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
Steel, Smoke, And Secret Kommandos
A fourth Juggernaut just hit the desk, the kids are calling shots at 50 points, and our paint snow turned pink after varnish… so yes, we’re juggling hobby joy, real problems, and a whole lot of Khador. We kick off with why moving from 30 to 50 points unlocks the real game: more warjacks on the table, deeper synergies, and the tension between assassination lines and objective play. Then we hold court on the dreaded snow-bleed issue, comparing Citadel technicals, pigment reactivation, and Speedpaint 1.0 vs 2.0 to help you protect your bases and your sanity.
From there, the mask drops and the knives come out. We break down SKS-6, Khador’s clandestine strike team from Section III, and show how the lore maps tightly to rules. Kaptain Zahara Velkul’s alchemical mask and Field Marshal Prowl convert clouds and cover into stealth and vision control. Razor brings rare Khador accuracy, grenade utility, and a shield-saw that forces bad trades. Sergeant “The Jackal” Lazarenko lives up to his name with the Jackbuster rocket with brutal damage, critical stagger, and Marksman to demolish the right columns. The Hounds arrive with advanced deploy, shield wall resilience, anti-blast assurance, and signature weapons that carve into infantry and heavies alike. If you like tempo theft, precision attrition, and tricks that punish sloppy positioning, this cadre is your toolbox.
We widen the lens to the current Mark IV cadence: character-forward cadres, flavorful trios, and strong caster identities that make list building simple yet sharp. We sketch paths for Old Umbrey around Yana, debate Razor’s point efficiency versus broader chassis, and look ahead to Kithguard reveals and STL drops. Finally, stakes go narrative as we weigh the community’s power over Admiral Boomhowler’s fate with death, survival, or a Cryx turn. Each with ripples for the meta and our armies. Come for the covert ops and stay for the practical tactics, honest hobby talk, and a few spicy predictions.
If you enjoy the show, follow, share with a wargaming friend, and leave a quick review so more players can find us. What build are you bringing against SKS-6, and are you betting on objectives or the assassination line?
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Hey there, listeners, NJT 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. Chris? How are you doing? Fantastic. What's your hobby's been like? It's been glorious. Glorious. That is the take of the day.
SPEAKER_02:I have very exciting news. I'm all ears. Christopher here is going to be especially excited. I can't wait. I have purchased and received a fourth juggernaut. Heck yeah. My plan is to build it tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know how I feel about this at this moment.
SPEAKER_02:Uh you should be happy. I am. I also purchased, haven't received yet, another Victor and a Marauder.
SPEAKER_01:What I'm hearing is so much armor that I don't think I'm going to be able to get through. More rockets done.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Captain Bourne will rise to the cage at the end.
SPEAKER_00:I was gonna say, I'm like, it sounds like I'm gonna need to start playing some Signar. Alright.
SPEAKER_02:Beyond that, I've been painting up my forward commander sorcery model. Okay. Because I feared I would eventually get around to making a proper steamroller legal army. The uh Prime lists? Well, the Prime Legacy.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I can't bring myself to actually play current Cador. The winter core or Old Ombre? Either. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:What are you waiting for? Yana.
SPEAKER_03:As you should.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Yana will be on an order shortly. Perfect. Even better. Yeah. Just need to actually get down and place the order. Well, since I've been on vacation, I've been uh doing a little hobbying myself. But Chris, what have you been up to?
SPEAKER_03:So I've been I started painting the chimera half of the starter set. So some of you have been seeing that on the Facebook group. Keep following along on there to see the progress. And then I've been playing some games with my 13-year-old son, Tommy. So he's well, he's the one that owns the Legion of Everblight guys that I had been using on Sundays, but I went back to trolls because he's been playing those because Thagrush is his guy. And he's beaten me three times now. There you go. Have you beaten him yet? Have I? I think I no. No, he beat me. No, I haven't given him. I thought maybe the last one I got, but like, no, he he got me.
SPEAKER_01:I thought you actually did post a chat thread. I thought you did get him once because you said uh dozer did work. I think you did get him in one.
SPEAKER_03:I mean the work he did was he didn't die. Oh everybody else did, but he didn't he tanked his Scythian and two chosen of Everblades. I killed one of those. No, I killed two of those things. He had one left.
SPEAKER_02:The grush is a menace. Yeah. Yeah. Every time I'm very excited when I finally killed him.
SPEAKER_01:I will definitely say the one chance that I had at killing him, I made the mistakes with Commodore Foul Blood. Two mistakes led to two missdelegated attacks, and that would have definitely probably changed how the outcome went. But we'll see how that goes. Yeah. I was gonna say you're planning on bringing Tommy out to this next Sunday?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, he's kind of wishy-washy sometimes, but he's right now he's committed to coming to play. So he's at least coming this Sunday. We'll see about the next time too.
SPEAKER_01:Alright. Yeah, I should uh if everything lines up for me, I'll be out there this weekend. I'm hoping so, but we'll see. Bringing any of your boys? Uh I will probably bring John for sure, because he's definitely been enjoying his Cricks, and especially with the 50-point increase, he's been much more about it. I think the 30-point limit is great for people to learn, but to actually start getting into the feel of the game and seeing the true escalation. Moving up to 50 points was definitely a good thing, and seeing John's motivation with it has also been a good thing.
SPEAKER_03:And we should be playing with objectives this week, too.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I do believe we figured out how we are going to put in objective markers this time, and we've already started working out the math, and it should be not a big deal.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And I'm still gonna go for the assassination one.
