Editing Warmachine/Tactics/Gameplay Basics (section)

===Control Phase===
Usually you plan your turn during the other guy's turn, but this is where it starts; refresh and allocate Focus, pay for upkeep spells and generally get ready for shit hitting the fan. This is also the first part of the turn where the differences between Warmachine and Hordes become obvious, because this is where the two games' resource systems come into play for the first time. 

In Warmachine, warcasters use FOCUS to power warjacks. Every 'caster produces a set amount of focus points, which they can then allocate to 'jacks to enable them to make powerful special attacks, boost their damage output, run, charge, or whatever else - but the warcaster also needs focus to cast their own spells, and "camping" focus - keeping a couple of extra points around - bumps up the 'caster's ARM so that they aren't so horrifically squishy. As of MKIII every warjack in a battlegroupnow "powers up" generating 1 focus for itself. As a result, Warmachine is a game of ''resource'' management; focus is awesome, and you don't have enough. What's important enough to spend those precious tokens on?

In Hordes, warlocks have to manage FURY to keep their warbeasts from going out of control and eating their own army. Warlocks don't produce fury points. Warbeasts do, and they produce even more when you try to make them run, charge, boost their damage, or anything else. The warlock's job is to leach this fury away and dispose of it safely, because a warbeast with fury left over is in danger of going berserk. As such, Hordes is a game of ''risk'' management; fury is dangerous, but you need it to win, so where's the balance point between "too much" and "not enough"?

Whichever system you're playing, this is where the meat of the resource play happens. Warcasters allocate focus and warlocks leach as much of it as they can. That's basically it.