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Khador

2019-09-07T11:13:01Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:91F1:4BE1:8BA3:3EC4: /* Khadoran Military */

[[Image:AubinsFinalArmyshot.jpg|AubinsFinalArmyshot.jpg]]

'''Khador''' is one of the eponymous [[Iron Kingdoms]] and one of the main factions in [[Warmachine]]. They are stereotypical "Russian" country, blending late Tsarist Russia with the Soviet Union. They like snow, bears, snow, men that act like bears, and heavy industry (like mining). Khador is a bitterly cold and icy land that is frozen five months out of the year, where [[Catachan|the land itself and the]] [[Fenris|elements are likely to kill you]]. However this has [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|strengthened its people, who are known to endure hardships that would break anyone else]]. They have a seething hatred of the Southern Kingdoms especially Cygnar for, essentially, not rolling over and giving them the world domination they feel they deserve.

==History==

[[File:Khador_Army_by_andreauderzo2.jpeg|500px|thumb|right|Who cares about being nice when you can rule the world?]]

Before the Orgoth arrived, conquered the lands of Immoren and enslaved everyone, Khador was a massive empire with huge tracts of land, having fought and conquered many of its neighbors. When the Orgoth took over, Khador got the worst of the occupation. Even after they were defeated and pushed out countless Orgoth ruins remain scattered throughout the land. After the human Kingdoms pushed out the Orgoth Khador was "betrayed" when large portions of its former Empire were given to the newly formed Kingdoms of Llael and Ord.

Since then this has been the stick Khador has waved at the other nations, though they were always stopped by Cygnar. However, recently between the new Empress and Irusk they've gotten their shit together, taking over Llael and a good chunk of Ord. They've postponed their war with Cygnar to deal with the threat of Cryx.

Khador has few [[cortex|cortexes]] to build [[warjack|warjacks]]. To compensate for this they use only heavy jacks which can be salvaged and rebuilt over and over, reusing the same cortex. To compensate for their lack of light jacks they have Man-o-Wars, which are basically elite warriors wearing steam-powered armour. The rest of Khador's army is primarily made up of the [[Winter Guard]], a stereotypical "Russian conscripts" army. However, Khador doesn't just drown then enemy with bodies; in fact, the High Kommander nearly killed himself in shame for daring to think of his men as just numbers. Khador is winning the current war by fighting smart and adapting to Cygnar's tactics (as proven by the existence of the Assault Kommandos).

The High Kommand is willing to make use of nearly any advantage, no matter how inhumane if it will help them destroy their enemies. The rarity of Warcasters in particular ensures that huge exceptions are made to accommodate them as long as they do their duty. Vlad and the Old Witch for example are not truly part of the military but are exempt from this minor technicality and are allowed to command.

Unlike [[Cygnar]] and the [[Protectorate of Menoth]], Khador has few religious tensions*. They put far more importance in national loyalty: it doesn't matter whether you worship the Twins ([[Morrow]] and Thamar) or the Old Faith (Menoth), as long as you were born and bred in Khador. This is because, unlike the other regions (which are largely ethnically homogeneous), the "Khadorans" are actually made up of a number of different races that don't have much to do with each other outside a common cultural basis. The concept of a "Khadoran" nation is relatively recent in their history, which is why it's so important to them.

*The exception is that they banned Hierarch Severius of the Protectorate. This isn't because he caused trouble or anything; it's just that, last time he came, he left with thousands of converts, and it rather punched a hole in their smug certainty that everyone else is just crazy.

==Crunch==
On the table Khador is known for being one of the most durable factions in the game, with access to superb infantry units. Khador boasts a lot of heavy hitting units, and can dish out incredible damage.

Khador jacks are the toughest in Warmachine, however this comes at the cost of SPD, and a lack of light jacks.

==Characters==

[[File:khador_summarized.png||thumb|right|The short version, courtesy of /tg/]]
'''Orsus Zoktavir "The Butcher of Khardov"-''' The High Kommand's pet mad man and, [[Rip and Tear]] incarnate. Infamously lost his shit when attacking a rebel town, slaying the traitors and his own men when they tried to stop him. Instead of being executed the Empress said "why let perfectly good mad man go to waste?" and pardoned him, if only to ensure loyalty by threatening to send him to any traitor's front door. As the name suggests he's monstrous in close combat, if its in his melee range its gonna die.

'''Sorscha Kratikoff-''' The poster girl of Khador and during 1st edition the poster girl of what it means to be [[powergamer|broken]] [[Alice|beyond broken]]. Shes known as the Ice Queen,(or Freezing Bitch depending on which of her men you ask) to everyone but Prince Vladimir whom she is in love with. She has it in for Orsus since he killed her dad in his infamous rampage, leaving him to die in a battle, only for him to return later.

'''Vladimir Tzepesci-''' The Not-Dracula of Not-Transylvania. Has been contemplating a rebellion against Not-Russia for a long time. Oddly, despite his appearance, probably one of the better-off casters in Khador, morally-speaking. After Khador conquered Llael Vlad fought to protect the people of Umbrey from Cryx, and won a lot of karma points. Not only gaining the loyalty of more then a few native Llaelese but actually being made ruler of Umbrey by the Empress for it. He's currently fighting the Protectorate's northern crusade, and convinced Severius to help battle Cryx. Unfortunately the sinister ministers double-crossing him, with Reznik and the Harbinger heading into Umbrey to convert its people.

'''Irusk-''' The Sun Tzu of Warmachine. His childhood was spent learning Khadoran military strategy from his dad before he [[Imperial Guard|enlisted at the age of twelve]]. He's a [[Creed|military genius]] and even [[Roboute Guilliman|wrote his own version of the Art of War]]. He briefly considered suicide after he was defeated and lost most of his men because he thought of them as nothing but numbers. After being promoted he bounced back swore never to do so again.

'''Aleksandra Zerkova-''' Khador's resident mad scientist. Ahem, that is to say she is an occult researcher, archaeologist and historian, raiding old tombs and temples, looking for ancient secrets and artifacts that can be used against Khador's enemies. In addition to being a warcaster shes knows extremely powerful magic and carries a number of ancient artifacts augmenting her abilities.

'''Karchev-''' Karchev the Terrible is a living warmachine, [[Dreadnought|a century year old warcaster who's been entombed inside a warjack]]. Karchev was a veteran warcaster during the Thornwood war where his body was destroyed in a struggle against a Cygnaran warcaster. He asked for a metal body to continue fighting and got it a short time(10 years) later in the form of a modified Bezerker Chassis. Since then he's chugged along getting a new body every couple years. His status has elevated him to a living national treasure, though it hasn't done his mind any favors.

