Games We Play

he kick off to the 2011 WARMACHINE and HORDES league season launches February 7th! The Shattered Grounds league throws players right into the trenches of the Iron Kingdoms with a wholly immersive experience as they fight for the glory of their faction.

Each season focuses on a specific location in the Iron Kingdoms that players worldwide will battle to control, and each season brings players new, original fiction detailing some of the men, machines, and beasts of these conflicts. Join the fight and determine the fate of the Iron Kingdoms with Shattered Grounds league events! Tour 1 of the 2011 league season takes place in the Windless Wastes, where Khador, Cygnar, and Pirate forces square off. Each player that participates in the league will receive a unique Windless Wastes rank insignia patch. As the 2011 Shattered Grounds leagues continue, each participating player will receive another rank insignia patch that adds to the prior patches to form a higher rank.

From left to right: Season 1: Windless Wastes, Season 2: Thundercliff Peaks, Season 3: Rotterhorn, Season 4: Sand Narrows, and the back of the coins.

The next advancement in WARMACHINE and HORDES leagues is mobilizing for action February 7th! The 2011 Shattered Grounds league throws players into the trenches of the Iron Kingdoms with a wholly immersive experience as they fight for the glory of their faction.

Focused Fields of War

Each Shattered Grounds season focuses on conflicts within specific areas of the Iron Kingdoms that players worldwide will battle to control. Players will still vie for dominance in their local store, but every game played contributes to the success of their faction on the global map. The Shattered Grounds league map will be updated daily as factions war for control over vital strategic points, preparing for the earth-shattering climax of the three-week league. Control of certain map sections provides global bonuses to the controlling faction, so expect particular zones to be a hotbed of activity depending on their strategic importance to the various WARMACHINE and HORDES forces.

Season Models

In addition to the interactive map, each Shattered Grounds season will include models used only for the league that represent some of the characters, warjacks, or units found in the leagues’ stories. Select models in each faction will take on new characteristics for the duration of the league season, including new abilities, increased stats, and other changes that allow them to represent the specialists taking part in the particular campaign. These new season models are still represented by their regular models on the tabletop, but use the season model stats card instead of the standard card in all league games giving players flavorful new options as they wage war in the specific Iron Kingdoms environment.

Battle Journals

Battle Journals have been redesigned for Shattered Grounds 2011. Players will earn achievements in these league games and will use their battle journals to document their organized play accomplishments. Each battle journal includes a dedicated section to record a player’s commendations earned during the league and mark their progress on the league’s stratagem tree.

The image above shows the battle journal pages for the Nightfall (season 1 2010). The page on the left is the commendation page. Each time a player completes the requirements for a specific commendation, the event organizer authorizes the spot with the league-specific stamp. Here are some examples:

• Conqueror – Each player registered for the faction that wins the league season receives the Conqueror commendation.
• Combat Engineer – Each player who participates in a designated pre-league event at his league venue for painting, modeling, and terrain making receives the Combat Engineer commendation.
• Veteran – Each time a player faces a faction he has not yet encountered during the league, he receives the Veteran commendation for that faction.

The page on the right shows a stratagem tree. Stratagems represent maneuvers that warcasters or warlocks can use. At the start of the league, each player chooses one stratagem as his starting location on the tree and earns the stamp for that stratagem. Each time a player plays a game, he earns a stamp for the next circle on his tree. In addition, each time a player earns a commendation, he earns a stamp for the next circle on his tree. Players unlock additional stratagems by completing a path to the next stratagem circle. The more games they play, the quicker they unlock new stratagems!

Before each league game, a player can choose one of his unlocked stratagems to use during the game. A stratagem can be used for any number of games during the course of the season once it has been unlocked.
Here’s an example stratagem:

Defensive Maneuver – Once per game during your Control Phase, select one friendly model/unit in your warcaster/warlock’s control area. That model/unit gains Set Defense for one round. (A model in the front arc of a model with Set Defense suffers –2 on charge, slam power attack, and impact attack rolls against that model.)

At the end of the three weeks, each league season culminates in a massive multiplayer event, where players bring every weapon to bear in the final push to claim victory.

Prepare for War

Shattered Grounds 2011 League Schedule:
Windless Wastes: February 7th - March 6th
Thundercliff Peaks: April 18th - May 15th
Rotterhorn: June 20th - July 17th
Sand Narrows: September 19th - October 16th