New Errata Is Up!

http://files.privateerpress.com/op/errata/errata.pdf

What I love about this is they seem to have listened to everything we complained to them about on the forums. Even the changes are in a different colour (we complained about that) and I think everything we bitched about in the forums has been fixed.

Shield Guard - you no longer have to be able to become a target, otherwise works the same. Now you can't change facing to avoid triggering shield guard.

Backswing - the attacks used to be simultaneous which confused a lot of people and introduced unnecessary complication. Now you just make two melee attacks.

Weapon/Head lock - I don't know if I mentioned this but it was causing a lot of consternation on the forums. You could have a light warjack/warbeast lock a colossal and it would be forced to make only melee attacks and lose it's initial attacks in the arc the warbeast/warjack was in. The top Everblight player picked up fairly quickly that with Absylonia she could take a Raek and it could move 7" jump 5" (for 12" move) then lock a colossal, if you then put blight field on the colossal it could not be allocated focus or forced meaning the colossal could not shoot and could not attack the Raek in melee as it would lose the attack from that weapon and not be able to buy more attacks. It seemed a little stupid that a light warbeast could lock a Colossal's arms and it really hurt colossals but now it's been fixed. You can only lock an equal or smaller base.

There was a second complaint about locks, that with the strength difference a lot of warjacks/beasts would be physically unable to break locks done by colossals, this has stayed in place. I don't have a problem with this, Colossals are worth a lot more points than the model they are holding in place and lose the ability to make all of their own attacks as well. It's also a good ability fluff wise, a massive colossal should be able to hold onto a smaller jack without a great deal of difficulty. It's not quite the same as a tiny 4 point Raek neutralising a massive 18-20 point Colossal.

Siege - feat clarified says suffers a damage roll now rather than suffers damage. Though infernals had told people how to work the feat, it had meant that until the clarification suffers damage didn't have a clear meaning or had a different meaning in this context.

His special AOE attack was clarified to not suffer target in melee penalty and not be rerolled against other models. Before the change you could place the AOE over two modeles in melee and it was possible he'd shoot one of them twice. Especially if you put one of your high DEF models in melee with a low DEF enemy model.

Wreck Markers from theme forces - Some theme forces let you place wreck markers and people weren't sure if they had the same restrictions as other terrain (it didn't specify). They do, 3" from other terrain (I am terrible at remembering this rule).

Cankerworm and Scrap Thralls - Could only affect heavy not colossal wreck markers, now colossal wreck markers work the same as heavy wreck markers.

Burst Fire - again Colossals/Gargantuans now work the same as heavies. Burst Fire is a rule a lot of Skorne shooting has that causes additional damage to large targets.

Side Step - only melee attacks (previous errata had limited it only to initial attacks to prevent Molik Karn being able to kill warcasters from 20"+ away).

Jarl's Feat (trollbloods) - Jarl puts down AOEs that among other things allow you to move through terrain and your own models, the errata changed move to advance. Important because move includes things like being slammed by your opponent or pushed, advance is only voluntary movement of the model.

Saeryn's feat - will not affect the everblight Gargantuan. Yep, fair enough. Her feat stops things in her battlegroup from being targetted by melee attacks. Two Gargantuans, which you generally can't kill in a single round anyway with an additional round free from melee attacks (you really aren't going to shoot these guys to death)... was never going to be particularly balanced. Skarre2 received the same treatment last year (her feat could effect battle engines).

There are also a bunch of grammar edits for stuff that was already pretty clear but still technically wrong.

Archangel

More from Matt Wilson (one of the founders of PP), work in progress painting the archangel. 

According to Will Shick (director of Business at PP) - I saw this in person today and sweet zombie Jesus its amazing!

Constance Blaize

This picture of a Constance Blaize costume was tweeted? twittered? twat? by the big wigs at PP

That is incredibly awesome.

New Stuff on PP site

Lots of new models are up:
Khador Demolisher - Part of a new multi part plastic kit like the Avenger (Cygnar). Also Makes Devastator and Spriggan jacks.
Retribution Hyperion Colossal
General Ossrum - New Rhulic (dwarf) mercenary caster. Like the model, like the rules for this one.
And the Assault commandos are now available in a full unit.

