Narrowing the Field

Hello, and welcome to the next installment of my pick-a-faction tournament. It's taken me long enough that we've actually, ironically, gotten into the real March Madness, which reminded me I needed to get my next post up. I've got two match-ups for you today.

(1) Cryx vs (9) Pirates

The first match-up in the round of 8 is a pretty lopsided. I don’t want to focus on the Cryx too much, as they’ll be getting their due later, so let’s look at why the Pirates aren’t going to survive this round.

Pirates are cool, but I’m not a pirate guy per say. I like many of the models in here, but overall It’s obviously a fairly limited range. Captain Phineaus Shae is a decent model, but for pirates, he’s all you have. Another big draw is the cannon, which in game mechanic terms is pretty beast, but to be honest I don’t love the model and I’m not that keen to put artillery into play in the game anyway. I do enjoy the idea that all the various solos and pirate characters synergize welll with each other, and create some really cool and amazing combos. That’s a

definite plus. Ultimately the biggest nail in the pirates coffin the is the fact they are part of the Mercs faction, and the Mercs are still in play. Why confine myself to a very specific part of the faction, when I can take a more expanding look at the faction. So, It’s a little cheesy, but I can eliminate the pirates without totally eliminating them, so they are out. Let me also say though, there is a reason the Cryx are a #1 seed. I love this faction, so it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Pirates.

Decent pirate leader

Fantastic Pirate leader

Winner (1) Cryx

(2) Mercs vs (7) Gators

The Mercs and Gators are an interesting match-up. The Gators are a fairly new faction having just been codified in the new Minion book. They’ve got a limited selection of troops and casters due to that newness. The Mercs, for a long time, enjoyed or perhaps suffered a similar status as the Gators. They were seen as a not-quite-a-faction faction. Now, with the release of their new book, they seem to have enough casters, fluff, and troops to be considered a true faction.

Both factions have excellent models. The Gators warcasters are limited to two, but I’d be happy to own either or both. They are great sculpts with lots of character. The Mercs on the other hand, have a good selection of warcasters, and they are really great too. In fact, 2 in particular are very intriguing to me. I love Captain “Broadsides” Bartello. It’s a great sculpt, and defiantly the kind of Captain I love seeing. I’m also a fan of the Magnus sculpts, both his prime and epic form, and I’m alos intrigued by his fluff. I’d give a nod to the Mercs here. As for Jacks and Beasts, it’s a draw. The Gators have some cool beasts, but they don’t have a lot of them. The mercs have a few cool Jacks like the Nomad and the Mule, but there are also a lot lemons as far as my tastes go. The troops is a clear advantage For the Mercs. I don’t rate the Gatormen Posse sculpts, and a lot of their allies are models I don’t like. On the Merc side, I love the steel heads, many of the solos, and pirate troops.

For the X factor, I see a drawback for the Gators and a plus for the Mercs. For the Gators I have to knock them down a bit, b/c although I think they look fantastic on the website, I’ve got a lot of concerns about being able to paint the gator skin in a manner that I will be happy with. For the Mercs, the X factor is defiantly how well they synergize with my Khadorian forces. What’s great about having a Merc force is if you have a warmachine army, many of the units and solos will work for you other army, given me great cross over compatability and utility. This is even more prevenlent with the new Warmachine releases from Wrath. The Mercs are a great value and a cool faction. The Gators are cool, but just a little too unfinished to be my back up faction. Gotta go with the Mercs here

Get him a bit more support and I'd love to own him!

Winner: (2) Mercs

Well, with those 2 match-ups in the book, we need to take a look at the latest brackets. These match-ups were on opposite sides, so despite having 2 of the Final Four set, we don't have a confirmed match-up for the next round yet. Tune in soon for the next two match-ups which promise to be much closer run affairs I assure you.