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[WARMACHINE & HORDES] Pipe Cleaners, Reimagined
Nechriah
Chookity!Registered User regular
Chookity!Registered User regular
Welcome to the world of the Iron Kingdoms!
The steampunk fantasy continent of Immoren, created by PRIVATEER PRESS, is the setting for two tabletop miniatures games: WARMACHINE and HORDES.
WARMACHINE and HORDES are played on a 4' by 4' gaming table, usually with some terrain - forests, trenches, rock walls and so forth - dotted about the battlefield. The players deploy their armies of miniatures across the board, roll dice and have at each other with gusto.
While each is counted as a separate game in its own right, WARMACHINE and HORDES use a compatible rules set and can be played against each other. The key differences between the two systems are warjacks/warbeasts, warlocks/warcasters, and FOCUS/FURY.
Warjacks are the eponymous WARMACHINES: giant steampunk robots which the armies of the Iron Kingdoms use to wage war, controlled by powerful battle-wizards known as warcasters. In HORDES, warriors from the wild places of the world fight alongside hulking monsters called warbeasts, whose savage instincts are held in check by warlocks.
Lastly, FOCUS and FURY is the most glaring difference. Warcasters possess a magical energy called FOCUS, which they can use to cast spells, increase their armour, or allocate to their warjacks to grant them an increased chance of hitting/damaging stuff and perform a variety of devastating power attacks. On the other hand, warlocks use stuff called FURY. FURY is similar to FOCUS in that it allows warlocks to cast spells, but instead of giving it to their warbeasts to increase their performance, warbeasts generate their own FURY when they are forced to boost dice rolls or perform power attacks. During his or her next turn, the warlock will drain off the fury from his warbeasts and use it for spells and whatnot, and the cycle repeats.
The problem is, if your warlock doesn’t drain all the fury from his or her beasts, there’s a good chance the monsters will hulk out and mindlessly attack those around them, friend or foe. So we like to say that while Warmachine is a game of resource management (deciding where to spend your limited pool of FOCUS), Hordes is a game of risk management (can I afford to leave FURY on that beast this turn?).
Hopefully that all makes sense. Now, let’s meet the inhabitants of the Iron Kingdoms.
The playable WARMACHINE factions include:
CYGNAR
A wealthy, populous, and advanced nation, Cygnar are known as “the crown jewel of the Iron Kingdoms”. They are well known for their advanced technology which has ensured their place as one of the major powers in Immoren. Cygnar are very much the 'combined arms' faction in Warmachine, able to field a variety of troops and warjacks that fill all rolls - ranged combat, melee combat, support, etc. - reasonably well. If phrases like "Gun Mage", "Chain Lightning", "Rapid Fire", and "Storm Glaive" make you sexually excited, you might be a Cygnar player in your heart of hearts.
Unfortunately for Cygnar, their success and wealth has earned them the animosity of most of their neighbours, such as...
KHADOR
Khador is a large, wintery nation which bears an uncanny similarity to stereotypical depictions of Russia. The harsh and icy climate has produced a tough, rugged people who are fiercely patriotic and filled with disdain for the weak southern nations. The Khadoran military is characterised by huge, ponderous warjacks with nigh-impenetrable armour and which hit like a ton of bricks; supported by infantry ranging from massed Winter Guard conscripts to elite infantry like the deadly Widowmaker Snipers and the mighty Man-O-Wars. Khador have also recently made strides to modernise their military with more long ranged (if somewhat inaccurate) firepower.
United by the dream of a new Khardic Empire, the Khadoran people have embraced a policy of aggressive expansionism, which unsurprisingly brings them into frequent conflict with the other nations of Immoren.
THE PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH
Formed out of a civil war with Cygnar, the Protectorate of Menoth is the youngest of the Iron Kingdoms. Essentially, the fanatical devotees of Menoth, the creator of man, were exiled to a barren wasteland to the east of Cygnar. There they found oil, diamonds, savage tribes to convert, and built up an army to crush their heathen enemies. Praise Menoth! Protectorate warjacks (and many of their troops) are individually weaker than those of the other factions, but by buffing their armies with their warcaster's spells and key support pieces, the Protectorate become exponentially more powerful. They also favour denying their enemies the ability to shoot or cast spells, thus throwing carefully laid plans into disarray.
Also, fire. Fire everywhere.
