Hey everybody, my name is Mike and I am the new kid on the block. I stem from the same “stable” as Al, the NJ SOBs in Somerville, NJ and play Warmachine/Hordes since around November ’09 with some
breaks in between. While I was very loyal to the Skorne Empire for the longest time, they are taking a
short break of conquering and torturing, so I decided to freelance a bit in the off-time. This resulted in
me starting to play Mercs, which I intended to be a slow-grow entrance into a new faction. Well, couple
weeks and a lot of money later, I have a big part of the Merc range in my possession and love the life
of sell-swords. After perusing through the faction book, I decided to play some Ashlynn at first as she
looked fun, and I love weapon masters. Her spell list seemed solid and ‘tricksy’, something that I was
direly missing with my Skorne, who prefer the Axe-to-the-Face technique of warfare, and if that fails,
they bring a bigger (or faster) axe. Here is the list I was using for my first couple of games:

Ashlynn d'Elyse (*6pts)
* Nomad (6pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Mule (8pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Harlan Versh (2pts)
Lanyssa Ryssyll, Nyss Sorceress (2pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)

After playing a few games, I enjoy the Mercs a lot. It is a huge change of pace from Skorne and
learning all the little pieces that Mercs have is a welcome challenge. Gone are the days of Gladiator,
Bronzeback, Marketh, and Paingiver Beasthandlers and the remaining 15 points that I could fit. Building
lists in Mercs allows for great customization due to the countless solos that add flavor to your army and
can make a huge change in how you will play. Ashlynn in particular is very interesting as all the Critical-
Hit effect that were a nice thing to have, now become a constant reality. Having 4d6 to hit allows you to
pick a Crit very often, which changes your Feat turn a lot from what a normal turn would look like.
Suddenly the entire army is potentially knocked down and thrown around and gives you a lot more
control of the battlefield. I particularly love the Forgeguard, that already hurts a lot, adding Critical Smite
just makes them obnoxious and requires your opponent to be very careful what they put in front of
their ‘Jack as Gaspy learned last game.

The Mule is another star of this list, with the Gunmages he’ll have a 16” range on his shot, which
around turn 2-3 should allow you to hit in the center of the army. Gunmages go without saying as their
variety of shots, combined with True Sight adds a crazy control piece in their corridor and with the Mule

that is even better. Silent stars are Lanyssa Ryssyll (her parents clearly wanted to save on letters) and
Harlan Versh. While they are not totally brutal, they allow for interactions that wouldn’t work otherwise,
plus I cannot wait to destroy Legion player’s eyeless sight and pathfinder. I am sure they won’t know
what to do. “Oh you’re hiding a Ravagore in the forest? Well, have fun getting him out”

That’s it for me. I am really looking forward to Wrath and what it will bring us. I would love some
Crit-solos for Ashlynn, but just Damiano will be enough to get excited, especially that we didn’t see what
his ‘Jack brings yet, and I expect grand things of it. See you until next time.

Malarowski