Warmachine: What?

Taking a quick breather before I dive headfirst into Summer Of Love games, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying painting this week, while geeking out and watching episode after episode of the new Dr Who series (thank you local library, who just happened to have Season Two on DVD).

I’ve been working some more on my Searforge Commission collection for Warmachine. It’s slow going because, well, I keep putting the brush down to watch more Dr Who… it’s a curse, I know, but sometimes geek interests collide, and we just have to make the best of an overly geeky situation.

Ogrun Bokur, work in progress

Aside from taking this opportunity to show you the current work in progress, my Ogrun Bokur (trans: Ogre Bodyguard), I thought I’d give a quick explanation of Warmachine and its feral counterpart, Hordes.

The game is set in the fictional world of Immoren. Here, mankind struggles and fights within itself over contested borders and ideological conflicts, while at the same time it is beset by armies of species that were here long before the age of man. Don’t misunderstand though, mankind is hardly the victim here, and is responsible for more than its fair share of bloodletting.

Warmachine: New Guy Night at Hobby Kingdom

Lo and behold, I actually snuck out for an extra night of geekery tonight, sidling into the first of two New Guy Night’s at Hobby Kingdom.

To help encourage new players for the Warmachine and Hordes games, players were restricted to playing the contents of a battlebox/warpack - basically starter sets for your chosen faction.

As mentioned awhile back, I picked up the Gorten Grundback battlebox - basically, the dwarven mercs of the Iron Kingdoms setting - so I went in with Gorten Grundback, a Ghordson Driller heavy warjack (no ranged attack, but a pincer that buckles armour nicely and a huge drill), and three Grundback Gunners (basically gun turrets on two legs).

As luck would have it, my first opponent was Kevin Petker, reigning warlord of the current campaign season (Just like L5R, they’re having a big campaign throughout the Summer with tournament results impacting the future of the game), who trundled out his Protectorate of Menoth battlebox - flamethrowers and religious fervor are their stock in trade.

Warmachine: Gorten, Thumper & Jennifer

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, all VS and no… anything else, really… makes Gday an overly obsessed fanatic. Now, I know some of you are ready to string me up as a heathen for even suggesting that there was anything else out there in the world other than VS, but I come from a many years of gaming in an assortment of genres, including several years of slavish devotion to Games Workshop’s plethora of miniature games.

Now, over the years, GW has moved towards more and more plastic figures, while their prices have skyrocketted. Not only do you now get less figures for your money, but you get little pieces of plastic rather than solid chunks of metal. So sue me if I like to feel like I got something substantial for my money.

Thus it was with delight that I discovered Privateer Press’ Warmachine.