CRYX
The Nightmare Empire of Cryx is a series of islands off the western coast of mainland Immoren, and home to the immortal dragonfather Toruk. In addition to hordes of mindless undead thralls, Toruk's vassals include the Satyxis, a race of vicious warrior-women who practice blood rituals, the twelve Lich Lords, and a variety of other lifeforms corrupted and twisted by the dragon's blight. In battle, Cryx are fast, stealthy, and have a huge array of dirty tricks and debuffs up their rotting undead sleeves.
THE RETRIBUTION OF SCYRAH
The Retribution of Scyrah is WARMACHINE's newest faction. Formerly a fringe radical group hailing from the secluded elven nation of Ios, the Retribution has recently gained heavy political ground and acceptance in its homeland. They now have access to and support from some of Ios's greaet Military Houses, including the ranks of the fearsome Dawnguard and the power of Myrmidon Warjacks. They are technologically advanced. They have force fields. They hate you.
They're out for blood and revenge. They are fighting the good fight for the survival of their species. Their last remaining Gods are dying, and they blame human magic use for it. They are damn good at what they do.
Solid units. Some absurdly powerful solos. Well-rounded if focus-hungry Warjacks. The Retribution plays differently and can be rather rewarding for those willing to put some effort into them. They shoot harder than most factions though aren't necessarily as accurate. They are potent in melee, but lack Warcaster support to the degrees most other factions enjoy. Their Warjacks are few in variety but can all do their task well. Take care of them, because they crumple like paper once their force fields are gone. Did I mention mage hunters? Oh yes. Mage hunters.
MERCENARIES
This is a world where conflict rules and wars are always ready to flare up. What kind of moron could pass up a chance to make a buck? Mercenaries come in all shapes and sizes. Some are exiles from their own land, called traitors by those they once called brother. Some are pirates sailing on the high seas. Others are freedom fighters working to save their ruined nation. Others are short bearded fellows who like money. It takes all kinds, right?
What do YOU fight for?
The steampunk fantasy continent of Immoren, created by PRIVATEER PRESS, is the setting for two tabletop miniatures games: WARMACHINE and HORDES.
WARMACHINE and HORDES are played on a 4' by 4' gaming table, usually with some terrain - forests, trenches, rock walls and so forth - dotted about the battlefield. The players deploy their armies of miniatures across the board, roll dice and have at each other with gusto.
While each is counted as a separate game in its own right, WARMACHINE and HORDES use a compatible rules set and can be played against each other. The key differences between the two systems are warjacks/warbeasts, warlocks/warcasters, and FOCUS/FURY.
Warjacks are the eponymous WARMACHINES: giant steampunk robots which the armies of the Iron Kingdoms use to wage war, controlled by powerful battle-wizards known as warcasters. In HORDES, warriors from the wild places of the world fight alongside hulking monsters called warbeasts, whose savage instincts are held in check by warlocks.
Lastly, FOCUS and FURY is the most glaring difference. Warcasters possess a magical energy called FOCUS, which they can use to cast spells, increase their armour, or allocate to their warjacks to grant them an increased chance of hitting/damaging stuff and perform a variety of devastating power attacks. On the other hand, warlocks use stuff called FURY. FURY is similar to FOCUS in that it allows warlocks to cast spells, but instead of giving it to their warbeasts to increase their performance, warbeasts generate their own FURY when they are forced to boost dice rolls or perform power attacks. During his or her next turn, the warlock will drain off the fury from his warbeasts and use it for spells and whatnot, and the cycle repeats.
The problem is, if your warlock doesn’t drain all the fury from his or her beasts, there’s a good chance the monsters will hulk out and mindlessly attack those around them, friend or foe. So we like to say that while Warmachine is a game of resource management (deciding where to spend your limited pool of FOCUS), Hordes is a game of risk management (can I afford to leave FURY on that beast this turn?).
Hopefully that all makes sense. Now, let’s meet the inhabitants of the Iron Kingdoms.
The playable WARMACHINE factions include:
CYGNAR
A wealthy, populous, and advanced nation, Cygnar are known as “the crown jewel of the Iron Kingdoms”. They are well known for their advanced technology which has ensured their place as one of the major powers in Immoren. Cygnar are very much the 'combined arms' faction in Warmachine, able to field a variety of troops and warjacks that fill all rolls - ranged combat, melee combat, support, etc. - reasonably well. If phrases like "Gun Mage", "Chain Lightning", "Rapid Fire", and "Storm Glaive" make you sexually excited, you might be a Cygnar player in your heart of hearts.
Unfortunately for Cygnar, their success and wealth has earned them the animosity of most of their neighbours, such as...