Spriggan still looks ridiculous, which is sad because it's one of khador's better non-character jacks. Though the Conquest is probably the best looking model in the game and is very good too so I'm limited in my sympathy. I'm not sure about the new devastator, it's more characterful, you can see where the armoured shell rule comes from but I think I like the shape of the old arms better.

Woldwrath

The Woldwrath has been spoiled in the latest no quarter (which I still won't get for 3-4 weeks, stupid Australia). I have been pretty worried about the gargantuans since the Mountain King was pre-released at lock and load but unlike the Mountain King the Worldwrath is actually pretty good.

I've decided to put the stats below and talk about them up here. It has spell ward which is good and it's bad, It stops Baldur2 from bringing it up to ARM 23 but it also means that your opponent can't hit it with parasite or crippling grasp or any of the other spells that could help you take it down. It's gun is high POW and has good range with auto hitting electric jumps and AOEs that don't deal damage when fired but remain in play and will kill single wound infantry on your opponents turn. The templates look useful but mostly the range and the POW make it a good gun. Next are the best two things about it, it's melee attacks and its animus. High P+S and with 4" knockdowns it's melee attacks are ridiculously good, it'll knockdown friend and foe so you have to be a little careful but the potential of the knockdowns is awesome. Lastly the animus, in a faction with druids (which have critical knockdown on their pulls too) and some great spell casting casters with good offensive spells is awesome. It's such a massive distance, and this model wants to get forward and into melee.

It has drawbacks too, 20 points are two warpwolf stalkers, though it has 8 more damage points and a point of ARM more than the Mountain King an enraged bronzeback will still bring it down in a single turn and as a construct only the Baldurs can heal it. I think it's well balanced and playable, it will be really good in some lists and too expensive in others.

Here it is:

FURY : 4
FA: 2
PC: 20
Construct and Spell Ward
SPD: 5
STR: 16
MAT: 6
RAT: 5
DEF: 7
ARM: 20
DAMAGE:56

Lightning Strike
RNG: 14 RoF: 1 AoE: - Pow: 15
Damage Type Electricity
Storm Generator- When a model is directly hit with this weapon, center a 3" AOE on it. You can then have lightning arc to the nearest model within 4" of the model hit, ignoring the attacking model. The model the lightning arc to suffers an unboostable POW 10 electrical damage roll. After this damage roll is resolved, center a 3" AOE on the model the lightning arced to. The AOES remain in play for one round. Models entering or ending their activations in an AOE suffer a POW 10 electrical damage roll.

Stone Fistx2
Pow: 3 P+S: 19
Open Fist
(Not magical weapons like the other constructs)
Earth Shaker- When an enemy model is directly hit by an attack made with this weapon, center a 4" AOE on the model directly hit. Models in the AOE are knocked down.

Animus
Druid's Wrath
Cost:2 RNG: Self
Friendlly Faction models gain an additional die on magic attack rolls targeting enemy models within 10" of this model. Druid's wrath lasts for one turn.

New Kings of War Rules

Changes

• If you have been charged you don't have to charge back you can move away, charge a different unit or charge the same unit. You cannot shoot though. (for those who haven't played you only fight in melee when you charge, after you've made your attacks the charging unit is moved back 1").
• Individuals (characters) don't have a flank or rear so never have an opponent double or triple their attacks against them (same as last edition) but now they don't get to double/triple their attacks if they charge their opponents in the flank or rear. 
• Cannons get grapeshot (10 attacks at 12" with piercing (1))
• You don't "close the door" or realign the charging unit to be flush against an individual, you turn the individual and the charging unit keeps its facing. 
• Regeneration now just lets you roll 3 dice at the start of the turn to heal. Stops working if you get hit by a breath attack or zap (spell attack).
• There are 7 magic items. The last 3 look really good

The website is not yet updated with the most recent rules so I don't know too much about the army lists but from what I have seen warmachines look to have been fixed. They still need high numbers to hit (so will miss most turns ) but the damage output has been cranked 

ANOTHER ONE - Cannons can shoot through cover. Soft cover gives no modifier, hard cover is just -1 to hit.

Other Mercs with the Galleon

First up MacBain

There are a couple of different ways you can take MacBain, I'm going to look at taking him with pirates because I like pirates.


