A Talk with Will Hungerford at Gencon
Aug 18, 2017 1:01:48 GMT
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Post by Rowdy Dragon on Aug 18, 2017 1:01:48 GMT
So I'm at gencon and I got to speak with Will Hungerford for like 10 minutes today and I asked him some questions the most of which he answered.
The impression of him as a person is pretty radically different in how he IS in person as opposed to how he sounds when typing or on the internet.
AKA: PP are a bunch of pretty nice guys that Firetrucking suck at typing what they think or imply.
So Il be separating actual statements of what he said (To the best of my memory) in bold and things that were kinda implied, or I GOT from the complete context of the conversations. And those implications are pretty important. Please don't just read the statements without the implications because they contain the context.
Because I think PP actually really cares about fluff. Like, allot. Maybe about as or more than mechanics. But they are bad at explaining themselves in text, or how to manifest their ideas into practice (Or when just interviewed on the fly without follow-up). Which when filtered through our very mechanics focused viewpoint, results in them looking like they both don't care about mechanics or Fluff. =p
I also got the impression that PP moves much faster internally than what we see of them on the outside, they again just suck at communicating that. Or B can't communicate that because of PR safety. And in my opinion for good reason when we see them accidentally spill their beans without the better context they look like morons. I don't think they are flip flopping as much as accidentally spilling ideas that they have had for months.
I didn't ask every question, but I asked the best I could.
On Themes in general and The "Irregulars" theme force, and the Status of Mercs in general
Statements:
The Irregulars are supposed to be the Mercs Generic Theme
The Irregulars represent how Mercs have changed after the Cygnarian civil war and intensifying of conflicts.
Heavy Metal is Cygnars Generic theme (As an example)
He talked about how Longgunners as if they were in Heavy Metal already (And then mentioned they are probably gonna be added officially)
Future theme forces that are about mixing other divisions of Infantry together in Armies are not out of the question if they made sense. Like Doom Reavers and Iron Fang Pikemen likely will never happen, but Greylords and Wintergaurds or Greylords and Manowars as a theme is not out of the question.
Now the implications I got with the other details of the conversation that Im leaving out for simplicity was that we have been viewing theme forces kinda wrong, or how PP has been building them. To me PP seems to make a concept for a theme force FIRST, and then make mechanics second, in the frame of that themes exist to allow for a diversification of models made. To me it explains why some themes seem half finished whilst the others are already done. Why some factions get 12 free points whilst others can get 20.
What we have been calling "Jack Themes" Will Called a "generic theme" because to him, it represent the "Generic" Force that a faction may send out against an opponent without a specific target in mind (The massive battle scenes of Fluff don't accurately represent this), a patrol force for example. And this again makes sense. Just the Iron Kingdoms are known for employing Warjacks and would likely employ the mobile tanks that are warjacks+Common stuff to quickly quell problems that may be in their nation. Remember that to us, we only witness Equal sized battles, when employing a larger force to quell a smaller insurrection with decisive force with minimal casualties is a strategy on its own, and thats easier to rally with just some coal in a burner and a warcaster as opposed to Infantry forces that require way more logistsics, and likely to take more casualties and less intimidating. This to me explains the Cryx "Jack Force" Despite it not being dependant on Jacks for free stuff. Its not a "Jack Force" its a GENERIC force from Cryx. Same for all the other "Jack" themes. And when thinking about it, it made sense in my mind of what a Faction would regularly deploy to deal with its own "Generic" issues and how each "Generic" theme changes depending on the internal faction logic.
The Irregulars are meant to represent that with the intensification of warfare, lots of contrasting mercenary companies are really beginning to be found on the battlefield together for proxy battles. A merc company going against its "Foundation faction" is already possible, so mercs while having loyalties of kind, still take their own goals more importantly. Whilst Marrowans, Menothians, and Khadoran Assasins are not likely to chill out in the same clubhouse, they are likely to work for an employer together for a common goal. The more "Specialized" units ARE likely to hang out in their own clubhouses and are represented by the more specialized themes. Simply put the Iron Kingdoms have become evermore interconnected and less isolationist over the years. For mercs to just end up being jumbled together makes sense to me.
After this train of thought, theme forces don't represent themes as much divisions that we are likely to see in the field.
Also Some purely Khadoran Spoilers:
Manowar Charriot is likely gonna do support stuff that would help Manowars Deal with their general slow speed and fast enemies like Satyrixes. Some example listed (Just as examples of engines in general as opposed to what this had in particular) was bulldoze or Covering Fire. Again up for change.
