Not Just Tactics
Not Just Tactics is a Warmachine podcast featuring fresh perspectives on the game and its community. This will be done through product review, game play mechanics, tactics, lore, and various other content.
Not Just Tactics
What Do Undying Oaths Teach A Living Hobby?
Souls, maps, and a 2 a.m. finals—this one has it all. We kick off with our leap into Crix for Mark IV and plans for a 2v2 that finally uses full objectives and scenario play, then rewind to a bleary-eyed but uplifting Worlds recap. England’s 5–0 run and Team USA’s podium weren’t just results; they were a reminder that the Warmachine community is buzzing with encouragement, humor, and a fresh willingness to help new players get in the game.
From there we get practical. An apology for a potential misunderstanding, then we talk about a kid-friendly on-ramp: quick-start rules that actually teach, inexpensive minis (hello, 3D prints) for demos. We also cover small upgrades with big impact—why mouse pad mats beat vinyl for stability, how map themes set the mood, and where pricing makes it easier to scale a club night.
Then it’s time to open the crypt. Our Graveborn deep dive tracks the Deathless from sealed tombs to uneasy alliances, with Infernal factions playing both sides for souls. Anathia, the Imperishable Desolation, rises through a blend of vanity, provocation, and promise, bringing Execrators, Barrow Ghouls, and Charnel Hounds to the field. Even at journeyman levels, the rules nod to the narrative: soul denial, control tools, and stalwart protectors that make leadership matter. We weigh aesthetic debates with a smile—oversized armor and tiny heads are practically a Warmachine rite of passage—and look ahead to how subfactions might power up on full release.
All of this loops back to why we play: we want tables that welcome, teach, and challenge. Whether you’re chasing podiums or painting with your kids, there’s room here to grow. If you’re curious about Cryx, Graveborn lore, or how to build a healthier local meta, hit play and join the conversation. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves a good undead story, and tell us: is your scene chill hobby nights, or tournament grind?
Music made by Y. Will
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Hey there, listeners, and JT here, bringing you fresh perspectives on all things war machine and building the community we surround ourselves with. Remember, we're not just tactics. Hey Angus. Hey Tony. How's it going? Oh, not too bad. How's your hobby been?
SPEAKER_01:Uh, pretty good. Working on a bunch of Cricks. Finally made the uh plunge into Mark IV Cricks. Got the uh command starter set, the battle group, and Morton Abra. There you go.
SPEAKER_00:After uh doing the last episode, I also took the dive into Crix. I got the command starter and the battle group as well. And by the time this episode releases, you and I are gonna play our local group teaming up with Crix.
SPEAKER_01:That's the plan.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I don't know how well we'll do, and we'll definitely report back in afterwards. I have no doubt we will be victorious. I I hope so. Especially seeing the face he's making it definitely uh is one of doubt. As somebody who's never played Crix before, I'm gonna lead in with Inviscrus and kind of give it a go and see how it happens. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And our group wants to be pesky and raise up the point value per player. I think we're looking at 50 points a player instead of 30, which I mean that's fine, but it would have been really nifty to bring out another heavy jack with Morton Abra's feat in a 60-point game.
SPEAKER_00:In a 30-point game? Well, if we're doing 2v2. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, nothing like revitalizing and bringing everything up and then, oh look, I get to almost double my points. Yep. Uh it's a glorious feat. Yeah, it is. Who doesn't want to spare heavy? Right. Yeah, so I end up sitting there watching Worlds, and uh I will definitely tell you the first day I got up, and for us, it was at like two something in the morning. I tried to get up. I woke up and then I fell back asleep. So I missed day one. Day two, I was like, I'm not missing this. I wake up, I set my alarm, and for me, it's only a 30-minute difference from when I normally wake up, 30, 45-minute difference, anyways. I get up and I go and I get ready and I'm all excited, and I start watching and I punch in, you know, good morning from Wisconsin, and they're like, hey, we got somebody from Wisconsin. I was like, yes. And then I fell asleep again. But I woke up and then I actually got to catch the final match between England and Germany, which was really great. I wish I was uh able to stay awake a little bit more, but it it was a rough low bout at work, so I ended up getting quite tired. It was great games. Everything I've seen on Facebook has been nothing but positive. Everybody's been great, everyone's uh just showing how wonderful the community is, how much they're engaging with each other, and how much they support each other, even though some people didn't place the way they would have wanted, but everybody was still just super hyped, had a wonderful time, all of the positivity in the world. Well, were folks playing in the England versus Germany game? Uh, that's a good question. That was United Kingdom team, the England Paddington, they had Storm Legion, Chimera, Infernals, Gravediggers, and Brine Bloods, and the the Germany team had Gravediggers, Chimera, Storm Legion, Old Hombre, and Necrofactorum. And it it was just it was a good, solid set of games. Everybody was having a good time. Uh, if I remember correctly, England swept that one. Tragic. They went five and zero. That team went five-and-zero for the entire tournament.