'''Zevanna Agha-''' What would Not-Russia be without its Not-Baba Yaga? The Old Witch is older than the Orgoth, perhaps even the embodiment of Khador itself. Though not technically part of the army, the Empress has put out standing orders to let her requisition whatever troops and 'jacks she needs if she ever randomly shows up and asks for them. Her chicken-legged Warjack companion Scrapjack follows her around, arcing spells and teleporting with her. As the fluff has advanced, she's responsible for fucking up the god Menoth, and unleashing the spooky things known as the Grymkin. Scrapjack has apparently been doing leg day, because in the second incantation of Old Witch he is now the size of a Colossal, and has a house/observatory on him as well.

'''Strakhov-''' Not-KGB agent, turned Not-Spetznas commander. During the Llael war Strakhov crippled the nation's war effort making way for Khador to steam-rolled the shit out of them. Rusky was so impressed he put him in charge of training the Assault Kommandos. While Strakovs usually under Irusks command he's got a bad habit of going rogue and carrying out his own missions without waiting for approval. The only thing keeping him from being punished is that they usually end in success.

'''Harkevich-''' The Not-Rommel, Iron Wolf Harkevich is Khador's head of the occupation of Llael and in charge of repairing all the wreck people like Orsus caused. Unsurprising he's not very happy about the mess his countrymen left as most of the infrastructure is in ruins and mass unrest from the locals, also because he's a total bro and found it unnecessarily harsh. For the most part he's been extremely successful turning the land from a WWII ruin city to better than new, with many Llaelese finding Khador's new rule a massive improvement. Also helps that he's made a stance on the Protectorate of Menoth "liberation", protecting refugees form the crazed zealots. Unlike most Khador's warcaster Harkevich is a range base rather than close combat, relying more on Warjacks than troops, which is good since his main spell allows warjacks to fire a free shot.

==Khadoran Military==
[[Warmachine/Tactics/Khador]]

Khador's army is broken down in these groups.

'''Assault Kommandos''': Cygnar's main defense is trench warfare and these guys are designed to counter this. Armed with Magtek nightvison goggles, shields, and guns with gas grenade launchers. They sneak in a trenchline and wreak havoc allowing for the Winter Guard to safely cross no man's land. They're immune to Fire and Corrosive damage, two of the other factions main element types, and ignore cloud effects.

'''Greylords''': Greylords are Khador's order of wizards. When Khador's king called for Khador's people to return home decades after the end of the Orgoth war many Wizard of Khadoran descent answered, taking all the secrets they had learned and most importantly the secret of cortex manufacturing with them. These wizard went on to form the Greylord's covenant, specializing in ice magic and finding Orgoth artifacts to use as weapons against Khador's enemies.

'''Men-O'-War''': Since Khador lacks light warjack they just put the best, strongest Winter Guard in steampunk power armor, THEY DIE IN STEAM! They're relatively expensive for a squad but each one has multiple hit points. Come in three varieties, Bombardiers with [[awesome|grenade launcher chainsaws]]. Demolition Corps with giant freezing hammers, and Shocktroopers with their class axe and cannon-shield combo. Man-O-War solos include the Cannon-Axe-armed Kovnik, the twin-shielded Tankers, and the Drakhun, a Dragoon unit mounted on one strong-ass horse.

'''Iron Fangs''': The oldest type of warriors hailing all the way back to the days before the Iron Kingdoms. Simply put they're heavily armored troops with spears, now they're used as anti-warjack units given spears with exploding tips. Come in cavalry form as Uhlans.

'''Winter Guard''': The backbone of Khador's army. All men are conscripted while women are only volunteer, most aren't forced; they see this are a proud honor to serve their nation. Most of Khador's attempts to modernize it's army are here. Until recently they only had axes, now they carry outdated guns. A few more elite units have been outfitted with actual rifles. The cheap point costs and versatility of a fully upgraded squad has been coined as the "Winter Guard Deathstar". While it has been toned down a bit since MK2, it is still a very popular build.

'''Widowmakers''': Khador's elite marksmen, and one of their two most feared units. They've got high RAT and are frustratingly hard to hit in cover. They're rightfully feared for being able to pick off any single box infantry, making them an auto take in any list.

'''Kossite Woodsman''': Ornery woodland hillbillies from the fringes of the far north with pretty abysmal RAT and MAT. While the rest of your troops are encased in metric shit tons of armor, the kossites wear nothing more than leather and rivets. While the rest of your army carries cannons and grenade launchers, kossites bring ancient ass muskets and bows to bear. This of course means they die in droves, and have a hard time doing jack shit to high armor targets, but that's why you'll be targeting softer things like support solos that tend to hide in the back. Ambush puts them right behind your opponent at the beginning of your second turn (you can deploy them normally on your first turn, but this isn't advised). Camouflage puts them to decent DEF levels when in forests, and Reform can be very handy for hit and run tactics. They also bring a psychological battle to the table. Does your opponent ignore them and risk them possibly taking out something valuable, or does he spend a turn focusing on them while the really nasty khador stuff is advancing from the front? Also be wary of armies that make use of soul and corpse tokens, as Kossites give them generously. Kossites can also make use of Yuri, as he grants them treewalker, which might help them survive an axe to face encounter while huddled up in forests. It also makes it annoying for your opponent when your Kossites ignore forests entirely when drawing LOS.

'''Doom Reavers''': Take a violent criminal, chain a cursed fuckhuge sword to his hand, and what happens? You get a unit that your opponent does not want anywhere near them, and will most certainly make a point to blast them off the table. A decent MAT, combined with a good P+S, Reach, and Weapon Master means nothing is safe from Reavers. If it wasn't enough having a single model capable of cutting a Juggernauts health in half with a single lucky strike on the charge, they've got Abomination, Fearless, and cannot be directly targeted by spells (that includes yours). Unfortunately (or fortunately, based on the predicament they find themselves in) they have Berserk, so if you don't have another enemy nearby that needs to die, they tend to turn on themselves. Adding a Greylord Escort UA gives them silence, so they're not cutting into each other anymore. More importantly, he gives them Tough, and by himself contributes a decent spray to reach out and kill things with that might not be close enough for the Reavers to tear into. If you really like Reavers, run an EButcher tier list, and bring about 5 units + UA's, and laugh as your opponent realizes he has no answer to that many reach weapon master bodies running at him.

===WARJACKS===
You'll notice quickly enough that all these guys are Heavy Jacks and that Khaldor lacks light ones. This is because Khaldor lacks some of the rare elements needed to make warjack Cortex's, so with a shortage of Cortex they made all their jacks to take a beating and it's why unstable Jacks which use the Berserker Chassis are used. This fluff was reflected on the tabletop in MK2, where it was feasible only to field one or two of them. With the dawn of MK3 and the Power Up rule (all jacks get a focus at the start of their turn if they don't have any), players are now fielding lists with [[Cheese|EIGHT warjacks in them]]. These Jack heavy builds, along with the Power Up rule in general, has generated [[Skub|endless civil debate]] in the WMH community.

