Warmachine and Hordes Megathread (Aka: I wuv Steampunk and monsters)

[Kochieboy]

Blockland Warmachine and Hordes MEGATHREAD

Warmachine

WARMACHINE players take on the role of warcasters as they lead their titanic forces into battle. Warcasters possess significant martial prowess of their own as well as having hardened warriors and magical spells to bring to bear. Players collect, assemble, and paint fantastically detailed models representing the varied warriors, machines, and creatures in their armies. WARMACHINE is fully compatible with its feral twin, the monstrous miniatures combat game of HORDES.

A WARMACHINE warcaster's true strength lies in his ability to control and coordinate the mighty combat automatons at the heart of his forces—his warjacks. Each and every warjack is a looming ironclad behemoth, a coal-fired engine of destruction with a primitive magical brain in addition to its unique weapons and capabilities. On its own a warjack is capable of only the most rudimentary actions, but when controlled by a warcaster its efficiency and deadliness increase dramatically. Using his warjacks wisely can decide a battle for a seasoned warcaster.

A crucial component to a player's strategy in WARMACHINE is how he uses his warcaster's focus points to boost his army's abilities. Focus points can be used to enhance a 'jack's already impressive combat power or spent on powerful spells to decimate opposing units or provide powerful benefits to a warcaster's own troops. Properly allocated, a warcaster's focus points can turn his army into a momentous engine of destruction.

Hordes

HORDES players take on the role of warlocks as they lead their wild forces into battle. Warlocks are formidable combatants in their own right, and their armies make use of both hardened and brutal warriors and packs of savage warbeasts, allowing them to contend on equal footing with the greatest armies of the Iron Kingdoms. Players collect, assemble, and paint fantastically detailed models representing the varied warriors, minions, and beasts in their hordes. HORDES is the feral twin of the steam-powered combat game of WARMACHINE, and the two are fully compatible.

A HORDES warlock's greatest strength is not his considerable combat abilities or even his daunting magical knowledge, but his synergy with the warbeasts in his horde. From the unflinching and ferocious trolls to the nightmarish and unnatural dragonspawn, warbeasts are dangerous creatures in any circumstance. Under the control of their warlock masters, they become nigh unstoppable.

A crucial component to a player's strategy in HORDES is how he uses his available fury points to boost his army's abilities. Fury points can be used to enhance a warbeast's already impressive combat power or spent on powerful spells to decimate opposing units or provide powerful benefits to a warlock's own troops. Properly managed, fury points can turn a warlock's army into a terrifying engine of destruction. Generating too much fury can backfire, though, causing warbeasts to frenzy and attack whatever is nearest—be it friend or foe!

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[Kochieboy]

The Factions of Warmachine (a WIP)

Cryx

(Quote from Battle College)

Cryx is the undead Horde Army of the Warmachine/Hordes universe. It will always match/ outnumber the head-count of the enemy, and it hits really REALLY hard.

Then there's the scary side of this army - they die and keep coming back for more. Cryx is not a plug-and-play army. Each caster brings a unique spin to your available tactics, so it pays to do your homework and really know how these units work together to wreak havoc on the enemy.

Be ready to learn how to bring back the dead, or even kill off some of your own troops to gain magical strength. Rob your enemy of their souls in combat, and use them to create spells that rain corrosion from the sky. Wield abominations so nightmarish that your enemy just flees in terror, or beautiful witches that seduce your enemies into killing each other.

Unlock the door of death.

My opinion on Cryxians: They love infantry... I'm just really going to say that. They do not use many warjacks, so if you like having a clusterforget of undead minions, you will love these guys.

Cygnar

(Quote from Battle College)

The Cygnarans have the most advanced technology, best arcane mechaniks, the most resources, and the best gunsmiths of all the empires. This is reflected in the way that the army plays, and the types of units that are available to you. Cygnar's advanced technology allows them to harness the power of lightning, to scorch their foes where they stand. Cygnar thrives on ranged combat, and if your play style favors blasting things at range then Cygnar is for you. Their Long Gunners can pick off distant approaching enemies with stunning accuracy and power. For a more explosive attack Arcane Tempest Gun Mages can move in and blast anything that moves. This is not to say that Cygnar cannot fight up close and personal, but you will likely win or lose in larger games based on the results of your shooting as forces maneuver and close in. Even Cygnar's mighty cavalry unit, the Storm Lances, have ranged attacks. That said, what the boys in blue have is an arsenal of support spells that turn their middle-of-the-road units into some of the strongest and most versatile in the game.

My opinion on Cygnarans: They are the rooty tooty tough and shooty faction. They love using guns, electricity, and lots of marksman spells. They love their warjacks as well, so enjoy having a bunch of cheap warjacks that may or may not get scrapped. I use this faction, so these guys are my favorite (obviously).