SPEAKER_00:Uh I was gonna say, I'm like, I don't know about you guys, but I'm still gonna go for the assassination.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:Objectives, what are these? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I've already I've already basically said I'm just gonna go for the assassinate. Like that's what I'm gonna do. Sorcerer doesn't do objectives. I actually just finished today my SKS6 command group. Oh, that's appropriate. Yeah, got them uh finished up. Uh one big gripe. Uh when I did Razor, I did Razor a long uh probably a month or two ago, and I put them on and I've been using the Citadel snow material. The tech yeah, like the technicals. Yeah, the technical basing or whatever it is. Well, I put it, I put them down, and then I put the technical snow down, and the red bled into the snow. And I was like, oh, you know what? I didn't I didn't varnish them first. That's on me. I made a mistake. Well, today I went ahead, I sealed it, I painted them, let them dry, sealed them, varnished them, everything was good. I put down the snow flock, everything looks great. I put them away to cure and dry, I come back, I show these two. Sure enough, it's blood again. I'm like, I don't know what's going on with this. So if any of our listeners know what could be doing that or why, feel free, let me know. Because it's not just the speed paints that I've been using, but also Chris has said that it also affected his paints as well.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, when I was painting those Everblight guys, the purple did the same thing. I used the same snow that you did. And it's not all of them either. It's I think it's like two or three of them that do it, but and I don't use the speed paints on them. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And that's and that's why I'm wondering. I'm wondering if there's like either excessive moisture or if there's like an acid in it that helps something and it's just eating away at it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's gotta be something in the formula for the GW texture paint. Because I use the uh the yellow and there's no issues.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And that's something that I'm gonna have to take a look at and kind of see. Maybe I just need to switch brands.
SPEAKER_04:No.
SPEAKER_01:But the other ones didn't do that. So when I did my brine bloods, they didn't have that issue when I used the I want to say it was like the sand or is this the dust one. Whatever that one is, the the brownish looks like sand. Yeah. Sandry, maybe? I don't know. I I could go pull it up and look, but it's not necessary. But using the one that kind of looks like the sandy beach, that one, it didn't pull any of the paint off. It didn't s like fill into it. So I don't know if it's something with the snow one exclusively, or if it just is thinner or whatever the case is. I'm not sure. But I would love to find out and see if anybody else has had the same issues. Uh let us know, and if you know why.
SPEAKER_02:The other thing it might be is uh depending on what variety of speed paints you're using, the speed paints 2.0 are much more staple than the speed paints original.
SPEAKER_01:Hmm. That's a good question. You know, I think my red paint that I was using is probably from the original batch. I know I have a bunch of 2.0. I probably have some from the original speed paints.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. The original speed paints are a little trickier to use. I know when I was first using them, every time I would try to put another speed paint anywhere near it, we'd bleed over, and then you would get weird mixed colors, even if it dried for forever. The moment another speed paint hit it, it would reactivate and medium.
SPEAKER_01:That's annoying. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:The second version of speed paints ironed that issue out for the most part.
SPEAKER_01:I actually was gonna say, I'm like, I I used some of the 2.0s today and I merged the three colors together, but when I've tried to use the originals, it didn't really mesh too well. Interesting. Speaking of the SKS, since I finished them off and they're all fully painted, ready to go, spite bleeding. We're gonna do the SKS lore today. Let's do it. Sounds good. Yeah, we're gonna talk about that. And Angus is in full festive spirit wearing his wearing his Russian hat today. It's a great hat. Yeah. He is fully prepared, and I actually said that he's probably the most prepared person for this episode today. That's not true. More prepared than I am. That is true. Well, luckily I come prepared.
SPEAKER_03:Someone has to. What I know about Kador is source is painful to play against.
SPEAKER_01:Alright, so the SKS. The Secret Command Service 6 is a clandestine strike force employed by Codor's Secret Intelligence Service. It's made up of former assault commandos recruited by Captain Zahara Velkoul after the disbanding of the branch in 614. SKS reports to Secret Intelligence instead of High Command, but the Jacks are still built and maintained by the Mechanics Assembly. SKS six is comprised of Velcule, her customized direwolf warjack razor, Sergeant Goran Lazarenko, aka the Jackal. Yeah, let's just go with the Jackal from now on. Yeah. Well, Lazarenko is not too bad, I can say that one. But also, yes, the Jackal is much, much easier. And he is the NCO and Jack Hunter of the group, and the Hounds, which are a trio of heavily armed commando assassins. Aside from clandestine missions pursued during peacetime, which they painstakingly concealed their activities against Kador's neighbors, which violated treaties that maintained peace in the Iron Kingdoms. Due to their secrecy, they were never found out.
SPEAKER_03:So what are you telling me? Is this starter set with Kador and Signar? It's two clandestine units fighting against each other. Yep. 100%. They're very hard to find. Now does Jackal get bonuses against Deuce? Oh yeah. Yep. Yep. That's respectable.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. We'll we'll definitely dive into that a little bit once we go into the rules section and how he's a jackhunter. His weapon's name is Jackbuster.
SPEAKER_03:That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Before the second Orgoth invasion, they were deployed against forces loyal to the great princes during the Troubles and against the rebellious Greylords after the resistance posed by the aristocracy. Now with the return of Orgoth, the SKS often support the Kadoran military and its allies against the invaders, but sometimes tasked to move against allies or others of the Iron Kingdoms to support Kador's interests. An example being instructed to gather Orgoth artifacts of significant power that interest the Kadoran Arcanists, also secretly raiding Mercarian League warehouses in search of rare minerals from zoo used in manufacturing skyship drives, and aided in escape of military prisoners awaiting trial in Lael.
SPEAKER_02:What do you think they're going after as far as Orgoth tech, aside from the uh Orgoth swords that the Doom Reavers use?