'''Berserker''': The oldest jacks being employed by any army, becoming unstable due to their cortexes aging. Because of this they are known to act erratically, charging without orders, attacking with savage brutality, and if pushed too far exploding. Even Butcher has told High Kommand "Guys, these things are unstable as SHIT!". Khadors cheapest 'jack it has respectable armor and weapons and is fairly focus efficient on its own due to it's aggression. Just as well though, when you give it focus it has a chance to explode.

'''Decimator''': Designed to tear through armor and fortifications Decimators are equipped with a Dozer cannon that lets them knock back whoever gets hit and a rip saw that can tear through any armor. Its low RAT makes it largely in effective at range sadly, though its Saw will do scary damage when boosted with focus to make it extra auto hitting attacks.

'''Destroyer''': One of our lesser used jacks. Its got an AOE cannon and Executioner Axe. The Cannon is okay, with long range and reasonably strong blast. Its Executioner Axe meanwhile completely cripples any arm systems that takes damage from a crit.

'''Grolar''': The Orkiest of Warjacks. Has RAT 4, but for each focus you spend to buy a shooting attack, it can make two additional shooting attacks. Has Fleet and Virtuoso. Comes with an Auto Cannon, Open fist, and Piston Hammer.

'''Juggernaut''': The workhorse of Khador's warjacks, the Juggernaut has one simple purpose, to be big scary and wreck things in close combat, completely eschewing ranged weapons. It has an Ice Axe which freezes its target on a critical hit, and an open fist allowing it to grapple with its target. For its cost, it's outright deadly, though its mostly used for [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|tanking hits]] and killing other warjacks.

'''Devastator''': Designed to be even more armored then the Juggernaut, Devastators is one of, if not the most heavily armored jack in the game. It gains extra armor when it does not attack with its shielded arms, but it loses armor when it does leaving it vulnerable. When it charges it can choose to fire its grenade launchers, making all models in B2B take an extremely powerful hit and half damage to all models within 3".

'''Demolisher''': Same stat line as the Devastator. Trades the shoulder mounted Rain of Death launchers for shoulder mounted POW 15 RNG 8 Cannons.

'''Kodiak''': Khador's fastest 'jack, the Kodiak can run for free and is not slowed by terrain. It has a pair of open fists for grappling and can make a pair of power attacks if its first two hit. It can also create a cloud affect damaging all surrounding models.

'''Marauder''': Juggernauts who's arms have been replaced with ram pistons, letting it knock back targets it hits. Good for displacing enemy jacks, messing with enemy coordination.

'''Spriggan''': The most expensive non-character 'jack, the Spriggan is well rounded and versatile, armed with a shield, lance, and a pair of grenade launchers. The lance can punch through most armor with ease, and the grenade launchers are good against infantry. The launcher can also be used to eliminate fog and DEF boosts.

'''Beast 09''': A souped-up Juggernaut with traits designed to make it tear apart infantry. It can run without spending focus, and make a full advance towards whoever damages it. During its activation you can spend a focus point to grant it an extra attack die against all living enemy warriors. It has affinity with Sorscha, giving an extra die against living models.

'''Behemoth''': The single largest 'jack in Khador's arsenal excluding its Colossal and the most infamous. For nearly half your army points it comes with a pair of built in Bombard cannons, and two POW 12 open fists with armor piercing. When first conceived the Behemoth was suspended due to the immense cost of making just one. The project was resurrected by the former regent when he discovered the plans, and through influence and his own fortune saw construction resumed. To this day the cost of construction has made sure that only one Behemoth has ever been made.

'''Black Ivan''': Souped-up Destroyer. Has Bulldoze and Dodge. Instead of an Executioner Axe, it has Bear Claw, a giant bear trap turned into a fist with critical brutal damage. Has Affinity Harkevich, while in Harkevich's control area, this model gains boosted ranged attack rolls.

'''Drago''': The oldest warjack in service to Khador. Drago is pretty much an upgraded Berserker with higher MAT and Executioner Axes, and can make an additional melee attack against all models in range if its initial attack hit. It has affinity with Vladimir allowing it to ignore its unstable rule while in his control range.

'''Ruin''': Doomreaver Warjack. Has an open fist and a P+S 18 mace with dispel. Also has Soul Taker and Orgoth Seal. Has Special Issue Zoktavir, meaning it can be included in any of Butchers theme lists and can be bonded to him.

'''Torch''': An Assault Kommando 'Jack, Torch is immune to fire and corrosion. Has a Flamethrower, Spiked Fist, and Rip Saw for weapons. Comes with Gun Fighter and Virtuoso, also has pathfinder when it charges. As a star action it can use smoke bombs. Has Special Issue Strakhov so it can be included in his theme forces.

{{Template:Privateer Press}}
[[Category: Warmachine]]

Cygnar

2019-09-07T00:33:11Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:91F1:4BE1:8BA3:3EC4: /* Military */

{{Stub}}
[[Image:Cygnar Box painting.jpg|center]]
'''"In Guns We Trust"'''

'''Cygnar''' is one of the eponymous [[Iron Kingdoms]] and one of the five major factions of [[Warmachine]]. It is, generally speaking, the most advanced nation and the nicest to live in if its borders weren't constantly being raided.

==History==
[[Image:1622609 10202867774116170 79003737 n.jpg|frame|RIDE THE LIGHTNING.]]

Even prior to the founding of the Iron Kingdoms, the lands that would become known as Cygnar were quite important. They were the birth place of the twin mortals-turned-deities Morrow and Thamar, who together founded the major city Caspia, which would become Cygnar's capital. During the Orgoth invasion, Caspia was one of the few free human cities and the hub of the resistance. Once the Orgoth were repelled and the Iron Kingdoms founded, Cygnar quickly became the most advanced nation, playing a major role in developing modern [[Warjack]]s.

Since then, things haven't been going quite so well. One king, Vinter Raelthorne IV, was an amazing fighter and general, but a dictatorial dick and utterly incompetent leader. He banned almost all magic (which, unlike in [[Warhammer Fantasy Battles|Warhammer]], is actually pretty safe and used to power almost everything), brought an inquisition to Cygnar, and drove the economy into the ground by taxing everyone to death (almost literally). This got so bad that his (much nicer) brother Leto initiated a coup d'etat known as the Lion's Coup.

Leto was much more competent than his brother, so things went pretty well until the start of the story. At that point, everybody attacked at once. [[Khador]] invaded Cygnar's chief (read: only) ally Llael and part of Cygnar's northern region, the [[Protectorate of Menoth]] started crusading, [[Cryx]] stepped up its raids, and Vinter returned with an army of wrist-slicing weeaboo assholes known as the [[Skorne]], and an attempt to give the [[Trollbloods|kriels]] something like home rule blew up due to treachery from within. However, things have since settled down, with both the Protectorate and Khador signing ceasefires (although skirmishes still break out), the Skorne being beaten out of Cygnar (and promptly abandoning Vinter), and an uneasy peace/informal alliance has settled over the Knarls. They still have to deal with Cryx, but their army is ready, willing, and able.

