Time to Stop Hoarding

My "faction ADD" has become a joke with my gaming group. If you read my Quality vs. Quantity post you know that part of that is because I like seeing all the facets of a game and I don't want to be relegated to a single army. But as I was working on a Cygnar commission today I realized something - I wasn't as keen to play my small Cygnar force as I once was.

For those who are unfamiliar with Warmachine, Cygnar is an army that excels at shooting the opponent before it reaches them. They possess melee, but the main point of the army is to soften up the opponent before finishing them up close. That gameplay aspect really appeals to me because I enjoy all the positioning involved with ranged units, as well as the simple annoyance they are to my opponent. Just ask anyone what they think of my Widowmakers!

So why the sudden change? I think it's because my primary reason for buying Cygnar wasn't to play them, but to paint that awesome looking blue! I still wouldn't mind playing the army, but I feel much more satisfied after painting some blue coats and hats, and my own army has sunk to the bottom of my priority list.

As I started thinking about this, I found it interesting that my reason for buying Cygnar was different than my reason for buying Circle Orboros. In games, I'm a big fan of anything that increases my mobility. It's why I used speed perks in Call of Cuty, why I enjoyed the Empire in Star Wars X-Wing a few days ago, and why my usual RPG class is a spellcaster that possesses a movement spell. Increasing my mobility lets me set the tempo of the game, and I rarely have to worry about being outflanked. I decide where the battle will take place; I draw the line in the sand and leave it up to my opponent to figure out how to get the game back in his favor.

However, I always hated the looks of Circle Orboros. One brand of heavy beasts consists of big magical scarecrows with stone plates attached to them. Their werewolves have bony spikes popping out all over them (huh?), and their satyrs are... well, pretty cool even though I don't own any. Their studio color scheme consists of black, brown, and a really dark green. Also, they're kind of psychotic tree huggers. Nothing about the army appealed to me visually, but how they played on the tabletop was exactly what I wanted to play.

The coolest part of the army is their ability to teleport. There's a unit called Shifting Stones that lets you place any model in their triangle up to 8" away. I can bypass a frontline, block a charge lane, keep key pieces behind cannon fodder... the abundance of possibilities is astounding, and that's just one unit! Even the slower "stone scarecrows" (aka Wolds) can create surprising situations with their ability to cast one of their warlock's spells. And if there's anything that could contend with my love of movement shenanigans, it's my love of being able to conjure things on the battlefield - and Circle does love their forests.

I haven't been miserable while painting Circle models, either. I enjoyed trying to use all washes, and testing different techniques on them. It wasn't like painting my Behemoth, and it probably ranked lower than most commissions I've done. But I'm loving the army because after I painted them, all I had left to do was play them, and although I have to paint my models, it's being able to play them that really excites me about an army.

So I've decided that I'm done hoarding armies just to paint them. My Skorne might see some love on the tabletop, but I'm not so sure about those Cygnar guys. I like the army visually, but their looks are more exciting to me than their gameplay. From now on, I'm putting mechanics first. It worked when I bought Khador despite their goofy hats, it worked for Circle despite... everything; so I think that's just the way to go - buying the army to play it after I paint it, rather than to paint it and having no choice but to play it.

Which is why... I'm buying Convergence of Cyriss!

See you tomorrow!



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