SPEAKER_01:You know, that's a good question. Maybe you have to dive farther into Orgoth. You know, that's always been a thing. They always talk about the Orgoth artifacts. Everybody wants to get their hands on these Orgoth artifacts. Is it because they're packed with infernal knowledge and they're just extremely powerful? I'm not really sure.
SPEAKER_02:I would assume so. I mean, those Doom Reaver swords are brutal.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Do they have the Doomreavers from like old Kador? No, there's one solo. Um, I'm spacing on her name, but she's The Prisoner? Yeah, she's a Doom Reaver.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's prisoner like 129487 or something like that. It's a it's prisoner and then it's a number sequence.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. But Doom Reavers proper are gone. Probably for the best.
SPEAKER_01:Is that the one that I swapped you for painting?
unknown:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Alright, there it is. I was like, wait, like why does I still have not built and painted her. That was that was some time ago. Yep. But then again, Wintercore has taken a backseat for you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Alright. But after freeing the prisoners and trials, the SKS were suspects behind these crimes, but due to their skill and lack of witnesses left behind to identify the culprits, it left them with plausible deniability, avoiding persecution. Sounds amazing.
SPEAKER_02:Also, who's going to prosecute them? Signar? I mean Kador's not gonna extradite their secret service.
SPEAKER_01:Now, to be fair, the hounds are wanted for war crimes by Signar and Leal.
SPEAKER_03:Whatever. Too bad Mammoth's gone. They'd get them. Doubtful. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Alright. Now, the assault commander Oleg Strachov. For serving nearly 30 years in the Kandoran military, most of his missions remain top secret. A merciless tactical genius unwilling to leave anything to chance, he plans missions in exacting detail and always counting on the element of surprise, allowing him to push enemies off balance before defeating them with mass firepower. Respectable. During the opening months, the Laeleese War, he hunted down and executed Lael's war casters and most senior military officers. Most notably was the Archduke Alrig Vadarov and his entire command staff, which came from an ambush. Following his decimation of Lael's most elite soldiery, he went on to found, train, and lead the Assault Commandos, a new service branch in the Kadoran military. His best recruit was Zahara Vilkul, who served beside him for nearly six years. Following the disbanding of the Assault Commandos in 614, Strachov took on a position within High Command that granted him oversight of the Empire's military intelligence assets. Strachkov maintains regular contact with Vilkul and her handlers to this day. In 604, after Khador's invasion of Lael, Signar declared war on Khador and rushed forces into Lael to support the kingdom and to reinforce the border of Northguard against further Khadoran attacks. Tragedy. I'm split. I like all of them. Taking Northguard and opening Signar's northern provinces became High Command's vital target. The task fell to Supreme Commander Commandant Gervalt Irusk. The first attempt ended in failure. Irusk turned to Strachov to assemble a strike force to take the fortress.
SPEAKER_03:Was Irusk a taster in the familiar.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Yep. Strachov was able to cross the no man's land and deftly clear the Signoran positions of defenders, slowing the refortification and excavation, forcing the outpost numbers to be redoubled. When Irisk found Strakov, he was recovering from injuries sustained in battle. He offered Strakov the opportunity to create a new service branch in his image. Together Irisk and Strakov drafted the new force to be known as the Assault Commandos. High Command quickly approved and promoted Strakov to Assault Commander to lead the new branch. Strachov immediately set out to create a training regimen with specs for new arms and equipment. Within a year, he was ready to show IRUSK his commandos. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Fancy gear. Shield and gas mask. And strangle gas.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Did they make assault commando school? Yes, they did.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Yep. Except for the assault commandos didn't last nearly as long as the mage uh as the uh gun mages did. That's fair. But that's kinda to be expected. Yeah. They were handpicked from the hardiest and most devoted of Winter Guard. Selected by loyalty as much as physicality. Five hundred volunteered. Of those, a hundred were selected, and only fifty completed. Now, when when you hear that and those kinds of numbers, it makes me think of the Space Marines. Yeah. Cause when you look at the Space Marines, and it varies from chapter to chapter, you're looking at anywhere between a one and five percent success rate for Space Marines. And here you're looking at a 10% success rate. So one in ten show up as compared to anywhere between or one in twenty or one in a hundred with the Space Marines. Better turnout, but those kinds of numbers, it just makes me think of the failure rate.
SPEAKER_03:So what's considered failure? Do they are they just dead? So like 50 live and 450 die? No, they just wash out and go back to the winter guard.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. It's either that or there there might be. Maybe there's casualties. Yeah, they they don't specify the training as far as I've read, but I mean, it's Cawdor. So I mean anything's possible.
SPEAKER_03:I can starship troopers train with live munitions. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Put your hand up by that buzzer, soldier. It's not wrong. The standard issue carbine was created in Cawdor, while the strangle gas, gas masks, and armor were produced in occupied Laele. Strangle gas was to force the trenchers out of their defenses and out into the open. It sits heavier than air, so if they deployed it, it would fall and rain into the trenches and make them have to climb out. Sounds about right. I mean when you sit there and you think about it, that was what, World War I when they were using mustard gas? But now it's magic mustard gas. Pretty much. The masks were designed to filter out the gas and to be able to see through the smoke screens deployed by the trenchers to cover their movements. The armor protected them from physical attacks, as well as the caustic alchemical agents and the extreme conditions and temperatures. The shields were light and extremely resilient. The supply of strangle gas has diminished since losing Lael. The knowledge to produce the armor, masks, and shields have been retained. Strachov personally led his new commandos in probing attacks targeting Signarin defenses around Northguard, while refining tactics, forcing trenchers back, or slaughtering them under waves of gas. Strachov took detailed notes to hone the tactics and the training regimen. The trenchers adapted to using wet rags as masks against the gas or to wash away the alchemical agents from their eyes. The terror was palpable, and it was spreading across the trenchers because of the new commandos. By 607, the commandos had two full battalions, totaling nearly 5,000 soldiers. Now, I will say this about the number when you look in the lore section, is referenced as five zero comma zero zero. I'm not sure if that's five thousand or it's supposed to be fifty thousand. Referencing battalion sizes, I'm gonna lean towards the lower end because battalions usually don't exceed more than a thousand that I've seen present-day military numbers. So ramping it up, giving credence there, saying two and a half times.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I wouldn't have a comma placement.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I've also seen in some uh different currencies as far as referencing in certain numbers, there is a comma and it's used in that positioning.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think it's five thousand.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's kind of where I'm at. But again, I just want to put that out there in case if it is supposed to be, you know, fifty thousand or whatever the case is. I just want to make sure that I put that.
