Pure Speculation

y, I was asked a simple question, mostly off the cuff, by a friend of mine.

“Random speculation time: Who do you think we’ll get for ‘casters in the next Warmachine book (since the Hordes one seems to be locked up)? I don’t feel like they’re going to pull the trigger on any new ‘casters, so I think it’s going to be more epics, but I’m having a hard time guessing who.”

This simple questions got my mind churning. What are the next casters, and how are they going to shape the game? What characters are the closest, in fluff terms, of being promoted to Epic?

Off the top of My head, I was able to go through this list

I really don’t want to see them go back to the well for epics, though it makes sense at this point. Supposedly, this is the “Legends” of MK II – The end and culmination of the stories leading so far. That leads me too completely insanely guess the following:
Cygnar: Haley 3 – She’s been poisoned and out of it for a while while Stryker and Nemo take the fore. With her final recovery, she heads back into combat, aware that Deneghra, now alive, is plotting.

I really think this is likely. With the amount of time that Privateer has spent on Haley, for her to be out of the story this long is ludicrous. She has to come back soon, and I can’t see a reason why it won’t be now. Her poisoning has only driven her desire to return to the battlefield.

Khador: Strakov 2 – He’s hunted down Karchev and has returned its hero to his country. Now, given greater leeway and force allocation, he’s able to drive deep into the enemy with complete abandon.

I think that this is a good time to try and bring Strakov, who the story writers seem to really enjoy, into the big time. Toting Karchev back to the motherland, alone and through the heart of the enemy territory should grant him a singular hero status. Strakov – Savior of the Motherland has a fantastic ring to it.

Protectorate:Feora 3: Taking control of the the whole of the flameguard and forcing the southern protectorate to declare her “Protector of the South” she sets of on a campaign of destruction against the Cygnaran south.

I think this is something that’s been building for a few books. Her interaction with Vinters minions and her open disdain for Severius has lead her down an irredeemable path. She sees herself as the Protector and Defender of the Protectorate itself, she will cause a huge schism with her hubris.

Cryx: Deneghra 3 – Culmination of plans enables her to achieve whatever status she’s been searching for, though her complete plans are thwarted by Haley somehow, because Haley

I think its past time for Deneghra to Level Up again, and it would be perfect to pair it with her sister. I’m terrible at guessing twists and turns in plot, so I expect it to be something cool, but I have no idea what it is. I do expect, however, that it will be thwarted. Its starting to be that time.

Ret: New Caster, enabling a form of gameplay that Ret neither likes nor wanted.

Man, I wish I had a better answer, but its almost exactly what I expect of the younger child. eventually you grow out of it (mercs) but the young ones always act weird to the old folks.

Mercs: Magnus 3. The Civil war for King Vinter starts again, thrusting Magnus and his mercenary army into the forefront of combat once again.

I cannot wait for this. It has to happen sometime. His story has been building, he is going around preparing for Vinters Return. My favorite Merc characters revolve around him as well, so I hope to see more of Saxon and Orin.

However, I am not convinced that they’ll go strictly on story. Sometimes, Epics have come out of nowhere, with Borka 2, Reznik 2, and Butcher 3 kinda coming out of nowhere. If we were to go with casters I’d be interested in seeing go epic, I vomited out these: Sloan 2, Sorcha 3, Thyra 2, Skarre 3, Garryth 2, Gorten 2. Each of those characters are compelling on their own, though not always great on the tabletop, and I’d like to see what type of design or character space they’d entail.

My friend responded with a number of affirmations, and some thoughts of his own:

Cygnar: Agreed. Dark horse potential for Constance, though I think that’s unlikely.

I’d not thought of Constance, and that would be extremely legit. I look forward to seeing her epic form, one day!

Khador: Agreed, kinda. My gut says “here comes Sorscha3 or Irusk3” because of course. Strakov’s got a good dark horse bid though.

I could stomach Sorscha 3, but Irusk going epic because of defeat would be way to much like his standard epic incarnation. I’d be sad to see them retread that ground.

Protectorate: Agreed, yet again. No dark horses stand out because Protectorate fluff is crazy limited in who gets screen time.

There is one standout, though, and we’ll get to that one later.

Cryx: Agreed. Dark horse potential for Skarre3, because 3 is “in” this year.

Its the same thing I felt when writing the initial go through. Skarre 3 would, I think, be a ton cooler, but Deneghra 3 seems more right.

Ret: Will be totally true until someone like Pagiani wins 3 Masters in a row with the new ‘caster, then everyone will C&P his list forever (even past when it’s really useful in the meta, thus proving them “right” in the long game.) I feel like any of the Forces ‘casters are very likely for an Epic, just because people seem to like Epics.

If its not Garryth, it better be Rhan. Epic Rhan will be amazing, I’d think, and I would have to pickup the whole faction. Crazytalk, that would be. Garyth’s jack gives me hope.

Mercs: If this book doesn’t give us Magnus3 or at least Gorten2, I’m going to be fucking stunned. That pot has been on the burner for way, way too long now.

100 times yes. GIVE ME MAGNUS 3, DC! LOWREY, DO YOU HEAR ME!

In my heart of hearts, I want PP to corkscrew everyone and fill this book with Apotheosis epics: Darius2, Karchev2, Harby2, Termnius2. There’s no practical reason why they can’t do that anymore (‘caster power level isn’t a factor, alternate materials make it much more cost feasible,) and indeed they’ve written some mighty goddamn good fluff reasons as to why at least two of those all but have to happen at some point.

I cannot put enough Oomph behind this concept. Each of those casters has pleny of following and plenty of character within them to force Epic without missing a beat. Terminus has been defeated twice now in this body, and he can’t be too pleased about it. Darius had to abandon his armor and spend a ton of time crafting the Stormwall, give him screen time! Harbinger is now out and about int he world, moving and shaking it and creating a new vision of the Protectorate, A Queen not dark but beautiful and terrifying. Finally, Karchev has been torn out of his suit, tortured, drug across a continent and nearly killed, and he still has not given in. The powerful, unstoppable caster should be rewarded with a new set of armor and set on Khadors enemies like a storm of vengeance.

Karchev, Storm of Vengeance – Epic Khadoran Warcaster

SPD:6
STR:8
MAT:7
RAT:4
DEF:13
ARM:19
COM:9
FOCUS: 6
HP:22
Weapon: Greataxe – P+S 14 – Kockdown
Weapon: Greatshield – P+S 10
Field Marshal: Critical Brutal Damage
Warjack Bond: Bloody Spectacle: When a model bonded to Karchev boxes a model, remove it from play. If the model is part of the unit, that unit must immediately make a command check or flee
Rage of the Motherland – When this model is an offensive spells point of origin, that spells damage rolls are boosted.
Survivor – if this model is destroyed, this model instead heals a number of Health equal to any focus on the model, and then remove one focus from this model.

Spells:
Ground Zero
Death Knell
Iron Agression
Surefoot
Tyranny of Gears – Warjacks in this models battlegroup gain +2 speed and boosted melee attacks. Warjacks in this models battlegroup that charge, run, slam, trample or make a melee attack suffer d3 damage at the end of their activation.

Feat: Limitless Strength models in this models battlegroup currently in its control area gain +4 Strength and Follow Up. Models activating in this models control that declare a Powerstrike, Slam Revisited or Slam Power attacks gain +2 to the distance Slammed. A model that throws or slams a model may move directly towards that model the distances thrown or slammed after resolving the attack.

I’ve gotten my relic knights in, but an burning away at painting my Cephalyx for the Nova Open. I will do a complete unboxing and pictures and everything, soon enough!