This being a wargame world, however, the peace was not due to last. Khardor turned on Cygnar right after they kicked Cryx's asses in the north, just as Vinter showed back up to kick off a civil war. At the same time, Magnus, Vinter's former agent, found Vinter's bastard son Julius and moved to put ''him'' on the throne, while Alistair Caine was sent to kill the boy. The short war ended with Vinter dead by Magnus' hand after kicking nearly everybody's collective asses, and Julius on the throne with former King Leto serving as advisor.

Julius is so far proving to be rather savvy. He made a deal with Khardor to legitimize their occupation of Llael, so far as no living members of the Llaelese royal family remained alive. No sooner was the deal signed than Julius introduced them to his fiancee; the princess of Llael. Guess who wants their country back?

==Crunch==

[[Crunch | Gameplay wise]], Cygnar is very [[Dakka | shooty]] with a lot of neat effects and tricks to represent their high-tech weaponry, but despite their dakka-worship they aren't slouches in close combat and are just fine at smashing things with hammers and swords (their thematic weapons, alongside with guns and lightning). They do sometimes have trouble with survivability without spell support, of which they have plenty - Arcane Shield and Blur both are able to buff their ARM or DEF (respectively) to rather ridiculous levels when called for it.

Cygnar's signature elemental attack is Lightning, and with it the Disruption status effect, which drops all a warjack's Focus and prevents it from being allocated Focus on the next turn; effectively frying the cortex for one round. However, despite being hilarious against warjacks (especially when you knock them down as well), Disruption does jack-all to non-warjack models, and therefore is absolutely useless against Hordes armies, Cephalyx armies, the Convergence... Perhaps realising the problem with this, PP has started giving some Lightning-powered models Electro-Leap, which instead causes a little damage to models nearby when you hit something.

Cygnaran warcasters usually focus on buffing the defence and ranged capacity of their models. They generally shy away from spells with negative trade-offs for their own models, and don't bring very many debuffs to the table, although most of them have at least one ranged offensive spell. Cygnar doesn't really have any pure combat monsters, but the epic version of Stryker and both versions of Caine and Haley work pretty well in a "super solo" style (eStryker can theoretically hit harder than any other model in the game, Caine shoots everything, Haley delivers magical death). Joining them will be Sturgis, who's a melee monster when he gets to keep his focus for himself.

A typical Cygnaran warjack has pretty average ARM, but makes up for it by being both (comparatively) fast and accurate at melee and range. They also have slightly higher DEF than your average warjack, not high enough that anything's going to reliably miss them, but not [[Khador|so low that every attack will reliably hit]].

==Military==
Unlike other forces Cygnar is all volunteer and allows non-humans. They are also the only faction to have non-character Warcaster Journeymen, owing to a long-standing tradition of sending out trainee warcasters to serve under a veteran warcaster in a padawan-Jedi style arrangement. This lets Cygnar throw down up to four battlegroups once the next expansion comes out: the main warcaster, Jakes, Journeyman and Crosse for a total of 11 Focus plus whatever the Warcaster brings to the table plus at least one more thanks to Arlan's Power Booster.

* Arcane Tempest Gun Mages: Think Harry Potter but with guns for wands and some bitching outfits and nice hats.
** Tempest Blazers: As above, but on horses.
** Gun Mage Captain Adept: Badass veteran solo mage. Sadly, loses the hat
** Arcane Tempest Rifleman: Gun Mage Campers. Keeps the hat, though.
* Arcane Mechanik: A battlefield mechanic to keep your Warjacks in working order, along with his [[Goblin|Gobber]] assistants. Carries a big wrench and a rivet gun, and won't hesitate to hit you in the face with both.
* Long Gunners: If you were to randomly mortar a Cygnaran camp, chances are it'd hit a Long Gunner. These guys are armed with revolver rifles that can rapidly put shots downrange.
* Journeyman Warcasters: AKA Junior; baby warcasters who get pimped out to senior warcasters for 'training'. Why you'd give a hormonal teenager control over a 7-ton walking tank, nobody knows but since they can throw out Arcane Shield most people tolerate them.
* Rangers: Fragile gunmen who tell the rest of the army how to properly aim their guns.
* Squire: Cygnar's version of Artoo-Detoo. Powers up Warcasters.
* Stormnouns: Lighting units that are named Storm something. Hence stormnouns.
** Storm Knights: The heavy hitters of Cygnar's melee units.
*** Stormblades: Knights with lighting-blasting electro-swords. They can't hit shit with their discharges, though, hence...
**** Storm Gunner: Attached to Stormblades, Storm Gunners have a lightning gun to help direct the electrical wrath of their comrades.
*** Stormguard: Uses halberds that hit a secondary target with electro-leaping.
**** Silver Line Stormguard: Extra-special Stormguard who use electromagical shenanigans to stop people from charging them.
*** Storm Lances: Heavy cavalry with lightning-lances.
* Stormsmiths: Wizards with Lighting Rods, can triangulate to hit targets beneath them.
** Storm Tower: Artillery version of stormsmiths.
* Sword Knights: Vanilla 'dudes in armor with swords', they wouldn't look out of place in a more mundane setting (except they're trained to both fight with and take down 'jacks just as well as they can regular humanoids).
** Archduke Runewood: Badass old Knight
* Trenchers: Essentially WWI trench infantry, they're the toughest bastards around. Also come in Commando flavour, as well as a bevy of support units (chaingun and cannon, to be precise).

'Jacks? 'Jacks.

* Light 'Jacks.
** Charger: Has a gun and a close combat weapon. Is fairly uncomplicated, but needs quite a lot of focus to work efficient.
** Firefly: Light, electric, support and mainly ranged - just like the rest of Cygnar. Works great with the stormnouns and Stormsmiths in particular.
** Grenadier: The Trenchers' best friend. Throws grenades overhead and can give the enemy a mattock to the face if they get too close. Can also dig a grave for it self like the rest of the Trenchers.
** Hunter: This nimble 'Jack is perfect for hiding in the woods, picking off high ARM enemies. If the noisy engine of the 'Jack didn't ruin that completely. Good at range and works well with Rangers and the Gun Mage UA (if you start second, there's better than even odds that you can stand and shoot something in the face on turn one).
** Lancer: A little 'Jack with a spear that can distrupt other 'Jacks, as well as a shield to bash their Cortex out of order. Good as a mean to get the enemy 'Jacks to back to fuck up.
*** Thorn: Haley's personal 'Jack, this thing just wants to be with someone who can churn out a lot of magical [[dakka]] through its Arc Node. It is also pretty difficult to destroy for a Light 'Jack.
** Minuteman: How do you make Warjacks even cooler? Give them a fuckin' jetpack! This is pretty much the fastest 'Jack in the Cygnar range, and will make fly-by shootings at hard-to-crack enemies with his Slug Guns.
** Sentinel: If you want to keep the hordes at bay, pack yourself with a shield and a gatling gun. Works well as a protector of a Warcaster, but not much else.