SPEAKER_01:That doesn't bode well for Sunday. No Crix Victory.
SPEAKER_00:No. But Team Condor from America did play second. Which that that I kind of thought was a little weird. I I know I don't understand how the scoring works. I know it's it's team based, so even though you're not in the finals, you could still end up winning some things. But Team USA came back, placed second, and their team was Chimera, Gravediggers, Sea Raiders, Necrofactorum, and Infernals. Seeing how the team shows up and they did really well. Very happy to see, if I remember correctly, America placed all three of our teams placed in the top ten. Okay. And we put one of the teams podium, so that was great. Something I'm going to be looking at more in the future is I'm going to start looking into exactly how the tournament rules work. I find some of those interesting. I know 2025's almost over, and I'm sure that the new rules will be coming out shortly. And I think I'll probably start diving in on those when the new uh 2026 comes out. It'll make it a little bit more to learn on and to kind of build, especially with our gaming group. I know we're we're looking at trying to become more, I don't want to say aggressive with the rules and starting to actually We're looking to actually use the rules. Uh well we use the rules. We just play Assassination all the time, and I think we're actually going to start playing with proper objectives and for some of the group. I've been using cards when I play in other groups. Show off. Yeah. So some of the players in our group, they're still learning really how the game functions and the dynamics, and they haven't used the cards, they haven't been playing to the full potential of the game. And uh, we're looking at trying to incorporate all of that this Sunday, which that should be fun and exciting. Fun little fact, I have referenced before that I found somebody had talked to me about online about a kid's machine, and and as I was sitting there, I want to say it was maybe Saturday, I was scrolling through Facebook, watching like some of the streams from Worlds and trying to like dive in on it. And they're going through, they pan to this woman, and she waves at the camera, and I'm like, huh, she looks a little familiar. Why why do I why does this person look familiar? And then all of a sudden I it dawns on me. That's the person that asked me about the kids event. Oh god, who is that? And then I realized that's Erica Bev. I was blown away, I was stunned, and I realized that when I replied with my comment on Facebook that I came from a place of not understanding the full question, and I definitely did not intend for any of it to come across the way that it might have. I have a bunch of ideas, I have a bunch of questions on what your thoughts are on it. Feel free, reach out to me and uh let me know. And if there was any sort of miscommunication, I do apologize. That was no intention. Maybe even set up something to have you on the show at some point.
SPEAKER_01:I was uh poking around on the Steamforge website today, and I stumbled across a set of quick start rules, which you might be able to pare down for like a kid's machine kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's a number of different questions I've got for that. I'm wondering, yeah, are the models going to be supplied? Do they need to have models? Is this gonna be a kids' tournament? Is it gonna be I have so many different questions, and that's where I kind of my head spiraled out of control and was like, I'd start looking into what kids are around and if they'd even want to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um I would very much be inclined to use uh armies that are 3D printable from the Cephalax and then probably Crucible Guard, because if the models get damaged, you can just print out another one real quick and it'll be low cost. Uh because I know when we did uh the demos for Batman, we lost a lot of expensive miniatures.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Going way back, we'll we'll actually be having another guest on soon. We're working on the scheduling for that. Angus and I worked with kind of like a promotions group that we would promote different miniature games and teach people how to play these games. One of them was Batman Miniatures. And when we were running demos and teaching people how to play, all of a sudden the miniatures would grow legs and they would go missing, or they would break and a piece would go missing. And it it didn't bode too well for us.
SPEAKER_01:But needless to say, I think we just decided that if we were gonna do it again, we're just gonna use hero clicks because if someone drops a hero click, it's gonna bounce.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's gonna bounce. Those those are fairly inexpensive and not pewter. Right. I actually have a scar on my thumb from building the Batman on the chimney. Oh, nice. Yeah. Again, if there was any sort of miscommunication, I do apologize. Would like to talk more about it. So please feel free, reach out.
