Warmachine MkIII Wishlist

PP recently announced a new edition of Warmachine and Hordes. Amongst other things, they say that they have rebalanced every model in the game. I figured this was a reasonable justification for jotting down a quick wish-list of changes I would like to see.

This list is actually a bit meaningless since it is based on the MkII rule-set, so it might not make very much sense depending on what changes are made to the core rules for MkIII. I suppose it's more about things that I think were a little off in MkII. I think they are mostly relatively minor changes; but still things that I think are justified. Oh, and it's mostly Khador-centric, because that's what I know.


- Give the Spriggan base ARM 20
The basic Khador jack chassis is ARM 20. So it makes no sense to me that the Spriggan, which is mentioned in the fluff as being a bigger and heavier chassis, should have a lower arm then be given a shield. Lots of factions have ARM 19 heavies with shields; Khador is the faction with slightly higher natural ARM on it's jacks, but (almost) no access to ARM buffs, so it just doesn't feel right for the Spriggan to be ARM 19; especially not when it's 3 points more than the basic ARM 20 Juggernaut.

Actually, that's something that annoys me a little. The Spriggan costs 3 points more than the Juggernaut, but there aren't many ways in which it's a straight upgrade. It gains a shield but loses a point of ARM. It gains Reach but loses a point of POW on both it's weapons. It gains Powerful Charge but loses Crit Stationary. In terms of versatility it gains a couple of guns but loses an Open Fist. Ok, Bulldoze is cool.

I would be OK with giving the Spriggan base ARM 20, then swapping the shield for a buckler if PP doesn't like the idea of a natural ARM 22 jack. Actually, increasing the P+S of it's left hand (the shield currently has a lower POW than a buckler or empty hand) would be nice as it's shield is quite wimpy, and giving it an Open Fist would increase it's utility as a toolbox jack.


- Give the MOW Kovnik Reach
The MOW Kovnik needs a boost. Everyone who finds out he doesn't have Reach is surprised by that fact, so that would be a nice start. I don't think it would be quite enough to justify his points though. Perhaps the best change would be to make him cheaper, so he'd be a more point-efficient jack marshal. Personally I think it would be nice if his drive boosted all attacks, rather than just initials, or at least boosted chain attacks as well as initials. That small change would make him work so much better with Kodiaks and Berserkers.


- Torch should be able to see through smoke
Every thing else related to Strakhov does; if the average Assault Kommando trooper gets alchemically treated lenses, why doesn't Strakhov's personal warjack? Also, his flamethrower really should have longer range; how is it that the model carried by Assault Commandos is longer range than the one carried by a warjack?


- Give the Decimator Point Blank
I just think this would be really cool, and give him a slight boost without being too powerful. Also, I kinda feel like he should have a slightly longer range with that massive cannon, but then firearm ranges (and POW for that matter) in Warmachine have little relation to the actual weapon firing them - handguns often have longer range than long guns for example.


- Give Khador jacks head spikes
It seems that in MkI, Khador jacks had head spikes that actually did something. The models still have the spikes, and other factions have models with head weapons that are actually used (Skorne, Cryx). Why did they decide Khador doesn't get them? Give us back our head spikes!


- Give the Wardog Pathfinder
Seriously, it has Hunter but not Pathfinder? What?


- Give us Morrowans
What? I like Morrowans. I'm not sure why Cygnar gets them and we don't. I mean, Harlan Versh works for Khador, so it's not like we shoot them on sight or something.


- Give Strakhov a bit of a boost
I really feel like he's almost there; he does great things with one jack, but only one; I just don't feel he does quite enough for the rest of his army. Yes, he helps your infantry get the alpha (as long as your opponent doesn't have ways of preventing you from getting it, like most control feats or cloud walls or whatever), but he doesn't help his infantry make the most of that alpha. Which is why I think the biggest thing he needs is an offensive infantry buff. Even just Fortune would be worth trading Rift for.

Also, I would happily trade Brutal Charge for Powerful Charge; I'm often charging infantry to try to trigger Overrun, the added accuracy is usually more important for that than added power.

Dropping the cost of casting Superiority by just a single point would help him so much; it would allow him to get all his upkeeps out turn one, or pay two jacks to run, plus it would mean he could actually re-cast it mid-game, making it much more viable to run multiple jacks with him (allowing him to continue using his multiple jack benefits).

I think Sentry needs to be tweaked. If it only allowed you to shoot once per round, but didn't expire, then it would be good because you wouldn't need to keep casting it. If it wasn't an upkeep, so you could cast it on multiple models, then it would be expensive but potentially powerful as you could spam it on early turns. If it at least gave you a boosted attack roll then it would be worth casting on something with a powerful gun. As it is we have very few models with guns that are both powerful and accurate (at least without boosting), meaning I rarely find it's worth it - especially to someone as focus-strapped as Strakhov - to pay two or more focus for a single unboosted shot. If we had a faction model with a powerful fire-type AOE, then he might be able to use it defensively to kill models that charge him before they can attack, but all we have are low-accuracy sprays.


- Give Karchev base ARM 20
Again, he's a Khador jack, he should be base ARM 20. Yes, this means his ARM can get very high when he camps; so what? ARM stacking is nothing special right now. It's a fluffy thing, but it's also an issue since his model, rules, and gameplay style mean he's often going to be up front and easy to hit.


- Give Karchev a battlegroup repair spell
Karchev has good ARM and a lot of boxes, but he has poor DEF and a large base, and (I think) he's the only Warcaster who actually gets crippled when he takes damage. On top of that, he's the only Warcaster who can't heal himself - other than just his three "body" boxes. Plus he's supposed to be a jack-caster, yet he lacks so much for running large battlegroups when compared to even a basic Hordes Warlock. Giving him a spell or ability that would allow him to repair himself and his warjacks would be a massive boon for him.


- Give Karchev a feat
I'm thinking something that helps infantry would be nice. His current feat is just really minor; yes, a free charge helps when you're going in for the powerslide, but just compare it to some of the other feats out there.


- Kill any model that flat-out stops core game mechanics
There's too many models that effectively shut down the core game mechanics with little effort. This needs to be reigned in.



That's it for now. I tried to avoid core game mechanics since those are going to change. I may come back and add to this list if I think of more. Now let's see what actually happens, eh?