* Heavy 'Jacks.
** Avenger: Combined Arms in 'Jack form. It can knock enemies down with its Quake Cannon, and slash 'Jacks into submission with a taser-sword.
** Centurion: A moving wall of metal. Armed with a shield to protect itself with and a spear to poke the enemy from a good distance. Set this in the flank and dare the enemy to outflank.
** Cyclone: Fistfuls of [[dakka]] on two legs. Well, forearms (this is a good thing). This thing will make swiss cheese out of infantry and light 'Jacks alike, and with two open fists it can hurl heavy 'jacks back at their owners.
** Defender: The [[Hammerhead Gunship|Hammerhead]] of Iron Kingdoms, toting around the heaviest and most powerful gun on anything not Huge based. Put it in the back lines of you force and let it loose, or use its cortex-frying hammer to pound 'jack brains to pulp.
*** Triumph: Siege's special friend. While having a better RAT than the vanilla Defender and s Shield for additional defence, Triumph doesn't work too different from its vanilla counterpart.
** Hammersmith: What it says on the tin; simple, tough, and smashy. Good for dealing massive damage to single enemies while pushing them back. Might be a [[Khador]] 'Jack painted blue.
** Ironclad: The main battle warjack of Cygnar and the 'standard' by which all other 'jacks are judged. This behemoth will wreck infantry, light and heavy 'Jacks alike. It has a good speed for a heavy and its hammer does a good amount of damage, while having the ability to control masses through Earthquake.
*** Ol' Rowdy: The cranky 'Jack of Stryker, Ol' Rowdy will do what the Ironclad does and then some. It is better at hitting things like the beatstick it is, but has some tricks up its metallic sleeves (which had been pimped out by Stryker into incredibly fashionable bucklers) that makes it even more effective at its job.
*** Gallant: Constance Blaize's 'Jack of choice, this nice little bugger does what Blaize does (smite evil, collect souls of Morrowans, get laid), while looking awesome in the process. Let it defend along a line of Precursor Knights and Blaize herself and laugh as the enemy tries to kill your guys (Pro-tip: Let them do just that - Dead souls power up both Gallant and Blaize).
** Reliant: As the name suggests, it's a decent 'Jack that can mix it up in melee with its hammer, or fry light infantry at range with a lightning cannon that puts an AoE into play for a turn.
*** Dynamo: Nemo's second character 'Jack after Thunderhead and a ranged monster. Dynamo can throw out some serious punishment to single models with its Firestorm Cannon, gaining a bonus to damage every time it hits the same model in a turn. When paired with Nemo, he almost never misses.
** Stormclad: The best buddy of the Stormnouns and any warcaster who wants to save on Focus, this conduit of lightning and [[awesome]] powers up as its friends fry enemies. Is mainly melee with a sword long enough that it has reach, and can attack over range if needed. It's rarely going though, because having reach combined with its mobility gives a better threat range in melee than it has range with its respectable, but overshadowed ranged weapon.
** Thunderhead: The brainchild of Nemo when he tried to build an electric powered jack. It didn't work as well he would have liked because being a walking thunderstorm made it as stealthy as one, so Nemo only build one. It is both ranged and melee, but might be most useful at range. Also called DJ Thunder because of its pose.

Oh, and we have a Colossal.

* Stormwall: The Stormwall works just like Cygnar does: Very powerful at range, but no slouch in close combat (Colossals are good in close combat!? WHO KNEW!!!?!?!). It is essentially a bigger and badder heavy 'Jack with more health, more guns (two Defender-sized cannons + a Cyclone's worth of chainguns named METAL STORM), but also at a higher point-cost. It can also shoot out Lighting Pods who create electric zaps between it and the Lightning Pods. It also has a ridiculously small head like anything Colossal. Often considered the best Colossal ever for its mix of ranged firepower (armor cracking Big Guns), ranged firepower (infantry shredding Metal Storms) and ranged firepower (Lightning Pod shenanigans). And did we mention it also has taser-fists? And that Stormsmiths can triangulate with the pods to really bring the thunder?

And then there is our Battle Engine.

* Storm Strider: The bowling ball on legs, this is the pinnacle of zapping. Gets more powerful the more it is hit and can send enemies back where they came from if the get into melee - keep in mind, though, that if they get the thing into melee it can't shoot out of it until they're all dead! The Strider is best at downright killing light- and medium-armored targets than anything else, but it has some trouble outright killing heavy ones without boosts, though arcing lightning off of them isn't a bad idea either.

==Warcasters==
* Commander Coleman Stryker: The posterboy of Cyngar. Kind of a patriot, who would rather sacrifice his own health than see his soldiers wounded. Basically Harry Potter with a fuckhueg sword, even down to the anger issues, the plot armour and disrespect for authority.
** Lord Commander Coleman Stryker: His revealed dark side. Stryker went nuts when the Menites of Caspia's sister city Sul started a crusade on the walled capital of Cygnar, imprisoning any Menite (no matter their allegiance) in the eastern part of Cygnar in fear that they would help the invasion. What a dick. This incarnation sees him as a melee powerhouse, though not the type you can throw into the enemy without regard for his safety. Can possibly outfight anyone on melee damage, though he might fry himself as well.

* Lieutenant Allister Caine: Drunk John Woo wizard. Though it is well-known that he is killing himself with his dangerous lifestyle, that doesn't stop his superiors to throw him at the enemy. [[Grimdark]]. Is tied with Eriyss for the spot of most accurate ranged fighter in the game, and can possibly do more damage than her.
** Captain Allister Caine: Finally got his promotion (combined with his demotions, this brings him back to square 0), and to boot no one actually respects his new authority. Spends his time drinking, getting laid with the wives of corrupt officials, whereafter he kills aformentioned officials in duels of honour. Has been charged with gathering details on Magnus the Traitor and his plans, which suits Caine just fine - More booze and women involved when dealing with mercs.

* Commander Adept Sebastian Nemo: The Not Einstein with a little Tesla in the mix creator of most of the Stormnouns. Has a fetish for lighting that is extreme even for Cygnar. ''The'' sole reason Cygnar is so advanced, and the current mentor of Stryker and Haley. Has very high expectations for anyone around him, but none higher than what he expects from himself, which was the result of not being there for his wife when she died.
** General Adept Sebastian Nemo: Well, he got a new staff and better armour, but beyond that, there haven't been a lot going for the old guy. Moving on..
*** General Artificer Sebastian Nemo and Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Flinch: Nemo is now in charge of the entirety of the Cygnaran military production, and has picked up the nifty 'Stormchaser' Caitlin Finch on the way. Together, they can run 'Jacks, fry the enemies of Cygnar and take a cup of tea at the same time without even breaking a sweat. Rumors on them dating are rootless. *Cough*.

