Warmachine & Hordes: Dinosaurs Punching Robots Punching Werewolves Forever

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 00:38

Let's chat about stuff! :siren:

Even more importantly: :siren:

A NEW VERSION OF THE GAME IS COMING OUT IN JUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNEEEEE gently caress YESSSSSSSSSS :siren:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UBBcOVuY4U

New rules for every model in the game, rebalancing, old is new again, cats and dogs living together, anarchy in the streets. Even trenchers look like they won't suck anymore! What the gently caress, right?! Unfortunately this means that the advice it the OP about the various factions is soon going to be irrelevant. On the plus side, we'll all be relearning the game together and it's gonna loving own super god drat hard. Get ready for a new era of suplexing dinosaurs into robots or whatever the gently caress stupid poo poo your bullshit OP faction gets to do to the poor fuckers across the table! Check out Privateer Press' insider that they post up on their main page a few times a week for more detailed spoilers or just ask here in the thread.

Alpha Phoenix posted:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Warmahores

Join chat

Get an invite.

Ask who's up for a game, there's usually some interest.

This is the new and hopefully improved Warmachine and Hordes(or Warhmahordes for short) megathread. This is where we all gather to talk about all kinds of ways to suplex robots into other robots, as well as anything else from the guys at Privateer Press..

:siren:

For those of you wanting a more in-depth break down of a faction, I'll be c/p'ing people's posts into the second post of the thread. So check out The Own Zone as it gets updated. :siren:

AttackBacon posted:

General Starting Warmachine/Hordes Stuff
-Ignore theme lists until you have played 10+ games and bought at least 50pts of models. Theme lists can be great, but they are restrictive. Worst of all, they cause you to buy lots of one type of model that you will then ONLY use in that specific theme list. This SUCKS when starting out.

-Think about whether you are a hobbyist first, a gamer first, and whether you want to play more competitively or more for fun. This will have a big effect on your early purchases. The rules in Warmachine and Hordes are tight enough that there are very few "trap" units and models, but that doesn't mean every model is made equal. If you are more competitive, do your research and focus on building up a force of strong models and units before branching out into the fun stuff. If you are more focused on the hobby and just playing for fun, feel free to go wild. However, I STILL recommend paying some attention to how to build a good list. Your for fun games will be a lot more fun with a list that has a little thought put in.

-Remember that Hordes and Warmachine are absolutely 100% compatible. However, they do have some fundamental differences that can catch you off guard. If your wallet can stand it, I really recommend picking up a tiny force from whatever Hordes faction appeals to you, purely to learn the rules with. I started with both Skorne and Cryx right off the bat, and I feel my game improved exponentially faster because of it. It's also a great change of pace.

-pDenny, Epic Skarre, Asphyxious3. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? In Warmachine and Hordes the story is advanced fairly constantly. This is reflected in the Warcasters (and Warlocks for Hordes) changing as the story progresses. These "epic" casters, so named because of the book they were first introduced in, are NOT necessarily any more powerful than their "prime" (book again) incarnations. They are simply different. Now of course sometimes the epic variant or the prime variant will be more powerful, but that is purely based on the meta-game and no caster gains power due to the fluff. Think of them more as completely different casters rather than an upgraded version. The usual nomenclature has historically been pWarcaster, eWarcaster, but as new 3rd generation incarnations of casters are starting to show up, people are making a transition to the Warcaster1, Warcaster2, Warcaster3 method of identifying them.

So, what in the hell is Warmachine or Hordes?

Good question. It is a skirmish level miniatures game wherein your primary objective is to find the most awesome possible way to throw giant angry dinosaurs into giant pissed off steam driven robots and hopefully kill your opponents Warlock or Warcaster (the leader of your opponents forces on the table) on the way. Games are of a larger scale than Warhammer 40k or Warhammer Fantasy, meaning less dudes on the table, more emphasis on the movements and abilities of individual models, and much faster game play - including a tournament system that uses timed turns, which really makes things interesting.

The second version of Warmahordes came out a few years ago and really spiced up the game. It codified a lot of special abilities of the various factions so you didn't have 20 different versions of teleport to remember the nuances of, Privateer Press finally started making wicked-rad plastic miniatures, and has been drawing in new players all over the world at a furious pace. There has not been a better time to get into this game.

What's the difference between Warmachine and Hordes, then?

At the most basic level - their resource systems. Both games use the same basic rules set for movement, attacks, special abilities and so on, but have different rules for your Warcaster (Warmachine leader dude) and Warlock (Hordes leader dude).

In Warmachine, each Warcaster has a particular stat called Focus. Your focus is what you use to drive your Warjacks as well as cast your spells. At the beginning of each turn, a Warcaster has as much focus as his focus stat allows him in order to cast spells during his activation (each of which have a particular cost), or he can give his focus out to his Warjacks in order to make them do awesome poo poo like throw dudes, arm/headlocks, headbutts, tramples, slams, etc, etc, or to do more basic functions like buying extra attacks with their weapons. Extra focus left over at the end of their turn is 'camped' and adds to the Warcasters armor value, making them more resistant to damage.

In Hordes, each Warlock is given a Fury value instead of Focus. Fury is similar to focus in that you will be using it to cast spells or buy extra attacks for your Warlock, but you do not automatically regenerate all of your Focus at the beginning of your turns. Instead, you must build Fury on your warbeasts by forcing them to run, maul dudes, slam, etc, similar to how Warjacks spend focus. Then at the beginning of your turn, your Warlock siphons the fury that his warbeasts have accumulated back onto himself so that he can continue gettin' work done. Extra Fury that a Warlock does not spend is 'camped' and can be used to transfer damage from attacks that hit the warlock to one of their warbeasts, but does not add armor to the Warlock.

The downside to the Hordes resource system is that if you can't take all of the Fury off of your beasts (ie, your caster is topped out on Fury), then there is a chance that your beast can flip the gently caress out and frenzy, punching the poo poo out of whoever is closest to them, and denying you the ability to use them for a turn!

Warlocks and Warcasters come in two varieties: regular and epic. Epic casters are different versions of the regular character that has advanced in the storyline. They're not necessarily more powerful, just different, and they typically have bad-rear end models.

What do I need to start this game?

The most basic thing you can do to start the game is to pick one of the factions Battlegroups. Warmachine Battlegroups are all plastic at the moment, and the Hordes boxes have just got their plastic versions announced and will be coming out some time later this year. Battlegroups MSRP for 49.99 USD, and are cheaper than buying the individual models that they contain. These boxes are wonderful for learning the basics of the game - playing games with these is definitely the best place to start.

You can also download the Warmachine quick-start rules here and the Hordes quick-start rules here.

Battlegroups!

That's actually all you need to start out. No seventy dollar rulebooks, no forty dollar army book or codex. The battlegroup comes with the basic rules, and the full stat cards for each of the miniatures in the box. Eventually you'll want to pick up either of the main rulebooks, Warmachine: Prime MkII or Hordes: Primal MkII in order to get a more complete rules set, but fortunately the paperback versions of these are pretty cheap at 29.99 USD (cheaper than you can get a codex for 40k).

What's this about cards? Is this a loving CCG or some poo poo?

Nope! Every miniature that you buy comes with a stat cards which tells you everything you need to know about its rules, including: a complete stat line, the stats of all of its weapons, the names and full text of all of its special rules and abilities, and even its point costs! You never have to buy the book for a faction if you don't want to - you just buy the miniatures you want to use, and the rules come with them!

Additionally, they are used during the game to record damage (just put your cards in clear card sleeves) and reference special rules, so always have your cards handy and you can do everything you need to right at the table!

Okay, but why the gently caress should I play this game?
It's balanced to be played at any level of competition from the most casual to the most hardcore, it's got tons of sweet back story, there are multiple leagues that happen every year with custom scenarios and altered units that help advance the story, and it's the fastest growing miniature game out there right now. Tons of great models, old models consistently getting updated with newer sculpts at a cheaper price, international competition is A Thing, and you don't have to worry about showing up for a game and having some snooty hambeast scoff at your army list because this is a game about trying your best to win at whatever level you feel comfortable.

So what armies are in the game?

A bunch! Here's the run down (images stolen from Andrea Uderzo's deviantart).

Warmachine Factions

Khador!

The Greater Khadoran Empire is the largest of the Western Immoran countries, and is situated in the northwest. Under the leadership of Empress Ayn Vanar I, Khador has begun an expansionist doctrine to rebuild the glory of the ancient Khardic Empire and to modernize their home to rival Cygnar. They lack the refined technology of their enemies, but make up for it in a strong citizenry and abundance of natural resources. Though Khador reclaimed the territory of Llael to boost its technology production, Cygnar recently held off its advances to Northguard and left Khador to rebuild its Second Army.

Some time after that battle Khadoran forces launched another attack from Ravensguard, under the direct command of the recently promoted Supreme Kommandant Gurvaldt Irusk, resulting in the fall of Northguard and the retreat of the Cygnaran First Army all the way to Point Bourne and the subsequent loss of the entire Thornwood to Khador.

What Khador lacks in sophistication it makes up with hardiness. Its Warjacks are the strongest, most heavily armored steam-powered monstrosities around, and its infantry some of the hardest to hit survivable warriors. Lacking the refined resources of its foes, its large guns tend to be inaccurate and it cannot afford to field smaller Warjacks or arc nodes. Warcasters of Khador usually excel in combat, with spells to improve their troops in speed/melee/defense.

Pros: Heaviest Warjacks, survivable infantry/solos, abundance of AoEs, high ARM or DEF

Cons: SLOW warjacks, inaccurate AoEs, no arc nodes, no real light warjacks, some lack of magical damage/debuffs/utility

Cygnar!

Cygnar is kind of like Steampunk America. They have very advanced technology compared to the other Iron Kingdoms with a huge focus on lightning technology and weapons and are starting to produce warjacks that are entirely powered by lightning. Cygnar is centrally located in western Immoren, meaning that they are literally surrounded by their enemies.

Cygnar has been the traditional enemy of Khador, their neighbor to the north, and has recently been involved in a conflict with them over the Thornwood and the nation of Llael. To the southeast, they are at conflict with the Protectorate of Menoth, created from former Cygnaran citizens who went religion crazy and decided to start a civil war, eventually forming their own nation in the desert to the southeast. To the east, Cygnar is being sized up by the Skorne empire that was, until recently, being controlled by the former (deposed) king of Cygnar, Vinter Raelthorne. To the west, Cygnar contends with Cryx, the Nightmare Empire, as their incursions drive farther and farther inland. But Cygnar is devoted to defending their lands with huge gently caress off guns and walking towers that shoot lightning.

