Warmachine the Way I See It: Ingenuity and Risk

I have been doing a lot of research lately, watching a lot of battle reports online.  Youtube truly is great.  I have noticed an underlying theme to Warmahordes games: ingenuity and risk.  The game is structured to encourage these things. 

I've played lot of strategy games from board games to card games to tabletop wargames and most games do not inherently encourage these things.  As a WFB and 40k player, what you find happening more often than not is actually the opposite.  You get into a routine.  You build your army to win in a certain way and you execute.  I think this happens because units are more structured, game play is more regimented, and overall your options are limited.

Warmahordes isn't this way.  Units are less cohesive with individual models in units able to operate far more independently, and models and units go through a complete activation from movement to action before the next unit goes.  Because of the endless variety this bring turn to turn, each player is freer to adapt and come up with interesting solutions to help them win.  For example, I haven't heard of another game where a model can charge its own units to move further or even to enact some effect that could change the game.  The rules of Warmahordes are created to encourage ingenius solutions to problems.  I think this is something that has gone lacking lately in GW games.  There are a small selection of tactics that generally work (WFB= devestating magic spells cast with loads of dice and horde units, 40K= min/maxing to control the board and torrent shots into your opponent). 

Another awesome thing that dovetails nicely with ingenuity is risk taking.  I'm not talking about careless risk taking.  I'm talking about crazily concocted assassination runs that look like longshots, but end up working.  I'm talking about building odd synergies that allow you to take down important models.  Taking risks can yield huge payoffs in Warmahordes in a way that is unique to it due to it's more chess-like approach to tabletop wargaming.  Because a caster kill means a win, this is always a viable solution to any problem.  Taking risks in order to kill a caster or warlock is more common because of its result and thus risky maneuvers that attempt such an outcome are encourage by the game's design.

This creates a truly unique and engaging experience that is unique to Privateer Press games.  I have learned this first hand in my inaugural game with Menoth.  It definitely has me intrigued and I think it will provide some great experiences in the future.

Here are some other Warmachine articles:

Warmachine the Way I See It: Warcaster Study, pKreoss
The Harbinger of Menoth: Model Review
How Important is the Front Arc, Really?
___________________________________________________________
Did you find this article useful? Subscribe to Gone to Ground for more great updates