Privateer Press at Templecon: Part 2 - Hordes

In part 2 of my look at the Privateer Press' keynote presentation, I look at the preview of the upcoming book for Hordes: Exigence.

Flame on!

Hordes new book: Exigence

I'll be completely honest, Exigence excites me more than the Cephalyx. Probably because there seemed to be more to this preview. The plot lines of the last several Hordes and Warmachine books are starting to converge and this book, along with Warmachine: Vengeance (out next month), present this. First up, they show the new warlocks, along with reappearances of past warlocks.

Helga the Conquerer, digital sculpt.

They presented three warlocks set to appear, the first being a new Farrow warlock; Helga the conquerer. The first female warlock for the Farrow, she appears to be a support caster with a spell list that leans towards supporting those around her. Her model looks very cool from the preview they showed.

Also, to appear was another female warlock, Jagujagu, the first female Gatorman period. It sounds like she is going to be more spell based, with a snake who fights along side her.

Xerxis, digital sculpt.

Lastly, was a new version of Xerxis. The last we saw him, he was severely injured and being dragged off the battlefield by his comrades. Now, with his return, instead of going the Professor X route, he's forgone the wheelchair and taken up an armoured war rhino! He appears to be a combat beast, but we don't know what his spell list will be like, so time will tell on that one.

I look forward to see what other casters may be coming down the pipe with Exigence, especially when you combine this news with the news of lesser warlocks. Not unsurprisingly, the announcement of lesser warlocks comes shortly before the release of the next Warmachine book, which features journeyman warcasters. These models represent novice battlegroup leaders, lesser versions of your army's commander.

Una and her team of falcons.

The folks at Privateer Press preview two, a Circle of Orboros lesser warlock and a Trollblood lesser warlock. They are similar to the journeyman warcasters, in that they have less fury and spells and can command a small battlegroup. The one that stood out for me was Una the Falconer. She is focused around falcons (obviously), and forms battlegroups around Circle griffins. Not only is her art fantastic, but from the digital mockup they previewed, her model is going to be fantastic too! I look forward to seeing what her rules bring to the table.

Close up of Una's digital sculpt.

The other lesser warlock they previewed was Holger Ironstrike (I think that was his name). He focus' around Pyre and Slag trolls and gets them at a discount! He even has abilities that enhances their ranged attacks. Between this warlock and the Circle lesser warlock, it appears that there will be a nice variation between them, but also some similarities that bring together a nice theme to the new book.

Exigence also will feature, at least, two new battle engines. Both of the ones seen were for Minion subfactions, which may be a way for them to flesh out these groups. The first was for the Gatormen and was called the Sacro-vault (?), which is a tall pillar like tower with a sacrificial alter on the top. This battle engine is said to be powered by the souls of the models that die within proximity of the Sacro-vault. The second is for the Farrow and called the meat-thresher. It's essentially a spiked, steamroller powered by BBQ'd razorboars (seriously).

Xerxis and his mount, Rhinox.

The last new feature announced is the "Warbeast Pack." These are essentially warbeast units. They can do many of the same things a warbeast can do (use fury, damage transfer, etc) but also can act like a unit (unit coherency, damage points instead of spirals, etc). The idea of mini warbeasts running around is kind of frightening. I can only imagine what happens when a warbeast pack frenzies! I can only hope my warlock is not the closest model.

All in all, this seems like a really exciting book, both gameplay wise and story wise. With some beautiful models coming along with it, it makes the next few months of very interesting as the models slowly get released. Exigence is scheduled to come out sometime this fall, so I might as well start saving up now, because Warmachine: Vengeance is already going to leave a dent in my wallet.

I'll end this post with a few images I snagged from the video presentation that were never really explained.