LARGE-SCALE BATTLES

IN THE IRON KINGDOMS

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I
n this issue of No Quarter, I have the pleasure of
introducing you all to Unbound, a new way of
playing WARMACHINE and HORDES that
puts you in command of vast armies and amps up the
scope of conflict to truly calamitous, world-shaping
battles. More than just an escalation in size, Unbound
is a retooling of the WARMACHINE and HORDES
systems that provides a truly unique play experience.
Throughout Unbound games, you and your opponent
take turns activating portions of your armies, giving
you the chance to react to your opponents moves and
keeping you both engrossed and focused on the game
with little downtime. We wanted to bring massive
battles to the tabletop without massive waiting
between player turns.
Unbound is for players looking for the opportunity
to play truly large-scale games of WARMACHINE
and HORDES with lots of models. Like you,
we yearn to play with our entire collections and
field vast armies in epic battles. Unbound is an
opportunity to pack in one more Pistol Wraith,
Gun Carriage, or battlegroupthe chance to field
all your favorite models on the same battlefield.
Unbound is not focused on the competitive aspects of
WARMACHINE and HORDES. It is for those of us
who want to savor the rising and falling action of war.
This is not about a sprint across the finish line but rather,
orchestral and systematic destruction wrought by two
matched armies on a field of honor. This is total war!
Jason Soles
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GAME SIZE
Unbound is a system for playing games of
WARMACHINE and HORDES in which each player
fields 150-point or larger armies with three or more
warcasters or warlocks on each side. An additional
warcaster/warlock is added to each army for every
additional 50 points of models fielded by each player.
In addition to two-player games, Unbound has been designed
with multiplayer and team play in mind. See below for rules
covering multiplayer and team play.
TABLE SIZE
Because of the scope of Unbound games, it is recommend
that players use a 4x6 table instead of the standard 4x4.
Truly massive games may require even larger tables to
accommodate play.
DEPLOYMENT ZONES
Unless otherwise noted, players deploy into standard 10
deployment zones along the long edge of the table, giving each
player a 10 x 72 deployment zone.
SEIZING THE INITIATIVE
At the start of the game, players roll to determine which
player sets up first and takes the first turn as in a normal
WARMACHINE or HORDES game.
T
he following rules are intended to augment the
experience of playing large-scale WARMACHINE
and HORDES games. These rules are optional and
feature a new alternating sequence of play that keeps both
players involved constantly throughout the game. Instead of
replacing the rules of WARMACHINE and HORDES, these
rules instead modify the structure of play while leaving the
core mechanics untouched.
While the standard play rules can accommodate large-scale
play, these rules present a new way to play WARMACHINE
and HORDES that keeps the action fast and furious
by removing downtime between players turns that can
sometimes bog down big battles. Instead of each player taking
turns moving all of his models each round and then waiting
while his opponent takes a turn and moves all his models,
when playing Unbound, rounds are divided into several turns
in which players alternate activating portions of their armies.
In this way, Unbound simulates the ebb and flow of actual
battle, giving players ample opportunity to act and react to
the fortunes of war.
As a result of this new alternating sequence of play, some
existing model rules have been modified to integrate better
into Unbound games. Unbound games do require a handful
of tweaks to existing rules and abilities, and those changes can
be found at the end of this article.
Stay tuned to future issues of No Quarter for additional
Unbound content, including new scenarios intended for this
larger game size as well as Unbound battle reports.
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