SPEAKER_01:What'd you think about today's news machine or War Machine Wednesday?
SPEAKER_00:War Machine Wednesday. Well, since you and I talked a bit about this, and uh we predicted, and luckily, not out here, but we predicted that we are gonna see the next mind-controlled unit for the Syphilex, which we did get, and I did call Cador because I was like, oh, they already did Signar, so I'm gonna put down it's gonna be Codor. And so luckily, boom, got that one. Then we thought we were gonna see the Crucible Guard some releases on them, because I mean they should be coming really soon.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I believe the idea was the November release. Right. For the uh battle group.
SPEAKER_00:I'm wondering if they're waiting for the first Wednesday in November.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. I think you would want to have that previewed out before so you can get as many people over to the My Mini Factory tribe to sign up for it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I I I'm not sure. With everything that they've had going on, I can see where some things are a little I don't want to say loosey-goosey, but there's for me a little confusion. And then we missed the ball there. Yep. And then what was the third one? There was another one that we we thought uh the organized play kit.
SPEAKER_01:We thought you were gonna see some information on that.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. I thought that was gonna show up with the news machine today, but that didn't show up either. They said, you know, hey, look for, you know, the next news machine. And whenever they've done that, it's usually been on the next Wednesday or like really short thus thereafter, and it wasn't there. It might show up eventually here in the next week or two. Uh-huh. One thing I am excited for though, I did put in my pre-order. I have a uh two of the Frozen and Forgotten sets because I did the episode with the boys. Okay. And I said, I'm like, well, dad's getting one, and maybe I'll get you one. Yep, I got them one. I'm getting one, they're getting one, and then I also pre-ordered.
SPEAKER_01:So who's the lucky boy who's getting the mummies?
SPEAKER_00:The mummies? Uh, I think that's John, because Eli was all about the cats. Whatever. And uh John was I was like, Well, do you really want to have another undead? He's like, I love my Crix. I was like, Alright, that's fair. So he he's really excited about that, and he likes building. He hasn't really done a whole lot of painting. He's done a little bit. We're gonna be getting him on that here soon. He's got a fair little bit to start painting. But he's got finals right now with his schooling, the way it goes. He does finals like every quarter, which is different than what I'm used to. So more of like an accelerated program, I guess. Okay. On a different note, going back to the War Machine Wednesday, the battle maps that we saw. Yeah, there's four of them, I believe. Yeah. There was Crick's map, just a generic grassy field war machine map, there was a gravedigger map, and then a Cador map.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it looks like there's like a Cador snowfields, and I think there was like a muddy trench network.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's the Gravedigger one. And then uh There's a grassy field that's just like a generic war machine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, with like a w weird gear that's just mixed into the terrain somewhere. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So they took a big picture of it. And then there's like a like a poisonous swampy field kind of thing, and that's the Crix map. Yes. Okay. I thought they were going with Frontline for the maps from Adepticon. That's what I thought too.
SPEAKER_01:But apparently it's deep cut, but that's fine.
SPEAKER_00:Uh oh hey, more more maps, different people, different looks of maps. I I actually just ordered one from Frontline. Gonna see how that one shows up here shortly. I'll definitely take pictures and post it up once I get it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and the uh deep cat I'm sorry, the deep cut maps look reasonably priced. Yeah. Roughly 55, 60 bucks for a four by four on the mouse pad material.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:If you want vinyl, it's considerably cheaper.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I use the vinyl mat, but it they don't they don't play as nice. Like it it they move, they it just it Completely agree.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um my favorite is just cloth. Just like a cloth mat. Yeah. And uh Cigar Box Battles makes really nice cloth mats.
unknown:Hmm.
SPEAKER_00:I'll have to look at that.
SPEAKER_01:Not for War Machine, but just everything.
SPEAKER_00:Just in general? Yeah. Okay. I'll have to take a look at that. But for today, we're gonna go into the Graveborn, or the Mummies as you like to call them. That will kind of wrap up the new starter sets that we've got. It's what I'm excited for. I know the community's excited about. And who doesn't like a fast striking elf box versus a slower undead box? Yeah, I like mummies. I think the models look cool. There was a little backlash about how some of the uh the grave borne looked a little cartoony. Their heads were a little weird and they seemed a little cartoony. But that quickly kind of fell away.
