Protectorate of Menoth - A MkIII List!?

     What a busy day. And tiring. I should have gotten more sleep last night, but I ended up waking up for use the restroom and "accidentally" discovered that Total War: Warhammer was released on Steam. So that extended a bit until it was about time for work, with some painting spliced in there.
      Now I'm sitting, really exhausted, and apparently some leaks (not spoilers) have been spilled in regards to the new Faction decks for Warmachine. That means MkIII stuff. There's no telling how accurate this stuff is, but it's quite an extensive amount of work to put out if it's only a person or two. The information is also pretty current/reflective of what's been spoiled so far (even recent spoilage). While I can't go all in and say it's 100% real, I'll suspend my hesitation and just assume it is. It might not be, but I'll pretend it is. No big deal if it's not, my purchasing is already finished.
      I'll build a list around my new lead boy, Malekus. Going off of the leak, there are a few things missing. It's actually not odd they are missing, since some stuff just isn't out yet. There is no Revelator rules, but there isn't even a Revelator card in physical form in production as far as we know. So it's entirely possible the Protectorate of Menoth leaked info is from the new Faction Deck, while others (which have more thorough unreleased models) may be from the new Prime and Primal, or whatever. Anyways, again, assuming it's real, here's a quick list thought:

Malekus (+30)
- Judicator
- Reckoner
Heirophant
Wracks (x2)
Choir of Menoth (min)
Vassal of Menoth (x2)

Flameguard Cleansers /w UA
Temple Flameguard /w UA
Pyyrhus

     It feels solid. It's missing some stuff to make me really happy. I could cut down the max Cleansers to a minimum Cleansers and might should be able to afford Rhupert (who seems to do the same things he does now, not requiring Friendly Faction like most things do now). Between Power Up and the Vassals, I easily get two focus on each Warjack without any assistance from my Warcaster. That leaves him to upkeep ignore on the Flameguard, cast Open Fire a time or two, or use the focus to do as he pleases. He can top off the Warjacks by only using 2 of his own Focus. So Protectorate is extremely Focus efficient. Wracks seem to need to be purchased one at a time, up to a FA of 3, but don't blow up quite as easily when you pull Focus off of them. Malekus will be on 6 after upkeeps and pulling from the Wracks, and his first spell will cost 1 less. Yum.
     And then there was his Feat. It affects, in some way, everything that does damage here. With a general reduction in Defense and Armor (Def 15 is much less common, it seems), Assaulting Cleansers should clear out a lot of things. And anything that hits, hits hard and well.

Warmachine MkIII and the Protectorate of Menoth

     Tons of stuff is coming out about MkIII. Obviously. And if you're a fan of MkIII, you're probably "in the know" over the changes, major and small, that have been teased. I'm not going to even attempt to go over that stuff, but I am curious how this affects me and my Protectorate of Menoth. I mean, I own a LOT of Protectorate of Menoth. A LOT. And I am completely sold on the new Malekus, the Burning Truth model and fluff - so I'm going strong into MkIII with him as my first and foremost Warcaster.

     So, Malekus. He's already been leaked (not spoiled). We know what's up with him, and I am very excited. He has a 3" knock down spell, Ignite, Ancillary Attack as a spell, and a feat that increases all fire damage rolls by an additional die for a round. A ROUND. His feat also prevents fire from expiring, putting all fire damage continuous rolls at +3d6. Oh, man, that's so good! Because we have plenty of ways to set stuff on fire. And then he has a RNG 10, POW 13 blessed flamethrower at Rat 6, which negates pretty much all defensive bonuses you can gain as of MkII standards. So he's going to be a more burst-oriented Feora 2. Yep, can't wait!

     But also, we have the information for what the first ADR Warcasters will be for the Factions. It's no surprise that they are taking things "back to basics". Each Warcaster offered in a new Battle Box is on the list, and the other three Warcasters are the prime version "staples" of each respective Faction. So out list is Kreoss 1, Malekus 1, Sevvy 1, and the High Reclaimer! I own Kreoss 1 and was going to go heavy into him before MkIII was announced. I already have the High Reclaimer painted up. And Malekus is going to be "my boy". In fact, the High Reclaimer and Feora2 are my desired pairing, but with my focus shifting to Malekus, and he and Feora 2 sharing very similar themes, it's very, very likely I already have my steamroller pairing. I'll even paint up Kreoss 1 for kicks, because you never know when a three-list even will pop up.

     How does all this affect my painting? Well, Feora 2 was on my paint table before her arm broke. My plan was to return to her once I got in some games to make sure it was repaired well, but she make return to my bag so I can focus on other models. Once MkIII hits I'll have a much better idea of what Warjacks I want to have painted, but ideally I'll get the Choir of Menoth painted up, so I can work on whatever units and warjacks I want to toss into my list as soon as MkIII comes out. And then I just wait the two weeks for the initial release so I can paint up the new battle box and Malekus himself. This will be a huge priority, as my local area (as many will, I'm sure) will be hosting a Journeyman League.

And the winner is...