Pros: Solid ranged firepower including magic ranged weapons, some really cool board control casters, weapons with electroleap that can fry dudes next to the people you hit, the ability to disrupt enemy warjacks so they can't use focus, the Stormclad is a badass loving warjack.

Cons: Infantry that are easy to kill or are slow, electro-leap is hard to pull off well, disruption literally doesn't interact with hordes factions, a few overcosted infantry units.

The Protectorate of Menoth!

Menoth: In the olden days there was this great space worm that wanted to destroy the planet. Well one particular god Menoth decided he didn't like this idea. So he decided he was going to combat this other god with the help of his creation; Man. Thus the great conflict between the Devourer Wurm and Menoth began and has raged on for time eternal.

But really who cares about all that poo poo. What's important is the fact that you love to burn heathens and heretics; subvert some start up hippie god who believes in peace or some poo poo; and have divine power so strong praying to your warjacks makes them better than the competition's. We are a faction of synergy and every death can potentially fuel something else.

Our basic combos are:

Choir of Menoth + Vassal of Menoth + you Warjack of choice (I'm not kidding every jack goes from average to rediculous). Choir of Menoth can make your jack Immune to Non-Magical Shooting, Immune to Spells, and a buff to your ability to attack and damage other models. Vassal can make your jacks attack out side of their normal turn, or make it so that when your jack gets damages they get to walk away making silly faces at the guy who just scratched his paintjob.

Rhupert + Covenant of Menoth + any Unit. Rhupert is so often used in Menoth that he is often referred to as the Piper of Menoth. His basic 2 abilities are giving Tough (think 5+ invul save that knocks your model down if you pass it) + Fearless (auto-pass command checks) and Dirge of Mists which is +1 Def (harder to hit) + Terror (force command checks on opponents models). The Covenant of Menoth has 3 abilities you'll rotate through, first is the ability to not be made Knockeddown (which means when you rear end that Tough/5+ invul you don't fall over) or Stationary; no Casting of Spells in his Command Range, and let a units attacks cause Fire on hit (See what did I mean about burning heretics and heathens).

Soul / Death Driven abilities. There are far too many to just list off but suffice to say that we have the most abilities that trigger off of the death of another model in the army. Basically Menoth doesn't like it when his followers die; and neither do his followers.

Pretty much every list with use at least one if not all of these combos.

Cryx!

gently caress Cryx. Cryx are for assholes.

Okay seriously:
Cryx is the nightmare Empire, and is based on the Sharde Islands off the western coast of Immoren. They are ruled over by their god, the dragon Toruk, the original and most powerful dragon in the world. It is a blighted land where the undead live, and only the worst kinds of living pirates and scum are found there. Cryx warjacks are fueled by Necrotite: a version of the coal that powers the other nations warjacks, but infused with the essences of the dead for added potency and wicked-green glow.

Long ago, Toruk was the only dragon. Then he took his essence and split it, creating many other dragons throughout the world. But Toruk thought that these new dragons would serve and obey him - he was wrong. They turned on him, and Toruk was forced to flee or be overwhelmed. Toruk created the empire of Cryx to find the dragon progeny that he mistakenly created long ago and to kill them, so that he may reabsorb their athancs (essence stones that hold their souls) back into himself and become whole again. Everblight, the dragon responsible for the Legion of Everblight (a hordes faction) is one such dragon.

Cryx' incursions into the mainland are not an attempt at overt war with the Iron Kingdoms - Toruk has no need for that. Over hundreds of years his agents have slipped into the nations of the world, finding information about his progeny and where to find them. Their conflicts against the nations of Immoren are merely small speedbumps that will fade to insignificance once Toruk regains his original power and spreads his blight throughout the world, where he can be the lord of an undead empire that never ends.

Pros: Crazy speed or the ability to avoid ranged attacks entirely, tons of ways to debuff your opponents models and completely gently caress them over, the ability to cull souls from living models that you kill so you can fuel your own magic and warjacks, a good mix of hard hitting and fast units. They also have a variety of ways of bringing their units back from the dead, or turning dead enemy units into new undead models.
Cons: Most of their stuff dies to a stiff breeze, and anti-magic abilities can completely gently caress this faction over. In addition, they have effectively no long range firepower.

Mercenaries! Mercs covers a wide variety of things.

Not everyone who fights in the wars of the Iron Kingdoms does so for love of king and country. There are always men and women willing to sell their skills and loyalties to the highest bidder. Mercenaries provide the other factions with additional choices, allowing you to augment your existing strengths of cover your faction�s particular weakness. Mercenaries can also be played as their own faction entirely. In this case, the armies are organized into Charters, representing the interests of particular political or regional groups in the Iron Kingdoms. Many Mercenaries will work for some (or all!) of the factions of charters, while others restrict their work for personal or professional reasons.

Highborne Covenant

When Khador swept the nation of Llael into their growing empire, many of the surviving nobles and merchant families put their wealth into gathering a Mercenary force to try and retake their homeland. The result was the Highborne Covenant, which is often styled as the Llaelese Resistance. While many warcasters will take the Highborne�s money, they have a dedicated general in Ashlynn d�Elyse. One of Llael�s few native warcasters, she continues to wage a bitter, desperate war against the invaders. Despite assembling both devoted partisans and well-paid professionals, the Covenant has failed to make any gains against the occupation of Khador. In desperation they allied themselves with the Northern Crusade of the Protectorate, but this resulted in a number of cities simply being occupied by the Menites instead. The Resistance currently has its back to the wall, with Cygnar unable to provide more than token support.

The Four Star Syndicate

The Syndicate is based out of Five Fingers, a notorious port of ill repute in the small kingdom of Ord. The Syndicate is a shadowy organization with questionable goals that hires Mercenaries for all manner of contracts, from conventional battlefield roles to raids on factories and shipments. While the Syndicate is rumored to be controlled by the high captains who rule Five Fingers, it�s not clear what they ultimate goals might be � or if there even are any beyond making money hand over fist. The epitome of the Four Star Mercenary is Asheth Magnus, a former Cygnarian warcaster who was on the wrong side of the coup. Now a wanted man, he�ll work for whoever pays him in order to fuel his personal vendetta and his long-term agenda against Leto and Cygnar.

The Talion Charter

The seas of the Iron Kingdoms are a dangerous place, thanks in part to the privateers that roam them. The King of Ord issues Letters of Marque to these ships, allowing them to raid and capture as long as they pay their dues. While loosely they might be said to serve the King who issued their Marque, the reality is that the captains and crew serve no one as much as themselves. The charter is named for the Talion, the ship of Captain Phinneus Shae. Shae and his crew were originally sailors for the Mercarian League until they mutinied and struck out on their own. Waging war against their old masters, they are also wanted by both Khador and Cygnar.

The Searforge Commission

The dwarves of Rhul officially maintain neutrality in human affairs, and are therefore not strictly a party of the many wars that rage across the Iron Kingdoms. But there are enclaves of Rhulfolk in both Cygnar and Khador, and they keep a close eye on human affairs. Despite its neutrality, the people of Rhul maintain an active and highly-trained military, and entire units or divisions are regularly sent out in the Iron Kingdoms to work as mercenaries. In this way the standing armies help earn their keep, and are regularly tested and tempered in the fire of battle. As the wars have escalated, Rhul has consolidated its mercenary groups under a single banner. The Searforge Commission oversees Rhulic mercenary contracts, and organizes its own groups to guard Rhulic shipments and enclaves.

Pros: Mercenaries has a huge variety of units and models with different abilities and strengths. In addition, each of the Charters has special allowances and additions that change the way they play. Beyond game play, they have the greatest variety of the factions and the most unique characters.

Cons: Every Mercenary unit and model is balanced not only within the faction but as a choice for their potential clients. This means that they often have less obvious synergy, and frequently a Mercenary choice is not as good as a direct analogue in another faction. Mercenaries are generally less competitive than the other factions and present an uphill battle when used on their own.

The Retribution of Scryah! The newest faction to grace Immoren.

Retribution of Scryah: This is the newest faction to enter into Warmachine and it is a faction of Elves. Elves in Immoren are not quite what people are used to, having been an incredibly high-tech race to the point where (several millenia before man mind you) they attempted to build a stairway to heaven. Its destructive crash to earth killed most of their gods and left the remaining god, Scryah, the god of Spring, comatose. The religious leaders of the elves have came to the conclusion that is it human spellcasting that is the root cause (Khador having their god of winter prisoner for experimentation isn't helping relations any). Gameplay wise they have elements that mix from various factions and end up with a very interesting style. Their warjacks are called Myrmidons and unlike the steam belching macines of man they run by tapping into the ether of sorts. They end up having force fields which can be recharged (and while active act as guns and a multitude of other neat effects) and have sort of a "crunchy outside, soft inside" sort of feel when damaging them.

Pros: Amazing units, solid warjacks with a variety of utility, some absolutely outstanding solos both for support and killing potential and threat range, and units that have the ability to target you without having to see you.
Cons: They have a hard time handling stealth-heavy armies, and their warjacks have only middling stats and can be relatively easy to kill. So far, they don't have any serious board-control casters, and they don't have any epic casters yet.

Convergence of Cyriss

Let None Imperil the Great Work!

Or

Do You Like Giant Robots?

The Convergence of Cyriss are the lastest faction to hit Warmachine. A faction made up of cerebral tinkerers and devoted tech-priests; their members follow the celestial goddess Cyriss and seek to bring her to Caen by making the world into a techno-paradise. There armies are of the smallest among Immoren, though don�t let that fool you. Their soldiers and vectors are equal to any of the standing Iron Kingdoms forces. After two hundred years of planning, the time has come to tune to the world to technological perfection.

Cyriss combines utility and synergy. Each piece is best used when working in concert with each other, much like a clock. Layering your offense and defense is key in this faction. Well though out plans will decimate your opponent. Sloppy ones will only see your army picked apart and the clock shattered.

Cyriss is one of the most warjack friendly factions around due to their special rules of Induction. Cyriss players can use the Induction node to pass on one focus from one jack to another as long as they are within range. This allows for unprecedented focus efficiency as you can run your jacks on one focus in a round, leaving you to fling spells and crush your opponent. Cyriss warjacks have one last special note about them.