SPEAKER_01:I think on the champion, not the uh like war beast. Yeah. The guy with uh two hand weapons. I think the hand weapons look a little goofy.
SPEAKER_00:The not the barrow ghoul, it's the uh was it Revenant Champion?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and But that might just be the paint job. I I think it's I think they also said something about it was the uh the war beast, it was his head. Okay. Because it it's like shrunken down and he's got like this big, big body, but then he's got this wee little head.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but that's the war machine style. Like if you don't have ridiculous shoulder pads, what are you doing? You don't belong in war machine land. I was gonna say Retribution of Skyra.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Massive shoulder. Yeah, them too.
SPEAKER_01:Um Vlad from Codor. Yeah, there's yeah, oh god, those are they're huge.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're got like a little pinhead behind his between his shoulders. Yeah. But those are some of the aesthetics that we do enjoy. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Alright. Going back. When you look at the lore for the Graveborn, you go way back. Correct. All the way to essentially the foundation of Cain. The Orgoth are an ancient warrior civilization and are among the first to know Menoth. For those that you don't know, Menoth is the creator god, was the ones to bring civilization to the world, and his counterpart, the great devourer, would clean up behind him. Rather than loving Menoth, the creator, they met his trials with indifference and indignance and refusal. Orgoth sought new patrons and found them in the outer abyss.
SPEAKER_01:As they should. What's so great about Menoth?
SPEAKER_00:Not sacrificing souls.
SPEAKER_01:What's so great about Menoth?
SPEAKER_00:Fire big powers? No. Ancient Orgoth dreamers walked the boundaries of Cain, Urkane, and the nameless worlds beyond, and even the void. Orgoth mystics heard a calling and followed it beyond the realm of death, and they made contact with the Felgoth, Infernals, and pledged their service to their new chosen gods. So that's where at some point we had made a discussion about that, that there was some sort of speculation that they worshiped them, and I was like, I thought they did. But it spells it out. Jump ahead to the first and successful conquest of Imorin. The Imores found that this time was full of hardship and horrors and sacrifices physical sacrifices. Yet the Imores united underneath one banner and fought back their subjugators and drove back the Orgoth to reclaim their ancestral territories. This period saw much development and progress in multiple areas. During this period gunpowder was created alongside rapid advancement in alchemy. The first fusion of steam and magic was used to create the first cortexes. Also, during this period, first colossals were built and began to walk. It is rumored that the infernals played a hand in humanity's learning of the arcane art of wizardry, and also in the rebellion against their oppressors, the Orgoth. Sure. Seems reasonable. I think it is reasonable, but why would the infernals, who are giving all this power to Orgoth, and to to build this kind of how can we put it? To build this race up to say, okay, you guys are the good ones. We give you all this power. And then as they start conquering and sacrificing all these souls, they're like, oh hey guys, here's some magic, learn how to use this. Alright, now we're gonna help you take them over and kick them out.
SPEAKER_01:Sure. I think something that's important to realize here is there's multiple factions of infernals.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's uh I know of at least two.
SPEAKER_01:Because there's the Felgoth and then the uh the Nochians, yeah, or Anacrians. Something like that? Yeah. It could be rival factions of infernals that were backing the Orgoth and the rest of Imorin. It could also just be the Felgoth playing both sides, because they know that the Orgoth are gonna give them the souls of those that they they kill, and presumably they're gonna get the Orgoth souls once they die. And then if they want to, they can send them back, but they'll keep the mortal ones. Yeah. So I mean, why not play them off of each other and just get all the souls?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Alright, yeah. Because if they're like, you did bad and you were weak, now your soul is condemned, you're not immortal anymore. Right. But then it's oh you did pretty good. Yeah, we'll send you back and go get more. Yeah. Okay. Alright.
SPEAKER_01:So you're no longer useful and then your soul belongs to me. Right.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I it just when I read that, I was like, that's that's kind of why? Why would they're demons? I was gonna say, I'm like, that's a whole new level of Trixie.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well.
SPEAKER_00:They're the definitively evil faction. Yeah, for sure. Well, then I would definitely say Crix and Orgoth. No, Crix is fine.
SPEAKER_01:They're just trying to kill dragons. It's fine. Yeah, but then oh, yeah. I don't know. There's too many dragons. We only need one dragon.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, we we don't need that one dragon at full power.
