99.
The Shadowflame Shard’s fun doesn’t stop at the army expansion though, a third kit will be available separately to users of this force. The character Warbeast Skylla, The Abyssal Fury. MSRP $12.99
I’ll start with the Khymeara additions. This is my first time diving into this new faction for MKIV, the official title for the fourth iteration of this game, these flesh-crafted dragonkin are new, living weapons, that now march across the surface world. This faction appears to be a mobile powerhouse. Nearly every unit and solo has some form additional movement associated with their abilities. Acrobatics, Side Step, Apparition, Reposition, it’s all there in the abilities. The Warlocks certainly have ways to help cohorts, units, and solos move about the board too.
The February additions to this force continue the theme. Nyxyan 1 comes with Apparition herself and the spell Shadow Step and Admonition for further movement options. She packs a Feat that will mesh very well with the warrior models in the force giving them all the benefit of her Prey ability, which moves to whatever target you fancy upon popping the feat. The Talon Lashers already have Gang to work with so adding Prey to a potential target will be quite damaging (and with 3” range on their chain blades and 6” of movement the potential victim list grows). The Wyrmspine Cinderbacks add some additional range to the Shadowflame unit list that focus on limiting movement of foes rather than being mobile themselves. Some choking ash from their fire blast can keep living warrior models from running and charging.
The Spinner solo comes packed with some utility. AOE effects like Smoke Bomb throws around cloud effects, and it even has an Acid Bomb with a 2” AOE but I think many will appreciate the Spinner’s ability to heal and, even more so, use Grim Return to bring destroyed grunts back to the field. On the other side of solos the Wraithwing Paragon is a simple little mechanodragon, the thing is just a brute, plain and simple. Cleave, Hyper-Aggressive, Critical Decapitation and speed 7 with a 2” range on its POW 15 Great Sword make it a dicey combatant. Rounding out the solos is the character solo Ryvyn 1. Ryvyn take being mobile to heart with Prowl, Reposition 3”, and especially Jump. Ryvyn can get in the mix quickly with a POW 14 spear as a weapon master and Thresher, plus using Mortal Fear makes it tough to pile damage onto that ARM 17.
The additional kit for the Shadowflame is Skylla 1. Skylla is essentially a beefed up Hydrix from what I can see, maintaining that useful d3 Regeneration but also packs Excessive Healing which, when used, grants Rapid Healing so the beast can remove d3 damage points every time it is damaged by an enemy attack, this could make for some staying power if the dice land in your favor. Three heads make for a lot of attacks and you can choose between smaller head options that can either focus on armor piercing or debuffs to enemy DEF. A crazy little addition makes both the melee and ranged attack from the central head grant Transfiguration, removing enemies boxed from play and returning your own lost Grunts to the action.
I’m a late addition to MKIV. Having spent the bulk of my time playing in MKIII, and building some size-able Ret and Grymkin lists, I was a bit hesitant to move on. In fact I’ll fall on my sword here and reveal I’ve only played one skirmish under the new ruleset using just a 35 point Grymkin Prime Legacy force to take the field. I’m liking what I see though, and had the fortune to be in the right place at the right time at my local FLGS branch of Miniature Market. They had been provided a number of model kits to use with their customers in order to ramp up interest in the game. Now sadly, Miniature Market has stop selling physical models for Warmachine in their brick and mortar buildings (although they are still my go to for online purchases), and I was lamenting that to the store employees one evening which led them to recall their supply of these kits. I ended up walking away with a number of them to use and hand around to my friends who all still enjoy the game.
At last we get to the point of this little side story. I found myself interested in one of the new forces, the Orgoth Sea Raiders to be specific. Miniature Market did well handing me some kits because I went right back onto the website and purchased the Orgoth Sea Raiders Core Army Starter, a 50 point force to get you moving. Now with that in hand and the items handed out to me I’m ready to truly dive into MKIV! So… suffice it to say the February release of the Orgoth Cadre has me very interested.