* Captain Victoria Haley: The brain to Stryker's might, she has an amazing amount of focus at her disposal and can even control time itself. Has a beef to cut with Cryx, because of their invasion of her home, a small fishing village. Was searching for her lost sister...
** Major Victoria Haley: ... But when she finally found her, Gloria Haley had gone to Cryx and was serving them as a warcaster. During one fateful encounter, Haley managed to kill her sister, even after her sister had torn her arm off. Neither sister was about to let this particular event stop either of them - Haley got herself a mechanical prosthetic and her sister was revived as a ghostlike mechanical hybrid of sorts.
*** Major Prime Victoria Haley: And now she's managed to learn how to fuck with time so that there's three Haleys running around at the same time; a past version of herself and one from the future. Someone's going to have a really fun foursome.

* Captain Kara Sloan: A sniper who believe that sniping with one gun at a time is last week, so she can make all her 'Jacks fire their guns when she fires hers. Is secretly in love with a Trencher Commando, but as she is a stickler for the rules and wants to be a 'good commander', she appears stern and cold to anyone else.

* Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane: Pities no fool as he controls the battlefield and smashes face with his favorite Lightning Hammer and snub-nosed bazooka. Is notable to be able to bring down entire fortresses by himself and being a part of every single major battle and war in the last decade, but hasn't had a single promotion in all that time. He started out as a Trencher, and it shows - He is a consummate soldier, fighting with well planned strikes, strategic diversions and warjack spearheads to soak up damage meant for his infantry.

* Captain Jeremiah Kraye: Likes horses and warjacks so much that his warjacks become cavalry models. Doesn't like to be bossed around and believes the brass forgets about the outer borders too much, so he has solved both problems by deploying himself as a reinforcements to any settlement bordering the Bloodstone Marches.

* Constance Blaize, Knight of the Prophet: Fully armoured saviour of the faithful of Morrow. Can save the souls of the dead and has bitchin' armour. Can also be taken as a Mercenary warcaster for the Llael Resistance. She likes infantry a lot and gains in power as her troops fall, but also works wonders with melee Warjacks, ''especially'' her own 'Jack, Gallant.

* Captain E. Dominic Darius: The man in the machine, this guy can repair any 'Jack on the battlefield while staying inside his metal shell. Also, his Halfjacks helpers? They are also landmines. Yeah. You would suppose that Nemo and Darius got along well, what with all their technical expertise and all, but Darius isn't too keen on advanced machinery and likes cogs and coal more. Though tough as all hell, he is not a fighter in neither fluff nor crunch, so keep him behind his 'Jacks at all times. play him with the Stormwall and pop his feat, healing the colossal for up to 50 damage boxes in an instance and laugh as your opponent now have to bring the machine down a second time.

* Captain Dalin Sturgis: A melee powerhouse with a big stick. Obviously a copy of Obi-Wan Kenobi, down to dying in the campaign to make way for the new kid on the block, Allison Jakes. He even comes back as an undead, Cryx Warcaster version of himself (except, unlike Obi-Wan, he comes back evil. Fucking Cryx.)

{{Template:Privateer Press}}
[[Category: Warmachine]]

Monsterpocalypse

2019-09-07T00:19:41Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:91F1:4BE1:8BA3:3EC4: /* Destroyers */

'''Monsterpocalypse''' is the most fuckawesome thing ever produced by [[Privateer Press|Privateer Press]]. They have managed to take everything that is awesome about Japanese kaiju movies, but without the weeaboo and turn it into an affordable minis game. The plot is mostly just an excuse for the game, giant monsters all around fighting while also have small armies helping them, but who cares, it's giant monsters fighting each other. The game itself, is however, is quite complicated and puts an emphasis on individual combat between monsters.

==The game and its setup==

Short version of the rules is that each player controls one or more Monsters, and a set of smaller units called, well, Units, which are everything from tanks, jets, robots, and smaller monsters. Players also get a number of buildings, which are used to create the city to be smashed. Spaces around the map provide spawn points for Units, add Power to the player's die pools, or allow them to capture and hold buildings, which provide various effects when controlled, attacked, or destroyed.

Monsters come in two forms; their normal, or Alpha form, and a Hyper form. In the first edition, the Hyper form was represented by a differently-painted model and altered set of stats, and could be switched at will, while the second edition reserves it as a generally more powerful form that activates when the Monster is down to it's last third of life. Units could attack the enemy monster, fight each other, or hold buildings, among other abilities. Units were weaker, usually dying in one hit, but could be respawned each Unit turn. To encourage using both sides of your force, player turns alternate between controlling the Monster and the Units. The game ends when one side has all of its monsters destroyed(both forms).

The game initially had six factions, split into six agendas, ''Protectors'' (who want to save world, but since you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs they still cause heavy collateral damage), ''Radicals'' (eco-freaks that dislike the modern era and want to pound humanity back to the stone age), ''Collaborators'' (they want save world and may want to take it over afterwards), ''Invaders'' (they well, invade us and want our resources), ''Destroyers'' (they just destroy everything, its what they do), and ''Fiends'' (they rampage around because they're Evil). The game's second block, in addition to releasing more monsters and units for each faction, also added a new faction for each agenda.

The game's second edition simplifies the factions into Protectors (which include the original Protectors, Radicals, and Collaborators agendas) and Destroyers (Destroyers, Invaders, and Fiends), and for now at least, reverts back to the original six factions. The biggest change is in the packaging. Units and Monsters are no longer bought in blind packs, so you can now get exactly the monster and faction you want. They now also come as unpainted plastic/resin models.

==Factions and Agendas==

===Protectors===
''Protectors'' are pretty much the Good Guys, doing their best to protect the innocent, but these are giant Kaiju/Robots/Golems, so some buildings are gonna get wrecked.

* The first ''Protectors'' faction was ''G.U.A.R.D'' (Globally United Advanced Research & Defense), a U.N funded organization that uses futuristic tanks, jets, and uses giant robots for their "Monsters". Basically a cross between Super Robot anime like ''Mazinger Z'' and ''Gao Gai Gar'' and 'the ''Pacific Rim'' films, with the Maser tanks and other vehicles from the Hesei-era ''Godzilla'' movies.

* The second ''Protectors'' faction was the ''Elemental Champions'', monks that use magic to summon elemental themed monsters and magic armor to turn into giant warrior gods to fight evil.

===Radicals===
''Radicals'' are nominally good guys, but tend to be a bit on the batshit side. So they can cause just as much destruction as the bad guys.