SPEAKER_01:Tarok without any of the other hearthstones was a problem. Disagree. He was just sitting by himself, bored out of his mind. Plotting his revenge for what he did.
SPEAKER_00:I agree. As a newfound Crix player, I will make my decision after Sunday. I'll see how good guys they are. The best guys. Well, they do not like Orgoth. Which that plays well. And they also do kind of show up for humanity when they're like, oh, we're about to lose everything. Well, now the Crics are buddy buddy with Orgoth. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Kinda.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was like, kinda. They're pretending to be buddy buddy. Well, so humanity rises up and pushes Orgoth out and beats them back to their black ships. And when Orgoth realizes that they're about to lose, they start retreating. And they jump onto their boats and they sail back. Not all of them left. Right. Some of them The respectable ones. Some warrior kings sealed themselves inside subterranean tombs beneath their hidden fortresses. Their hatred and thirst for revenge for claiming back all they lost preserved them as immortal remnants known as deathless. They were buried with fell weapons of death and war along with piles of treasure from their invasions. Their mightiest servants watch over the hordes, guardians bound by dark magic and oaths of servitude that knew no end. Never minding the passage of time or ravaged by ages, they only broke their vigil to destroy those that would come to defile the sanctity of the crypts and condemn the souls of the intruders to the Felgoth. This is kind of why I'm like these guys are bad, bad dudes. Constantly condemning souls. Never do I think now, okay. As a little bit of background, as me as a player, I always play as the good guys. So this is gonna be like one of the first bad guy factions I've ever played. The Crix? Yes. Or the Mumbies? Both. Because I intend on playing both. Okay. Diving in on the lore with the Crics, I was like, alright, these guys are kind of bad, but they're a weird kind of bad. Then you've got Orgoth. Ooh, these guys are bad news. And then I hear about the Infernals. Their models are so cool. I want to play them because they're super cool models, but I'm like, oh, they're so evil, I don't want to play them. Fair enough. I I'm torn. I'm really, really torn.
SPEAKER_01:See how you feel about that once they actually start getting their STLs.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but we'll definitely have to see once those STLs come out. While the Emory's have forgotten about the Deathless, the Orgoth haven't. Now in the second Orgoth invasion underway, they return to cautiously recruit the deathless to their cause. When the Orgoth come to recruit the Deathless, they're a little we'll say nervous, because they know even the slightest offense might cause the Deathless to turn on the Orgoth because of ancient grudges, rather than focusing on the subjugation and destruction of the nations of Western Imorin and all of its people.
SPEAKER_01:How big of an offense do you think it's going to be that Orgoth has gotten into bed with Crix?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, especially for them, knowing that they got blown apart.
SPEAKER_03:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, we'll see what Anathea has to think about that. Some Deathless, like Anathea, the imperishable desolation, have responded enthusiastically to the living warlords and recommitted themselves to the conquest. Others have remained less forthright and refused to offer any aid. The reasons could be because of lack of faith in the leadership of the war witches that now command that. Or they just prefer to stay masters of their little crypts that they've maintained for a long time at this point.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Do you really think Anathia is committed to the Orgoth cause, or is she really just interested in making uh Horuska? Horusk? Yeah. Making him look terrible.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah. She is definitely very self-serving. And a little bit later when we cover her directly, it does kind of dive into her motivations and why she's doing what she does. But yeah, she's she's a little self-serving. Yeah. And that's and that's not even an a little, it is more of a lot, but herusk definitely knows what he's doing, and he kind of yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I did not get the impression at all that she cared about Orgoth's cause.