Vectors, the Cyriss warjacks, lack conventional cortexes. As such they do no have their own MAT or RAT score and actually use their warcaster�s abilities. This means that choosing your battlegroup is incredibly important, as you don�t want to put a ranged jack with a low RAT caster. All the warcasters also have a special ability called Field Marshal. Each one is unique to the caster and gives the battlegroup a special ability. These include healing every round, teleporting around the board, or even counter charging your opponent and making them regret attacking you.

Pros: Fantastic jacks and colossal, focus efficient and wide variety of infantry. Warcasters give out special abilities to their battlegroup and each one is very well built. Great in faction synergy and has quite a few tricks for zone control. They can kill single wound infantry with the new Puncture rule very easily. Their combat infantry are all Constructs and thus are immune to a lot of rules. They have one officer that works will all infantry groups and has a sweet mini-feat.

Cons: Half the warjacks are slow and thus will lag your army down. Most units and some warcasters do not have immediate access to magic weapons and rely on a support unit to give it out. Take out the faction�s support and they quickly start to crumble. The universal officer is a living model and very vulnerable. They have limited to no ability to negate knockdowns, slams or pushes. The faction only has one caster with Purification and no other way to remove spells.

Hordes Factions!

The Legion of Everblight!

In the mountains of northern Immoren, one of Toruk's draconic spawn, Everblight, has built a blighted army from the ruins of Nyss society. Guided by warlocks empowered and mutated by shards of his athanc, the whole of the former nation has been transformed into a tool for the dragon's machinations.

Built around first strike capability, hitting hard, breaking game rules with eyeless sight and pathfinder (or better), and strong denial, Legion is a viciously powerful Hordes faction. Their warbeasts tend to be fast, strong, and feature powerfully synergistic animi, and they're the only faction in the game with small-based lesser warbeasts. Their support solos are outstanding, providing the faction with enough fury mitigation to run extremely beast-heavy lists with little to no problem. Their warlocks are some of the strongest in the game, and focus on doing delightfully unfair things like making your units untargetable by melee for a round, fully healing every warbeast in your battlegroup for a trivial health cost, and burying your opponent under a hail of extra ranged or melee attacks.

Pros: Viciously fast and strong warbeasts, strong fury mitigation that allows you to run a lot of those warbeasts, a solid array of warlocks to account for nearly any situation, Eyeless Sight is basically rules-endorsed cheating.
Cons: Infantry looks weak in comparison to the strength of Legion's warbeasts, relatively low unbuffed ARM faction-wide, support solos are easily killed, people will give you heaps of poo poo for playing a faction that gets to ignore so many rules.

The Skorne Empire!

The rising power to the east, the Skorne Empire has grown from a collection of harsh, godless desert nomads...to a harsh, godless imperial force that is threatening all of Immoren with its expansion. Skorne have a caste-like culture of ancestor worship, and practice morthieurgy, which is magic fueled by the powers of their ancestors, blood sacrifices and soul consumption. The Skorne Empire was briefly led by a human (Vinter), whom the Skorne mistook as a reborn ancient. However, he was overthrown when Archdomina Makeda realized the empire was being used by a despot. She now leads the Skorne to further greatness, invading the west and pushing their boundaries further. Skorne embody war with a melee-centric honor code, but under Vinter they modernized and now consider ranged elements worthy of using.

Pros: Skorne beasts and infantry (especially beasts) are melee powerhouses. They also possess the most "after the fact" mobility, where they gain extra moves after attacks/etc. The faction has a mix of caster play-styles, but most armies revolve around a very strong melee element.

Cons: A lack of board control, and a weakness to a gun-heavy enemy or an enemy that can slow down the advances of the skorne army. No casters that bring any real board control spells or feats.

The Circle of Orboros!

Based in the forests and other wilds of Immoren, the Circle Orboros is a group of druids and their followers devoted to keeping the Devourer Wurm from waking up and destroying the world. Unfortunately, civilization is like an annoying alarm clock where that deity is concerned, so they spend most of their time engaging in eco-terrorism.

Circle has two sets of warbeasts, the mixture of which defines your playstyle: elemental constructs like the Woldwarden are slower-moving but tougher, with a strong inclination towards producing and preventing magical effcts; living beasts like the Warpwolves, Satyr and Gorax are fast-moving and hard-hitting, but fragile in comparison to their rocky compatriots. Circle's warlocks all tend to exhibit some forms of board control and movement acceleration or trickery, allowing for threats to come at your opponent from unexpected angles or distances. Circle's infantry is exceptionally fragile, though much of it is stealthy and can do quite some damage when left ignored.

Pros: Absurd threat ranges, Geomancy (certain warbeasts can cast their Warlocks spells), numerous options for devastating enemy infantry, teleportation shenanigans, strong warlocks.
Cons: Overall fragile, generally bad at attrition, sheer amount of movement tricks creates a high learning curve, crappy infantry.

loving Trollbloods yeah! :black101:

Trolls are basically the scottish native americans of Immoren. They have a tribal culture based on Kriels, they wear tartans, and Steampunk America (Cygnar) hosed them over and reneged on some contracts, screwing them out of their land and killing a bunch of them. Now the 7 foot tall, hyper regenerating, rock-eating and lightning-making GBS threads bad-asses are out to kick the faces off of anyone who looks at them wrong.

I was going to c/p more to the troll intro but I have to give Postersen credit, here

J Bjelke-Postersen posted:

Trolls have always got the short end of the stick, being robbed of their land and screwed over time and again by the warring human nations... and the Circle, and I guess Cryx... pretty much every bastard that ever walked Immoren has done something lovely to the trolls at some stage really. It�s a pretty sad story with much pain and many tears, but forget all that poo poo, it is go time for the trolls and woe betide every tasty pink snack that gets in the way. Huge Dire Trolls from the depths of the wilds with mits the size of a medium sedan are coming for you. Cute as a button Pygmie trolls cheer up their bigger comrades by loving up all and sundry with ~~elephant~~ tyrannosaurus guns. Ranks of trollkin comprised of noble warriors, gatling gun wielding commandos and dudes that throw stone cabers at people gather to the united kriels under the watch of Chief Madrak Ironhide. Madrak being a dude with an axe so large it will eventually blow up the universe. Literally, it will blow up the universe and everything in it. These guys aren�t loving around.

Trolls have a seemingly simple play style: be stronger, harder and more violent that the other guy. To accomplish this, Trolls come with arguably the best buffs and support solos in the game at the expense of fury management and base mobility. Really though, who gives a gently caress about fury management and mobility when I can belt seven shades of poo poo out of everything on the planet! Trolls will rarely nix the opponent with debuffs (bar a couple of the more shifty Warlocks), but their combined buffs and simple, yet blindingly good synergies more than make up for any bullshit tricks from weak pathetic factions like Cryx and Legion who would rather cast pissy magic spells than lodge axes in brains and drink booze like the greatest faction in all of Hordes, Warmachine and anything else you care to mention.

Pros: Everyone is Tough (making them very hard to put down due to their natural regenerative abilities), just about all of their infantry is medium based, high fury on their heavy hitting beasts, as well as some awesome armor buffs and some of the best units out of all of the Hordes factions.

Cons: Significantly less fury managemant than the rest of the hordes factions, relatively low threat ranges with a few exceptions, not much long ranged presence with high power.

Minions!

Minions are the hired muscle for the factions of Hordes, offering flexibility and variety to any faction. However they can also band together to form two mini autonomous and unique mini factions, The Blindwater Congregation and the Thornfall Alliance. Neither of these are full factions, and aren't quite as powerful. The Blindwater Congregation is the better of the two, but if you're playing these, it's probably for fun, not to win tournaments.

The Blindwater Congregation

A vast horde of Gatormen and their allies and subjects. These usually warring Gators have been coerced, forced, and bribed into forming a grand army by the venerable Gatorman bokor, Bloody Barnabas, and his warlock allies Calaban the Grave Walker and Maelok the Dreadbound. Barnabas is the oldest Gatorman alive and seeks to ascend to godhood before he dies of old age. He pushes his army onwards to consume the world in battle so he may fall in glory at the pinnacle of slaughter, transforming him into a god greater than even the Gator god Kossk. Gators make up for their simplistic technology with sheer predatory savagery and ancient voodoo magic. They have little ranged ability, but make up for it when they manage to charge into melee. Their Gatormen Posse, arguably the best infantry in the game, has a long threat range, high durability and two high power attacks. They also have a good selection of lesser races such as Bog Trogs and Croak Hunters to round out the army. But overall the pact is lacking choices, the three Warlocks differing play-styles help abate this, but there just isn't enough list variation to make them truly competitive.

Pros: Horrendously durable, massacre in melee, excel against living models, lots of interesting tricks, goddamn voodoo alligator men.
Cons: Almost no Ranged, Low model counts, little variation, trouble breaking high armour, hate undead/robots.

The Thornfall Alliance

The Golden Horde... of pigs. The warring pig-like farrow have been banded together under the rule of the mightiest Farrow Chieftain ever, Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction, Esquire III, in an attempt to carve himself a kingdom from the lands of western Immoren and proclaim himself a true king. With the help of the mad human genius, Dr. Arkadius, he's put together a massive fighting force composed of Farrow and mutated Frankenstein Boars. Outfitted with salvaged 'Jack parts these monstrosities crush anything in their path with axe, tusk and claw while the smaller Farrow dig in and shoot the enemy apart with Pig-Iron rifles and Razorback Missiles. The Alliance relies on a "me smash" mentality, offering little strategy except break the opponent apart with waves of Pigs and their awesome melee Warbeasts. They can destroy almost anything (have a unit who can easily get 5d6 damage on the charge) but are squishy as hell. They suffer even worse than Gators in variation of lists and models, and lack the cool special rules the Gators have. So really they're a one trick... pig.

Pros: Good mix of range and melee power, break armour over their knees, Awesome Beasts, cool as gently caress.

Cons: Squishy, little to no variation, no real special or interesting tricks, pretty slow, not very accurate

Other Useful Stuff
I cannot recommend watching these two videos enough. It's a battle report between two very good players, although some of the lists are a bit outdated. It's still a very good tool for understanding the ebb and flow of the game and the basic mechanics.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SicoDndVdY0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqMz8NipKbw

For making and sharing army lists, I recommend Forward Kommander. However, as War Room is PP's official army list creator and it's very cheap to pick up the full card sets for each army, a lot of people end up using that instead.

