Fistfuls of dice

In my last article I touched upon some of the changes to the Warmachine business model and miniature production . A wargame is more than just getting your models to the table though. The rules are, obviously, a critical part of the game experience. So lets look at some of the changes that have been made to the Warmachine rules and talk about how they will impact the game. But first… One issue that has followed Warmachine through its various iterations is that it is a complicated game. The core rules of Warmachine are no more complex than Warhammer 40K or Age of Sigmar. Perhaps even less so given the number of different phases that those games have. Movement and combat are quite simple but managing Warjacks and Warbeasts is slightly more complicated. Nothing quite as bad as Infinity though. Where Warmachine does require a bit more processing power on the part of the gamer is in the interaction between things such as abilities, spells and feats. This was especially an issue in MK II ...

I had been a Warmachine player since the game was released and played a significant number of games during the MK I and MK II eras of the game. I was more of a casual player but I had an extensive Cryx army as well as a Magnus mercenary force and a smattering of Cygnar miniatures. While I loved my Cryx army, and played it quite a bit, I was never really very good with it. To be honest, I think I won more games with my Magnus force than I ever did with the Cryx despite playing the Cryx much, much more.  While I truly loved my Cryx models I was woefully bad with them. That never really stopped me from getting them to the table though. How can you not want to play steampunk undead powering their army with the souls of the people they kill? I tried to continue to play the game when Mk III was released but the local gaming scene I was in was highly focused on competitive gaming. I am not a tournament player. I don’t have the mindset for it and I really don’t have the core competitive n...