When asked about the Forumal that Strahkov stole that was the corrupted warcaster formula from the Aftermath books and if we are to see anything about them, will could only give a devilish grin and said he could reveal nothing more.
The impression of him as a person is pretty radically different in how he IS in person as opposed to how he sounds when typing or on the internet.
AKA: PP are a bunch of pretty nice guys that Firetrucking suck at typing what they think or imply.
So Il be separating actual statements of what he said (To the best of my memory) in bold and things that were kinda implied, or I GOT from the complete context of the conversations. And those implications are pretty important. Please don't just read the statements without the implications because they contain the context.
Because I think PP actually really cares about fluff. Like, allot. Maybe about as or more than mechanics. But they are bad at explaining themselves in text, or how to manifest their ideas into practice (Or when just interviewed on the fly without follow-up). Which when filtered through our very mechanics focused viewpoint, results in them looking like they both don't care about mechanics or Fluff. =p
I also got the impression that PP moves much faster internally than what we see of them on the outside, they again just suck at communicating that. Or B can't communicate that because of PR safety. And in my opinion for good reason when we see them accidentally spill their beans without the better context they look like morons. I don't think they are flip flopping as much as accidentally spilling ideas that they have had for months.
I didn't ask every question, but I asked the best I could.
On Themes in general and The "Irregulars" theme force, and the Status of Mercs in general
Statements:
The Irregulars are supposed to be the Mercs Generic Theme
The Irregulars represent how Mercs have changed after the Cygnarian civil war and intensifying of conflicts.
Heavy Metal is Cygnars Generic theme (As an example)
He talked about how Longgunners as if they were in Heavy Metal already (And then mentioned they are probably gonna be added officially)
Future theme forces that are about mixing other divisions of Infantry together in Armies are not out of the question if they made sense. Like Doom Reavers and Iron Fang Pikemen likely will never happen, but Greylords and Wintergaurds or Greylords and Manowars as a theme is not out of the question.
Now the implications I got with the other details of the conversation that Im leaving out for simplicity was that we have been viewing theme forces kinda wrong, or how PP has been building them. To me PP seems to make a concept for a theme force FIRST, and then make mechanics second, in the frame of that themes exist to allow for a diversification of models made. To me it explains why some themes seem half finished whilst the others are already done. Why some factions get 12 free points whilst others can get 20.
What we have been calling "Jack Themes" Will Called a "generic theme" because to him, it represent the "Generic" Force that a faction may send out against an opponent without a specific target in mind (The massive battle scenes of Fluff don't accurately represent this), a patrol force for example. And this again makes sense. Just the Iron Kingdoms are known for employing Warjacks and would likely employ the mobile tanks that are warjacks+Common stuff to quickly quell problems that may be in their nation. Remember that to us, we only witness Equal sized battles, when employing a larger force to quell a smaller insurrection with decisive force with minimal casualties is a strategy on its own, and thats easier to rally with just some coal in a burner and a warcaster as opposed to Infantry forces that require way more logistsics, and likely to take more casualties and less intimidating. This to me explains the Cryx "Jack Force" Despite it not being dependant on Jacks for free stuff. Its not a "Jack Force" its a GENERIC force from Cryx. Same for all the other "Jack" themes. And when thinking about it, it made sense in my mind of what a Faction would regularly deploy to deal with its own "Generic" issues and how each "Generic" theme changes depending on the internal faction logic.
The Irregulars are meant to represent that with the intensification of warfare, lots of contrasting mercenary companies are really beginning to be found on the battlefield together for proxy battles. A merc company going against its "Foundation faction" is already possible, so mercs while having loyalties of kind, still take their own goals more importantly. Whilst Marrowans, Menothians, and Khadoran Assasins are not likely to chill out in the same clubhouse, they are likely to work for an employer together for a common goal. The more "Specialized" units ARE likely to hang out in their own clubhouses and are represented by the more specialized themes. Simply put the Iron Kingdoms have become evermore interconnected and less isolationist over the years. For mercs to just end up being jumbled together makes sense to me.
After this train of thought, theme forces don't represent themes as much divisions that we are likely to see in the field.
Also Some purely Khadoran Spoilers:
Manowar Charriot is likely gonna do support stuff that would help Manowars Deal with their general slow speed and fast enemies like Satyrixes. Some example listed (Just as examples of engines in general as opposed to what this had in particular) was bulldoze or Covering Fire. Again up for change.
When asked about the Forumal that Strahkov stole that was the corrupted warcaster formula from the Aftermath books and if we are to see anything about them, will could only give a devilish grin and said he could reveal nothing more.