SPEAKER_00:Alright, we'll touch on that after once we get through her, because I I I don't want to spoil it, but I have words for that. Those deathless that have risen up to join the Orogoth conquest are known as the Graveborn. They are powerful allies, if not volatile. Unlike the ancient warlords that tasted defeat and reincarnation at the hands of the Emory's, the Graveborn are unchastened and unhumbled by the failure of the previous invasion. The Graveborn are bound by the savagery and conquesting birthright of the old ways in creed and expect nothing less now. They are ruthlessly intolerant of anything that they deem as weakness or hesitation. They will challenge any living warlord if they do not meet their standards of leadership, especially anyone who once stood beside them in life and fled aboard the black ships. Having arisen from their torpor without a sense of how frail humans are, they would commit them to endless conquest regardless of life or mortal suffering. When I read this part, I immediately kind of geeked out a little bit. Why does torpor sound familiar, Angus? I have no idea. Vampires? Still drawn a blank. Vampire the Masquerade. When a vampire they go into torpor, but they utilize it in the exact same sense. So when they go to this deep slumber, when the vampires fall down, they go into torpor and eventually they wake back up. Or they don't and then they're dead. It was just it was interesting to see that it was referenced there, other than that's the only time I've ever heard it was in Vampire the Masquerade, but here I see it. And I was like, oh, interesting. Indeed. Nice utilization of it, but it still I immediately got distracted and was like, oh, this is from yeah, no, I was like, no, no, focus. The Graveborns stand out as true zealots compared to the roughest of Oregoth warlords, since they are eager to lavish their Felgoth masters with souls. They believed the witch queen had usurped the natural order of the Orogoth society and they chafed the living warlords for her prominence amongst them. The Graveborn are more flighty allies to Orgoth than are the Witchlords of Crix. While the Crix have their own ambitions, the Graveborne are more direct rivals to the Orgoth's leadership. The Graveborn that have joined the second invasion retain deep suspicions of witch Queen Herexia and her Reaper Covenant, but they accept her command for now. Now Now to Anathea, she is cruel, heartless, and inhuman in equal measures. She served as a commander in the first invasion, she fought, fell, and rose again a dozen times. Climbing out of the outer abyss on piles of bones of the countless numbers of victims and enemies she tirelessly and bloodthirstily eliminated. When Orgoth began their retreat to the black ships, Anethea was already gravely wounded and was lifted away on a palquin of bone and iron by her surviving bondsmen. Knowing total defeat was near, they returned Anethea to her crypt, where her spoils, war and murder were laid out before her as if she was a queen. The entryway to her crypt collapsed and she was sealed inside to be forgotten. Anethea did not forget. Her anger and disdain for the loss they suffered by enemies that were unworthy of them made her calcify her spirit and she swore oaths of vengeance to her Felgoth masters. A knock on the threshold by Hurusk and having him call out her name, he asked for her aid. He needed a rival worthy of his ambition and an ally against the machinations of the witch queen. Most temptingly, he offered her new glories to rival those from the ages past. Having appeased her vanity, her rusk then threatened to eclipse her deeds with his renewed feats and delivery of souls to the outer abyss. And Athia would not be bested and she rose from her crypt as a demon of vengeance unleashed once more upon Cain, and in her wake came a host of immortal undead horrors that yet yearned for battle. Going back to what we were just talking about, Hurusk knew what he had to say to get her out and onto her side. He knew if I goad her enough and tell her she's not nearly as good as she thinks, but he starts off with hey, I need somebody that can be my equal. I need somebody to make me be a better general. Oh, so you're saying I'm your I'm your equal? Yeah. Okay. That's all fine and dandy, but I like where I'm at. Oh, okay. Well now I'm about to be better than you in every way. Somebody with a big ego is not gonna tolerate that very well. And out she comes with her horde. Good job, Rusk. Yep, he's gonna get murdered. He's done pretty well so far. The Barrow Ghoul Construct of Iron and Death A horrifying and bleak avatar of the outer abyss A hollow husk of chain and plate, which is animated by entropic force of infernal fires and bones of countless victims. Even as the souls of its victims are dispatched to the Felgoth, the mortal remains are imbued with fear, pain, and suffering of their destruction, creating residual energies collected and feasted upon by the Barrogul and his controlling warlock. The Remnant Champion They are unstoppable in life and indestructible in death. They are the mightiest of the enslaved warriors. Living warlords highly prize the Remnant Champions, and receiving one as a bondsman is a great honor. Corrupted to the core in service to the Graveborne and Felgoth, they lack any conscience as mortal men or as rising undead. Now mindless automatons, absolutely loyal to the warlords they serve, willing to throw themselves in front of any attack to protect their masters. As living allies falter around them, necromantic energies leach the escaping life force to repair the damage to the champion's body. Charnel Hounds These are Argus Hounds who would never submit to the unnatural hand of the Orgoth, but were instead transformed into undying whores of bone and desiccated flesh wrapped in chains and dark rituals. The natural hunting instincts were replaced with vicious hunger to consume the flesh of the living without rest.
