Continuing Butcher3 Theory

As part of my recent competitive efforts I've been trying to improve my game with Butcher3. While the rest of the world was Energizing and Impending Doom..ing, I was screwing around with Harkevich and similarly janky lists, so I feel like I'm a bit behind the curve. I'm sort of playing catch up with the meta while trying to learn how to use Butcher3 effectively and it's proving to be an interesting challenge.

On top of all that, I'm having to deal with fighting against many of my natural instincts to effectively use a 'caster like Butcher3. I'm naturally a very cautious and conservative player; ill suited for aggressive or assassination oriented 'casters (or at least ones that want to be as aggressive as Butcher3 wants to be.)

An enigma wrapped in a riddle, swathed in mystery.
Or blood. Probably blood.

In order to try and get a better handle on Butcher3, I'm collecting my thoughts on him so far, what I feel is going badly (and well, where applicable,) some random list ideas, and what I can do to improve with him in the future.

Event Recap - 50 Point Steamroller at Crit Hit Games

This past weekend saw the second of the Brawltimore events for January (and the year) - a 50 point, second list optional Steamroller 2015 event held at Crit Hit Games in Abingdon, MD. The event had a solid turn out (around 16 based on my memory), and it ended up being 4 rounds of excellent games. Join me after the break for a rundown of the event, post game thoughts, and things to change for next time.

Malifaux Avatar Beta Begins Again

Malifaux has been through a number of beta waves as part of it's M2E edition revision. Wave 1 and Wave 2 combined to give us rules for almost all of the rules in the game, along with several awesome new models (including some new Masters!) At the conclusion of Wave 2, only one set of models remained: the Avatars.

Avatars were a concept that was introduced towards the end of the first edition of Malifaux. Mechanically, they were a way to give more depth to your Masters by giving them a second form they could assume during the game if they fulfilled certain requirements. Practically, the Avatars were a form of in-edition balancing. It was a mechanic that allowed Wyrd to give a power boost to less powerful Masters, and give powerful Masters either a "fun" alternative, or another way to play. Like a lot of things in the first edition of Malifaux, it was a very mixed bag of rules.

The third, and final, wave of the M2E beta cycled focused on the Avatars and a few new upgrades for each faction. However, this beta wave ended up being put on pause; many players were feeling burnt out on playtesting after two beta cycles, and the Avatars presented a number of significant challenges that were going to take a lot of time and effort to get right. The devs (in my opinion wisely) opted to put the Avatars on pause, finish playtesting the upgrades, and then take another crack at the Avatars early in 2015.

Well, here we are in early 2015, and the Book 3 Beta is officially live! Here's the link to the beta forums, where you can find the rules, leave feedback, and read up on what others think about the models:

http://wyrd-games.net/community/forum/269-m2e-wave-3-beta/

This beta wave has a very big surprise though, that I wasn't expecting. Join me after the break for a discussion of that surprise and my initial impressions of the new models for each of the factions I play.

Butcher3 vs. High Reclaimer: Assassination Attempts Will Always Fail

This weekend a friend and I were able to meet up and get in a game of Warmachine. He has a High Reclaimer list he's been working on, and I have more Butcher3 theory to test out, so we put the armies on the table and tried to learn something!

Join me after the break for a recap of the game and the usual breakdown.

Coin Well Spent: The Value of Tactical Arcanist Corps

Warmachine: Vengeance was released in March, 2014 and it brought some amazing new options to the game. Some have already become staples: Butcher3 and Issyria have shot to the top of charts for their respective factions (with Goreshade3 getting an honorable mention for being very good, if not often played), the Earthbreaker redefined what it means to play Mercs, Retribution got a slew of fantastic models to help make their lists even scarier, Khador got some excellent new options with the IFK, Outriders, and the (yet to manifest in reality) Grolar, and new character Journeyman warcasters opened up interesting options in a lot of factions.

The release that may have the greatest long term impact, however, is one that doesn't come up in a lot of discussions about powerful models. It's also interesting because this release is one that multiple factions can make use of, and all of those factions can gain a lot from including it.

If you've been paying attention to my battle reports over the past several months, this probably won't be very surprising: I think the secret best Vengeance release is the Tactical Arcanist Corps (TAC).

Something no one told me:
The unit leader comes with a helmeted head
option that looks pretty great.

Join me after the break where I go over my experiences with the TAC, what they bring to the armies they can be included with, and why I think they're an extremely compelling choice for many lists. Fair warning: my experience with TAC is wholly based in Khador, and probably colored by that, but the broad principles apply to any faction that can take them.

Sacral Vault Model Sighted!

Courtesy of the same person who tipped me off to Ruin's picture, here's what looks like the production model for the Sacral Vault:

Absolutely awesome model. I'd be terrified of painting and storing one, but that doesn't really take away from it's awe factor.

Study this form well, because I think we'll be seeing plenty of these. The meta may look very different after March.

Reckoning Preview: The Devil's Shadow Mutineers

A new unit approaches! From this topic on the PP boards. Apologies for the blurriness of the picture; it's not a hi-res image but anything smaller makes it hard to really see the models.

"Wild-eyed sailors tell a tale of the nefarious pirate ship Devil’s Shadow and its mysterious disappearance. Of the ship’s crew, only three souls ever returned, now guided by some unseen evil. This trio disperses as quickly as an ill wind, staying only long enough to form contracts with desperate men. Their goals remain a mystery, and the three otherwise go wherever the gales send their cursed ship."

Fantastic models with a very interesting description. The going theory is that these will be Mercenary models that work with Cryx and Talion, which I could totally see given their description. Hopefully we'll get some more concrete details soon, but this teaser is pretty exciting!

EDIT: This lovely trio is now up on PP's Gallery! Also, name updated based on the official reveal.

http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/mercenaries/units/the-devils-shadow-mutineers

A particularly cool feature for this unit is that the 360 view allows you to rotate through each of the models.