A Game of Re-Inforcements

Yesterday, the Smib Thralls (all two of us) sat down and tried out Re-Inforcements Incoming, the custom scenario in the last post. The game ended up being a real blast and once we started playing, it didn't take too long. There were a couple of rule conflicts that came into play and we're trying to iron them out.



Some things that came up were:

• When the re-inforcements come into play, do you roll for continous effects on your 35 pt army?


• Feats. We're still trying to iron out the details on these and the ones that have rules going into the other player's turn. Sorcha's feat comes to mind and we'll have to figure this out. It doesn't help that there's only two of us testing this out.


• Upkeeping spells from your 35 PC army after they have missed a turn of action.

It's still a work in progress but I'm thinking that we can get these things figured out after talking about it some. I was thinking that the 3rd turn would be the "Re-Inforcement Round " and if a player activated a feat, it would end when he deployed his re-inforcements, that's if it lasted that long. Also, you would resolve any continous effect and upkeep any spell, when you activated your 35 PC army again. This is something I came to a conclusion of and I'll have to run it by CptCalvinus.

The match was Reznik, accompanied by Bart versus Siege, accompanied by Stryker. Here's one of my better rolls in the game, I arced Perdition through the Guardian, boosting to hit a GMCA. My roll failed and I decided to try again with my last two focus and no way to boost. Box Cars baby!!!

Bart and his entourage come on the battlefield and try desperately to make a difference.


Now its Stryker's turn to come on the field and be the difference maker. Too bad Reznik perished because both Stryker and Seige were on fire. Roasting swans is so much fun.

Siege's feat is a real bruiser against my army, here a Defender takes out Bart in one shot! I missed the subsequent tough roll.

We're definitely going to have to play this scenario again. It makes for a lot of different match ups and it adds a little bit of chance to the game. It might not be fair but its a lof of fun!

Barrett's thoughts:

I was really taking a gamble that Phill's 15pt army would deploy on my right side. By the time the third round started, my longgunners and the Defender were the only things able to hold onto my left flank. His TFG and the Guardian were held off on the right side, and were quickly joined by the Pirates. So, I did get lucky here. The kill for Reznik came from earthquaking Ol' Rowdy (with only 2 damage boxes open) with Reznik and 2 Jacks in the AOE. A knockeddown Reznik at half armor really made this too easy. I love the combo of Siege and Stryker's feats, though Siege and Haley would have cleaned up this board even faster.

Re-Inforcements Incoming, A custom Scenario

As the summer months progress and with the start of a new job, I'm finding less time to paint than I would like. Still the hunger of Warmachine still presides in my appetite and I'm hoping to add more content than painting and battle reports.

Oddly enough, this next entry is going to get it's own battle report in the future. The Smib Thralls first custom scenario for MK II. I know the rules aren't final for MK II but I'm hoping this scenario will be pretty fun to use in the future. And with the current field test rules, it should be no problem to play.

Re-Inforcements Incoming

A custom Warmachine Scenario

• Each player starts the game with a standard 35 PC army.
• Each player will have a 15 PC army for reserves. This army has to have a warcaster and be able to work for the player’s 35 PC army. IE: A Cygnar player has to use either another faction warcaster or a Mercenary warcaster that is able to work for Cygnar.
• Deployment for the 35 PC army is standard.
• Field Allowance must not go past the regularly allowed in a 50 PC game. IE: A Cygnar player can only have 2 GMCA between the two armies.
• At the beginning of round 3, the player that went first rolls a d6 dice.
• If the dice is 1,2, or 3, the player deploys his 15 PC on the left table edge of the table, that is between you and your opponent, anywhere along this edge. Army set up 6 inches from the table edge and no advanced deployment.
• If the dice is 4,5, or 6, the player deploys his 15 PC on the right table edge of the table, that is between you and your opponent, anywhere along this edge. Army set up 6 inches from the table edge and no advanced deployment.
• The player who’s turn is second, will deploy his 15 PC army on the opposite side of his/her opponent’s 15 PC army, 6 inches from the edge, and anywhere along the table edge.
• Players will activate only their 15 PC army during their 3rd turn and then it will be the opposing player’s turn to deploy and activate only their 15 PC army.
• The subsequent turns will have the both players activating their 35 PC Army and 15 PC army.
• Victory condition is Caster kill on both warcasters.
• At the end of round 6, whoever has the most warcasters left on the table wins. If there is a even amount of warcasters, the game is a draw.

Here is a couple of pictures from Vassal to demonstrate the scenario.







It's the end of round 2 and the beginning of Round 3. The Cygnar player went first and at the beginning of his next turn, he'll roll a D6 dice to see which side his reinforcements come out on...









He rolls the dice and it lands on 2. This means he must deploy his troops on his left hand side of the table edge, 6 inches from the table, anywhere along the table edge.

The Cygnar player deploys Stryker, Ol' Rowdy, a Defender, and a GMCA along the left table. He now starts his turn like a normal one, dishing out focus, casting spells, etc..










This is the scene after the Cygnar player has activated his 15 PC army. After activating this portion of his army, his turn is over and its the opposing player's turn to go.












The Menoth player now has to deploy his 15 PC army on the opposite of the map. He now deploys Bart, a Mariner, Nomad, and Dougal McNaile along the opposite side of the table, anywhere along the table edge, 6" from it.








This is the scene of the game, after the Menoth player activated his 15 PC army. After his turn, its the opposing player's turn to activate both his 35 and 15 PC armies.

After his turn, his opponent will get to do the same. The battle is played to 6 rounds or whoever gets caster kill on both warcasters.

Some questions to consider

Q. What happens if one of the casters die during the first two rounds.?
A. Continue playing out the scenario and have non-fearless troopers lose 1 or 2 command.

Q. If my warcaster dies, will my second warcaster be able to re-enable friendly faction warjacks?
A. Sure, why not.

A couple of thoughts on creating the scenario

Originally, I intended for the 15 PC armies to deploy 10" from the table edge, just like normal deployment. I'm glad I did the demonstration on Vassal because it gave me an idea of how close the re-inforcement army could get to the opponent. When I went to deploy Stryker and his army, I realized that this wasn't such a good idea, so I moved it back to 6". Plus, it would be kinda unfitting for a army to pop out of nowhere like that.

I chose a 35 PC army because it wouldn't have too many models on the table, that would clutter it up. Or at least in my experience, and if I'm not playing the HR, there's plenty of room on the table after both players deploy. Second, I like the fluff of a warcaster and one or two of his warjacks, and solo or two, coming to the rescue of another warcaster. It seems to fit the flavor of Iron Kingdoms, you know where you have Caine being told by Siege that he should be elsewhere in Legends.

Lastly, I thought about putting a restriction on the 15 PC re-inforcement army when they first deployed. This restriction was going to be "You can't use your feat the turn you deploy". Obviously this could always change but it went against the whole "Play like you got a pair". A big thank you goes out to the people who created a warmachine module for Vassal. Thanks for all the hard work.

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think. Better yet, try the scenario and let me know what you think.