Making Sense of Steamroller 2024: Payload

Privateer Press's Steamroller 2024 is out, and some of the new scenarios are outright bananas. After taking a close look at each of the new scenarios, I thought it would be worth spending a little time to give each a quick analysis and review.

When I first read the Steamroller 2024 packet and came to the realization of what Payload actually was, it immediately became my favorite of the scenarios. I can't guarantee that will remain the case after I've actually played them, but the notion of pushing an enormous explosive payload towards an enemy building is so narratively cool that it makes the scenario just work.

Payload includes two 50mm objectives, two 40mm objectives, one 30mm objective, and two flags, which of course become the scenario terrain pieces.

The inclusion of one 30mm objective rather than two immediately caught my attention. The 40mm objectives are placed symmetrically - the first player will begin 22 inches from the opponent's 40mm objective, and the second player will begin 17 inches from his opponent's 40mm objective, due to the second player's further deployment. The flags and the 50mm payload objectives are also symmetrical. But then you have this crazy 30mm objective which sits only on one side of the board, just nine inches from the second player's deployment zone. This feels like a fairly large player two advantage, especially since capturing that area of the board will make it easier to push the payload right into the scenario terrain.

When a player scored a 50mm objective (these objectives I'll refer to as "the payload") he moves the objective three inches toward the opponent's objective terrain. Furthermore, the payload is pushed an additional inch for every other objective that the player scored that turn. 

As if that weren't enough, there's the Made to Haul rule, which allows a cohort model a free 5 inches of after-activation movement directly towards it, allowing that cohort model to potentially score (and push!) the objective again on their opponent's turn. The movement is five inches rather than just three to allow for extra movement that the objective may have gotten from scoring other objectives, but because of the was the rule is worded, it's also possible to use that movement to move a model other than the one pushing the objective. This should allow for some interesting movement shenanigans.

I can easily visualize a mob of models blocking the payload from making it those last few inches. It's such a dramatic image. I've already spoken to a friend with a 3d printer and suggested creating 50mm objectives that look like a giant pile of explosives, specifically to use for this scenario.

Stay tuned for our analysis of the remaining two Warmachine scenarios in Privateer Press's Steamroller 2024 packet!