101 - Warcasters
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- This article is part of Warmachine University's Crash Course (101) series, which is "Basic Training" aimed at new players who are still learning the core rules.
- The 101 series is intended to help you understand the rulebook, but you shouldn't be reading this instead of the rulebook.
3 quick notes before we begin:
- This article is a recap of the Warcaster rules. (For a verbatim copy of the rules, refer to Warcaster.)
- If you've just read the 101 article on Warlocks, you'll find this article is very similar; the only real differences are how warcasters and warjacks generate focus, and how warcasters reduce damage.
- More unususal caster types, such as Infernal Masters, are covered in the Intermediate LPG series.
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If Warmachine was chess, then Warcasters would be a King piece and a Queen piece combined. They are extremely powerful (like a Queen piece) but if they die then you instantly lose the game (like a King piece). They are very skilled combatants, leaders, and spellcasters in and of themselves - but their true potential is unlocked when they lead a battlegroup of warjacks.
Warcasters have access to focus, a supply of magical energy, and they can use this focus to either:
- Cast spells - Perhaps the primary purpose of focus is to fuel the spells you cast. Different casters have different spells available that can be offensive, self-buffing, army-buffing, and/or enemy de-buffing. This "spell list" shapes the caster's playstyle, strategy, and the types of models they like to put in their army.
- Boost attacks - Casters can spend a single focus to add one die to any attack roll or damage roll the caster makes. Each boost must be bought separately, and each roll can only be boosted once.
- Buy attacks - Casters can spend focus to make extra attacks. Most ranged weapons cannot make extra attacks, but all melee weapons can make an unlimited number of attacks.
- Reduce damage - Casters can choose to not spend their focus, and instead use it during the enemy turn to reduce the damage your opponent inflicts on your caster. This is called camping your focus.
- Allocate Focus - warcasters can give their focus to their warjacks, so that the warjacks become more powerful. More on that below.
You will never have enough focus to do all the things you want to do in a single turn - the game is designed such that you are resouce-starved and so you need to make meaningful choices about what you spend focus on.
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Contents
Name and Number
You will see casters with a number beside their name, such as Caine1 and Caine2. These refer to the same character at different points in the overall storyline. They are different physical models and they'll have slightly different abilities and spells but have the same "feel" to them.
You cannot use multiple versions of the same character in the same army - for instance you cannot have Caine1 fight alongside Caine2. Each player can, however, have the same characters - you can have Caine1 fight against Caine1 if you really wanted.
Note that any model with a number is a character model. This is relevant for a few special rules such as Fortune Hunter.
Feat
Every caster in the game has a once-per-game ability called a Feat which, if used smartly, can really turn the tide of battle in your favour. Every feat is unique (barring one exception: Sturgis1 and Sturgis2).
Control Range
A caster's control range is equal to double its current FOCUS statistic, not its current unspent focus points. This means your control range does not shrink as you spend focus.
A control range is used to determine which warjacks can get focus at the start of the turn, which makes them much more powerful. Also, many spells and feats will work on all models in your control range.
Focus
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How focus is generated & allocated
- Warcasters auto-replenish their focus resource each turn (warlocks do not). The steps are:
- At the start of each turn, any focus warcasters had left over from last turn expires.
- Then warcasters replenish focus - New focus then appears out of thin air to top your warcaster back up to their normal limit.
- Some casters then get bonus focus that can take them over their limit (such as with the Cull Soul rule).
- Warjacks then Power Up - if they have a working cortex and are in their caster's control range, they get a single focus point for free.
- Certain spells are upkeeps which will stay in play as long as you pay their upkeep cost. You have to spend one focus per upkeep spell you want to keep in play.
- Once you've finished upkeeping spells, you can allocate focus from your warcaster to any of their warjacks that are in their control range. Each warjack can have up to 3 focus total.
- Whatever focus is left on your warcaster after all this, is how much you have to use during the rest of the turn.
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Casting spells
- Each spell has a COST, and you have to spend that many focus points to cast it. After that, it's a matter of finding a target in range and, if it targets an enemy model, rolling to hit/damage them. You will never have enough focus to cast all your spells, let alone if you spent some allocating to warjacks.
- Upkeep spells: Once they're in play, you only need to spend one focus next turn to keep them in play next turn (rather than the full COST). On the other hand, you can only have one copy of an upkeep in play at once - if you cast it on a new target, the earlier version immediately expires.
- Target: SELF spells: Some casters can put a buff on themselves. Sometimes this is purely a self-buff (like Engine of Destruction) but othertimes it affects everyone in their control range or command range (like Fog of War).
- Channeling spells: Some armies have access to non-warcaster models with the Channeler advantage. Arc Nodes are also common, which is just a warjack with the Channeler rule. Channelers allows the warcaster to cast spells "through" that model. Basically, after paying the COST of the spell, you can target any model that is in range of the channeler model (rather than just targets in range of the warcaster model).
- The channeler needs to be in your control range, but you don't need LOS to it.
- The channeler needs to be not engaged by an enemy model (but it can be engaging an enemy model).
- The channeler needs LOS to the target, you can't cast spells on stuff behind the channeler.
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Buying/Boosting attacks
- Warcasters can ramp up their prowess and become true monsters by spending focus on attacks. This does, however, leave you with less focus to cast spells, power your battlegroup, or defend against enemy attacks.
- Warcasters can spend 1 focus to buy one melee attack.
- This is a basic attack, with one of their melee weapons.
- You can continue buying more attacks as long as you have the focus to afford it.
- Warcasters can spend 1 focus to buy one melee attack.
- Warcasters can spend 1 focus to boost any attack roll or damage roll (ranged, melee, and/or spells).