KHADOR
Khador is a large, wintery nation which bears an uncanny similarity to stereotypical depictions of Russia. The harsh and icy climate has produced a tough, rugged people who are fiercely patriotic and filled with disdain for the weak southern nations. The Khadoran military is characterised by huge, ponderous warjacks with nigh-impenetrable armour and which hit like a ton of bricks; supported by infantry ranging from massed Winter Guard conscripts to elite infantry like the deadly Widowmaker Snipers and the mighty Man-O-Wars. Khador have also recently made strides to modernise their military with more long ranged (if somewhat inaccurate) firepower.
United by the dream of a new Khardic Empire, the Khadoran people have embraced a policy of aggressive expansionism, which unsurprisingly brings them into frequent conflict with the other nations of Immoren.
THE PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH
Formed out of a civil war with Cygnar, the Protectorate of Menoth is the youngest of the Iron Kingdoms. Essentially, the fanatical devotees of Menoth, the creator of man, were exiled to a barren wasteland to the east of Cygnar. There they found oil, diamonds, savage tribes to convert, and built up an army to crush their heathen enemies. Praise Menoth! Protectorate warjacks (and many of their troops) are individually weaker than those of the other factions, but by buffing their armies with their warcaster's spells and key support pieces, the Protectorate become exponentially more powerful. They also favour denying their enemies the ability to shoot or cast spells, thus throwing carefully laid plans into disarray.
Also, fire. Fire everywhere.
CRYX
The Nightmare Empire of Cryx is a series of islands off the western coast of mainland Immoren, and home to the immortal dragonfather Toruk. In addition to hordes of mindless undead thralls, Toruk's vassals include the Satyxis, a race of vicious warrior-women who practice blood rituals, the twelve Lich Lords, and a variety of other lifeforms corrupted and twisted by the dragon's blight. In battle, Cryx are fast, stealthy, and have a huge array of dirty tricks and debuffs up their rotting undead sleeves.
THE RETRIBUTION OF SCYRAH
The Retribution of Scyrah is WARMACHINE's newest faction. Formerly a fringe radical group hailing from the secluded elven nation of Ios, the Retribution has recently gained heavy political ground and acceptance in its homeland. They now have access to and support from some of Ios's greaet Military Houses, including the ranks of the fearsome Dawnguard and the power of Myrmidon Warjacks. They are technologically advanced. They have force fields. They hate you.
They're out for blood and revenge. They are fighting the good fight for the survival of their species. Their last remaining Gods are dying, and they blame human magic use for it. They are damn good at what they do.
Solid units. Some absurdly powerful solos. Well-rounded if focus-hungry Warjacks. The Retribution plays differently and can be rather rewarding for those willing to put some effort into them. They shoot harder than most factions though aren't necessarily as accurate. They are potent in melee, but lack Warcaster support to the degrees most other factions enjoy. Their Warjacks are few in variety but can all do their task well. Take care of them, because they crumple like paper once their force fields are gone. Did I mention mage hunters? Oh yes. Mage hunters.
MERCENARIES
This is a world where conflict rules and wars are always ready to flare up. What kind of moron could pass up a chance to make a buck? Mercenaries come in all shapes and sizes. Some are exiles from their own land, called traitors by those they once called brother. Some are pirates sailing on the high seas. Others are freedom fighters working to save their ruined nation. Others are short bearded fellows who like money. It takes all kinds, right?
What do YOU fight for?
Nechriah on
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The civilised nation of the Iron Kingdoms are not the only powers in Immoren. Many races lurk in the wild places of the world, and they are stirring...
SKORNE
To the far east of the Iron Kingdoms lies the Skorne Empire, a sadistic race obsessed with martial perfection. The deposed king of Cygnar fled here after his brother overthrew him, and single-handedly conquered the Skorne because he is a scary, scary man. Now he’s attempting to use them to win back his old kingdom; though the Skorne themselves are starting to get other ideas in that regard. Namely, conquest of the entire continent.
Skorne warbeasts typically start off as heavily armoured, lumbering behemoths, but through careful application of support spells and abilities they can become scarily fast. Skorne infantry tends to be different flavours of melee – Praetorian swordsmen who wield two swords in an orgy of choppy death, slow but powerful soldiers like Immortals and Cataphracts, and fast, stealthy Bloodrunner assassins. They also have access to some powerful wizards who like collected the souls of dead allies (or enemies, it varies) to fuel their armies. So yeah, nice folk all round.