For new players looking on expanding their Battlegroup boxes into full fledged 50 point armies, there is a great resource for progressively doing so here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k79oIW9jL2NlGioaW-WhJe17GgxIJe8Ay7EkGcGrT68/edit#gid=2091701390

Here's some sweet podcasts that the guys around here like to listen to:

http://www.focusandfury.com
http://gutsngears.libsyn.com/
http://museonminis.com/
http://losthemisphere.com/blog/
http://www.theprimegeneration.com/
https://www.chain-attack.com

Also, new players: make sure to check out Battle College! It doesn't get updated quite as much as I'd like but it'll give you a good overview of every piece in the game, and what their abilities, spells, and synergies are. e: Okay, Battle College kind of sucks as a tool for learning the game. But as a tool for looking up what something is/does, it's still pretty useful.

S.J. fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Apr 26, 2016

Adbot · # ? Apr 24, 2024 23:46

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 00:38

Welcome to the Own Zone, Population: You :siren:

Occasionally, one of our fine forums members will write up a more lengthy and detailed how-to of a faction. That will get copy/pasted here for new players. This will be updated as most stuff becomes available.

:siren:

I would suggest checking out this guys YouTube channel periodically. He takes footage of a bunch of rounds at various events and they're super fun/useful to watch and ask questions about!

Protectorate of Menoth

Feeple posted:

Here's a brief Protectorate overview on warcasters!

Protectorate:

The Protectorate of Menoth is faction that emphasizes support and syngery pieces along with a strong denial element. I'll try to go over the warcasters in this post.

Kreoss1

Your battlebox caster, and like all the original battlebox casters, very solid, even to advanced play. Defender's Ward, Purification, and Lamentation make him very capable to remove some vital tools for casters, and his feat can spell the end of the game for many unaware players. His SPD and defensive attributes are typically his weakest points, so do not toss him out there thinking he'll be safe.

Kreoss2

Often seen with his Theme Force, Kreoss2 favor taking the fight head on, rather than enabling the army around him. His feat is one of the best feats for aggression, and his Theme Force can really pour on the hate.

Kreoss3

Relatively new, this version has Kreoss on a horse, and is focused much more towards spellwork and taking Vengers. Warjacks, as always, are welcome with any version of Kreoss, but moreso in this incarnation.

The High Reclaimer

Often discarded due to his low FOC stat and lack of efficiency, there is still plenty to love about him. Many spells and abilities can bring models back, but few do so with full hit points, like his feat does. Exemplar Bastions are quite exploitable in this.

Testament of Menoth

Definitely underrated, as his feat is on par with what Asphyixous2's was pre-nerf, but Testament's other shortcomings are a bit more obvious. Vengers on the feat can and will destroy your back line with nary a thought.

Severius1

Keep him secret. Keep him safe. One of the weaker Warcasters physically, Severius compensates by having Defender's Ward, a great light Jack Arc Node, Eye of Menoth, and Vision. He can make everything better with the eye, but you have to be careful, as most things will severely put the hurt on him.

Severius2

A more wily and crafty version, Severius 2 can grants a poor man's Eyeless Sight to his Battlegroup, allowing Reckoners to blast your caster way back from downtown. Bonding the Judicator to him is also a solid move, as his bond essentially grants Vision to the big thing, which is critical against those turns where big'un and big'un go toe to toe.

Feora1

Feora loves fire. More than you, and maybe more than herself. Feora is about setting the chaff on fire, and then Engine of Destruction up and kill whatever shrugged it off.

Feora2

Loves Fire, but it's a bit different. She prefers to let her army do the work, only exposing herself if she must. Don't be afraid to drop Escort and charge in, though, as she can definitely still get work done. Another popular bond for Judicator.

Reznik

Bigger, angrier Feora1, but replace love of Fire with hate of spells. I don't have much experience with him.

Harbinger

One of the more frustrating caster to bring to the table, Harbinger is a denial machine, and so long as you can keep her safe from ranged, she's fairly survivable with 10 FOC and an effective +2 DEF in melee. She lacks a damage buff, but she brings so much to the table already, it's barely missed.

Vindictus

Amusingly, originally hated when he came out, Vindictus has really come into his own. His Theme Force puts almost everything into AD. Another Defender's Ward caster, and True Path can make for some really big threat ranges.

Amon

Amon sounds like the "Jack Caster" of the bunch, and he's really good with jacks, but truth be told you don't want to spam Heavies with him. He is typically best with a large amount of Lights with 1-2 heavies to clean up with. Anything with multiple attacks works well.

Thyra

Thyra plays an odd cat-and-mouse game, needing an arc node to put Pursuit out there, but is someone who wants to end the game attacking. Guardians are ideal here. Occultation in the Protectorate is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Cryx

AttackBacon posted:

TIME FOR ATTACKBACON'S "SO YOU WANT TO BE A MECHA-SKULLOMANCER?" WHAT TO BUY WITH CRYX LIST.

Cryx is a great faction to start out with as long as you can accept one core concept: the power of Cryx lies in its Warcasters and its infantry. If you want to have a bunch of big stompy robots and you will accept no substitutes, Cryx isn't the faction to start with. Cryx can run that list, but it's with specific casters, with a pretty specific list, and it takes a bit of experience to pull off well. So if you can deal with that, let's start with some ground rules:

-Ignore theme lists until you have played 10+ games and bought at least 50pts of models. Theme lists can be great, but they are restrictive. Worst of all, they cause you to buy lots of one type of model that you will then ONLY use in that specific theme list. This SUCKS when starting out.

-Think about whether you are a hobbyist first, a gamer first, and whether you want to play more competitively or more for fun. This will have a big effect on your early purchases. The rules in Warmachine and Hordes are tight enough that there are very few "trap" units and models, but that doesn't mean every model is made equal. If you are more competitive, do your research and focus on building up a force of strong models and units before branching out into the fun stuff. If you are more focused on the hobby and just playing for fun, feel free to go wild. However, I STILL recommend paying some attention to how to build a good list. Your for fun games will be a lot more fun with a list that has a little thought put in.

-Remember that Hordes and Warmachine are absolutely 100% compatible. However, they do have some fundamental differences that can catch you off guard. If your wallet can stand it, I really recommend picking up a tiny force from whatever Hordes faction appeals to you, purely to learn the rules with. I started with both Skorne and Cryx right off the bat, and I feel my game improved exponentially faster because of it. It's also a great change of pace.

-pDenny, Epic Skarre, Asphyxious3. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? In Warmachine and Hordes the story is advanced fairly constantly. This is reflected in the Warcasters (and Warlocks for Hordes) changing as the story progresses. These "epic" casters, so named because of the book they were first introduced in, are NOT necessarily any more powerful than their "prime" (book again) incarnations. They are simply different. Now of course sometimes the epic variant or the prime variant will be more powerful, but that is purely based on the meta-game and no caster gains power due to the fluff. Think of them more as completely different casters rather than an upgraded version. The usual nomenclature has historically been pWarcaster, eWarcaster, but as new 3rd generation incarnations of casters are starting to show up, people are making a transition to the Warcaster1, Warcaster2, Warcaster3 method of identifying them.

OKAY! Now that we've covered general "getting into Warmahordes" stuff, let's talk MECHA-SKULLOMANCY. I'm gonna do a breakdown of the broad consensus on Cryx stuff (with a couple of my own thoughts thrown in), with a focus on starting out with the faction.

Warcasters
Cryx Warcasters are really good. Their worst casters, the two Goreshades and Venethrax, are still pretty average. Cryx casters tend to find a lot of their strength in their Feat and their spell list. This is amplified by their generally high focus stat (7 being the faction average) and the fact that their faction has arguably the best (and certainly the cheapest) access to arc-nodes, which allow you to cast much more safely and with increased threat ranges. Here are the Cryx casters I would recommend looking at to start with:

1. War Witch Deneghra (Denny1): First by dint of being the battlebox caster, Denny1 is an absolute monster. She can be a little finicky to play, as she will die to a stiff breeze, but her above average DEF score and Stealth are pretty good defenses to fall back on. Her real defense is found in her offense however. With arguably the BEST spell list in the game and a feat that matches it in every way, she just terrorizes your opponents. Denny1 makes her units amazing by way of making your opponents stuff crap. If she has one flaw as a starting caster, it's that she is SO GOOD that she is kind of unfair vs the rest of the battlebox casters. If you are playing with other new players I really recommend picking up another caster right away as she is just brutal to learn the game against.

2. Iron Lich Asphyxious (Gaspy1): My number one pick for starting out with Cryx. Sure he doesn't come in the battle-box, but get him anyways. He is incredibly forgiving of mistakes on your end while not being utterly soul crushing (DENEGHRAAAAAA) to play against. He's also a blast to play. Able to finish the game out himself, he's a threat at range with his brutal spell list as well as a threat up close with sustained attack on a pretty beefy reach weapon. He has a solid feat that has a ton of uses, great statline, great spell list, and the ability to make almost anything in Cryx good. Get him!

3. Skarre, the Pirate Queen (Skarre1): The final member of Cryx's Prime Trinity. Even more than Gaspy1, Skarre just makes your stuff good. A ball-breaker of a feat coupled with one of the best spells in the game (Dark Guidance) makes her just fun to play. Like Gaspy1 and Denny1, she can run anything in Cryx and make it good. She has a really good gimmick with Ritual Sacrifice (protip: take a Scarlock Thrall, cast this EVERY ROUND) which lets her sling spells much more than her FOC 6 would suggest. She is also great for learning how to keep your caster safe, as she lacks Denny1 and Gaspy1's defensive tricks (Stealth and Teleport), not to mention she hurts herself with her feat. That being said, if the need arises she can get it done in melee and Ritual Sacrifice allows her to camp quite a bit of Focus if she needs too.

After those three, any of which is a great starting point, almost everyone else in Cryx is a solid pick up. The Epic forms of all three of the previous casters are all probably in the Top 10 casters in the game, but tend to be need more tailored lists and be a bit more technical to play. Other casters of note are Terminus, with his DRAMATICALLY differing play-style from anyone else in Cryx, Mortenebra, whose Theme-list is what you will be using if you want lots of robot monstrosities, and Witch Coven, possibly the most unique Warcaster in the game, which is ironic as there are three of them. Casters to be cautious around are both the Goreshades, who suffer from being slightly gimmicky mid-line casters that don't really have the tools that the rest of the cast has, and Venethrax, who suffers from probably the worst feat in the faction as well as being overly matchup dependent (he's good vs Hordes but really suffers vs Warmachine).