- Each roll is paid for seperately.
- Each roll can be boosted only once.
- You can continue boosting different rolls as long as you have the focus to afford it.
- Warcasters can spend 1 focus to boost any attack roll or damage roll (ranged, melee, and/or spells).
- Some warcasters can spend focus to buy ranged attacks, but they need a special rule to do so.
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Reduce Damage & Heal Damage
- When a warcaster is damaged by anything, they can spend 1 focus to reduce that damage by up to 5. You can't go negative - if something inflicts 3 damage, you can spend a focus to reduce it to zero.
- During a warcaster's activation, they can spend any amount of focus to heal themselves on a one-for-one basis.
- If you leave focus unspent on your warcaster, in preparation for using it to reduce damage from enemy attacks, this is called camping your focus.
Interaction with Warjacks
Interaction
Unlike their warlock counterparts, warcasters have comparatively little interaction with their warjacks. The warcasters 'fuel' the warjack with focus, but that's about it.
- In the Control Phase, any warjack in their control range gets 1 focus for free. This is the 'Power Up' focus.
- After that, the warcaster can give any warjack in their control range extra focus from their own stack. This is 'allocated' focus.
- Warcasters can't Power Up or Allocate focus to warjacks that aren't in their battlegroup, whether or not they're in control range.
Battlegroup
When you build your army list you assign warjacks to be in your warcaster's battlegroup. In fact, you have to assign a minimum number to each battlegroup. A caster can only allocate focus to their warjacks, and many spells/feats only affect battlegroup models (such as Energizer).
A battlegroup is a shared noun, a bit like the word "team"; the warjacks are in the warcaster's battlegroup, but also the warcaster is in the warjack's battlegroup.
It is possible to add more warjacks to your battlegroup mid-game, but only if that warjack's original controller died earlier in the game. This doesn't happen very often, especially in beginner games, so we won't cover it here. Instead it is detailed in the intermediate lesson LPG - Death of a Controller.
WJP
Each warcaster has a stat called WJP. These are bonus army points that must be spent on warjacks and those warjacks must be assigned to that warcaster's battlegroup. This forces you to play with a minimum number of warjacks in the game.
Junior warcasters and 'jack marshals do not get WJP.
Warcasters: Model Type
Most warcasters are a simple warrior model. But sometimes casters have extra/different types, which complicates their "normal caster functions" as follows:
Warcaster Cavalry
Cavalry can make impact attacks, which allows the cavalry model to "pause" their movement mid-charge. Caster cavalry are not allowed to cast spells or trigger their feat during this "pause".
Warcaster Unit
If your warcaster is part of a unit, here's a few things to be aware of:
- You have to issue orders before anything else, even casting spells or using a feat.
- Even if the troopers die and you're down to just the warcaster, the caster is still technically a unit so is susceptible to anti-unit effects (such as Rebuke).
- The non-warcaster models can contest scenario elements (but the warcaster cannot as per normal).
- The way you score zones and flags alters a little bit; see LPG - Steamroller.
Also there's a weird interaction between a unit getting a Press Forward order (which means models must run or charge), a warcaster casting a spell or using a feat before they move (which means they can't run), and what happens if the warcaster in a unit doesn't have LOS to a legal charge target. In this situation, the spellcaster basically casts the spell(s) before moving, can't charge, so makes a full advance (not a charge) then their activation immediately ends.
Warcaster Battle Engine
There is no specific interaction between the battle engine rules and the caster rules.
Companions
Some casters come with a Companion model, normally a solo but sometimes a warjack or warbeast. These Companions are completely separate models, with their own activation, and don't interfere with the normal caster rules at all. Essentially, they're just a free bonus model when you take that caster.
Warcaster Destruction
In a normal game you lose when your main caster dies, so "what happens when they die" doesn't come up that often.
When you expand to larger games, you might start using a Junior Warcaster alongside your main caster, and the game will continue after the Junior's death. So in that scenario you'll need to know what happens to the dead Junior's warjacks - we cover this in the intermediate article LPG - Death of a Controller.
Warcaster-adjacent models
Warcaster attachment
Certain models serve as a Warcaster Attachment. These models normally buff the caster's arcane power in some fashion or another, and follow their warcaster around the entire game giving that buff each turn.
A few notes:
- A warcaster attachment must be attached to a warcaster - you can't add it to your army "by itself".
- Each warcaster can only have one warcaster attachment.
- An attachment is not part of your battlegroup. It won't gain benefits from certain spells, feats, etc.
- Sometimes an attachment has a separate rule, Companion, which does make it part of the battlegroup.
- An attachment has a separate activation to the warcaster.
Junior Warcasters
- The official name for Junior Warcasters is Battlegroup Controller.
This is a special rule that shows up on a few solos, units, and battle engines. It gives that model all the same rules as a warcaster except 1) they don't get a feat, and 2) if/when they die you don't auto-lose the game.
Just a couple of things to keep in mind:
- A Junior Warcaster's battlegroup is completely different to your main warcaster's battlegroup.
- They can't swap warjacks mid-game.
- They can't allocate focus to each other's warjacks
- They can't cast spells that specify "target battlegroup warjack gains XXX" on each other,
- etc
- When a Junior Warcaster dies, it short-circuits their warjacks and those 'jacks go inert.
- While inert a warjack can't do anything ... but other warcasters or a 'Jack Marshal can manually restart the warjack.
- We cover this in the intermediate article LPG - Death of a Controller.
'Jack Marshals
'Jack Marshals are covered in the intermediate article LPG - 'Jack Marshal.
Other
Rules Clarifications
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Rules Clarification: : Warcaster (Edit) | ||||
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