TROLLBLOODS
The Trollbloods have villages and communities dotted all over the forests and wild places of Western Immoren. The Trollkin are a civilised and intelligent bunch who frequently interact with the human nations, working as bounty hunters, trackers and hired muscle. However, the humans tend to treat them like second-class citizens at best and try to murder them at worst. With that sort of nonsense, and the humans ever encroaching on their ancestral homelands and sacred sites, the Trollkin have had enough and are fighting back.
Trolls are very, very hard to put down. Most of their infantry have the ‘Tough’ special rule which allows you to roll a die when they’re killed to see if they’re really dead or just faking it. Their warbeasts are even more resilient, with the ability to regenerate health. Like the Protectorate of Menoth in Warmachine, Trolls tend to rely on a number of key support pieces for synergy and buffs that allow them to become even better and punching their enemies’ faces off.
LEGION OF EVERBLIGHT
One of Toruk’s progeny, the dragon Everblight exists as a disembodied essence in the far northern reaches of Immoren. He’s been slowly working to corrupt and enslave the Nyss, an arctic subspecies of elves. Everblight is also fond of using his own blood to create monstrous abominations with rows of sharp teeth and spikes everywhere. Now all his creations are marching south, primarily with the intention of fighting Toruk, but they’re not adverse to throwing down with anyone they encounter on the way.
The Legion are typically characterised as “glass cannons”. They hit you hard and hit you fast, and can be quite difficult to hit in return, but once you do hit them they tend to die rather easily (with a few notable exceptions such as blighted Ogruns and beasts like the Carnivean). They also love ignoring terrain and line of sight. Such things are not for the children of a Dragon!
CIRCLE ORBOROS
A sectrective cabal of Druids, the Circle Orboros are all about maintaining the balance between the order of the civilised world and the chaos of the wild places. They take to the battlefield alongside the Tharn, savage worshippers of the Devourer Wurm, construct warbeasts made of wood and stone, and beasts of the forests like Satyrs and Warpwolves.
The Circle Orboros love terrain, pure and simple. Most of their army choices either or ignore difficult terrain or have some way of gaining the ability to, and more often than not they gain some kind of benefit from hiding in forests. Oh yeah, and a lot of their stuff has the ability to make forests! The Circle play a very hit and run game as they tend to be somewhat fragile; and they can suffer against the heavy armour of factions like Khador and Skorne. However, they have access to some very powerful magic – namely denial and debuff spells – to help them out a bit.
MINIONS
Similar to the Mercenaries of Warmachine, Minions are a rag tag collection of hunters and wild creatures who will ally with the various Hordes factions for fun and profit. As of Hordes mk.II, they’re being promoted to a real faction, but as their book hasn’t been released as yet they’re still something of an unknown quantity. What we do know is that they’re mostly divided into Farrow (pig people), and Gatormen (fairly self-explanatory), bolsterd by badass wilderness guides, mad scientists and tentacle monsters.
Sounds fun, I hear you say. But you’re probably also asking…
How do I get started with all of this?
Well, all of the rules you need to get started are in WARMACHINE: Prime mk.II and HORDES: Primal mk.II, the core rulebooks for each game. I’ve mentioned Mk.II a couple of times; it’s the second edition of the game, which is still in the final throes of being released. All of the Warmachine books are available, and only 'Forces of Hordes: Minions' is yet to hit shelves.
If you want to know more about the individual factions, you should take a look at the 'Forces of…' books. While the main rulebooks contain a good selection of warcasters/warlocks, warjacks/warbeasts and troops from each of the factions, the Force books contain every model from that faction that has been released or is going to be released in the near future. As I mentioned, 'Forces of Hordes: Minions' has not been released as yet, but it will become available sometime later this month (December 2010)
You can also purchase the Mk.II faction decks. All models in Warmachine and Hordes come with a handy quick-reference card, so you don’t have to have your whole collection of books on hand while you’re playing a game. The 2010 Mk.II faction decks contain current cards for all models that existed prior to Mk.II, allowing old hands to convert to the new system with minimal fuss and new players to see what their faction can field.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure it’s the 2010 Mk.II faction deck, not just the Mk.II faction deck. Those are old cards. Yes, I agree it doesn’t make sense, it’s a long story. Anyway, some unscrupulous retailers have tried to rip folks off in the past so be aware of that when purchasing your cards.
Also, faction battleboxes contain a warcaster/warlock and some ‘jacks/beasts, along with the quick start rules. So you and some friends can pick up a box each and start duking it out in no time. There are currently battleboxes for all of the Hordes factions (barring Minions), and the old Warmachine starter boxes are being replaced with all new spiffy ones next month (September 2010) for Cygnar, Khador, the Protectorate and Cryx.
