Minis Week in Review: Warmachine Unbound, Necron Rumours
The past two weeks of minis news have been mainly teasers, with talk of Warmachine Unbound, as well as some Necron rumours (which might have to be taken with a pinch of salt).
Warmachine: Unbound sounds like PP’s answer to Warhammer 40k’s Apocalypse- huge battles with 3 or more warcasters. Premiering in the next NQ, it streamlines some of the current rules and pairs it with an I-go-you-go system that shortens those annoying times where you wait 3 hours while your opponent is doing his turn. I’m cautiously optimistic: Warmachine has a lot of depth, and will likely need quite a few tweaks for it to be not too clunky in large point battles. Whatever it is, it’s probably time to start painting the hundreds of points of models you have lying around. Yes, you!
On the GW side, Necrons seem to be touching down in Fall, with some rumours on Bell of Lost Souls. It looks like they’re getting some much needed new plastics, like Destroyer, Spyder and what seems like a new large item (vehicle or MC) box. The old plastic troops look like they’re not going to be upgraded, but the most important thing is that the Necrons will finally be getting an update. Hopefully this means that we’ll start seeing more Necrons on the table again.
Back to Privateer Press with the most recent of all the Hordes Domination previews: Targ. With his ability to “push a warbeast to lash out with an unpredictable attack, administer vital medical care to his charges, or provide vital guidance to farrow warbeasts”, I think that it’s pretty obvious Targ will be a character Shepherd/Paingiver. And considering how many beasts Arkadius runs, not a moment too soon. He’s also rocking the frankenstein bacon/igor look.
The rest of the minis previewed have been from Warmachine: Wrath, with Arcanist Ossyan, the Storm Strider, Blood of Martyrs, Scaverous and Thyra being in the list. We’ve talked about the Storm Strider previously, and I still say that it’s my favourite of all the new Battle Engines; perfectly at home in the Iron Kingdom’s heavy metal fantasy aesthetic, and pretty darn awesome (also pretty darn hard to pack in a minis case). But if you look at its description, it has both a lightning canonn, as well as some kind of defensive lightning blasts, which sounds like it could get rid of infantry spam pretty easily.
Ossyan is pretty cool (and of course another Time mage in the line of Calandra or eHaley will be met with a chorus of cheers from Retribution fans), but model wise Scaverous and Thyra take the cake. Thyra is a perfect blend of Menoth detail, forethought and design. Her filigree and cloth not only provide great detail to paint, but also lend her visual momentum. And Scaverous is just hell on legs. While on a 40mm base, I think his size is closer to a Helljack, dwarfing even Venethrax.
Bell of Lost Souls also has a very quick teaser of Cygnar’s new Warjack, Gallant. Looks like he’s an ALLY warjack (which means Constance Blaize is likely to be an Ally warcaster)… does this mean the new casters will also be allies? Unlikely, but you never know. He also gains one free focus when with a Morrowan model; I suppose he absorbs the surrounding faith or something. Whatever it is definitely builds up on the Synergy towards a ‘Morrow’ theme list.
Lastly, we have some additional news for PP’s con showings with the Gencon events list. I wish I could go, but for those of you who can, it’s time to plan your few days around some PP events, and remember to play like you got a pair!
