I picked up Drake MacBain the week after his release date. After reviewing his stat cards, I can attest that he filled with awesome. His stats are average looking for a warcaster, but he shines with added abilities such as Tough, Grievous Wounds, Reach, his ARM boost while he is Engaging enemies, and Gang Fighter.

His spell list is about half jack boosting. Energizer will get him and his Nomads or Manglers into combat quickly or set up that charge or slam. Jackhammer allows him to have high power jack beat down opponents out of their normal activation. Finally, Failsafe will keep that key jack breathing down your opponent’s neck. The ability to ignore disabled systems is huge in MKII.

The other spells are built for troop support. Countermeasures seems especially geared toward Croe’s Cutthroats. It should help them not worry about ranged attacks and focus on either beast assassination or setting up for that all important caster kill. Rift is a board control spell that punishes. It does damage and leaves a 4″ AoE of rough terrain in its wake. Finally, Fortune is filled with making the mediocre awesome. Rerolling failed attack rolls will help Steelhead Halberdier and Riflemen units stand and deliver. Undoubtedly Alexia, Blythe & Bull, or even Orin Midwinter to more reliably take out models to clear the way for more hard hitting troops and jacks.

I discussed a pirate-based list on the Iron Agenda (episode 94) but didn’t really dig too deeply into his themed force. His Themed Force is a who’s who of the game. He has access to a ton of great characters from the IK world. Lets have a look at his Themed Force:

Soldiers of Fortune, MacBain’s Themed Force grants him access to non-character Mercenary warjacks, Steelhead units of all kinds, Alexia and her Risen, Sam MacHorne, Croe’s band of unfriendly ne’erdowells, and Dannon Blythe & Bull. Additionally, Alten Ashley, Goman, Kell Bailoch, Orin Midwinter, Rhupernt, Rutger Shaw & his Frenchy little tramp, Stannis Brocker, and Thor. That’s a lot of goodness! The only thing that I think fits here that isn’t listed is Boomhowler. Gregor has a great deal of potential in a MacBain list and him missing from the Themed Force is almost painful.

Just by sticking with this selective group of cutthroats and bastards, you can deduct a point from any of the Character units. The discount make Alexia especially attractive. Blythe & Bull are lots more likely to join a force at 3 points.

Tags: Mercenaries, Review, spells, Themed Force, warcaster, warjacks, Warmachine

My friends at the Iron Agenda invited me on the show to discuss the new Mercenary book. I had a blast and hope to go back again soon. To listen to the episode, head over to their page at http://ironagenda.com.

Thanks for having me on the show, guys.

Episode is embedded below

Episode 094 – FoW: Mercs / Yippie-Kai-Yay

Tags: army, IABN, Iron Agenda, Mercenaries, MKII, No Quarter, pirates, Podcast, Warmachine

Necromancer120 brought his newly arrived copy of Freebooter’s Fate to the local game store Wednesday. While I didn’t sit down with the book and read it, I scanned through it. It seems to be laid out very nicely. The photography is sharp and the artwork is top notch. Many of the images feature the amazing terrain and painted models.

Necromancer120 also brought his Brotherhood models. I was not surprised by the quality of the models. It is to be expected from just about anything that Werner Klocke sculpts. What is surprising is that each faction has their own look. Further, no two bases are the same. The Pirates have planking, based on the images on the site and book. I am glad to see it.

The playing cards are made of a hearty stock and should hold up to play well. Same with the stat cards. I am looking forward to my starter deal coming in after seeing the Brotherhood models and can’t wait to give the game a run through.

Perhaps it is time to build a port/wharf board to play on… Below is an image of the models that are coming in the Pirate starter deal

Avast!

She has a peg leg!

Cuchillo means knife or blade

Alright, I have made the plunge into Freebooters Fate. I will be heading up the Pirate faction. I know, big surprise. The book, cards, and minis should be heading out soon enough.

Tags: army, Freebooter, Freebooters Fate, game, Miniatures, pirates