Hordes/Warmachine new MKIII Battle Boxes

As promised I continue to follow the Hype Train and collect more of the rumours and facts about the new edition for Hordes and Warmachine.
One big thing for me are the new Battle Boxes because they always help to draw in new people and normally should also provide older players to get into new editions by providing the rules and stuff for a reasonable price. Most of us will buy the MKIII rulebook nonetheless, but for testing it out those should be perfect.

So lets see what the new boxes will offer us:

• MSRP $40 for a battle group (1 caster and at least 2 large or 3 medium models)
• All necessary cards
• Quick rules
• A paper battlemap and terrain
• A paper ruler, dice and tokens

Additional information to these boxes:

• The caster will be Battle Box only (at least for the first time)
• The material will be the same PVC as today (although precolored)
• The paper battlemap is most likely 24x24", which would perfectly fit for introduction games

My impression so far: 

The paper ruler is garbage (it was already in the current box), the battlemap and terrain I don't need (but are nice for beginners). But still I hope that you get more than only this stupid wall, maybe some markers for woods or so.

The rest sounds awesome! If they really will stick to 40$ (which will most likely be 40€ because they always do it 1:1) sounds like a perfect price for a starter box. Also you get a hopefully useful battlegroup. For me the Legion one is somewhat 50:50 because I already have half of the stuff, but maybe I can convert some of the Shredders. For me, at this point, it is a must buy (and maybe I will also get a second faction now).

More information about MKIII

Nearly a week ago, Privateer Press anounced the new edition for Warmachine/Hordes. Slowly information is trickling into the public and to be honest: I am quite hyped about the bits and pieces that are made public now and are collected in the different communities. Not everything is shiny, but hey I am used to edition changes in Warhammer Fantasy so this can only get good *crossing my fingers* :)

Ok, so let's dig a bit deeper into the stuff and add information to my last post about this topic. This time I try to give also a bit of my opinion to the changes/rumours I picked up.

75 is the new 50 and 50 is the new 35

Points are increased throughout the whole game. It is not exact a doubling of point costs, but overall it seems they increased points. They state that if you are used to a model size today of 50 points it will be roughly 75 points in the future, if you are used to 35 it will be 50.

This change is interesting: I think that will give them a good opportunity to balance models better. I don't know MKI where they had even bigger point costs (which seems to not work well) but MKII was at some points a bit unbalance in point costs. Sometimes you asked yourself: Why do these model cost the same, even if one is cleary stronger. Sure point balance is always a thing, because you also have to count in synergies, counters etc. pp. Therefore I think this could be a good thing that they change something there.

Psychology will change massively

Fear, Terror, and Massive Casualty tests are gone it seems. So they have to rework many models especially Horde solos and beasts. Seems like they want to get rid of fleeing units somehow.

This is a bit unclear to me. I LOVE psychology for your troups. For me this was always a fun factor in games. Nothing more fun than tiny troupers covering in fear from a HUGE battle beast. Or running away if there unit was nearly annihilated in one attack. I have mixed feelings about this one, but not enough information yet about this.

Premeasuring officially allowed 

We have come to believe that eyeballing spatial relations should not be a required skill to play WARMACHINE and HORDES.

Finally! Yes! I know that this is a extremely heated topic. In the Warmachine/Hordes communities you will find lots of emotional and heated discussions about this topic. But for me this gets rid of one of the most annoying things in the game: the hidden measuring over command areas. Yes, it is awesome if you can estimate a 16,5 inch distance (anyone remebers how warmachines worked in earler editions ofWHFB?) but for a competitive game this should not be a prerequisite. I really loved that change in WHFB 8th edition, I love it in KOW and I am pretty sure that they will do it right in Warmachine/Hordes.

Changes to War Room/Faction decks

With the change to the new edition, all faction decks will be updated and have to be rebought. Additionally War Room has gone through a big change, therefore you have to re-buy the decks you already own. Decks bought after January 1st 2016 will get a free update. We others shall get them at a discount.

That was to be expected. Still sad that we have to spend money again but War Room decks are already awesome and I just hope that they reworked the app a bit that it gets more stable and performant.

If you want to get more information, please follow the links to the official sources:

- Primecast Epsiode 30

- Privateer Insider 13/04/2016

Ok that is it for now. There is already more in the pipeline so expect at least one more post about this :)

So long,

Paradox0n

End Times is near! Rumors about 9th

Today I do something which I normally don't do: I jump on the rumor train and give my opinion to the gossip factory which is working overtime at the moment. With myself getting deeper into the Warhammer Fantasy universe again and having played the games in the 90ies I am deeply rooted in the background of the game(s) and had to see how complete games were shot down from GW over the years (Necromunda, Mortheim etc. pp.) so I am pricking my ears on the newest rumors. And I have to admit that the newest rumors from Faeit and Warseer really worry me.

Disclaimer: This article will contain spoilers and rumors! If you aren't interested in them, please don't read the full length article.
It also contains some personal views and heavy exaggeration on the current rumors and how I will deal with that. But rumors are just rumors. Maybe everything will come completely different and we all are happily playing 9th edition in the summer.

Warning: Big wall of text incoming!