Metamorphosis

About two weeks ago Privateer Press released the newest expansion book for their tabletop miniature game Hordes. The book release came just a week after the company announced that they were updating both of their miniature games to a second edition, known as Mark II. This lead many people to ask, “Why should I waste money on buying Metamorphosis if I can only use it for a year”. The answer is twofold. First, this book is awesome in oh so many ways. Secondly, the rules in this book will be tournament legal for over a year, not to mention you can use these rules as long as you want (its not like when Mark II comes out Privateer Press is going to send a hit team to your house and take the book away from you).

Metamorphosis is 176 pages of full color gaming goodness. The fluff in the books is great and becoming more and more intertwined with the fluff in the Warmachine books. The fiction can be hard to follow, especially if you haven’t read the fluff in the previous Hordes books. I actually had to ask our local Iron Kingdoms expert to clarify several story plots (mainly because I had skipped the fiction parts of the previous book, Evolution. To sum up, the Skorne have a new leader, the Circle is still getting their butts kicked (oh, and pissing of Dragons... it’s their new job really), the Trollbloods are still getting kicked off of their land, and Legion is still mutating and spreading blight (plus they get “Thagrosh, the Messiah”, the best name for a model ever). Ok, on second thought the fluff is still good but the story line really didn’t advance that much.

Rules wise every faction got a lot of stuff in this book. It is one of the few Privateer Press expansion books that all the factions made out equally in. All of the new warlocks are just nasty and have great potential. This is especially true of their feats. Gone are the feats that you look at and go, “this is a great feat, if I wasn’t playing against a Warmachine faction”. So what did each faction get exactly?

Trollbloods: If you had to rank the four factions in Metamorphosis the trolls are in last place. The fact that they can use all of the great new minion models does bring them up even with the other factions. First, I’m not impressed with their character warbeast, Mulg the Ancient. He is great with Doomshaper, either version, but otherwise he is too expensive (points or actually cash). I’m also disappointed that his amour isn’t higher (the model does look like he’s made of a mountain after all). Like I said before all of the new warlocks are great and this is especially true of trolls. I especially like Calandra (and the fact that I can now say “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings”). For me the other new troll models to take note of are the Troll Whelps. These guys are all-around great. The models are great, the fluff behind them is entertaining, and they are very useful game wise.

Circle of Orboross: The Circle models in this book has pushed me over the edge and convinced me that I should start a Circle army as my second Hordes faction. First I’m not in love with either of the new epic warlocks. I actually prefer Kaya’s and Krueger’s nonepic versions. Mohsar the Desertwalker does interest me and I cannot wait to play with him. His eight fury along with his “Maltreatment” ability should make it possible for people to run tons of beast with him. The circle’s character warbeast is my favorite one out of the new character warbeast (of course I’ve always preferred the “stone” warbeast over the fury ones). It is a pumped up Woldwarden for jus a few more points. The model for the Megalith looks great but unfortunately it is going to cost you a arm and a leg to get one (I’m guessing it will break the $50 dollar mark). I also really like the new units and plan on getting both of them (How can you not get magical laser turrets made of stone or more scantily clad feral chicks). The rest of the new circle stuff is middle of the road except for one exception. That exception is the Shadowhorn Satyr. His rules are decent but his model is one of the worst miniatures that I have ever seen privateer press make. It is so bad that I would refuse to ever buy it even if it had the best game rules ever.

Skorne: So much tabletop goodness and so little time. Epic Morghol is the Chuck Norris of the Iron Kingdoms (yes, he actually invented sliced bread). The other new warlocks are also great and will see a lot of table time. I actually plan on getting everything that is Skorne in this book. The Skorne character warbeast is great and will cost about twenty bucks less than any of the others. Most importantly Skorne got a much needed boost with a huge amount of pathfinder and some advanced deploy. The faction also got two extremely useful solos in the form of the Void Spirit and the Extoller Soulward. These additions should make the scone significantly more competitive in scenario play (since the faction that had nothing to get around terrain now can just dance over it). I’m actually thinking of sending a love letter to Privateer Press for making Skorne so good.

Legion of Everblight: What can I say? Just when I thought this faction couldn’t get any better it does. It just possible gets the three best Warlocks in the book. Lylyth is even more shooty death than ever, Thagrosh is even more of a beat stick (and gets the best title, “the Messiah”) and their new warlock Absylonia has a great toolbox of abilities. Their character warbeast is a three headed mini-me of the dragon Everblight and will be an absolute pain to play against (3 boostable, MAT 7, Str 15 attacks of death anyone). Their new warbeast, the Nephilim Protector, is going to see a lot of play and greatly increase the survivability of legion warlocks (yep, they really needed that).

Minions: The new minor warlocks are brilliant and a great move by privateer. Since the minor warlocks are not real warlocks it stops people from playing pure Minion list (guess the company learned from the whole Mercs mess in Warmachine). All of the new minor warlocks are extremely useful and will see a lot of play. The best part about them is that it lets us see some interesting new models (giant alligator, a big hungry snake thing, giant pig, and an armored polar bear). I have to admit that I’m especially looking forward to the alligator minor warlock that is wearing the top hat.