SPEAKER_02:Be all the more disappointing if it was fifty thousand.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well show how inept the Kidorians are. Right. Poor mess. Got these really great soldiers, and we're gonna screw it all up with terrible tactics.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, we'll get there. We'll get there. The commandos were based out of Ravensguard, as part of Kodor's second army. Two years of constant fighting hardened the commandos. Strachov led the commandos at the vanguard of Irus' second attack on Signar's Bastion. The fall of Northguard marked the end of the Second Thornwood War, and was a resounding victory for the motherland. Now let's talk about Valkyle. Though Zaharo was not part of the first wave of assault commandos trained by Strachov, her brother Matve was. Matve was a decorated hero and died in battle against Signar weeks before the fall of Northguard in 607. Soon after her brother's death, she applied to the assault commandos against her family's wishes. She passed the mental and physical testing and was accepted. Her powers as a warcaster manifested shortly after. Only the second warcaster besides Strakov to serve in the assault commandos, she apprenticed under Strakov in occupied Leo. He took her under his wing, and she remains the closest thing he has to a friend in this whole world. After her apprenticeship, Zahara entered the service as a captain in the commandos and fought against the resistance forces as well as militaries of both Signar and the Protectorate of Menoth. So she's doing work on Menoth.
SPEAKER_03:That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01:When the assault commandos were disbanded in 614, she was recruited by Section III to lead the SKS six. With the blessing of Strakov and High Command, she assembled her team for the clandestine operations across the Iron Kingdom. During her time as a commando, she had frequent interaction with the Kadoran Intelligence Command Section III. Section III infiltrated Lael's government and even resistance forces, which provided vital intelligence to eliminate high valued targets with relative ease. As the war drew to a close, so did the allocation of resources. Trainers were pulled to the front lines while injured and lower experienced soldiers replaced them. The commandos further diminished by the number of casualties suffered, fewer and fewer would arrive as reinforcements with less and less skills as their predecessors. This began the slide towards their obsolete. This was further accelerated as the Order of the Golden Crucible was liberated from Cadorne control. Section three is also known as Cadorne Intelligence Command. They are one of the eight bureaus of the Ministry of the Great Vizier, the chief government apparatus for the Empire. Even as High Command moved to disband the assault commandos, the Ministry of the Great Vizier saw an opportunity. Section three moved to recruit former commandos with the aid of Strakov. Of those recruited was Zahara. Even before news of the official disbanding, Strakov approached Zahara with Section three's offer. She accepted, and the SKS six was born. Razor was commissioned through a special agreement between Section II and the Kadoran Mechanics Assembly with specific authorization from High Command. Razor was completed in six hundred fifteen, making it among the first direwolves to seize service, and has remained Zahara's constant companion. It's a fine light jack. I was gonna say, when you look at the other jacks in the Kadoran military, it is a light jack. Now when you compare it to any other military, it is a heavy war jack. Razor is swift moving and reactive for a heavy jack. Razor has learned to anticipate Zahara's every move. Razor is armed with an array of weaponry, making it as the successor to the venerable Spriggan. The armor is made from the same alloy as Strakov's Jack Torch, making it resilient to heat and alchemical vitrel. The primary weapon is a massive slug gun. The Ripper Shield has a hardened industrial saw built in capable of massive destruction. Additionally, it's armed with a pair of anti-personal grenade launchers capable of being loaded with flares to daze and paint targets. Sergeant Goran Lazarenko the Jackal He served alongside Zahara for nearly five years while in Leo. She became dependent on his tenacity and irrepressive humor, even in the darkest of hours. Typically operating ahead of his unit prowling for enemy warjacks with his heavy rocket launcher, the Jackal has risen to be the second in command over SKS-6. He is a smooth talking demolitions expert with a tendency to be a little reckless. The Hounds The Hounds are a trio of assault commando killers, wanted by Signar and Leal for their countless war crimes. They bear standard issue armor and shields, but each is highly skilled with their own signature weapon. Leader Corporal Tetheria once served under Strakhov as a member of his elite strike force. She carries the Death Whisper Carbine to prove it. The grim-faced private Fedenayak, who lost his sense of humor running away in a Lael prison camp. His preferred weapon is a grenade launcher. The SKS-6 was granted permission to rescue Fedenayak from the Laeleese prison by Section. 3. Scroballa is a huge brute of a man with a laugh said to be even louder than the roar of his assault cannon. Even though the Hounds would prefer a straight on fight, as compared to the stealth required by Section 3, they have adapted to the new mission with professionalism befitting a veteran commandos. With peace once again, shattered by Orgoth's return, SKS six has returned to the front lines to work alongside the Winter Corps. Even though they could be called away by Section III for clandestine missions, they are deployed in total secrecy to keep their enemies taken by surprise. Resisting the Orgoth invasion at the vanguard of Condor's forces.