Whew, I think that’s everything! Here’s some useful links and general stuff of interest:
The official Privateer Press homepage
Forward Kommander - a useful online army calculator.
The Battle College - a wiki full of strategies, tricks and tips, and detailed overviews of all the models.
Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic - a stellar guide on how to paint your mans and paint them good.
Vassal - a sprite-based application which allows you to play Warmachine and Hordes online. Simply download Vassal and the Warmachine and Hordes module, then jump online.
Previous Warmachine & Hordes threads from this very forum:
THREAD 1
THREAD 2
THREAD 3
THREAD 4
THREAD 5
And of course, our friend Captain Jeremiah Kraye has this to say:
Have fun, and play like you've got a pair!
HONK!
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
Trencher Commandos do indeed rule 8-)
The issue I've had with her is she can't quite put out enough attacks to reliably pull off the assassination with only FURY 5. Against Warmachine ARM tends to be high enough that you don't get a lot of oomph on the Crit Decap, and against Hordes you don't get enough attacks to get through the transfers (unless you crit on all attacks).
Here's her feat turn:
Attack 1 (charge): Boost to hit, boost damage (2 FURY)
Attack 2 (feat): Boost to hit (1 FURY)
Attack 3 (bought): Boost to hit (2 FURY)
That's it. If you want to upkeep a spell or cast Dash, that third attack is hosed. Additionally, it just isn't all that hard to stay away from her (14" threat with a Seraph) or just fill up the area around the warcaster/warlock with enough stuff that she can't get there. Also, if she is within 14" of an enemy warcaster or warlock at the start of her turn, she was already probably killed already by the enemy feat turn, or is at least in a losing position.
While she is the weakest of the Legion warlocks, I don't think she's terrible, she just isn't going to win games herself. She may be able to win scenarios in a similar way that Vindictus apparently can (i.e. an infantry swarm that is really, really fast).
Swordsmen+UA, Warmongers and Hex Hunters are actually more likely to indirectly win you games since they can kill models all over the place on the feat turn (Swordsmen can kill as many as 4 infantry models each on the feat turn; Warmongers can go nuts in a tightly-packed area with Reach, Berserk, and a second attack to trigger another round of Berserk; Hex Hunters can kill a model with a melee attack, shoot a magic attack, kill a model with the feat melee attack, and then make another magic attack).
I'm not sure I love using her against any armies with a lot of heavy jacks/beasts, but against infantry swarms or armies with a lot of lights, you can do a lot of damage.
I am currently planning to start getting back into Warmachine. I have a Khador & Cygnar original boxsets (that I never cracked) and I'm planning on putting together a Cygnar force to play against a friend who has some Trollbloods.
I really like the idea of the gunmages and would like to put a bunch of them as possible in my force but I don't know if that will be entirely ineffective or considered cheesy. Any thoughts of some essentials I might need to stand a chance against trolls? Thanks.
My lists generally have either a single unit of gun mages with the officer, or the Black 13th. I usually try not to bring both.
With who, though? I usually run pNemo or Sloan lately. I'd probably bring both with someone else but I haven't thought too much about it.
I run both with eHaley, eCaine, and eStryker at 50 points.
Fair enough. I pretty much just play 35 so I don't really have room for both.
e: I have to take that back. I use both with Siege.
Hunters. Medium bases get them all hot and bothered.
Hey, that's why I converted away from Cryx to PoM, everyone was playing Cryx so it wasn't cool anymore.
I'm starting an eGoreshade list! And then moving to pDeneghra from there.
So pCaine is Lieutenant Caine and eCain is Captain Caine, the epic version.
[/nerdfu]
I've always meant it as plain, never heard it referred to as Prime. O_o
It may be and I've just never seen it referred to that way.
Too bad I don't know how to play too well yet... I'll practice up and have my stuff painted.
"Jonas Murdoch is a tough-as-nails trencher captain who can take even the worst mercenary scum and whip them into soldiers any Cygnaran officer would be proud to lead. Under his command, a mercenary unit functions as part of the army of Cygnar."
"The very epitome of cataphract stoicism, strength, and martial prowess, Tyrant Vorkesh is veritable juggernaut of armored destruction. As Vorkesh cleaves through enemy after enemy, his deadly accuracy with his weapon, the Arm of Rahal, inspires the cataphracts around him to strike with the utmost skill and precision, while his sheer force of will shields them from enemy magic."
I'm really interested to see what Murdoch can do now, and I'm pretty sure I'll try and find a place for him in my lists based solely on how badass he looks.