So I was browsing through PP store and noticed that a few of the Warcaster models weren’t there anymore. So my question is: Are they out of stuck, no longer in production,or what?
PP switched all of their production from cast metal and resin to additive manufacturing (3D printing) about a year ago and sold off their casting machines. Converting existing models to the new process takes time and they’ve been focused on getting Warmachine Mk4 off the ground. We know there are new Warcaster factions coming though so I wouldn’t be surprised if they also start getting older stuff back in stock around then, though that’s just a guess on my part.
I’ve heard PP is going to convert all their Warcaster models to 3D printed resin, which will almost certainly involve finally adding magnet holes to the jacks and jack weapons the way they did with Warmachine. Which is great because magnetising the jacks is a real paint right now, and light resin weapons are work much better as magnetised parts than heavy metal ones. But yeah, it’s probably a ways off, maybe late 2024?
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I’m hoping they relaunch the game at that point. It launched at a bad time (2020, just as COVID really locked stuff down). Had the world been “normal” I think it would’ve done well.
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I asked Matt Wilson about this directly at GenCon 2.5 months ago. 
(Additionally, someone on Facebook posted an email exchange with Sherry Yeary.) Potentially re-engineering every model in the Warcaster line for 3D print manufacturing will take time. Warmachine MK IV has obviously been a massive focus too.
Expect some news about the new Warcaster stuff in 2024.
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I hope that they do a Warcaster 2.0
It was a great game, but just a little too long and the balance could use tweaking.
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I guess a 2.0 version shouldn’t alienate anyone since the chance of a person’s army being “invalidated” is extremely low. A little bit of balancing, maybe some work on the scenario rules to reduce the (perceived?) first player/second player advantage/disadvantages… and maaaaybe they could re-work the cards a touch? Right now I feel like I need to bring a LOT of cards with me, and I don’t even have a complete faction.
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Yeah, they don’t need to remove any models, just like Warmachine going from MK1-2-3
So we’ll hopefully be getting the Command Sets revamped in the new resin sometime soon? Nice.
I would caution on “soon”, we have absolutely no timeline from PP at this moment so it could be anywhere between 3 and like 12 months.
I’ve heard rumors of a scenario refresh, so I’m curious to see what comes from this year. Full 2.0 would be interesting
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I don’t think a 2.0 is really necessary at this point. If anything more like a 1.25. I think optional rules for organized play or a narrative campaign would be a good way to field test things.
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Not necessary, but it might be good from a marketing perspective? You know, sell it as the perfect jumping-on point, a fresh start with the new improved edition.
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As I’ve said for over 15 years: in game design, “Never” happens sooner than “Soon™”.
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A MkI-Remix style rules refresh with a slate of new starter sets with a marketing push would do a lot for the game. A quick balance pass would also be great, it’s pretty even on a faction-by-faction basis, it’s mainly internal balance that’s wonky, with a lot of near-useless warjack weapons and a smattering of useless units. A few of the top dogs could probably use a toning down as well to encourage list variety.
The game plays pretty fast once you get used to rolling attack/defense at the same time but if I had to streamline anything making def a set number to roll against and changing “reroll defense” effects to “force opponent to reroll attack”. Cypher cards of the same type being cast on a unit should cause the old card to immediately expire instead of not being castable at all. Other than that there’s a few rules interactions that could get cleaned up, e.g mantlets interacting with slams.
If I had to wishlist, a new starter set for each faction with a complete skirmish list in the new resin, ~$100ish MSRP with a “season 2” cypher deck expansion (make this available on its own of course). That means a player could pick up a starter, play skirmish for a bit, then get a cadre box, an extra hero and one other thing and be ready to play primary games too.
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I guess all we can do now is wait and bid our time.
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These two suggested changes would convert the game into essentially straight “space Warmachine but with strike dice.”
The opposed rolls and the unreliability (unpredictability?) of spells are two of the defining mechanical features that differentiate Warcaster from Privateer’s other miniature games.
That’s an interesting take, I would have thought that the arc system, summoning new units every turn, random cypher hands, and alternating activations would be enough to differentiate Warcaster from Warmachine.
As a bit of justification; pulse round cyphers are barely used as is unless the effect is particularly strong (e.g tachytelic metamorphosis), many many pulse round cyphers never make it into tournament decks. I run tournaments in the most (only?) active tournament meta for warcaster so I’ve seen the metagame evolve since we started playing in KS1 and the usage of pulse round cyphers has generally fallen off hard. Letting players cast geometrics on a unit already benefiting from a geometric (replacing the old effect, no stacking same coloured cards!) would A) improve the weaker pulse round cyphers, divination algorithm no longer needs to lock you out of using arcane synthesis for example, and B) reduce the gotcha for new players who end up screwing themselves because last turn they cast a pulse round cypher on something.
As for opposed rolls, generally I don’t like opposed rolls as a game mechanic, but I think Warcaster did it right with lots of interactivity between both players (lots of rerolls for both attacker and defender for decision points). We’ve gotten into the habit and try to teach new players to roll defense at the same time as attack rolls and that makes games much much faster, a skirmish game is generally finished in 90 mins, and primary 2 hrs, and we play on clock often. That being said, I hear a lot of complaints by newer players that opposed rolls slow the game down, so I’d be willing to give that up if it meant the game was more accessible, especially for new players who aren’t already used to rolling defense simultaneously.
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I think that Wilson or Soles said they were trying to make it less “solvable” than Warmachine? Something something math, I forget exactly. It would’ve been interesting if it was more like Aristeia or Infinity in that you can have simultaneous attacks going on for every attack, but I don’t see that helping either.
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I don’t know about that. The use of gates to constantly pull in units, the activation system, it’s all very different from Warmachine and the game plays very differently as a result. The way Arc flows is also very different from Focus (maybe a little closer to Fury in some ways?).
I personally don’t think opposed rolls has THAT much effect on how the game actually plays; sure, it feels like you’re a more active participant in your opponent’s turn, and that’s a good thing, but that’s about it. The way things move or act, the decisions you have to make, the way the battle ebbs and flows, none of them change just because the way one dice roll is handled is a little different.
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