SPEAKER_03:So with these hounds, is pretty much all these new Mark IV factions have some kind of like character trio for the most part.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Okay. Like that's what you're gonna see out of a lot of the uh cast like the starter cadres.
SPEAKER_03:The caster, a jack, a trio, a solo.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you'll see a unit. For the most part, there's Dusk isn't like that, but the Signar box is all characters, the Cawdoor is all characters, Brian Bloods are all characters, Chimera are all characters. I know the upcoming box coming out here on Friday, they're gonna be all characters.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. All the plastic sets are They're all character driven.
SPEAKER_01:Trying to think of some of the other ones.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. It's all pretty similar.
SPEAKER_01:Right now Angus and I are talking what we think the permanent two-player starter set's gonna be. Alien Dinagra. That's what I want to see. The the Crix, the Crix starter box, their command starter is all characters.
SPEAKER_04:Do they have a a three unit?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, they do. That's the Furies. Oh, those those witch things that you had?
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:The corporeal ones?
SPEAKER_01:Yep. So there's them. There's trying to think of who else. I haven't looked at Orgoths yet. So all number I have for that? Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And theirs is named too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, theirs is all named.
SPEAKER_02:They've got some sort of like seasonal monsters.
SPEAKER_01:But they're like people.
SPEAKER_03:That's kind of makes me more excited for Kithard to see what all their characters are.
SPEAKER_01:Come on, Dunborn. Yep. Well, that's all the lore I have for them. Now we can talk about the rules and see how it applies to the lore. So looking at Captain Zahara, she has the alchemical mask, which this model does not suffer gas effects. When determining line of sight or resolving attacks, this model ignores cloud effects and concealment granted from cloud effects. It's not bad. And that I think that will also apply, by the way, to all of the human models, the Jackal and the Hounds, they all have the alchemical mask, so I'm not going to cover that with them, but they all have it. Same thing with the armor, which grants them fire immunity and corrosion immunity. Right. Now she does have Field Marshal Prowl. Prowl is where models with concealment gain stealth, which that definitely applies to the assault commando training and everything else. And because she is leading a group of commandos, Field Marshal Prowl, which allows cohort models in this model's battle group to gain prowl. A prowling warjack. Yep. She also has rise and takedown, but those don't really, in my opinion, feel like they are driven by the lore. She has her uh mechanical axes and combat knife. She can throw her axes. But again, all these things I don't feel are applicable to what is impacted by the lore. Same thing with her feet and her spells. I don't feel like they're very driven in that way.
SPEAKER_03:So if you look up by her name, she's got tough. Do you think that's from her armor, or is that just something they threw on?
SPEAKER_02:No, that's something that's her. No, I think it's the armor. Because the hounds and the jackal have tough also.
SPEAKER_01:It could be. It could be the armor. It could just be part of their training because it's a very physically is a very physical training that they go through.
SPEAKER_03:And an unrelated note on the her axes has the eruption of ash, which that's unmoved.
SPEAKER_01:More templates. I was gonna say she can drop down so many templates. It's ridiculous. I really like her as a caster. I don't like playing against her as a caster.
SPEAKER_02:It'd be better if her axes had reload. Oh my god. Uh there's no reason why she shouldn't have reload. I mean, she's got like five of those things on her back.
SPEAKER_01:So if when you look at the model, she has four on her back, and then she has a holster for one to be quick drawn. So she can have five.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:She should absolutely have reload.
SPEAKER_01:I would agree. If she had reload one, I would be okay. I wouldn't say two. That would be dude. That's a lot.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, as a as a united Krill guy, you would not want to play Jarl Schuld with this guy or against her because his feet is dropping a bunch of clubs. I think it's actually very similar to her feet. I think it's the D3 plus three cloud effects that he just dumps around. And who does this? One of the troll casters, Jarl Skull. He's like the highwayman caster. He's got the eye patch and the double pistols.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Does he have shenanigans to see through his own clouds?
SPEAKER_01:No. So he effectively becomes blind. I doubt it.
SPEAKER_03:And he has an eye patch, so he's even more limited in his eyesight. Perfect.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no. No, he just switches it over. Unless his patch is a good thing.
SPEAKER_02:Meanwhile, all these commando goofs are running around with special goggles. You have to let them see through clouds. There we go.
SPEAKER_03:He's got no Swift Hunter Dodge. Yeah, his feet's rolling fog. Place D3 plus 3 cloud effect templates anywhere. But yeah, nothing. He can vanish where he can place the spellcaster anywhere completely within three inches of its current location. But nothing about seeing through the fog.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's not good. You drop down all these fogs now you can't see. She can. Yeah, I was gonna say she can see through it, and that's not a big deal. But Razor has Swift Hunter, when this model destroys one or more enemy models with a basic ranged attack, immediately after the attack is resolved, it can advance up to two inches. It also has anchor, which when a friendly warrior model cannot be knocked down while base to base with this model. When you think of Zahara and it knowing how she's going to act and react, I can see him doing that. Also has three position three so that way he can actually stay near her. It also has the grenade launchers, two of them, slug cannon, the ripper shield. Two grenade launchers. Which, by the way, slug cannon reload one, just saying, not a bad day.
SPEAKER_02:And he's quasi-competent at shooting.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Rat six?
SPEAKER_02:That's a rare occasion for a Kedora.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And a jack of all things.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Actually has the highest rat of any of the war jacks. Everything else is rat five, he's rat six. Or it's rat six. What chassis is this thing? Does it have the direwolf too?
SPEAKER_02:The direwolf. And to be fair, I think I would rather take a direwolf over a razor.
SPEAKER_01:Well, Razor is very expensive. Razor's 18 points, where the highest end of a jackal is Yeah. I feel like Oh, I'm sorry, I keep saying Jackal. It's uh 14 points.