* The first ''Radicals'' faction was the ''Terrasaurs'', giant dinosaurs(basically Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, etc...) that attack nuclear power plants and toxic refineries to eat their waste. They also have the support of crazy Eco-terrorists called Green Fury, because if they're attacking polluters, they ''must'' be the good guys, right? Contains the obligatory Godzilla-inspired monster, Terra Kahn.

* The second ''Radicals'' faction was the ''Empire of the Apes''. As a gorilla faction was one of the biggest requests, this faction was created. It contains giant apes of various sizes that feel humanity controlling nature is bad and want to beat us back to the stone age. Contains the obligatory ''King Kong'' inspired monster, King Kondo, and probably the most amusing looking models in the game, like a monster sized ape that swings a bullet train around like a whip, and gorillas that carry around howitzers like normal guns.

===Collaborators===
''Collaborators'' are out for themselves above all, and will work with or fight against both sides as their interests dictate.

* The first ''Collaborators'' faction was the ''Shadow Sun Syndicate'', a crime syndicate that uses sleek, iPod-like army units and its monsters consist of ''Ultraman''-inspired super-ninjas called Zors that turn into giants. They will likely try and take over the world in addition to saving it.

* The second ''Collaborators'' faction was ''UberCorp Internation''. This faction was created in response to the desire for a robot version of Terra Khan (since one of Godzilla's classic enemies is a robot version of himself called Mechagodzilla), so this faction was created that uses robot versions of everything that isn't a robot. They mostly respond to protecting people that can afford to pay for their services.

===Invaders===
Invaders have come to Earth to conquer.

* The first ''Invaders'' faction was the ''Martian Menace'', which [[derp|surprisingly]], is aliens from Mars. Their planet's resources are depleted, and so to survive they're moving in on Earth. Their monsters and units are inspired by 50's sci-fi movies, which include flying saucers and ''War of the Worlds''-style tripod walkers.

* The second ''Invaders'' faction is the ''Tritons'', an empire of from beneath the sea that seeks to sink coastal cities and add them to their territory. They just want to ''take'' a Part of your World. They use a combination of [[CthulhuTech|futuristic machines and giant sea monsters.]]

===Destroyers===
Monsters here to eat and wreck shit.

* The first ''Destroyers'' faction was the ''Planet Eaters'', aliens from who knows where that arrive via comet(the comet was later named after its founder Blots Folly), and they eat everything in sight. So basically Gigan, King Ghidorah, and the various ''Ultraman'' invading monsters.

* The new ''Destroyers'' faction is the ''Savage Swarm'', a swarm of giant insects that are attracted to bright lights and smash buildings that have bright lights. Based on ''THEM!'' and other 50's style giant insect films.

===Fiends===
Fiends have come to spread pain and suffering across the Earth. So yeah, Kaiju-scale trolls.

* The first ''Fiends'' was faction was the ''Lords of Cthul'', [[H.P. Lovecraft]] inspired monsters, most of which are based on Cthulu & co., from another dimension, that want to destroy humanity for the lulz. Of course, in stride with Lovecraft's spirit, what might seem to humans to be a rampage may be a stroll in the park for GOOs. Have a scary Solstice and a horrible new year!

* The new ''Fiends'' faction is the ''Subterranean Uprising'', an evil empire of mole people from beneath the Earth's surface that rule with an iron fist and now want to conquer the surface as well as block out the sun because their eyes are sensitive to light. They use giant cyborg mole monsters with drill and cutting implements for hands.

More on this later.

==Reasons for awesomeness==

One reason this game is so fuckawesome is that it contains mechanics for classic monster "wrestling" allowing you to head-butt, throw, body slam, and swat away enemy units.

Another is the fact it gives you reminisce until your balls turn blue about all the things you loved about giant robots and monsters as a kid and gives you the chance to re=enact it in person.

{{Template:Privateer Press}}
[[Category:Wargames]] [[Category:Stubs]]

WARMACHINE

2019-09-07T00:14:33Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:91F1:4BE1:8BA3:3EC4: /* Skorne */

[[Image:Warmachine_Hordes_Logos.png|850px|center]]
<center>'''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''</center>

<center>'''WARMAHORDES V3.0 HAS OFFICIALLY LANDED. THE STORYLINE HAS JUMPED FORWARD THREE YEARS, UNITS HAVE BEEN REBALANCED, AND CORE MECHANICS HAVE BEEN REWORKED TO SOME EXTENT. ALL INFORMATION ON THESE PAGES IS POSSIBLY OUTDATED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.'''</center>
[[File:Skubmachine.jpg|300px|thumb|right|WARMACHINE used to be a game with a particular audience. These days this stuff has been toned down or removed entirely.]]
'''Warmachine''' and '''Hordes''', often called '''Warmahordes''', are tabletop wargames produced by [[Privateer Press]]. Uniquely among other games of the same genre, Warmachine and Hordes are actually built from the ground up to be played with one another. They are essentially the same game with two different flavorings: Warmachine factions are more civilized and make use of giant steam-powered [[magitek]] robots, while Hordes armies tend to be more [[Orks|barbaric]] and use huge-ass kaiju instead. Other than this, the two games are functionally identical to the point of most tournaments allowing armies from either game to be fielded against one another. This has led to most players referring to the game as ''Warmahordes''. Both games are currently in their <s>second</s> third edition (06/29/2016 edition), referred to as ''Prime MkIII'' for Warmachine and ''Primal MkIII'' for Hordes.

Both games are set in and around the [[Iron Kingdoms]], a group of warring states on the western coast of a continent called Immoren. Everyone hates each other, as is par for the course in a wargame setting, and some major power players are dedicated to constantly stirring shit up among the more good-aligned factions so that they keep fighting one another and make themselves too weak to oppose the inevitable zombie invasions. [[Just as planned]].

Immoren is basically what you get if you take a standard high fantasy setting and inject some Industrial Revolution. A long time ago, a bunch of evil sadomasochistic sorcerors from <s>SPAAAACE</s> across the ocean showed up and kicked everybody's shit in. Since only divine magic existed at the time and everyone was basically a bunch of barbarian tribes anyway, humanity didn't really have much in the way of ability to actually ''do'' anything about this, so everything sucked for a while. The citizens of Immoren progressively invented better and better weapons to try and get the Orgoth the fuck off their collective lawn - guns and wizardry were both initially developed as ways to fight them - but it wasn't until the dwarves decided to be fuckin' bros and start supplying the rebels with resources and teaching them the secrets of magitek that things really turned around. This led to the creation of some huge-ass, steam-powered magic robots called the Colossals, which promptly steamrolled the Orgoth right the fuck off the continent and allowed the modern factions to form.

