Warmachine: First Game with Rhulic (dwarves)

Last Wednesday, I set up a play date with local game celebrity Dale Kunz so he could teach me to play Warmachine. From previous posts, you know that I have been gradually amassing my collection of Rhulic Dwarves. With a small but growing collection, I contacted Dale (who kindly offered) to teach me the game.

So after his Warhammer Fantasy game, we threw down for a quick intro. What could be more classic than elves versus dwarves!

Ever the geek, I searched the internet for tactics on the army. It didn't look good. The small warjacks (which Dale kept referring to as gunbunnies) had a very bad rap. Same for my driller. My infantry did get some praise. At least.

After the quick demo, we then settled for a second game today (Sunday). For Sunday's game, we would use more than we did in the previous one. Now there would be infantry. In short, I would put everything I had on the table. A staggering 24 points (actually 31, but Gurten has a +7 modifier, so 24).

For those who are not used to Warmachine, every player has a mage, called a warcaster, killing the other warcaster is the goal of the game. Warcasters are tough and harder to kill then other units. Another element that really makes Warmachine stand out is the inclusion of warjacks. These warjacks are large constructs that you have to handle. There are a lot of combinations and although those minis are very cool, one can make an army without any warjacks at all! That did surprise me a little, but I like options.

The game is very... very fast and brutal! I did not expect that much to be honest. In one charge, he destroyed almost all of my infantry, pretty much nullified my driller and laid a major smackdown on my caster. Then with the four grundback gunners (gunbunnies) turned on his caster and shot him to bits.

Post-game talks, I had to admit that I was certain he had my a$$ wrapped, sealed and cooked on a nice plate. Then a lucky move and shoot and bang - pun intended - he was blown away. His caster biting the dust.

Dale is a great teacher and his insight was very pertinent. I strongly recommend any newbie to set up a game with him. I do not consider myself to be any good at the game yet, but enough that I can offer myself as a target to other players to beat up. Hopefully get better.

Thanks Dale.

JP

Edit: Corrected Dale's last name to Kunz.