Warmachine & Hordes goes UNBOUND!
April 25, 2011 by beerogre
Well... it has been rumoured for a while and many suspected the new battle engine models were the precursor...
Warmachine & Hordes are going to get UNBOUND rules in No Quarter #36.
But what are UNBOUND rules?
Here's what Privateer Press have to say on it...
Debuting in the pages of No Quarter 36, UNBOUND is a system for large-scale WARMACHINE and HORDES battles in which players each field 150+ point armies with three or more warcasters/warlocks. Unlike standard games of WARMACHINE and HORDES, throughout an UNBOUND game players alternate activating a portion of their armies each turn, activating every model and unit each round. On most turns a player will activate a battlegroup along with a few units and solos.
So what do you think guys?
Warmachine is going Apocalypse scale... good or bad?
BoW Andy
It’s a bit of both.
Huge battles always look great, but are never quite as exciting as you think they are going to be.
Having said that, staggering the turns may help with boredom, if thats whats proposed.
I think it is good. It can’t hurt and I don’t think we will see a shift in products/marketing. I probably will never play because of the reason I don’t play large battles right now… time. I like the fact I can play a game or two in an afternoon or evening. So, it won’t have much affect on my gaming club.
I was initially feeling a little burn as I quit playing 40K around Apocalypse because it was all anyone wanted to play. In the same vein as garwjenk, one of my gaming friends made the point that so long as PP doesn’t start facilitating it with boxes of 100 Man-o-Wars and Jacks sold by the palette we should be ok. So all that to say that I’m indifferent. I don’t have 150 pts and I won’t have 150 pts of any one force. Nor will I take the time to play a massive game. I like the game as is,… Read more »
Big beasties and the rules that go with them are a general trend, these days… The big battle fans are going to have a field day with this.
Finally real competition in that area for GW !
I’ll stick to skirmish (and so will a lot of players), but it can’t hurt, really.
BoW Romain
Since its in No Quarter, I don’t think this is quite on the same level as GW’s Apocalypse stuff, its just a set of rules that I think they’re testing the water with a bit. Its always good to have the option to super size though!
This is exactly like Spearhead that was published on White Dwarf a few months ago.
Exactly, and Spearhead was a long way off a dedicated expansion like Apocalypse.
And Apocalypse is still only an extension, you don’t have to play it… Besides, Unbound doesn’t look like it’s going to be nearly the same scale as Apocalypse, more like “regular” Warhammer if anything, in terms of numbers and points.
It’s a gesture towards a community of people who want battles more than skirmish, but I don’t think it’s betraying the game… Merely expanding on the concept for those who want to, just like the battle engines (which are, IMHO, in no way indispensable, nor are they a sure and easy way to win a game).
BoW Romain
I am not really excited, I hope this doesn’t mean they are going to slowly push people into bigger armies. One of the main reasons I picked up Hordes was the reason you didn’t have to paint and collect a bazillion mini’s. Already some of the people on my club are falling for the huge armies trap, even though we just started out.
I’ll stay with skirmish, GW already made me realize that bigger armies does not equal more fun armies.
I like the idea.
Lets get this straight 150+ points of Warmachine or Hordes ISN’T the equivalent scale of Apocalypse!!! lol. Its not even close to the scale, it wouldn’t in size even be equivalent to 3000 points of WFB in scale. Big battles are ok if its an option, the moment a game system forces you down that route that’s when it becomes a problem. I welcomed 40k Apoc and I’ll welcome this as long as its done properly and is fun to play and doesn’t slow things down stupidly.
I completely agree !
BoW Romain
Accomodating people who have bigger armies/collections is completely fine in my book. I am just worried that it will slowly change into forcing people into bigger armies/collections, like GW has done and is still doing. 8th edition increased the general unit size by 10-20 for most armies.
Privateer Press is no GW of course, but I would hate to see them slowly push bigger and bigger armies at the expense of the original game. Thankfully we are not at that stage, and hopefully never will be!
I like the fact that this would open up more options for players and if executed right would allow for easier team games
Without knowing about WM and Hordes rules beyond the videos I have seen here, but having the experience with wargames I have I can only say it depends. To be more clear, its the table size vs the models in it that counts, Skirmish games manage to fill the “standard” 4×4 and 4×6 table without overcrowding it, on the other hand in your typical GW game the entire table is overcrowded there is no space for manoeuvres and the game bogs down, it will be intresting to see how they will try to avoid that and how they will overcome… Read more »
I can say in WM/H with the way they have the costs and the Field Allowance system it will really lead to smaller armies than say GWs systems and such. and might i point out that in the main rule book it already has encounter levels called War and Apocalypse that are 100+ so all this is is more of a streamlining of those encounter levels.
I’m new to Warmahordes but I get the impression that a lot of players have multiple casters already for a given faction and a variety of models that fit best with each caster. I’m thinking these players will already have quite a few points anyways in their collection. Might Unbound be more of an avenue to field all of one’s models rather than be a marketing push to buy more?
Well, i sort of think Warmachine is for skirmish games. Its just appealing for the small tactical side, and less models to paint.
But we have played a mahussive 500 point battle with Warmachine, and it was fun. Just took longer than usual, and a few things were a tad annoying, but it work well.
I can see this working but i would say only at 150-250 points.
good for large army players but i think the game needs to stay small as its rules are too complex for big battles…dont do a Rackham or GW 2nd ed>3rd ed switch on us and chase huge forces with simpler rules as the only option. As a side project great move, as only option= ill not bother. So far looks good, time will tell- 3 caster with 3 feats could be uber insane
I recently started WM as an alternative to WHFB as I just don’t have the time or space to play massive battles.
I see WM as a skirmish game and think (from reading rules, not from trying it out) that larger (100+ points?) battles would not really suit the system and would quickly get bogged down and take ages to play.
As others have pointed out, you could always play the game with 150+ points, just not well. The system breaks down a bit, and games take forever. WM/H Unbound =/= WH40k Apocalypse. I think it’s a matter of Privateer Press seeing a flaw in their system and trying to fix it. I think they know that their bread and butter is stil the 15-50 point range. Also: I don’t think we should associate the Battle Engines with this announcement. Seeing as how the Battle Engines don’t cost any more points than a Warjack, and have a pretty restrictive FA, I… Read more »
I liked 40k Apoc as it was an option to feild what ever your hearts desier is and if this unbound is an option that follows the open standerd I am one that will welcome it. As for it being a posible marketing push, if they stick only with the 15 to 50 point range then they will die as a company. The reason is because at some piont the players will stop buying because they have all they need and those of us that are at that stage need to have an insentive other than the cool new sculpt… Read more »
a) Thinking that its even close to 40k apoc scale is a massive exaggeration
b) We can already play games that size, this just makes them more manageable
c) It will be optional, its not like players will be forced to go down this road, nor will it become the new standard of game play.