SPEAKER_02:I feel like a lot of the points you're paying for Razor are for the immunity, fire, and corrosion, which do you really need on an armor 19 jack? Probably not.
SPEAKER_01:No, but it it also I mean you don't want to be set on fire and have to deal with that either.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but the fire roll is going to be negligible on a jack with armor that high.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I had it with armor twenty and I didn't take any damage. The multiple fire rolls.
SPEAKER_02:Precisely. So I feel like I'm just wasting points on Razor.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:For abilities that I don't need.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it it's not even it's also the ability to have multiple ranged weapons, having the shield, having the industrial saw, so you're getting two essentially two of its weapons as one. Because you can get the industrial saw or the scrapper saw on the dire wolf, or you can get the shield. This allows you to merge the two together. So you get kind of a you're paying for it, but you're paying a lot for a lot of features. But you start getting lit up by perfect example, you start getting shot by deuce, that's gonna be a problem. Power attack, decrepitation, I think it's power 14, four dice, not a good day. So the jackal. The jackal has the alchemical mask, has the armor, he has advanced deployment, which kinda leans into he likes to stay ahead of his units, so he stays out in the forefront. But best of all, he's got Jackbuster, which is a range of 12, Ray to Fire 1, AoE 2, power 14, 7, has brutal damage, so on a direct hit, gain an additional damage die on this weapon's damage rules against the target directly hit. It's also got critical stagger. On a critical hit, the model hit loses its initial attacks and cannot make power attacks or special attacks for one round. That's why it's a jack killer. Yeah, that's pretty great. Yeah. So when you hit when you hit a jack with it, it it can move. But it can't do any attacks. Well, if you get a critical hit. Correct. But that's what I'm saying, is it's you're hoping for that critical. Yeah. And also you have brutal damage, so you're throwing three dice. Kind of hoping for that critical there. Oh no, I'm sorry. That's critical hit, correct. I'm sorry. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh the things that I think really stand out and make the Jagal good are the brutal damage and marksman.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, being able to choose the column in which the damage it suffers. Yep. Yeah, that's gross. Yep, and then uh he's also got the reposition three, so he likes to move quick. Advanced deployment. Yep. So he right out of the gate is three inches further. And then we have the hounds. The hounds of justice.
SPEAKER_02:Hounds of injustice. Wanted for all the war crimes.
SPEAKER_03:They also have advanced deployment.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. The anti-fire, anti-corrosion, tuff.
SPEAKER_04:Anti-blast. Oh, that's no good. My trolls don't like that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. They've also got shield wall, which allows the models, you keep them base to base. They gain plus two armor and can't be knocked down, which means so long as they're base to base, they'll never lose tough. Then the other thing I think kind of applies to the background is the inspiration. While this model is in play, models in its unit gain plus one to attack rolls. I feel that that's kind of because of the unit, because we'll just call him Fetty. They went and they saved him from the Lele's prison. And they're in this lore, I didn't really talk about it too too much, but in the lore, there's the actual story of them, how they went to go get him, how they had to wait for two days for the weather conditions to be perfect.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they dressed up as like crucible guard or something. Correct.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. They dressed up as crucible guards, scaled the wall, went in, knocked out or killed the guards. We don't know. It doesn't say. They said they dispatched They killed them. Yes. They dispatched the guards, got him out, and then the section three had left horses for them to be able to get away, and then they drop off the horses and then ride a train back to the motherland. So they have all these wonderful, like little tricks. So I feel with that the inspiration is definitely a thing, because they're very tight-knit.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And that they were willing to go and basically sacrifice themselves to go get one of their own back. I believe that the inspiration is definitely there. Death Whisper Carbine, it has armor piercing, which is great. Grenade Launcher has Arcing Fire. That's not anything new or unusual. The assault cannon, volume of fire. That one's got critical knockdown. Oh yeah. Yeah, medium-based gets plus one damage, plus two damage against larger based models. Do other things in this game have that?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. All of the ones that have uh basically all your gatling gun or like heavier volume shots, they all get that.
SPEAKER_02:All those Crick spiker cannons get that. They have volume fire. Yep. Do you use those? Oh yeah. Yeah, that's that's what's what killed the grash.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
unknown:I don't like that at all.
SPEAKER_01:I was gonna say, I'm like, I don't think anybody does. I do. Yeah, I mean too. Doesn't count. Mine did some work, except for I forgot to add the volume of fire rule when I was fighting Paul. Shameful. Yeah. Call yourself a Crix player. You're right. You're right. I don't. I did. I've played one game of Cricks, and it is definitely going to be something I want to play more of. Well, that's the SKS box. And those are pretty much the rules that pertain to it, and also comparison with some trolls and some other various groupings.
SPEAKER_02:No. We know that you're scheming a new project. Tell us what your plans are for old ombre.
SPEAKER_01:Oh well, I I definitely have a number of projects on the back burner. I have I do want to get old ombre. I haven't quite decided. I'm gonna I'm gonna start with the command starter, as per you should. I'm gonna pick up the battle group. From there, I'm not really certain on where I'm gonna go next. It's been it's been a little bit of a trial. I'm pretty sure I want to run at least one Lord of the Hunt, if not two. I've I've got I've got a bigger, taller order there.
SPEAKER_02:I think you should take the Yana Warlock, two Lords of the Hunt, and then a whole bunch of that bear cavalry.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, so all the bears, all the bears. All the all the mounted, all the mounted cavalry.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, all the bears.
SPEAKER_01:See, I I figured that's what you were gonna do. Cause then you have the Russian bear dancing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but uh I already have the winter core because I was planning on running Yana with them.