AttackBacon posted:

IT'S CRYX TIME (Again)

Sorry took me a while to pull this together, got busy and then scrapped the first version cause I didn't like it. In this post I'm going to cover Cryx jacks and do a basic purchasing guide for Cryx (similar to what I did with Skorne). So let's get to it!

As I covered in my previous post, the core of Cryx is its casters and its infantry. That being said, let's talk about Cryx jacks and their place in a list. Unlike some other factions, Cryx doesn't rely on using its jacks to create "piece trades". Thanks to our ability to create incredible damage swings through buffs and debuffs, Cryx can generally use anything to kill anything. Instead, Cryx uses it's jacks to provide utility and attack vectors that our melee oriented infantry cannot accomplish. Cryx jacks come in two general varieties, Bonejacks (the lil ones) and Helljacks (the big ones). Bonejacks are typically brought for their utility, most often for the Arc Node ability. Since so much of Cryx's power lies in our warcasters spell list, Arc Node is an incredible ability for Cryx. Bonejacks like the Nightwretch and Deathripper allow Cryx to put spells where they need to be without risking anything other than a decently hard to kill 4 points. In the majority of Cryx lists, you will be taking one or two Bonejacks for this reason. There are also a few more specialist pieces (Helldiver, Scavenger, Stalker) that find their use in creating very difficult to predict threat vectors on key enemy pieces.

On the other hand we have Helljacks. Since Cryx doesn't typically rely on heavies for killing power, Helljacks tend to perform more specialist roles in the faction. Due to this, most Cryx lists will end up taking a Character Helljack over a regular one. What Cryx wants in a Helljack is something that provides unique utility or threat angles, not raw killing power. Thus jacks like Nightmare and Malice (or even a humble Reaper) are quite good. The other side of the Helljack coin are the crabjacks (Leviathan, Harrower, Desecrator). These are specialists for Cryx in that they provide a ranged threat that the faction has difficulty finding elsewhere. Final mention must be made of the Deathjack, which is Cryx's all-star. DJ provides damage and utility in one menacing package and is often a solid pickup, provided you can protect it.

Alright, let's change gears a bit and bring this back to starting out in Cryx. So we know Cryx infantry is good, Cryx casters are good, and Cryx jacks have specialist roles. Sounds like everything is good, so how do we know what to start buying? Here is a list of what I consider the Cryx "essentials" followed by some thoughts on how to branch out.

Casters
-Covered in my previous post. Get Asphyxious1, Deneghra1, Skarre1, branch out from there.

Jacks
-Deathripper: Great utility piece, comes in the battlebox. Almost every Cryx caster wants an Arc Node or two and this is the cheapest. Can put out some pretty significant damage in a pinch, especially when you don't have to boost to hit (Deneghra).

-Nightwretch: Deathrippers ranged twin, trades clutch damage output for threat range and a little bit of attrition help. Don't rely on its gun but handy to have.

-Reaper: A lot of Cryx's heavy hitting infantry (Banes, McThralls) are slow. The Reaper gives you a great way of increasing your threat range, via bringing the enemy to you. Malice is basically better in every way if you can afford it.

-Slayer: Don't rely on it to tank any amount of damage, but if you are focused on less punchy infantry (Satyxis) a Slayer is a good way of getting some armor cracking.

-Leviathan: Gives you some ranged punch and can provide a nice place to hide your caster as well.

Infantry
-Mechanithralls: Really solid. Has two main ways of being taken. The max unit with a Necrosurgeon or two, or a couple min units with some Brute Thralls. Packs surprising punch especially with casters that make them hit (Denny/Skarre). Brute Thralls are great places to hide casters and great at tanking shots and punishing people if they live.

-Bane Thralls: The most complained about infantry in the game. Always take them with the UA. Both min and max units have their places. Dark Shroud is an incredible ability that allows for some of the most hilarious damage swings in the game. Excellent on casters with Excarnate. Really like Tartarus. Biggest downside is their threat range, can be mitigated with things like Ghost Walk or a Reaper.

-Satyxis Raiders: Best jam unit in the game. Take them with their UA and their assistant Solo, the Raider Captain. Advance Deploy them then shove them down the enemies throats. Powerswell, 2 attacks each, immune to blast, high def, reach, super fast, these girls have it all.

-Satyxis Blood Witches: One of the best toolkit infantry in the game. Again, UA is a must. Stealth, high Def, two attacks, magical weapons, great special abilities. A great answer to armies like Trolls that want to attrition you with infantry.

-Blight Thralls: The reason Cryx wins the infantry game. Their special ability should just read "I hope your oppenent brought some guns". If even one gets through and purges he can make back the whole units points and more. Advanced tricks with Excarnate allow for some ludicrous threat ranged on the purge. Also don't forget their guns.

-Withershadow Combine: Incredible character unit. Great special abilities, decent nukes, high melee damage vs jacks. If you get Dark Industries off that can be the game right there. Very solid, tons of utility, finds a place into many lists.

Solos
-Skarlock Thrall: Nearly an auto-include. Gives you a free spell every turn, which is amazing in Cryx. Let's you cover a lot of ground with your buffs and debuffs as well, allowing you to keep your caster back. Can also snag souls.

-Warwitch Siren: Arguably the best 2 points in the game. Does it all. Magical spray, Power Swell so you don't have to spend focus making your Arc Nodes run, Seduction, and Shadowbind with a reach weapon (aww too bad about that mauler, would be nice if he could move). Get 2.

-Pistol Wraith: Double up on these as well. Great for removing key enemy pieces. Great for freezing enemy heavies, great for holding objectives with Incorporeal. Just great all around.

-Bane Lord Tartarus: Turns your banes up to 11. Is also a terror himself. Typically so much will be focused on killing him that you will be able to get other stuff in there. If he gets one good thresher off it can often be the end of the game. One of the strongest solos in
the game.

-Satyxis Raider Captain: An auto-include if you are taking the raiders. A great infantry killer in her own right, makes them do everything they do better.

After that there are a lot of great ways to branch out. Pretty much all of our character jacks are good. Deathjack is incredible but has a huge target on his head. Bane Knights and Bloodgorgers are very solid. Ghost Raiders, Soulhunters, Darraghe Wrathe, all good. Be cautious with the Cephalyx and the Revenants. Battle Engine and Colossal are good but situational and need to have lists built around them. Have fun!

Skorne

AttackBacon posted:

YOU GOT SKORNE QUESTIONS I GOT SKORNE ANSWERS.

Caster-wise, Skorne has a pretty flat power curve. There aren't any Deneghra's/Haley's but there aren't really any Zerkova's either. The worst caster right now by far is Morghoul2, and a lot of that is just issues with melee assassin casters (They have to get up the field and threaten to do their job but they just die too easily) rather than Morghoul himself. Here's a quick breakdown of the casters:

Hexeris1(Below Average): On the weaker end of the spectrum. Has some great upkeeps but a really niche feat that is hard to maximize. He is fairly tough himself and having access to arc nodes allows him to play a bit safer. Take him against Banes and KE and laugh all the way to the bank.

Hexeris2(Above Average): A powerhouse, definitely one of our top 3. Enables the newly emerging Skorne ranged game more than anyone else. Amazing spell list, solid feat, and great special abilities. Has a more limited (but free) arc node and brings incredible anti-infantry hate. Synergizes amazingly with our new toys, Mammoth and Incindiarii.

Makeda1(Above Average): The Makedas both have one defining feature and that is SPEED. Makeda1 focuses a little more on infantry, with the ability to get shield-walled Cetrati up the field at Mach 5. She can still provide a bananas Molik missile however, and if necessary has been known to put the kids to bed herself. Great synergy with our stronger infantry (cetrati and nihilators especially) and loves Molik.

Makeda2(Above Average): The Speed Queen herself, Makeda2 can put Molik on a poor unsuspecting caster from farther out than anyone else. Road to War is just one of the best spells in the game given Skorne's love of in-your-face play. She shifts a little more towards the beast end of the list spectrum when compared to her previous form. Still likes having a full unit or two of infantry on the table. A top tier statline, Stay Death, her Feat, and Skornes decent defensive tech also let her play aggressively (an asset in SR2013) and with Engine of Destruction she can turn herself into a melee monster.

Gotta run for now but I'll do write-ups for the rest of the pack later today, as well as talk about the rest of the stuff in the faction.

AttackBacon posted:

Alrighty it's SKORNE TIME (again).

Morghoul1(Above Average): Skorne's premier beast caster. Wants heavies and lots of them. Abuse + Paingivers + Rush on a Bronzeback is basically as broken as this game gets. Take some Nihilators to screen Morg and bring a herd of Titans. Don't be afraid to have Morghoul clean up some single wound infantry if the opportunity arises. Special mention to the Cyclops Brute's Animus keeping him from being knocked-down and annihilated.

Morghoul2 (Below Average): Suffers from being a melee assassin caster (see Thyra, Gareth, Grayle)), an archetype that is just overly risky in this game. The problem is your gameplan forces you to put Morghoul up the field and even if you survive you are gambling that you will be able to get the job done. It's an all-or-nothing playstyle. That being said Morg2 has some interesting tricks and can be quite fun to play, he just doesn't have the tools to be really competitive.

Xerxis (Above Average): Our brick caster. With Defenders Ward, Battle Plan, and Martial Discipline, he makes Cataphracts (and infantry in general) terrifying. The classic style is a pair of Cetrati units, the Kreia, and an Agonizer, advancing up the field at ARM 1 Billion Defense Disgusting and saying "come at me". His feat allows his force to kill anything (ANYTHING, I've finished off heavies with Furied+Feated Paingivers) and it gives his brick even more armor. He also is a melee monster himself, able to deal and take a ton of punishment. Biggest issue is Fury 5 and his force is generally pretty slow.

Zaal (Above Average): A great backline caster. Zaal is a balancing act. His feat has some of the highest damage potential of anything in the game, but requires you to balance having enough things dead for tokens with having enough stuff alive to use them. Last Stand is absolute insanity but it can't be used willy-nilly since it kills whatever it's on. He loves Ancestral Guardians and Immortals but needs living infantry for souls. If you get the balance right Zaal will absolutely crush but he takes a bit of practice.

