HORDES
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HORDES is the name of the newest 30mm tabletop miniature wargame produced by Privateer Press, announced at Gen Con 2005 and released on April 22, 2006. Although a completely standalone game in its own right, HORDES was designed as a companion to WARMACHINE, Privateer Press' flagship miniatures game. The games are 100% compatible, and share much of the same rules set, although the most important mechanic - fury for HORDES and focus for WARMACHINE - remains unique to each. HORDES forces and WARMACHINE forces often face off against each other both on the tabletop and in the background fiction. The games share the same setting, the Iron Kingdoms, with much of the Hordes storyline taking place in the wild areas away from the 'civilized' areas where WARMACHINE's major action takes place.
HORDES won the 2006 Origins Award for Miniatures Game or Expansion of the Year.
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[edit] Gameplay
As in WARMACHINE, gameplay in HORDES is supposed to promote offensive play; defensive play is possible, but the spirit of the game (as laid out in Page 5 of Primal) encourages "testosterone-laden aggression".[1] Play is centered around Warlocks and their attendant Warbeasts, who may be supported by units and solos. Warbeasts generate fury, which can be controlled by Warlocks and used to fuel their spells, but if left unchecked can cause the beasts to go into an uncontrolled frenzy, potentially even attacking their allies or controlling warlock.
HORDES is similar to WARMACHINE in most aspects, if you already know how to play WARMACHINE then you already know the basics of HORDES. The core mechanic is the same as companion game WARMACHINE: roll two six-sided dice, add one stat, and compare the total to an opposing stat. Additionally, almost all rules mechanics from WARMACHINE are replicated in HORDES. Together, the two rules sets form a single rules superset, which consists mostly of rules common to both games, and partially of mechanics specific to one game or the other. The game-specific mechanics are generally those used by warlocks and warbeasts for HORDES, and warcasters and warjacks for WARMACHINE, while those rules which cover generally how models move, act, and how their actions are resolved are common to both.
Replacing the Warcaster as the commander of the army is a Warlock, a powerful magic-user who draws upon the collective Fury of his warbeasts to cast spells and heal damage. As the four factions in HORDES use no steamjacks, their functional parallel are Warbeasts, large savage creatures. The Warlock is able to "force" Warbeasts to perform special attacks, which builds up Fury points. The Warlock is then able to "leach" this Fury to add to his pool, otherwise the warbeast will continue to gather Fury, eventually losing control and going into an uncontrollable rage. This system has been dubbed "Risk Management" as opposed to the "Resource Management" system in WARMACHINE.
The first book for the HORDES system is called Primal. It contains all the latest rules for the HORDES (and WARMACHINE) system, and army lists for the four 'factions' along with some Minions who will work for various armies. An expansion for the game called Evolution was released by Privateer Press in August 2007. A third expansion, Metamorphosis, is scheduled to release in 2009.
[edit] HORDES/WARMACHINE Interaction
From the beginning, HORDES was designed to be played against WARMACHINE. Playing a WARMACHINE army against a HORDES army is little different from playing two HORDES armies or two WARMACHINE armies against each other, and many of the special rules are written so that they affect models from both games in similar ways. As an example, damage is recorded differently for warbeasts (in branches) and warjacks (in columns), but most effects which let you choose a column to record damage against a warjack also let you choose a branch, and vice-versa. However, each game does have models which possess special rules which are not effective against models from the other game. In some respects, each game is separate, but in many ways they are simply two halves of a single combined game.
[edit] Factions
Four factions native to the Iron Kingdoms make up the armies of Hordes:
- The Trollbloods are a collection of various troll breeds, banding together to push back civilized nations and forces of the wild from their territories. Trollkin, Trolls, Pygmy Trolls, Winter Trolls, Pyre Trolls & Dire Trolls make up the Trollblood forces thus far. Matt Wilson of Privateer Press has stated that the Trollbloods will be the 'protagonist' faction of Hordes. In play they are extremely tough and resilient, very strong melee fighters and have some great synergy between various units and the Warlocks. Units released in Primal are the Dire Troll Mauler, Dire Troll Blitzer, Troll Axer, Troll Impaler, Pyre Troll, Trollblood Scattergunners, Trollblood Champions, Kriel Warriors, Krielstone Bearer, Pygg Bushwackers and the Fell Caller.
- The Circle Orboros is a collective of powerful druids that command the forces of nature against their foes. The Circle has been described as very fast, stealthy, with very strong magic capabilities. They control many Warbeasts that first appeared in the Monsternomicon, including the Argus, the Gorax, the Warpwolf, and the Woldwarden. A smaller version of the Woldwarden, the Woldwatcher, appears as one of their light warbeasts. Another creature from the Monsternomicon, the Tharn, appear as a race allied to the Circle. Three of their troop choices are units of Tharn.
- The Legion of Everblight is an army of transformed and twisted creatures who serve the newly-reawakened (but not reformed) dragon, Everblight. The Legion is led by the blighted ogrun Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight, who discovered the resting place of Everblight's athanc and unleashed the Legion into the world. All of the Legion Warlocks carry a piece of the athanc within themselves. The other Warlocks include Lylyth the Herald, Vayl the Disciple, Rhyas the Sigil and her identical twin sister Saeryn the Omen. The Warbeasts of the Legion are Dragonspawn, hideous eyeless draconic creatures created from dragon blood. The majority of the Legion is made up of blighted Nyss elves but a few blighted Ogrun follow Thagrosh. The Legion has been described as having extremely strong ranged attack options.
- The Skorne are a warlike and savage race invading from the Bloodstone Marches. They exploit several types of beasts for warfare, including basilisks and the elephantine titans as well as cyclopeans. The Skorne themselves are very regimented and militaristic, with good armour and discipline. The Skorne have built a massive citadel that breaches the stormlands at the behest of the ex-king of Cygnar, Vinter Raelthorne, and are now threatening to play a large role in events in Western Immoren.
[edit] External links
- Privateer Press Hordes homepage
- The Battle College
- GameStLouis WM/Hordes
- Online Army Builder and Point Calculator.
- Tabletop Commander Army Builder for Warmcahine and Hordes.
[edit] Sources
- ^ HORDES: Primal, Privateer Press, 2006
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