I spend a day looking over my options for what to play in Circle Orboros and I have to say I am overwhelmed! I could tell the faction deck was pretty thick but I was still surprise at how many cards I got. Even with a handful of duplicates and warlocks needing 2 cards each, I feel like I have more options with Circle Orboros than with any other faction tabletop game I've committed to outside of maybe Battletech. Even if I was in a position to immediate start collecting, I would definitely play many many games with proxies so I would have some clue of what to get. With so many choices, trying to balance an army list between my own unique theme, how I want to play the game and what is actually viable is a little daunting. Fortunately I have experience with multiple different gaming systems to help out.
I've made some initial choices for my army which includes my first 10 point list and strangely enough the focus on my army theme help narrow down what I went with. Warlocks are the most important part of the army and I've decided to settle on 3 for now. Kaya the Moonhunter is my Zifa analogy and the warlock I used in my first list. Kaya and Zifa looks nothing alike so I will be making my own model for her. At one time I had a model for Zifa but I never assembled it and it started to tarnish. I will probably have to get a new model for her after I make sure how big Kaya is. The other warlocks I will be moving forward with are the two versions of Morvahna. Both versions have the abilities and spells I could associate with the ruler of my Fairy army. I haven't came up with a name for her yet but how I envision her looking isn't that different from Morvahna. If I like how she plays I will be picking up one or both Morvahna models, eventually. On the other hand I pick Kaya the Moonhunter because no other warlock had a design I could see Zifa using. I will need other warlocks later on when I expand on the Fairy Army's story to include more characters but for now I will just concentrate on the three.
As for the rest of my 10 point list I use a mix of solo units I'm interested in and a few light warbeast to fill it out. The solo units I'm using are a Druid Wilder, Bloodweaver Night Witch and Gallows Grove. I really like the Druid Wilder, like her game effects and thought it would fit perfectly into my Fairy army. If I enjoy her play style the Druid Wilder will be the first Circle Orboros model I will pick up. Bloodweaver Night Witch on the other hand is something that would be in Zifa's army. Will be looking to convert some for Zifa unless I dislike how they perform in the game. Gallows Grove was added to fill out points. Also it would be something easy to convert for Zifa if I keep it apart of my army. The next part of my list is about light warbests. Laris comes free with Kaya and I paid for Scarsfell Griffon, Wild Argus and Woldwyrd. These picks were mainly for me to get a feel for a variety of warbeasts. Since Laris and Kaya is a team I will need to makeup my own conversion for Laris. Depending on how big it is I may kitbash one of my Tyranid Hormagaunts to make a Zifa's Wild Argus. Lastly I realize I have an incomplete Warhammer Cockatrice which I could use to convert into a Scarsfell Griffon, or one of the other Griffons. Just need to get with my friend so I can compare sizes for my plan conversion to his Trollbloods. Once I get that done I can start work on my custom versions. I also would like to play with my 10 point list this week but that may not happen until next week. I will post any progress I make with Hordes here. Until next time!
A War Gaming blog
Showing posts with label Hordes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hordes. Show all posts
Monday, October 3, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Looking into Hordes
Warmachine/Hordes has been on my radar for a while now. I've been on the verge of picking up Warpborn Skinwalkers to use as Chaos Ogres for some time. A few years ago I played a demo of Warmachine and I enjoy the experience. I didn't get into Warmachine at the time because I wasn't that fond of the steampunk genre. Of course I didn't know about Hordes then.
If you don't know what I'm talking about Warmachine and Hordes are two related but different sister games. They each have mechanics unique to them. Warmachine is game base around having a wizard whom controls arcane golem-like constructs called Warjacks. Hordes is based around having a wizard whom controls monstrous beast. Both systems are compatible with each other so a Warmachine army can fight against a Horde force. Storywise both games are in the same fictional universe called Iron Kingdoms.
Iron Kingdoms on a whole seems to be a mix of traditional fantasy and steampunk. And since I'm still not a fan of steampunk, you are probably wondering what change? Well, it starts with my friend Phil. He is my Warhammer friend. He plays a lot more games than I do and sometimes he gets in the mood to play a certain game for a while. He recently told me he has the itch to play Hordes lately. For me this would be a good time to learn the game. Phil owns a large collection of Trollbloods, enough for the both of us play each other. Beside Phil, my local gaming store has a large community of Warmachine/Hordes players. I'm sure that once I get my own army I can easily setup or join a Warmachine/Hordes campaign.