Mordikaar (Average): A solid caster, but tricky to use. He wants a lot of bodies on the field to get him souls and give him Essence Blast targets. He likes beasts with good threat ranges, Ghostly is a monstrous ability in Skorne, especially since we can give things Eyeless Sight as well (thought you were safe behind that house? TOO BAD, IT'S MOLIK TIME). Not a powerhouse himself, he does good things for infantry (especially higher DEF infantry) and has a unique toolkit.

Rasheth (Average): Another really interesting caster. Bereft of any attacks whatsoever, he relies entirely on his list and his spells. You need to learn how to keep him safe, but after that he can do some really mean stuff. He's capable of a +2 Mat -4 Arm swing all by himself, meaning any of your stuff can kill any of their stuff. He also has a lot of focus in that fat body of his, along with a spell list and arcing ability that justifies flinging it around. Special mention must be made of his two Theme Forces, which are probably the two best in the faction. They allow for really nasty skew lists and are some of the few theme lists that are recommended.

Naaresh (Average): Our second beast oriented caster, Naaresh is a lot of fun. He makes beasts truly terrifying under his feat, and has a really fun gimmick list that involves ALL THE CYCLOPS SAVAGES. ALL OF THEM. He also lets us experience the joys of Iron Flesh, which when put on a unit as solid as Nihilators with a Kreia standing in the middle of them is really nasty. He plays a more drawn out style of game than Morghoul, using his Feat and Iron Flesh to make it difficult for you to trade points with him evenly. After he wears you down enough he powers up under the paingivers lash and becomes capable of ending the game himself.

So that's Skorne casters in a nutshell. The all-stars are Hexeris2, both Makedas, Zaal, Morghoul1, and Xerxis, but there isn't really a bad caster in there. Even Morghoul2 has his strengths and can win games.

I just want to briefly mention what I consider the Skorne "essentials". These are pieces that just work every time. I really recommend picking them up and using their strengths to learn the faction before branching out into our other stuff (a lot of which is really good, just more finicky).

-Titan Gladiator: Rush is an ESSENTIAL animus for Skorne, and the Titan chassis is probably the best heavy beast stat line there is.
-Bronzeback Titan: The premier beatstick in the game. Nothing compares when it comes to damage per point spent, not even Mulg. Just incredible, buy 2 (not even joking).
-Basilisk Kreia: One of the best animi in the game, on a cheap light with good synergy with the Drake and an interesting ranged attack.
-Cyclops Shaman: Solid animus, amazing utility abilities, great gun, reach magic weapon. An absolute toolbox who will hang out with your caster and be the best fury battery and toolkit you could ask for.
-Paingiver Beast Handlers: Absolutely incredible. Makes our beasts essentially Fury 5 (bronzebacks Fury 6) when it matters. Amazing support pieces, amazing utility, and when it comes down to it they have reach and anatomical precision. I've had them save many a caster with a free strike on that last charging infantry, and some of our casters are capable of such immense damage swings that the paingivers can put out quite a bit of hurt themselves.
-Nihilators: In the running for best 5/8 infantry in the game. Reach, good pow, good mat, good def, good arm, Tough, Berserk, Fearless. They do everything you want and are just solid in every single list.

There's tons more good stuff in the faction, but I think those are the ones that deserve special emphasis. Aside from that, Skorne has a lot more great beasts (not to mention AMAZING character beasts), plenty of solid infantry, and some amazing solos. By far my favorite faction, and it's only going to get better.

Retribution of Scryah

AttackBacon posted:

RET STUFF STARTS HERE
Retribution is a newer faction, which for a long time led to Ret players feeling like their roster was undermanned and their options were limited. That is the case...NO LONGER! With the last few books, Retribution has taken it to the next level and the faction as a whole has the depth to field multiple very different lists. However, there are a few things to keep in mind with Retribution. Retribution is a faction with solid warjacks and excellent infantry and solos. However, this excellence comes with a price. As a general rule, there is less power in the various Retribution casters themselves when compared to factions like Cryx, Khador, or Cygnar. That is NOT to say that Retribution casters are bad! Far from it! They just tend to be more supportive and less gameplay-defining. There is one notable exception to this rule however: Adeptis Rahn "Motherfucker" Shyeel. The Zinedine Zidane of Warmachine, this bald badass will turn around and put your caster IN TO THE GROUND. Anyways, back to general stuff, just keep in mind that with Retribution, comparatively more of your lists power is tied up in your force, rather than your caster.

So, what does all this have to do with starting out in Retribution? Well, I feel that with Ret, your initial purchases will have a comparatively larger impact on how you can play the faction. Let's get this out of the way first: Retribution doesn't really have a *bad* infantry unit. In fact, it barely has any average units. Almost every group of angry elves you can put on the table is above-average to great. However, some of the units in the faction are very focused, so if you buy them first, you are limiting your available playstyles. So my recommendations will be made with that in mind, but if someone comes along and says "SORRY GIRL, IMA LET YOU FINISH BUT MAGE HUNTER STRIKE FORCE IS THE BEST UNIT OF ALL TIME! OF ALL TIME!" then know that it may very well be! But it also is a hyper-focused unit that has much more limited usage against half the game (Hordes) and dies to a stiff breeze, so I'm not going to recommend it as an initial pick up. So without any more ado, here's what I think you should buy when starting Retribution and if you don't listen to me then frankly you done hosed up son.

Starter Boxes
Both the starters (The regular box and the PP Summer Sale one) are worth purchasing in my opinion. However, I would say that neither of them are necessary purchases. If you had to choose between the two, I would actually recommend the PP Summer Sale box with Vyros and two Phoenixes. The only "eh" thing included in that box is a Heavy Rifle Team and what the hell, it's an awesome model so even if yu don't use it you can have it sit there looking purdy. The Kaelyssa box is decent, but you will probably want to upgrade the Manticore to Discordia and the lights are fine but not amazing.

Casters
-Lord Arcanist Ossyan: While Kaelyssa is in the starter box, I would contend that Ossyan is actually the better Warcaster to learn with. He emphasizes the strengths of Retribution without any real gimmicks like Ravyn or even Kaelyssa. With a solid, easy to utilize feat, great gun, and a good spell list, he's just decent across the board. The one thing to be careful of with Ossyan is he can and will be killed dead if you aren't careful with him. I consider that a bit of an asset however, as it helps you learn proper positioning and camping. He's also not a total sitting duck, as he can very often afford to keep Admonition on himself and his feat protects him to some extent from shooting.

-Adeptis Rahn Shyeel: I didn't call him a motherfucker for nothing. Rahn is a power caster in every sense of the word and bucks the trend of Ret casters being largely supportive. Rahn is chiefly known for Babe-Ruth-pointing at their caster, who is casually sitting behind their entire army on the opposite board edge, then through what can only be described as "Rube Goldbergian Bullshit" Rahn will proceed to pull their caster a foot out of position and present him to your entire army, cheeks flapping in the wind. He is extremely fun to play and a great caster to learn as he has a pretty low skill floor but an exceptionally high skill ceiling, so you can just keep on getting better with him.

-Vyros, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Vyros2): While this may surprise some folks, I think Vyros2 is a good starting caster when paired with the other two. He gives you a very different style of caster that compliments them nicely. He supports a melee force quite well without abandoning the ranged game and opens you up to some fun lists. He is also a nice contrast to Rahn and Ossyan who are both fairly squishy. Vyros...is not squishy. Sporting the best base defensive statline in the game and a very respectable offensive output in melee and at range you can afford to take more risks with him than with the other two. His character 'Jack, Imperatus, is..well..Imperatus is pretty good. Yeap. Preeeetty drat good. Not that Imperatus is limited to Vyros, but four focus on Imperatus is definitely pretty fun.

Of course Retribution has plenty of other good casters, but I like those three as a good "learning stable" of casters. I am sure some other posters will be shocked I didn't recommend Ravyn, but while I think Ravyn is AWESOME and not difficult to learn, she can give you some bad habits starting out. She is known for having one of the strongest "Pop'n'Drop" gameplans in the game, wherein you Pop(your feat) and Drop(their caster) with a blistering hail of gunfire. However, while that will win you an awful lot of games against other new players, I think it's better to learn the game with casters who don't end the game on turn 2 quite so often. It's also more fun for your opponents and I'm a big advocate of not breaking your opponents balls 100% of the time (90% is ok).

Warjacks
-Phoenix: All you need, get two, we're done here.

More seriously, the Phoenix is the best non-character Warjack (or ~=Myrmidon=~ if you must be fluffy) available to Retribution. It has a solid gun, great melee output, reach, great special abilities, and an arc node. It really is everything you want in a 'Jack and there is no shame in taking two, although another strong 'Jack like Discordia or a Banshee is probably a better pickup in most cases. If you start with the Kaelyssa starter box strongly consider a Phoenix as an early purchase.

-Discordia: Normally, I wouldn't recommend a character 'Jack/Warbeast as a starting purchase, but Discordia is an anchor (good anchor not bad anchor) for Retribution. Solid stats, a great gun (that for a long time was Ret's best tool vs stealth) and an AMAZING imprint. He let's you win the shooting game and is a solid heavy. I definitely recommend upgrading Kaelyssa's Manticore to Discordia (they use the same base pieces, Discordia is just an "upgrade kit" that swaps out some stuff and puts some shiny bits on).

After that, there's tons of options for Ret. The Ret Colossal, Hyperion, is very solid. All the character 'Jacks are good to great. The house Vyre Myrmidons (characterized by one big weapon one small weapon and a shoulder cannon) are all good and so are most of the lights. Particularly if you get Vyros2 it would definitely be worth it to pick up a pair of Griffons as they are wonderful for building up Synergy and just solid little fighting lights in general. The Banshee is probably the standout of the Vyre 'Jacks, knockdown is just good in Ret(as CaptCommy correctly pointed out), it's no slouch in melee, and Wailing is an excellent ability. Dawnguard also love to flank with them.

Infantry
-Houseguard Halberdiers (+UA): A great unit that every single one of these casters can run well. I would say they are the premier "spearman" low-cost infantry unit in the game. Surprising offensive output, great defenses for their cost, and decently quick (especially with Ossyan). They can jam well, provide some offensive punch, and screen for the rest of your army really well. Just a great unit in general, especially with the Unit Attachment.

-Dawnguard Invictors (+UA): Another really solid unit. Invictors are, for my money, the best combined arms unit in the game. They shoot well, they hit hard, and they can take a hit themselves. The UA gives them a great mini-feat (that works with snipe for when you eventually pick up Ravyn) and the very solid Combined Arms ability that makes them devastatingly accurate. Again, a very strong choice for all three casters.