Khador

(Quote from Battle College)

Khador has the biggest, the toughest, the strongest, and the slowest warjacks in the game. With an armor value of twenty or more, and tons of damage boxes there's not much that the Khador jacks can't stand up to. Khador also has the most combat capable warcasters, and several types of elite troops. The Khador force is a small but tough thrashing force that excels in close combat, and is no slouch at range. Khador's troops are specialized and expensive so in most games you can expect to be outnumbered at least a little, and sometimes a lot.

My opinion on Khadorians: I will just start off by saying that I hate facing my Cygnar army against a Khador army. It's very hard, but possible to win. They are very tough, a single bullet will barely leave a scratch in most of their units. They are slow, so if you are doing scenarios with a Khador army, good luck keeping up.

The Protectorate of Menoth

(Quote from Battle College)

The Protectorate of Menoth is a faction that relies on synergy – combining elements of an army to be more powerful than their stat lines might suggest – and denial, which takes away options from your opponent. While Cryx has an excellent denial game, and Khador and Cygnar have nice support solos, none do what they do as well as Menoth does. Menite 'jacks tend to be a blend of Cygnaran and Khadoran 'jacks- sometimes having the worst properties of both- but have access to powerful synergy units such as the Choir of Menoth and Vassal of Menoth that can easily make these 'jacks the most powerful ones on the field. Menite infantry varies a great deal in use, but have access to powerful spells that multiply their power on the battlefield. Menites rely on their abilities and skills rather than statlines to carry the day, and this is very evident with powerhouse solos that Menites can use.

My opinion on the protectorate: They are mixed. They have a decent army, they love all sorts of spells, and they have a very religious theme to them (ahem... choirs). Either way, they are pretty good with their chain weapons (which ignore shields) and take the best of both axe to face and magical abilities for a nice blend.

The Retribution of Scyrah

(Quote from Battle College)

The Retribution is a faction of versatility. On one hand, Retribution has the Mage Hunters and Battle Mages - generally easy to remove if you can engage them, but with many special rules that can turn the tide of a battle. On the other hand, there are the Dawnguard and Houseguard - generally more durable, slower, and more focused in a single role. Retribution 'jacks are called myrmidons, and come from two noble Houses; House Shyeel produces heavy and light 'jacks, which have Force Fields. House Vyre produces only heavy 'jacks, which lack Force Fields, but have more health and ARM.

The Retribution's "theme" is a little harder to describe than other factions, but there are a few recurring points throughout their army list which are worthy of mentioning. They are very, very fussy about their order of activation in order to achieve maximum synergy. For instance, Lord Arcanist Ossyan's feat can add a damage die to a Brutal Shot attack by Stormfall Archers for 4d6 + 12 damage. However, the Stormfall Archers have a relatively low RAT, so they can have trouble hitting their targets. Thus, to maximize your damage output, you should shoot your target with Ossyan's gun first to lower its DEF (you can boost to hit with Ossyan if necessary), do some damage with him, and then open up with the Archers. The Retribution is also very good at board control -- many of their units and warjacks have abilities which move your opponent's models (e.g. Aspis, Battle Mages), limit your opponent's movement options (e.g. Gorgon), or lock down areas of the board (e.g. Banshee). Finally, the Retribution is fairly good at ignoring LOS. Mage Hunters with their Commander ignore LOS, as does any unit under the effects of Kaelyssa's Phantom Hunter spell, and the ranked attack ability is standard on most Houseguard infantry.

One of a few rules unique to the Retribution of Scyrah is the Force Field Generator. Every Shyeel-chassis myrmidon has two health tracks: a Force Field track (which looks like two solo's tracks turned sideways) and their regular warjack damage boxes. When the myrmidon is at full health, any incoming damage is taken off their Force Field. Damage in excess of the force field is taken off the damage tables as normal. However, Shyeel myrmidons also have a special "G" icon in their damage tables, which stands for their Force Field Generator. Take out the Generator, and no more Force Field for you. Myrmidons with Force Fields also have the "Field Dependent" rule, which means they lose various other things as well when the Field Generator is crippled - usually a special rule or a ranged attack. Between these two health tracks, Shyeel myrmidons have average health for a 'jack.The really cool thing about all this is that your myrmidon will be able to take a hit or two and be guaranteed not to lose any systems. It's worth noting that Force Fields can be repaired by spending focus points - 1d3 of fields back for 1 focus. This has some potential to increase the durability of Shyeel myrmidons, but it's very situational, and there will almost always be better uses for the focus.

One last note is that the Retribution's selection of available mercenaries is very small; they can only field elven mercenaries, which leaves them with no way of adding Mercenary 'jacks or the various impressive merc characters who find their way into a large number of other army lists (e.g. Reinholdt). This makes sense in the context of the backstory, since the Retribution is pretty radically xenophobic, especially when non-elven magic is involved. The good side of this is that some of the best mercs in the game are elves, and the Retribution can field a few of them as friendly-faction models (Eiryss and Sylys in particular).

My opinion on the retribution: I haven't played these guys ever. So I can't really say much except that they love magic and have very cool looking models. I say give them a try if you want, they seem to be very interesting.

[Kochieboy]

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