SPEAKER_01:Like Yana could be the warcaster in there too, can't she? Yeah, she can be a uh warlock for old Umbre. See, and that I find fascinating is that usually you can't go, they're never back and forth. But she's so far, to my knowledge, one of the few that has done that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:There's no reason why they shouldn't be able to do it more often. Just place focus with fury and good to go.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, mechanically, mechanically I can understand it, but lore-wise, staying into that, it's like two completely different aspects. Yeah, I guess. I think it's fascinating.
SPEAKER_02:It's probably easier to break the will of a living being than break the will of an ananimate toaster.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, maybe. Well, we did cover the Argus hounds with the butcher.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Is the commander from that initial thing the one you want to use, or do you want to use a different commander?
SPEAKER_01:Um now to be fair, I have not investigated into this. I think the models are super cool. Other than that, I've not looked at how they play. I know some aspects of them, and in fact, I'm actually supposed to be doing research on them for a listener currently to kind of help come up with some ideas on how that's going to work for his army because he plays old Umbre. I I just love the models. I think they look super cool. I think that they they'll play pretty well. I mean, I also want to flesh out my Signar army into the gravediggers.
SPEAKER_03:If it makes a difference, there's a person called Bodon Lesnoy, the Apostle of the Witch.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he's in the command starter guy.
SPEAKER_01:I was gonna say that's the command starter guy.
SPEAKER_02:That's the one that's the original? Yeah. Yeah. And the battlegroup has Galena.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I was saying don't move away from that guy. Apostle of the Witch. That can't go wrong with that guy.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, but have you seen the uh Extreme Galena model that they released on my minifactory?
SPEAKER_01:Is that the the one with her in the tree? Yep. It's amazing. I have I've seen it, but I don't know how she plays.
SPEAKER_03:You can also take Vickle and Razor for 20 points.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, but they're into a uh like Journeyman caster.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, when you look at her though, her and Razor, they're nowhere near as good. She loses weapon mastery, she loses like all sorts of stuff. Yeah. She's still not bad, but she's nowhere near as good. Because again, this is her dumbed-down version. And when you think about it, Razor's 18 points out of the gate, and then they had to drop him down to make him a little bit weaker, and it's I don't think that one balances out very well. Well, you can bring the hounds over too. Yes, you can. The hounds can be dropped in, which I probably would because I have them already. I'll say might as well, right? I mean, that's I I basically did that with my the day that we did the Crix War. I just brought out Aberration and put him down, and I was like, all right, cool. Here's 50 points. Signar and Aberration.
SPEAKER_04:Go.
SPEAKER_01:Boom. This makes sense. Yep. I mean there were better options, but I didn't have the other options, so that's how I got to the quick 20 points. Except for I do want to get that Gravedigger character jack, the one that that's the extreme is where he's hopping and he's Oh yeah, extreme plugger. Plugger, thank you. Beautiful model. Yeah, that one I really I want to that's gonna be my first uh Gravedigger model. I want to get it.
SPEAKER_02:The uh Castor they released along with that, I think it was Allison Jakes.
SPEAKER_01:Hmm.
SPEAKER_02:Where she's just murdering the uh sufflex guy. Oh yeah. That's also glorious.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'll have to I'll have to I I remember seeing it, I just don't remember like that one didn't stick in my head as well. I remember her vaulting, very similar to Plugger, but I want to see kind of where those guys settle up at.
SPEAKER_02:Oh I would say most of like the special edition My Mini Factory models look great. The only one I've been disappointed with is Captain Uh Maxim. That is not a great looking model.
SPEAKER_01:Which one's that one?
SPEAKER_02:Uh it's the old Umbre guy with the giant sword and he's just holding it straight up into the air.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, that's the one where people are making fun of it because all they just elongate the sword to see how big they can make it. Yeah. I have seen so many people messing with that model and just making it ridiculous. It's like for gray skull, and it's like this gigantic sword.
SPEAKER_03:Just the Stinform making the alternate prints, or is it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. It's part of their My Mini Factory tribe. Which hopefully a whole bunch of Crucible Guard will be up there.
SPEAKER_01:Which I was gonna say, War Machine Wednesday. We were told that, you know, we saw this, lock and load is this weekend, keynote speech is on Friday, so we're gonna hear some stuff on Friday. Yeah, hopefully. Yep. That's kind of my hope. A lot of people have been pretty excited and waiting to see what happens. They're pretty eager.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Give me a Kithguard date. Oh, it's I'm sure it'll be pictures. Yeah. They might even I fingers crossed, because uh Chris and I are both very excited for Kithguard. Uh hopefully, maybe we'll see the it'll be a cadre, maybe it might be a command starter, not quite sure yet. But let's say it's gonna be oh geez. Might be one of those trolls that you saw at Nova that's gonna have the like missile launcher on its back. There's one that has like the slugger. It's probably gonna have the one's got the Cador cannon. Let's say one's gonna be the guy uh that's standing up on the top with the machine gun. We'll say that that's yep, with the torch. I'm gonna say that that's gonna be a solo. That's gonna be the solo for the box.
SPEAKER_03:Looks like Dutch from Predator.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Yeah, so you're gonna see him with that. So you see that, and then you've got oh gosh.
SPEAKER_03:Sadly, I don't think we're gonna get like that pig in the trapdoor thing.
SPEAKER_01:Uh maybe we might. It could be like a I mean the old Umbre has the tree, so this could be like a pig like drop-in spot or something. Might show up. I don't know. We'll see.
SPEAKER_02:And then could show up as an objective STL on the My Mini Factory, too.
SPEAKER_01:We discussed in the previous episode, episode or two. Maybe the con the caster will be gun born.
SPEAKER_04:We can only hope.
SPEAKER_03:I hope he has his rocket launcher too.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean he's got to.