-House Shyeel Battle Mages: These I have to include because I recommend Rahn. You have to get at least one unit if you get him, consider them a package deal. He really wants two units of these, which I can't advocate for any of the other casters, although both Ossyan and Vyros2 can make use of a single unit. A solid utility unit, fairly resilient against guns and with a great utility spell at range and good melee ability up close. Get turned up to 11 when you take them with Rahn.

-Starfall Archers: Your specialty range unit and they are wonderful. With Ossyan they will kill the entire world and they do just fine with the other two casters. High damage and high utility. Rat 5 is a bit of a downside but can be mitigated somewhat by aiming and completely by getting your target knocked down (Banshee or the Battle Engine are great for this). Can't recommend these guys enough, they also look supremely badass.

As I mention in the opener, Retribution doesn't really have a bad infantry unit. So from here you can go anywhere, they're all great. I think special mention must be made of the Mage Hunter Strike Force with UA however. This unit is...well it's something else. The UA gives the entire unit (a decent range, accurate, buff-ignoring, stealth+ad+pathfinder unit) Phantom Seeker. AKA "Line of sight? What's that?". They are also weapon masters vs warjacks. The Strike Force is incredibly, devastatingly powerful and dangerous, allowing you to just point and shoot at almost anything (except stealth hoho), however they do have their drawbacks. Their output is much more limited against Hordes, consigning them to more of a support killer/assassination role. They also die to a stiff breeze, so they must be protected (luckily Ret can hand out an awful lot of blast damage immunity). They are certainly one of Retributions mainstays, the only reason I don't recommend them to start with is twofold: they allow you to ignore a lot of basic gameplay mechanics which can lead to some bad habits and crutching on the MHSF and they can create a pretty negative play experience for other new players you are playing against. Similarly to why I didn't recommend Ravyn and why I recommend pDenny in Cryx with strong caveats.

Solos
-Arcanist: The humble little Arcanist is a wonderful support solo. Good repair, Power Booster (great way to save your caster some focus, especially when you are just keeping the 'Jack at range or want to run it turn 1), and Concentrated Power which turns Ret 'Jacks into a serious melee threat. Great way to fill out a point or two.

-House Shyeel Magister: Another auto-include with Rahn, the Magister is a great solo in general. With some really solid utility and respectable offense, your opponent has to respect him. Forced movement is just always fun and this guy has it in spades. Great learning piece as well, really let's you get imaginative with threat vectors.

-Dawnguard Destor Thane: Possibly the best non-character combat solo in the game. Did I mention Retribution solos are really freaking good as well? Well, they are. And the Destor Thane is one of the best. Immense ranged output on a very sturdy cavalry platform, which allows for some special rules such as Tall in the Saddle and Ride-by Attacks. A strong inclusion in any army, the Destor Thane is incredibly solid. Why not get two!

-Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (Eiryss2): Well, here she is. Eiryss has caused much wailing and lamentation over the years, and it's not any different in Ret, her natural habitat. Eiryss is a brutal solo, with the ability to strip units and warjacks of their buffs and warcasters of their defenses. She enables a lot of Retributions shenanigans at range and makes your opponents have to play very cagey with their warcasters. Remember she doesn't strip Fury, only Focus, so she's slightly less effective against Hordes, but only slightly.

As before, Retribution has quite a few excellent solos. I would certainly recommend looking into Mage Hunter Assassins (just gross) and House Shyeel Artificers (Mini-Discordias, great when paired with Mage Hunter Strike Force to keep them blast-free). These are the four I consider the strongest when starting out though.

WHEW! So, that covered pretty much everything! Keep in mind this is by no means definitive, but I think it's a pretty reasonable approach to starting out in the faction. Retribution really is fun to play, especially coming from a very melee focused (Skorne and Cryx) background like I did. They have some of the absolute best shooting in the game and they certainly aren't slouches in melee either. As I mentioned, they tend to be a little lacking in the power-caster category but Rahn more than makes up for. Issyria is another extremely strong caster but I would definitely NOT recommend her when starting out. Aside from that, go nuts and have fun!

PS. The Battle Engine (space tick) is really good too, buy that once you start playing at 50 points if it appeals to you. Pew pew!

Edited: Added in CaptCommy's excellent points.

S.J. fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Jun 28, 2014

Pierzak · Pierzak Oct 30, 2010

The OP is good for someone who already knows/plays WMH and looks for another faction, it's a bit unreadable at times for new people. What's an electro-leap and why is it important? Is Stormclad a unit, a buff or what? What's so awesome about Geomancy, is there anything or did you only point out a separate magic path?

Also, your Cryx description is lacking. :colbert:

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 00:57

Pierzak posted:

The OP is good for someone who already knows/plays WMH and looks for another faction, it's a bit unreadable at times for new people. What's an electro-leap and why is it important? Is Stormclad a unit, a buff or what? What's so awesome about Geomancy, is there anything or did you only point out a separate magic path?

Also, your Cryx description is lacking.

Yeah some of that needs to get expanded, I know. Also the Cryx description looks pretty spot on to me what's the problem?

Raiche · Raiche Oct 29, 2007

S.J. posted:

Yeah some of that needs to get expanded, I know. Also the Cryx description looks pretty spot on to me what's the problem?

Seconding how accurate that description is, but maybe it should also say "Pirates are cool" because they are.

I could get way more Khador specific, but is it accessable to newbs like that?

Corbeau · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:17

S.J. posted:

Yeah some of that needs to get expanded, I know. Also the Cryx description looks pretty spot on to me what's the problem?

Nope, I see no problem with it. And I play Cryx.

e: And then you ruined it.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:18

Corbeau posted:

Nope, I see no problem with it. And I play Cryx.

e: And then you ruined it.

Added it back in :v:

Raiche posted:

Seconding how accurate that description is, but maybe it should also say "Pirates are cool" because they are.

I could get way more Khador specific, but is it accessable to newbs like that?

You don't have to go into a ton of specifics, but if you want to add more you're welcome to. The OP isn't going to be able to give out every piece of information on a faction, just a brief overview to get people asking questions.

KuangMkV · KuangMkV Jan 25, 2003

Cygnar is an awful lot more like Steampunk medieval England than Steampunk America. Hell, they're still feudal.

Reposted as requested!

And in response...Definitely not wrong! Aside from some uniform elements inspired by Civil War era American uniforms, Cygnar has very little in common with American military aesthetics, government, ideals, or really anything.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:35

KuangMkV posted:

Cygnar is an awful lot more like Steampunk medieval England than Steampunk America. Hell, they're still feudal.

Reposted as requested!

And in response...Definitely not wrong! Aside from some uniform elements inspired by Civil War era American uniforms, Cygnar has very little in common with American military aesthetics, government, ideals, or really anything.

And the Khadoran empire is more like pre-soviet Russia than communist Russia, which doesn't have anything to do with the fact that they are an overly simplistic Steampunk USSR :v:

They don't have to be steampunk Democracy and wave red white and blue flags in order to effectively play the role of steampunk America in the setting. Other than the fact that they're fuedal, they don't share a particularly large amount of traits with the British over America.

S.J. fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Feb 11, 2012

KuangMkV · KuangMkV Jan 25, 2003

S.J. posted:

And the Khadoran empire is more like pre-soviet Russia than communist Russia, which doesn't have anything to do with the fact that they are an overly simplistic Steampunk USSR

They don't have to be steampunk Democracy and wave red white and blue flags in order to effectively play the role of steampunk America in the setting. Other than the fact that they're fuedal, they don't share a particularly large amount of traits with the British over America.

In what way are they American?

KuangMkV fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Feb 11, 2012

Corbeau · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:48

Perhaps that Cygnar revolted against their evil oppressive overlords in order to establish their own local overlords?

(Ours just happened to be entrenched with money rather than divine right.)

Really though, Khador and Cygnar really do act like WWI Russia and England more than anything else.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:50

KuangMkV posted:

In what way are they American?

How are they British, as opposed to American? They literally kicked the native ~~americans~~ trolls off of their land and reneged on their treaties. They're the most powerful and most technologically advanced nation in the world while being at war with the steampunk USSR. Nothing in this world is a slam dunk impersonation of an actual real world country. I didn't literally call them America, so this's a pretty pointless hair splitting competition.

S.J. fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Feb 11, 2012

Corbeau · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:51

S.J. posted:

How are they British, as opposed to American? They literally kicked the native ~~americans~~ trolls off of their land and reneged on their treaties. They're the most powerful and most technologically advanced nation in the world while being at war with the steampunk USSR.

Psst. There's this thing that happened called World War One. That's the analogy, not the cold war.

KuangMkV · KuangMkV Jan 25, 2003

S.J. posted:

How are they British, as opposed to American? They literally kicked the native ~~americans~~ trolls off of their land and reneged on their treaties. They're the most powerful and most technologically advanced nation in the world while being at war with the steampunk USSR.

Consider their governmental structure and its close ties to the Church of Morrow. The intertwining of these powers is very close to the historic British state's entanglement with the CoE. Most Cygnaran army structures are specifically British in reference, particularly the line troops who are aesthetically based upon WWI doughboys or earlier era riflemen. Further, they are led a landed aristocracy who purchase their commissions within the military and support their regimental forces with largely aristocratic knights.

And the British were the most technologically advanced nation in the world during the periods from which the nation and army were inspired.

I'll grant you the parallels with the Trollbloods, but obviously none of the armies in WARMACHINE are direct analogies for any real world nation. That said, I am quite sure the American influence in the design of Cygnar is nominal and highly focused.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:52

Corbeau posted:

Psst. There's this thing that happened called World War One. That's the analogy, not the cold war.

Khador are not the Germans. And I added more to my post.

Seriously, the OP says they're 'kind of like steampunk America.' How loving far did you think that went, exactly? I didn't say they're steam punk america AND HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THE BRITISH.

KuangMkV · KuangMkV Jan 25, 2003

S.J. posted:

Khador are not the Germans.

They actually do stand in for the Germans quite nicely, as well, despite being largely rooted in a Soviet aesthetic but a Tsarist culture.

Corbeau · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:54

S.J. posted:

Khador are not the Germans.

Cryx. Duh.

e:

S.J. posted:

Seriously, the OP says they're 'kind of like steampunk America.' How loving far did you think that went, exactly? I didn't say they're steam punk america AND HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THE BRITISH.