SPEAKER_01:What's so noble about an Argus hound?
SPEAKER_00:They're a two-headed dog.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. The butcher of Cador. I think it's Butcher three. He comes with two Argus Hounds, right? And then Butcher Four is now an Orgoth caster. Wasn't Butcher Three where he had Death Jack? No. Butcher never was part of Death Jack.
SPEAKER_00:Then who is the one that was part of Death Jack?
SPEAKER_01:Karchev that was fused with Death Jack. Okay. Karchev the Terrible. Yeah. Alright. The other guy's the Butcher. And to be fair, like, Karchev being fused with Death Jack is uh a Riot Quest thing. Which is the presumption that the Infernals win the war instead of lose it. I believe that's the premise of Riot Quest. I never got into it. Yeah, I I'm not sure either. Anyways, my point is like, how noble are Argus Hounds when they're hanging out with the butcher, and the butcher is like the least noble character. I mean, dogs can be trained. For good, for bad.
SPEAKER_00:Except this is saying that they can't be, because No, they they refuse to bend their will, so they're like, yeah, but mind you, Cutter will take their time. These guys are like, you serve or you're done. But also, depending on what they did, I don't know. I that might be something I'm gonna look into. How did he get the Warhounds?
SPEAKER_01:Any undead faction is going to be perfectly happy to wait around for as long as they want to train. Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Whatever. This could also be from who knows when. From back in the first, where they weren't claimed by the circle. Or maybe they were. I have no idea. This is going that far back, I'm not quite sure. Now. Fair enough. Yeah, because that's even pre-Mark I.
SPEAKER_01:It just struck me as odd that they're, you know, saying that Argus Huns are, you know, so willful and noble and blah blah blah blah blah. And there they are hanging out with the butcher.
SPEAKER_00:Well, but this is also, again, the perspective of the Orgoth versus the perspective of, let's say, the Circle of Ouroboros that would actually know more intimately on how they function.
SPEAKER_01:I would definitely I feel like Orgoth would have a pretty good handle on it. I don't know. I mean, the butcher knows how to handle Argus Hounds. And Orgoth has the butcher now.
SPEAKER_00:So again, the these are these are questions that could be answered possibly in previous editions lore, which I'm looking into getting, and I I would like to I would like to see, especially finding out that the butcher has one, there's gotta be a reason. There's gonna be a story behind it. Yeah, I'm sure there is, but depending on maybe some of the listeners who actually do know might say, and then we'll find out that much faster. But this will be something I'll look into. And that brings us to the Execrators. They were the bondsmen that bore Anathea to safety. They were also the ones that collapsed the crypt tunnel behind them to protect her. They have lost interest in every mortal pursuit. They've even lost the capacity for speech. They're graceless in motion and yet deathly in every action. They long and exist only to kill, to bring glory to Anathea, and to send souls screaming to the outer abyss for their masters. As far as bad guys go, this one I could probably I probably can get behind it. Yeah, she doesn't seem so bad. Yeah, I mean, from what I've seen so far well, they they say war and murder is how she collected her trophies, which I'm like, mmm. But what else are you gonna take as a trophy? I mean, I do like predators. Yeah. I don't know. But either way. Predators. Yes. Yes, the predators. Alright. Looking at Anethea's rules, though, as far as lore goes, and again, because these are the journeyman rules, I don't want to go too far into them. But she does have Hellmarked rule, which models destroyed by attacks made by this model never generates soul tokens. Makes sense. Absolutely. Gotta go to Felgoth. Yep. Send the souls right back to Felgoth. So that one definitely lends in. Also, they like to punish and inflict pain. So having Bloodtongue her weapon inflict pain, which is great because when it does that, when they hit a war beast with a weapon, it can place a fury on it or remove a fury from a war beast. And it's also got Mancatcher, again, trying to capture those souls. So the Revenant Champion has Guard Dog, which definitely falls in line with its protector. While this model's within three inches of its leader and is not knocked down or stationary, its leader gains plus two defense against melee attacks and cannot become knocked down. It's also got an impervious flesh. When this model suffers damage, it rolls one fewer dice. And also it has shield guard. When a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack while within three inches of a model with shield guard, you can choose to have the model with shield guard directly hit instead. Yeah, they are definitely one of the models I'm actually rather interested in. But the Barrow Ghoul and the Charnel Hound both don't really, from what we can see, there's nothing really impactful as far as the lore goes, as the rules are. No. But again, they could change once they become full-fledged into this. And we'll see what that kind of looks like more. As I said before, when their subfactions do actually fully release and hit the table, I will go back and I will re-talk about the rules and compare and contrast to see how it actually functions. Kind of like how you see Zahara from Wintercore with her from the SKS, and then you see her in old Umbre as a solo with her Jack. Right. You see they're they're both powered way down. Yeah. I'm interested to see how they're actually going to get powered up to be the full-fledged casters in their faction. Yeah, I certainly hope they do. It will be a thing. It's just a matter of when. Alright. Anything else you got for me, Angus? I don't think so. I don't think so either.