Oriax 1 brings souls into the equation and a penchant for both Warjacks and Warbeasts (like the new Ravener addition). The souls Oriax gains through either the killing of living models in his control range or from his feat, Howl of the Abyss which grants d3+2 soul tokens, allow for a number of useful tricks. Gate of the Worlds spends soul tokens to move a friendly around, Soul Phase grants Incorporeal, and Vengeful Spirits allows Oriax to slam 3 focus points down on friendly cohorts for merely the cost of a soul.
Howl of the Abyss has the added effect of adding Shadow Bind to the Melee weapons of friendly Cohorts. Oriax’s spell list leans heavily toward debuffs, subtracting ARM, SPD, or even using Star-Crossed to add an additional damage die to enemy models in Oriax’s control range only to have them then drop the highest number rolled. Since my initial grab in this faction focused on Kishtaar, and her ranged prowess, it might be fun to grab up this Cadre just to add a little melee option to my group.
Oriax has decided to bring a curse bound Warbeast into the fray with him. The Ravener is melee powerhouse that can be treated like a Warjack allowing focus to be placed on it. This is an interesting addition to Warmachine and it is noted in the rules on the app that not everything related to Orgoth Warcasters controlling Warbeasts is finalized yet. The Ravener has Berserk so let him do his stuff away from your own. It cannot be targeted by spells, which is good and bad I suppose. It packs three melee attacks, a Gore attack with Beat Back as an option, A Mechano Claw with man Catcher, and its main weapon the Fell Cleaver. Fell Cleaver is a nasty little POW 16 attack with Weapon Master in tow.
Berserk is a common theme among the Curse Bound it seems. Two of the new solos pack the ability (and our new unit, but more on that later) the Grhotten Champion and the new character solo Halexus the Warlord. The Grhotten Champion seems like a mini me of the Ravener honestly, though 7 points cheaper. The Champion also has a Fell Blade with Weapon Master and POW 16 but they get to add Thresher, allowing them to attack anyone within reach. Oddly the Champion’s Fell Blade has an addition inch of reach that the Ravener doesn’t enjoy allowing for an even deeper pool of targets for Thresher. The Champion can heal with Blood Drinker (boasting a max health at 14), has Blade Shield to beat back pesky ranged attacks, Side Step and the same Spell Ward. I’ll be frank, 5 points seems pretty cheap for this guy, field allowance is limited to two though. Oh, and he’s tough! Grhotten Keeper seems a little tame when compared to the Champion, but comes with some utility. Critical Decapitation on its Fell Axe makes for some potential for big damage but a shield makes for solid ARM and the ability to use Shield Guard make this solo more defensive minded. Still likes to get in the mix with Primal Rage marching it up the field though.
Back to Halexus the Warlord. He’s Unstoppable, Tough, and loves souls. In fact, every soul up to his max of three adds more ARM and he can use those souls to take extra attacks or negate spells. If at any time he doesn’t feel like he wants them any more he can use a special action to transfer them, say to someone like Oriax. His weapon Deathgorger should make collecting souls easy enough with Weapon Master in tow. Shame his POW on that is only 14 but he can be beefed up by spells unlike the other solos here.
Rounding it all out are the Gnashers unit. A three grunt unit with Berserk, Blood Drinker and Spell Ward they fit right in with the Grhottens and Raveners of the world. They duel wield POW 13 Fell Weapons that are, of course, equipped with Weapon Master. They are Tough and also have Advanced Deployment and Ambush allowing for some tricky business with placement.
Looking back across these two factions there’s a lot to love, and I’m sure some tweaks will come down once the community gets a look at these rules. I was very hesitant about MKIV but Privateer Press is winning me over, these new factions maintain a nice connection to previous editions of the game while introducing interesting new things, not just new things for the sake of a changing edition. I love seeing something like Ravener popping up, a weird Warjack/Warbeast mix, and hope to see more of that, especially for Orgoth. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my rundown and I hope I can get my hands on some of this to unbox and discuss in February. Feel free to let me have it in the comments if you feel I missed something great about any of these models (or if you think I’m hyping some up too much), I’d love to hear from you!
-Melv
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