Protectorate of Menoth

     In all honesty, I thought it'd be a much harder decision. With MKiii a surprise and already quickly looming over our heads, I've been spending a good amount of time just looking through the Faction pages of Warmachine/Hordes and browsing models. When it comes down to it, Protectorate of Menoth has best look for what I'd want to partake in within a fantasy setting.

     But it's not a decision I'm terribly happy with. I've been working through a lot of Circle of Orboros and have a sizable portion painted, and another good bulk of models ready to paint up. But my love for Circle is largely in the rules they have currently and their Warpwolves. Warpwolves are awesome, but only a handful of models outside of Warpwolves really catch my attention. Since I'm always on the look out for an excuse to clean out my hobby area of models that don't see play, it'll be to the auction with them. It's sad times, but the money wouldn't hurt.

     And then I own a ton of Protectorate, but really, I don't feel like I do. Owning the entirety of a Faction is one thing, but a lot of that is secondhand - and for my current standard of model I don't think I can repair or fix a lot of it. When I look at my Protectorate collection, I would love to just sell most of it. And I might. I traded for the secondhand stuff as "better proxies", but now I really want to clean up shop.

     So looking through all the Factions, trying to keep an unbiased view, the fluff of Protectorate of Menoth and the look just kept calling to me. I didn't pick up the Faction recently for any reason than we don't have a large Protectorate meta in my area (although all of them came out of the woodwork the second I had assembled models :P) and to own a Warmachine faction. Part of me really wanted an excuse to look for something new, as that's something I tend to do a lot. MKiii gave me that excuse, but my sites kept turning towards Protectorate. I suppose that's a good thing, though, and having a few painted models and a large collection ready to paint is a plus. Some of me wants to play Khador, some of me wants to play Cygnar again, but all of me is happy with Protectorate longterm - so I can always pick up a list or models here and there down the line later on.

      Protectorate of Menoth is my Warmachine Faction. Everything else will BURN!

Warmachine/Hordes: MKiii announced.

....and it's coming real soon. I started this morning not knowing I'd get amazing news. A lot of people probably didn't realize what was coming. A surprise announcement for a new edition of Warmachine and Hordes by Privateer Press has turned my Facebook feed into a storm of pictures and has left me with nothing but excitement. Human Sphere N3 is coming next month, and then the month after is a brand new edition of Warmachine. Holy shit.

So what should we expect to see? I have no idea, really. The new edition promises to streamline certain areas of the rules, and make the game a bit more intuitive. That's good, because it's a clusterf*ck when you really start playing competitive. Starting over is an amazing thing, especially since I want to play competitively. Starting over from scratch with the entire Warmachine community will be very interesting indeed. I have no doubts the game will be even better than ever - that's something you can rely on from Privateer Press. The only question I have is where to go from here?

Infinity is progressing slowly, but nicely. I'm happy with my painting results, my army selection, and my terrain development. Even with tournaments and a new ruleset looming, with great changes for Tohaa on the horizon, I still find myself primarily a Warmachine player. Almost instantly my local meta has regained vigor in a matter of hours. I expect some who were looking to sell their armies to backpedal a bit, and at least wait to see what's on the horizon. But still, where do I go?

I love every army ever. And that's an understatement. I've played tons and tons of armies, and have wanted to play every army ever made +1. For which game? Well, all of them. Wargaming is my hobby, and I love my hobby. I love painting, creating, building, selling, playing, whatever and etc and you name it. But time is a resource that is not infinite. And even if it was, I'm sure I'd still manage to not have enough.

But let's focus on Warmachine. With new rules, new unit and card revisions, and brand new - well, everything, and no leaks or teasers on what they even are!, I'm just in a blur and a bit dumbfounded on where to go to. I have most of the Protectorate of Menoth. It's a ton, and a lot of it is unpainted (And secondhand, and unsalvagable). I have Circle, and most of what I own is painted, and I own all of the competitive stuff for the lists I want to play. But what is competitive with a new ruleset and new model profiles? Heh. That's all changing.

So I have to break it down simply, and I need to do it quickly. With Human Sphere and brand new mkiii Warmachine, there's no better opportunity to start back up with video battle reports. So fully painted is a must. And that means downsizing owned stuff, expanding what I have already, and narrowing my field of vision on what I need to paint. Brand new rules means entirely new models to explore. I should have a core painted, and I need to choose my army. It'll be hard to choose, but if I have to say, even with all the time and conversions I've put into Circle, Menoth is winning out. But even then, I need to weigh if I want to play Menoth over any other Faction.

I need to take a step back, breathe, and choose a Faction, with fresh eyes. I can assume the staple theme of each Warmachine/Horde army will stay the same. But there's no telling what each will end up like. With rules out the window currently, no idea if spell lists are changing, if Fury/Focus is becoming meshed into the same resource type (that'd make the most sense, actually), it's a barebones choice to make.

Continue Painting Circle and Sell Menoth?

Continue Painting Menoth and Sell Circle?

Start brand new, with fresh eyes, with a Faction I love the look of the most?

This question needs to be answered soon, so, regardless of choice, I can have at least a staple of models built and painted by June 12th, when the new rules hit for free online.