SPEAKER_01:But I mean, I I definitely want to have like a proper mummy faction that I can play out of that box set. Because I don't want to just play against Dusk Elves.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, for sure. And that's definitely going to be something that we'll be we'll see coming out here, I will assume very shortly. With Graveborne and especially with this box set releasing really soon, one can only hope that it's right around the corner.
SPEAKER_01:Agreed.
SPEAKER_00:And that could also be why you're seeing maybe Kithguard getting pushed back a little bit. Is maybe they're actually swinging up this stuff.
SPEAKER_01:It's fine.
SPEAKER_00:One could hope. Except for I want my Kith Guard.
SPEAKER_01:Fair enough.
SPEAKER_00:I'm legitimately looking at so many different armies I've got. I gotta I gotta stop doing this lore dives because I am legitimately just buying new army after new army, and I'm not even getting them above 50 points. Well, the next time you place an order for stuff, order me Yana. Well, we'll definitely see about that. And we definitely have some other some news coming out on the near horizon, some pretty exciting news. And I've got a few guests that we're gonna be bringing on here shortly, and I'm really excited to be pushing that out into the future and to start bringing people on and having other people talk about, besides me, talk about our local community and our local meta. I want to see what other people's local meta is like. Is your local more driven towards community building and building up the hobby? Are you gearing towards tournament level play, and that's what your meta build is out where you're at? These are the things I'm really interested in and seeing where the hobby is driving itself. And as I've said before, even though I've bumped into these higher level players, the community has been all very accepting and bringing everyone in and even engaging with people that don't know the game or are interested in the game, or just starting out and just being that positive ray of energy and hope and building this hobby and community up. The one thing I'll say about the War Machine community is that it is overwhelmingly positive. Yeah. I don't see a whole lot of negativity. I'm sure it exists, and I remember in previous editions, going back, I want to say maybe Mark II. Mark I was rough. I know Mark I was rough, and I know Mark II was a little rough because I remembered that's part of why I was dropping in and out. Because I remember coming in trying to learn the game, and I was like, ooh, this is not a great little experience. And then Mark III came around, and it was okay. Mark III was better, but definitely with the way that Steamforge has kind of come in, and with the resurgence of what we're seeing now, we're definitely seeing a lot of the people from previous editions coming back in seeing the community in a much better way and a much better, healthier state. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now, when you hear like people talk about toxic masculinity, Mark I war machine was trying to cultivate that. I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was it was not great. Once I see a community is starting to get into that negative space and into that negative aspect, I usually don't survive very long there. And it's it's because I just don't want to be around that. I mean, I used to love playing Magic, but Magic Gathering is is rough. Yeah, I never got into that. Used to be great, used to be a lot of fun, and now I just I I just can't. And same thing, like, oh god, what was the other card game? Yu-Gi-Oh! That was another one that was extremely rough. And again, maybe that was just my local area that was just that toxic and that destructive. But I remember traveling around quite a bit, and it was just rough. And again, now I get to look over at all the pretty cards I got and they just sit there. But I get to teach my kids how to play these games and we have fun with it. Well, other than that, I don't have a whole lot else.
SPEAKER_01:Fair enough.
SPEAKER_00:Alright. Well see you in a week. Not even a week. Yeah. I'll see you in a couple days. It's true. We got Cricks to field and probably trolls to slay.
SPEAKER_01:I would assume so.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, maybe they'll show up again with Everblight and try to smash Chum into oblivion like they did last time.
SPEAKER_01:Could happen.
SPEAKER_00:But they'll be sorely mistaken this time. Alright, guys. Have a wonderful day. Take care.