The question for me is which force to pick? I was surprised when I look into what is available that there were only 4 Horde nations plus mercenaries. I had to remind myself that Hordes is technically only half of the game. Of the four nations I keep coming back to Circle Orboros. Whatever I play in Hordes, that force will be connected to the fluff I've started here on the blog. In thinking about how I want to expand my story, I came up with three ideas I could use a Hordes force. Unfortunately all three ideas would be closest represented by Circle Orboros. Those ideas are a Zifa force, a Fairy/Nature force and a off-shoot of the Shieldmaidens. My first idea for Hordes was a Zifa Winter small force. Zifa has been one of my favorite characters even though most if not all of her material has been deleted here because of cancelled campaigns. She is a chaos sorcerer and apprentice to the Chaos King. Her epithet is Dark Druid and more so than my other characters I envision her army looking quite a bit different than what my collection can show. The downside to me making a Zifa army is that I want to expand my collection beyond chaos and Zifa's Horde army would probably require more than a few conversions. The second option is a brand new army for me. I develop the idea of a nature army while working on the plot of my Holy Moon series. I haven't read the fluff of the Circle Orboros but my guess would be its similar to what I have in mind for my nature army. The third option I beginning to think would not be a very good fit. I'm still working on who and what the Shieldmaidens are and while I can imagine part of the organization could have a druid-like element to it, that would be a reach and takes them in a direction I'm not sure about yet. The reason I pick Circle Orboros for the Shieldmaidens is because the other 3 Hordes nations fit the maidens even less.
I guess with what I've said so far my choice for what to play in Hordes should be obvious. Just need to come up with a name for my fairy/nature army. I did play my first game of Hordes today and I enjoy it very much. I am confident now that Hordes will be a game I can get into though it will be a while before I will have my own army. I did pick up the Circle Orboros 2016 deck so I should have all the stats of every Circle Orboros unit in the game. This will allow me to play with proxies until I am able to purchase an actual force. Plus since I will have the rules and look up model's base sizes, I can kitbash my leftover Chaos stuff to make part of my Zifa army as well. My Zifa army and fairy army will look nothing alike but while I am short on both, I don't mind mixing them up. Let see where Hordes take me!
If you don't know what I'm talking about Warmachine and Hordes are two related but different sister games. They each have mechanics unique to them. Warmachine is game base around having a wizard whom controls arcane golem-like constructs called Warjacks. Hordes is based around having a wizard whom controls monstrous beast. Both systems are compatible with each other so a Warmachine army can fight against a Horde force. Storywise both games are in the same fictional universe called Iron Kingdoms.
Iron Kingdoms on a whole seems to be a mix of traditional fantasy and steampunk. And since I'm still not a fan of steampunk, you are probably wondering what change? Well, it starts with my friend Phil. He is my Warhammer friend. He plays a lot more games than I do and sometimes he gets in the mood to play a certain game for a while. He recently told me he has the itch to play Hordes lately. For me this would be a good time to learn the game. Phil owns a large collection of Trollbloods, enough for the both of us play each other. Beside Phil, my local gaming store has a large community of Warmachine/Hordes players. I'm sure that once I get my own army I can easily setup or join a Warmachine/Hordes campaign.
The question for me is which force to pick? I was surprised when I look into what is available that there were only 4 Horde nations plus mercenaries. I had to remind myself that Hordes is technically only half of the game. Of the four nations I keep coming back to Circle Orboros. Whatever I play in Hordes, that force will be connected to the fluff I've started here on the blog. In thinking about how I want to expand my story, I came up with three ideas I could use a Hordes force. Unfortunately all three ideas would be closest represented by Circle Orboros. Those ideas are a Zifa force, a Fairy/Nature force and a off-shoot of the Shieldmaidens. My first idea for Hordes was a Zifa Winter small force. Zifa has been one of my favorite characters even though most if not all of her material has been deleted here because of cancelled campaigns. She is a chaos sorcerer and apprentice to the Chaos King. Her epithet is Dark Druid and more so than my other characters I envision her army looking quite a bit different than what my collection can show. The downside to me making a Zifa army is that I want to expand my collection beyond chaos and Zifa's Horde army would probably require more than a few conversions. The second option is a brand new army for me. I develop the idea of a nature army while working on the plot of my Holy Moon series. I haven't read the fluff of the Circle Orboros but my guess would be its similar to what I have in mind for my nature army. The third option I beginning to think would not be a very good fit. I'm still working on who and what the Shieldmaidens are and while I can imagine part of the organization could have a druid-like element to it, that would be a reach and takes them in a direction I'm not sure about yet. The reason I pick Circle Orboros for the Shieldmaidens is because the other 3 Hordes nations fit the maidens even less.
I guess with what I've said so far my choice for what to play in Hordes should be obvious. Just need to come up with a name for my fairy/nature army. I did play my first game of Hordes today and I enjoy it very much. I am confident now that Hordes will be a game I can get into though it will be a while before I will have my own army. I did pick up the Circle Orboros 2016 deck so I should have all the stats of every Circle Orboros unit in the game. This will allow me to play with proxies until I am able to purchase an actual force. Plus since I will have the rules and look up model's base sizes, I can kitbash my leftover Chaos stuff to make part of my Zifa army as well. My Zifa army and fairy army will look nothing alike but while I am short on both, I don't mind mixing them up. Let see where Hordes take me!
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