I'm killing time while procrastinating on work. Therefore I demand perfection and totality in your tiny blurbs. :colbert:

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:54

KuangMkV posted:

They actually do stand in for the Germans quite nicely, as well, despite being largely rooted in a Soviet aesthetic but a Tsarist culture.

And yet, they still aren't. Seriously, this conversation started nowhere and is going nowhere and is completely pointless.

KuangMkV · KuangMkV Jan 25, 2003

S.J. posted:

And yet, they still aren't. Seriously, this conversation started nowhere and is going nowhere and is completely pointless.

Some of us like to talk about the setting but suit yourself.

Fyrbrand · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:57

Way to gently caress up the thread with goony pedantic bullshit on the first page. :thumbsup:

great job dudes.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:58

KuangMkV posted:

Some of us like to talk about the setting but suit yourself.

PP deliberately took out all of their terrible british accents. Check and Mate. Welcome to the Own Zone: Warmachine Style :smug:

Corbeau · # ? Feb 11, 2012 01:58

This conversation clearly will enthuse everyone who reads the first page.

To all who come after: game's pretty rad. Here's why, as explained in the previous thread far better than I ever could:

TheCosmicMuffet posted:

I feel like the others didn't really sell it on the merits. 'good rules' 'good miniatures' what does any of that mean?

Yes, there's quality, here, to be sure. The kind of quality that makes you want to pillage a bodice, or pinch a buttock, just to hear the indignant gasp and get slapped. But that's not what this is really about.

It's about smaller scale engagements, but so is necromunda, or Infinity, and those cause scabbing of the package, so a gent has to be wary.

No, it's mainly down to puzzle solving, all or nothing, and the simple things.

What's the biggest problem with miniature wargames? Think about it for a second? I'll give you a hint; they are separate and incompatible. Also they are not card games, role playing games, or board games. It's kind of annoying, right?

Here we are, geeks. Some of us for arts and crafts, some of us for strategy and tactics, some of us for collecting and lore. But if we think the idea of multi-story robots destroying cities is cool, we have to buy battle tech, and some mechs, and some tanks, and find people who like hex mats like a relaxing bubble bath. Then, because we've got issues, we're going to see the super-catholics in 40k doing *their* thing and be like 'drat, I need some teutonic super soldiers'. Maybe you also like nice ladies with flame throwers. Now you have 2 armies in one system and 1 army in another. And why are you doing it?

I'll tell you why! It's because there's something gorgeous about those rows upon rows of angry pewter and plastic advancing across a 40k table *and* something satisfyingly cathartic about rolling locational base damage 6 times for a particularly large Short Range Missile barrage in battletech. And never the twain shall meet, alas.

And then there's fantasy! Let's say you're not even sold on warhammer fantasy. Maybe you like some other system that nobody's ever heard of, because you're hardcore like that. I get it, glittering spears shining in the summer sun, as hideous count draculas charge toward you defenseless townsfolk. There's just something primal and great about ye olde broes wythe swordes. But you know what those fuckers *aren't* is robots.

Ultimately, this is what all these games lack, and simultaneously draw out of us. Our blood leaks from our every pore as we try to decide *which* ruleset will have the most friends to play with, which armies per ruleset we can settle on. How many books we can buy to line a shelf before we start thinking about having a yard sale while shuffling from foot to foot like a little kid who has to pee.

WarmaHordes solves all these issues, forever.

Want robots? There's robots. There's undead robots. There's elephant gladiator organic robot-like guys that love to charge your rear end. You've got your power armored russians from an alternate past that is future to come in a strange warped land. You've got your noble jean de arc mashup with forward thinking liberal democrats who weild halberds shoot lightning. Is it technology? Is it magic? Is it a little :iamafag:? Quite possibly.

When you reach into a pile of goo that used to be your freshly painted warcaster, and realize that, most of the time, you're not playing for objectives or kill points, or fresh bunches of bananas; that games end on turn 3 most of the time, because it's about drama and mayhem, and the persistent need of all giant elephant gladiator monsters to charger your rear end; you'll know what to do. Buy a bigger robot. Or a different caster. Or some horses that take forever to assemble and won't see much use.

This is a game for people who can't stop playing these drat games. It's the last game! Every commander is a unique unit. Half your army is awesome singular figures with their own special abilities. You aren't just collecting units to fill a file, you're collecting them to have access to new rules and special abilities. That worm you just bought isn't just the first of 5 who will eat lasers and die the turn the infiltrate in front of a tank by accident; that one worm, by itself, is a motherfucker who eats armor and shits fury, and your warlock will ride him into battle like MuaDib, tuck and roll off the front of it as it devours a screening ripperjack, and drive his magic bladed fan or coal-powered fire sword right into the smug face of someone's HQ slot.

And finally, the game is all the other rules you've ever heard of, only faster, and crazy. That elephant I mentioned, who loves to charge your rear end? Well he can charge your rear end *or* he can slam your rear end, send you flying backwards several inches to be knocked down. Anybody you fly through on that trip gets hit as well. Or what about trampling your rear end? He just moves right on through; he doesn't have to stop: he's a loving elephant monster with 4 arms and giant spike studded tusks; a king of the open road. He can pick up and throw guys. Those guys can be *your* guys. Ever thought about having a dreadnought fling you emperor's champion face first as a hive tyrant? No? That's because poo poo ain't warmachine, son!

poo poo ain't Warmachine

e: I left the typos. It's almost a work of art how they somehow add to the power of that post.

Corbeau fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Feb 11, 2012

KuangMkV · KuangMkV Jan 25, 2003

S.J. posted:

PP deliberately took out all of their terrible british accents. Check and Mate. Welcome to the Own Zone: Warmachine Style

Just the cockney, we kept the clipped BBC tones for the aristos.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 02:00

Corbeau posted:

This conversation clearly will enthuse everyone who reads the first page.

To all who come after: game's pretty rad. Here's why, as explained in the previous thread far better than I ever could:

getting added to the OP

Fyrbrand · # ? Feb 11, 2012 02:07

This game owns because my bigass dire trolls can go bowling for casters using dudes from their own side, then my walock can throw a bigass cursed axe into the caster's face after they're knocked down. Also my Trolls are drunken Scottish-esque hooligans who have warbeasts that lose a limb, regenerate it, and the limb becomes a comical little whelp that lives to be entertainment and eventually food for their warbeast buddies.

Corbeau · # ? Feb 11, 2012 02:10

Yeah, most of my games are won by throwing my opponent's models around the table with my warbeasts. I don't mention it much though, because that's par for the course.

Warmahordes.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 02:11

Fyrbrand posted:

This game owns because my bigass dire trolls can go bowling for casters using dudes from their own side, then my walock can throw a bigass cursed axe into the caster's face after they're knocked down. Also my Trolls are drunken Scottish-esque hooligans who have warbeasts that lose a limb, regenerate it, and the limb becomes a comical little whelp that lives to be entertainment and eventually food for their warbeast buddies.

loving Trolls :argh:

Why do you own so hard

Oh, and the guy who won the Templecon Masters tournament, Jamie P, has been putting up reports of his games, and they're pretty rad. Check them out here!.

Corbeau · # ? Feb 11, 2012 02:17

By the way SJ, some of the formatting and the emoticon didn't come through in my original copy-past of muffet's post, and you managed to copy it again before I fixed it.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 02:20

Corbeau posted:

By the way SJ, some of the formatting and the emoticon didn't come through in my original copy-past of muffet's post, and you managed to copy it again before I fixed it.

Sweet, thanks for the heads up.

CPFinnit · CPFinnit Jun 5, 2008

Because we live an hour away from our LGS, we're starting our own Journeyman league tomorrow night at the house. Since it's just seven or eight of us we're being a little generous with the battleboxes.

I took the Troll box and replaced an Impaler with the Mauler. I still don't understand how they could build one around an infantry caster and without a heavy.

Giant Tourtiere · # ? Feb 11, 2012 02:52

Hey I don't understand why they thought you should fire up a new Circle army with not one but two Arguses but you don't question these things, you just grab the four leashes and take 'em down to the dog park.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:00

From what I understand, the Hordes battlegroups are much less well constructed than the Warmachine ones. I was kind of hoping they'd take this opportunity to change up their compositions, but

Acceptableloss · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:03

Hey SJ, this is another good podcast for the OP:

http://www.theprimegeneration.com/

gobbledygoat · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:06

Is the Skorne Battlebox any good? I love my minions but I think after I've collected most of what I want I'll want to try a real faction. Skorne is loving sweet and gross and has cool elephants so I'm automatically drawn to it.

Edit: Also what are the chances they'll release another Hordes faction to match Retribution? My dream is for the Croak Tribes to band together and find some giant crabs and frogs and poo poo :black101:

gobbledygoat fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Feb 11, 2012

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:07

gobbledygoat posted:

Is the Skorne Battlebox any good? I love my minions but I think after I've collected most of what I want I'll want to try a real faction. Skorne is loving sweet and gross and has cool elephants so I'm automatically drawn to it.

It kinda sucks that it has two Savages instead of Savage + Brute or something, but yes, the caster is good and both kinds of beasts you'll get lots of use out of.

Bellicose Buddha · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:14

So why does the trollblood battlegroup have two Imaplers and an Axer? I mean, poo poo, thems are good beasts and I use them a lot, but still, I wonder what the rational was behind it.

Paper Kaiju · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:20

gobbledygoat posted:

Is the Skorne Battlebox any good? I love my minions but I think after I've collected most of what I want I'll want to try a real faction. Skorne is loving sweet and gross and has cool elephants so I'm automatically drawn to it.

Unlike the two Arguses in the Circle box, you can actually run good lists with a pair of Savages (Zaal & Nareesh are the two that come to mind). And pMorghoul is a tournament level warlock, as well.

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:21

Bellicose Buddha posted:

So why does the trollblood battlegroup have two Imaplers and an Axer? I mean, poo poo, thems are good beasts and I use them a lot, but still, I wonder what the rational was behind it.

I dunno but the new plastic impaler looks like he's trying to take a POWER DUMP or something.

e: edited for POWER DUMP

Devlan Mud · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:30

The best part of the new ~~plastic~~ resin impalers is they couldn't even be bothered to sculpt one in a different pose.

Adbot · # ? Apr 24, 2024 23:46

S.J. · # ? Feb 11, 2012 03:31

Devlan Mud posted:

The best part of the new ~~plastic~~ resin impalers is they couldn't even be bothered to sculpt one in a different pose.

Why would they? They only have one post for the metal ones.