Mercenaries
Four Star Syndicate
PCs: 50 / 50
41 models

[00] Drake Macbain (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[18]  >> Galleon
[02] Bosun Grogspar
[02] First Mate Hawk
[02] Doc Killingsworth
[02] Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile
[02] Lord Rockbottom, Expedition Financier
[08] Kayazy Assassins (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Kayazy Assassin Underboss
[08] Sea Dog Crew (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Mr. Walls, the Quartermaster
[02]  >> Sea Dog Crew Rifleman (2 Riflemen)
[06] Press Gangers (9 grunts)

Fail safe goes up on the Galleon taking it to ARM 21. No mechanics (I had thought about switching the Kayazy for Eiryss, Thor and a Blaster and Wyshnalyr). Countermeasures on the Kayazy, and fortune on the Sea Dog Crew. Use the feat to protect all the pirate solos, the underboss (to preserve kill stroke) and Mr Walls and if you want the Lass as well. Lets you keep out all your upkeeps and still get everyone you need in the feat. You can use Jackhammer to make sure the Galleon still gets to use the focus or you can fudge around a bit and still allocate two to it. Jackhammer and Failsafe are what makes the Galleon in this list and the Galleon fixes the biggest problem the list has, the inability to crack ARM. That the Galleon can use it's drag to do that while sitting in multiple scoring zones is not to shabby either. 

Problems - expect to see Eiryss a lot. She was in almost every list (except when character restrictions forced her not to be) and she also has her mini-feat (put her within 5" of the galleon and you can't allocate it any focus, it's a "mini feat" because if she's 5" from the Galleon she is going to die). She'll drop fail safe off the Galleon. Also expect to see a lot more purification and hex blast. If you can stop healing (the circle trees or the blood hag) then you can stop the feat and without the solos/officers the list really struggles. 

Mercenaries

Most Wanted (Magnus the Traitor)

(Tier 4) 

PCs: 50 / 50

22 models

[00] Magnus the Traitor (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[08]  >> Mangler

[18]  >> Galleon

[05]  >> Renegade

[05]  >> Renegade

[02] Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

[02] Saxon Orrik

[06] Steelhead Halberdiers (9 grunts)

[10] Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (4 grunts)

Snipe goes on the Galleon before the game starts (tier 4 bonus), iron aggression on the Mangler. You switch Temper metal to the Galleon after it has given it's first extreme range barrage. And possibly pulled a heavy jack 14" accross the table to be scrapped. The renegades have their massive once a game AOE knockdowns, if they hit a caster you can then put all the Galleon ranged attacks into the caster. Iron Aggression on a Mangler is just silly. I want to take steelhead riflemen as well to increase the shooting you can do on a caster. A lot of people will have ways to deal with the knockdown but if that happens you can always obliterate huge swaths of infantry. Saxon Orrik is there to hand out pathfinder. Gorman to black oil some crap. 

Shae wants it too (and you can take it in his theme force), he struggles a little with high ARM and you can hide Grogspar behind it, not going to do his list because he just takes everything in pirates (there's not much there). Fiona can cycle nonokrion brand between it and a unit of long gunners and the results are a little silly (for those that haven't played Fiona that spells allows a model/unit to ignore intervening models so if your caster gets with anywhere near you they are going to cop a lot of ranged fire). That does mean though that she can't afford to take pirates (sad face). I might actually put together the fiona list:

Mercenaries

Highborn Covenant

PCs: 50 / 50

25 models

[00] Fiona the Black (0 / 6 WJ remaining)

[02]  >> Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker

[09]  >> Rocinante

[18]  >> Galleon

[03] Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

[02] Thor Steinhammer

[03]  >> Grundback Blaster

[02] Bosun Grogspar

[02] Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile

[10] Long Gunner Infantry (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Long Gunner Infantry Officer & Standard

[02] Sea Dog Deck Gun

Not sold on Rocinante but it does mean that you have a DEF 18 warcaster who can't be knocked down. It's a half decent warjack too. I've gone for Eiryss1, you almost always want to go for Eiryss2 but you can put nonokrion brand onto Eiryss1 and your opponent is screwed for a turn. Eiryss2 still has more utility but the trick against warmachine (doesn't work on hordes) works so well with her that I'd recommend losing that utility. Deck gun is her cultist unit, it has to move to stay with Fiona so it doesn't generally shoot but it's worth 2 points for an additional focus.