SPEAKER_03:Or at least A.
SPEAKER_02:If he doesn't, he's not worth playing.
SPEAKER_03:Right. I'm gonna say Or you can have a rocket launcher and a machine gun.
SPEAKER_01:You need a spotting machine gun. You need to make yours with a cigar. Have him sitting there with a cigar, rocket launcher, ready to go. Does the old model not come with a cigar? I thought it did. I'm saying that he should. If he doesn't, he should. And if he does, I'm gonna cut mine out, and then that way there will be two different ones, and then we can play them both on the same table. They're different. I allow it.
SPEAKER_03:So I know one of the old ones, like the pig, little thunderbrug or whatever his name is, he's got a cigar.
SPEAKER_01:Hopefully we'll see some stuff coming up here on Friday and for War Machine Friday. Yep. At seven o'clock. Yep. Do we know what time zone that is? Learned central. It said so.
SPEAKER_03:But I don't remember what.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm like, I don't remember.
SPEAKER_03:Uh Central, is that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it probably is because they're gonna be in St. Louis, which unfortunately, even though I'm on vacation, I have uh family in from out of town, so I won't be able to make it down there. Springham West. Uh I'm sure my mother would not enjoy going down to a convention, even though she has uh actively created this hobby for me when I was much younger and actively got me into it, you know, through Christmas gifts and purchasing and birthdays and everything else. She has definitely supported me in this hobby. And uh she actually does listen to the show. So hi, mom. Thank you. Hi, mom. Hi. Well, I think that's all I got for tonight. Nope. There's more. Oh, wait, there's more.
SPEAKER_02:What do you think is going to happen with Boomhowler? Oh my god, that's right.
SPEAKER_03:That was on the War Machine Not Wednesday, wasn't it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No, that's that's War Machine Wednesday, but because of the narrative play at Lock and Load, they are going to the players down there, you better do well, decide the fate of Admiral Boomhowler. I am hoping. That she dies? No. It's gonna be a five-minute video of your crying. It's it's gonna be be full of tears.
SPEAKER_02:She's battling the Crix. She best die. What if she turns into a Crix? Then she would still be dead. What better?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, then you'd have another caster. Oh my gosh. Could you imagine if could you imagine if the blind brine bloods became part of the Black Fleet? I dig it. Part of the ship, part of the crew. Oh my gosh. Personally hope she's gonna come out just fine. This could either lead hopefully lead to like an extreme version of Thorga, or might be seeing something of uh her as a Crix Warcaster, kinda like you see with some other people switching factions. What's the caster you use? Me? Yeah. Uh Commodore Foulblood. Field promotion. Uh oh god, no. He he firequill would not be okay with that lore-wise. I mean, Foulblood could totally wipe him out, but we'll left answer to Jum. Well for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe Crick's boomhowler will kill Firequill. Oh. At the next narrative event.
SPEAKER_01:I'm excited to see what this does actually shake down, but I'm also extremely afraid to see what happens. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be fun. Everybody's gonna be playing a bunch of games and having a great time, and we'll decide the fate of a potential loved warcaster.
SPEAKER_04:What do you guys think? I think she's gonna die. I'm indifferent.
SPEAKER_03:Do you think she's going to die though? Yeah, absolutely. They don't do this kind of thing to let them live. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and this is why I'm saying, I'm wondering if Steamforge has a Crixian version of her and an extreme version of her, and it's like, which one's gonna get deleted?
SPEAKER_03:Well, maybe they just decide her fate by 6.30, and then at seven they get their Crix Warcaster version.
SPEAKER_01:And well, they probably have them both already, like one guy's in the back with a hammer getting ready to smash the version that doesn't come out. Well, it's like the sporting events from the championship.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my gosh. One team doesn't get their merchandise, so yeah, that's true. So this one, whoever whichever side wins or loses, you don't ever get to see that model. Yep. Which is a loss loss for all of us. Yeah. Well, if she lives, then it's what, boom or two? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But I don't think there's any there hasn't been any promotions like that.
SPEAKER_02:There's no indication that she's going to get like an epic version if she survives. There's more reasons she's gonna die. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Unless they do something foolish like GW does and yeah, have the 13th Black Crusade for the ninth time. Oh jeez, you would think at some point you would be like I love 40k, but we've had enough Black Crusades.
SPEAKER_01:I was gonna say, I was like, when is enough enough?
SPEAKER_03:Or they pull a male phone that she just dies and then she becomes a a legacy.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, don't do that. Don't do that to Thorga.
SPEAKER_03:Then they have to put the rest of the Brian Bloods in Legacy 2, but.
SPEAKER_01:No. I'm wondering what the narrative would be. Who would step up? So if she dies, who's going to take over? Well, it I mean Maybe they have another plastic set. Ooh, Ragemonger. Rangemonger could potentially step up. Shadow Tongue is definitely not going to be a good leader for that. Whole new caster.
SPEAKER_03:Commodore Foulblood would be a problem. The Flaming Frog would be a bad leader for them.
SPEAKER_01:What was that? No, Commodore Foulblood would be a bad leader, because Foulblood lit their stuff on fire and like almost burned down the entire city in one night. Who did it because he cares? He was trying to do a flamethrower and ignited the entire thing. I shouldn't say him specifically, his crew and him. Yeah. Firequill, he's very loyal, but I mean, that might be the rework we've been hoping for with Firequill. We'll see. I think that's it. Wait, there's more. Is there? No. Okay. I was gonna say, I was like, I Sam Wall is run out. Yeah. Well, Billy Mays can't sue us now. That's true. All right, guys. That's all I got.
SPEAKER_04:That's all I got. I'm done. All right. Have a good night. You too.
SPEAKER_02:Peace.
