So this thread is old... but I am curious on anyone's more recent thoughts on the subject. Warmachine and Hordes Anyone out there play warmachine/hordes or have experience with it? Play it? I saw @NexS1 had a few models from Retribution of Scyrah, anyone else? I have read the 1d4chan and a few other articles on the various factions, their fluff, and how they play; can anyone summarize their thoughts on the factions? Strengths/weaknesses? What is good and what is just bad? Or what is fun about the factions and the game? I am curious about getting into the game and collecting a few models. I always start with what I think looks good, I am considering some undead pirate-skeletons from Cryx and an opposing force of voodoo gatormen. The gatormen could potentially double as kroxigors as well, especially if I cast a couple.
Well, I'm also playing warmachine/hordes (PoM, Circle) for 10 years roughly. I assume you have the possibility to watch/play a few games at your flgs. The game itself has a steep learning curve, so you'll get beaten the first 20ish battles for sure. The game is all about synergies, even more than aos. For your choice: Cryx are generally a little bit like glass daggers, hitting hard and difficult to be hit, but can't play the attrition game. Be aware that the gator man posse is using the hordes game mechanic vs. Cryx using the warmachine mechanic. To begin I would have a look at whac (warmachine, hordes army creator; there you'll find a lot of the stats, but maybe not too up to date). You could also invest in the minion and Cryx stay cards to begin with.
Yeah mate, i've got a bunch of retribution, and the majority of a 75 point convergence list. I much prefer the game to any GW game, as there's a lot more tactics and thought that goes into list building and tactical play. My theory is that you take the faction with the most amount of models you like the look of and build lists around them. If you like the look of Cryx then do it, but as Nefertem said, the learning curve is steep. Learning the rules and mechanics is fairly quick though, so as long as you've got a good, encouraging gaming group then you'll be fine. The way I put it to people is that your first even consists mostly of you saying "WTF? That's F'ing bullshit!", and the second one is an overcompensation from the first one, then things settle down As for the thoughts behind factions, I'm no expert (don't play most of them) but; Skorne - high output, low def. tortures elephants Trollbloods - high armour and tough. attrition like a bowse Minions - pigs, crocs and bogtrogs (and others) lots of flavour. can also be played with many other factions - effectively hordes mercenaries Legion - tricksy elfses. high def, good speed, evil dragon elves. janky Circle - warewolves are awesome. basically an army of druids. pretty cool stuff Cygnar - posterboys/girls. shooty, good at most things in general Protectorate - BURN ALL THE THINGS! also, very good defensively and has some jank Khador - high arm, low def, good output. guns guns guns. but also punches real hard. snow cones are tasty Cryx - necromancy and pointy things. they like jank, they like it so good. good debuffs. also skeletons Retribution - angry revenge elves. good tech, lots of tools. Convergence - robots and robot humies and more robots that fix other robots. strange battle group mechanic. robots. Mercs - good flavour. has a bit of everything. also pirates and hellraiseresque cephalyx. pirates.
Thanks for the advice. I have to go with what I like best, and I will probably go find some youtube channels to get an idea of how the game works, and eventually watch some at a local store when I get the chance. I am thinking to start out with the two-player battlebox cheaply and grow the army slowly over time. I will also look into the army creator, that will help!
Just out of curiosity, are Warmachine and Hordes two separate games (like Warhammer 40k and Fantasy)? Are they a joint sort of system, thereby creating Warmahordes? I've heard the terms Warmachine, Hordes and Warmahordes thrown about, but I've always been curious as to their relationship to one another.
They're essentially the same game. They're designed to be played together. Warmachine have "Warcasters" who control robots and you allocate resources (focus) to them, whereas in Hordes you have "warlocks" who control beasts which generate resources (fury) that you have to manage. The core rules are the same, just with differences how warcaster/warlocks manage their resources. Rather than buying the 2 player box, I'd recommend going for the faction's battlebox. That is, unless you're wanting to get enough stuff for a friend to play as well. I recommend checking out GMG, Ash does good vids.
I really like a lot of the models from the Circle of Ourboros. The only one I have is the two-headed dog.
Yeah, circle has a lot of nice stuff...you can have wolves, goats, wolds, .... Skorne is cool too but had way to much spikes and horns, .... deadly to paint
Best advice in getting into the game - find a warcaster/warlock you *really* like and find an effective armylist to go around him/her/it. Then you let the disease take over
It's also difficult to describe armies into detail. The play style is very dependant on the warcaster/lock you use. Change him, and the whole army plays completely different
I like the Griffons and a lot of the Stone creatures. And I want all of the two-headed dogs. What are the warcaster (...lock?) options for the Circle?
Circle=hordes, so 'locks. I like kaya, she's a hit and run caster. Try WHAC, it's an app that has most cards available
http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/circle-orboros/warlocks If you like the griffons, i think Una the skyhunter is good for them (edit: she also looks BADASS)
I spent some time on the Privateer Press site earlier. It looks like almost all the models I like from the faction are in the Warbeast section. Griffons, Stone creatures, and Dogs. The rest of the faction... The one model I have is the plain Argus. How big is a basic force? I checked and I can't load WHAC.
There's an app that everyone uses called "War Room 2", it lets you build army lists from the faction decks you've purchased. You do need to pay for each faction you want to use in the app, otherwise you're stuck with just a few of the 'free' cards. You'll understand when you download the app If you're worried about having to buy things and return on investment etc, I use war room every day, it's great (if that means anything to you ) Usually, people play 75 points. But some gaming stores/clubs run journeymen leagues where you build up from a battlegroup(battlegroup = warlock/caster + beasts/warjacks). It really depends on your meta and what's happening at your local.
This looks like how I am going to approach the game. Right now Terminus in Cryx looks awesome to me (except for his face, it looks like he got hit by a truck, but I will probably replace it). Also Skarre, but I feel like she could use a pirate hat.
To be fair, he's heaps old and has been mutated into a semi dragon, then had body parts replaced with tech and iron....
What are your thoughts on Khandor ? Because that's the faction I won in the last model contest. So far I find painting them is fun...
Kader is highly armoured behemoths. They will be hit almost every time, but have the armour and hit points to shrug those hits off. They aren't very fast but have some nice magic tricks (old witch, for example). Over all a very well balanced army supporting different playstyles.