Of course, all of these factions hate each other, so Immoren has been in a state of constant warfare pretty much since it was freed. This would be <s>weird</s> [[awesome]] enough given the anachronism stew that is the setting, since you have [[Cygnar|knights using powered armor and lightning spears]] to charge down [[Khador|Soviet Russians with shotguns and shield-cannons]], but the Iron Kingdoms have since refined the technology that created the Colossals and miniaturized it, giving us the modern steam-powered warjacks that are emblematic of the Warmachine half of the setting. Meanwhile, on the Hordes side of things, several remaining barbarian kingdoms have decided that using [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Imperial Titan]]s to keep them subjugated is cheating, so they've leveled the playing field by bringing Godzilla along for the ride.

The setting differs greatly from most other tabletop wargames in that the story actively progresses as Privateer Press releases further expansions. Characters grow, change, and die, while countries are born, conquered, or razed to the ground. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the small country of Llael, once a peaceful merchant land. It was a point of contention between the other factions for quite some time until it was conquered by Khador, then partially ''counter''-conquered by the Protectorate of Menoth, making it one hell of a dangerous place to live and adding quite a few Llaelese models to the Mercenary lineup to represent the new rebel underground.

In terms of scale, Warmahordes is considered a skirmish-level wargame. Battles are generally much smaller than those taking place in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. Indeed, the smallest games can be run with no more than four or five models. However, the game can expand to a scale similar to 40k, with armies numbering fifty or more models per side. Even at this scale, though, it tends to play faster than the two Warhammer games. It is much smaller, faster-paced, and aggressive (see the tagline), with a greater focus on tactics and positioning of individual models.

Warmahordes is generally a well-balanced game (with one [[Cryx|exception]], though even that isn't as pronounced as it used to be); all of the factions have their niches and are all able to pull off a win if the list is well put together. Furthermore, almost every unit in the game has ''something'' to make it at least somewhat useful. There are very few instances where a unit is completely without merit (though they do exist), and if you like a unit that much, there's almost always some way to make it work.

That being said, there is a downside: whereas 40k and Fantasy are strongly focused on [[your dudes]], with a ton of options for every unit, Warmahordes is much less open to customization. Units are taken as-is, with no options for kitting out individual troopers beyond whether or not you want to add an Officer or a Rocket Launcher Dude to the group. Beyond that, every army must be led by a warcaster or warlock , and every one of these is a named character within the Warmahordes universe. It's entirely possible to use, say, Allister Caine and just act like he's another character of your own creation who happens to share the same model and abilities, but those who are a fan of Games Workshop's "forge a narrative" style may find this irksome.

==Unit types==

===Warcasters and Warlocks===

[[File:202953-1366x768--DesktopNexus.com-.jpg|600px|thumb|right|It's essentially this.]]

Games of Warmahordes tend to revolve around each player's warcaster (Warmachine) or warlock (Hordes). These are powerful battle-wizards who have forged a mental link to your army's robots or kaiju, giving them direct control over their actions. Beyond this, each warnoun brings a list of spells to the table to further augment your army's abilities (or to just blast enemy models to ash), and every one ''also'' has a single-use Feat ability. This can only be used once per game, but is almost always devastatingly powerful and can basically win the game on its own if timed correctly. They're also generally no slouches in combat, with some of them being able to wipe out entire squads of normal soldiers or go toe-to-toe with heavy warjacks (though there are quite a few who ''aren't'' that fantastic in a brawl). What your warnoun does and what types of unit they synergize with is one of the most important parts of building an army and how that army works on the tabletop. No two warnouns are alike; you might be running exactly the same army list, but if you swap out one warnoun for another, you can completely change the playstyle.

Despite their incredible power, however, most games of Warmahordes require you to protect your warnoun rather than throw them into the mix. This is because they are functionally equivalent to the king in a game of chess: lose the warnoun, and you've lost the game.

What makes warcasters and warlocks so powerful is their ability to make use of FOCUS or FURY, respectively. These are the fuel that makes your army work.

Focus is the simpler of the two: warcasters generate focus, which they can then give to their giant robots in order to make them more powerful. Alternately, they can keep it for themselves, to cast spells. Focus is awesome and you want as much of it as you can get. What's worth spending those precious points on?

Fury is slightly more complicated, but still not too bad. Warlocks still use fury to cast spells, but they can only generate it themselves by taking damage. But your warbeasts will also generate it as they fight, and your warlock can leach it out of them. This is important, because any warbeast with fury left on it has a chance to flip its shit and just nom the closest unit, whether friendly or enemy, and every warbeast can have only so much fury on it at once before it tops out and needs to remove it to accumulate more. Your warlock can only handle so much fury per turn, so you need to manage it efficiently to keep your army under control. On the other hand, if you aren't generating ''enough'' fury, your warbeasts probably aren't doing the work they need to be, and your warlock might not have enough to fuel their spellcasting. How much can you handle safely?

How much focus your warcaster generates (or how much fury your warlock can leach) each turn is determined by their FOCUS (or FURY) stat. This ranges from 5 (abysmally low) to 10 (stupidly high), with 6 being about average and 8 or higher usually indicating that the warnoun in question is a squishy spell-slinger rather than a frontliner. This also determines the model's control range, which is a distance equal to twice your FOCUS/FURY in inches, and is the maximum distance at which you can manipulate focus or fury. Keeping your robots or kaiju inside that bubble is important, since 'jacks without fuel aren't terribly effective and 'beasts without a babysitter can't hulk our and are liable to start devouring friendly infantry.

It's also worth noting that, when building an army list, a warnoun is effectively worth ''negative'' points. Your army's warnoun costs nothing themselves, and comes with a few free points to spend on warjacks or warbeasts.

===Warjacks and Warbeasts===

Warcasters and warlocks are your generals. Warjacks and warbeasts are their heavy hitters. While there are a few special rules that make the two play a ''bit'' differently (mostly regarding how they fuel their attacks with focus or fury), they're pretty much identical on the tabletop - save that one is a giant robot and the other is a giant monster.

Warjacks are basically seven-ton steampunk Hunter-Killer Terminator golems, tactically equivalent to how we use tanks in Earth warfare but with 100% more awesome and +2 to legs. Meanwhile, warbeasts are huge, hulking mountains of muscle and [[RAEG]], with even the smallest of them capable of reducing a man to paste with one [[Trollbloods|Giant Meaty Fist]]. They all pack crazy powerful weapons, heavy armor, and huge amounts of health, making them the most powerful individual models in an army that aren't warnouns. They also come with a slew of special "power attacks" unique to the larger models, which range from body-slamming a fucker across the tabletop to chucking them like a softball over the nearest building. The downsides are that they're usually slower, easier to hit, and less accurate than infantry, and they cost a bundle for a single model, so losing one hurts more.

Both warjacks and warbeasts also rely heavily on their army's warnoun to unlock their maximum potential for murder. They're plenty big and stompy on their own, but in order to do anything more than simply walk around and swing at things with standard attacks, they require outside help. Warjacks need a warcaster to hand them addtional focus points, which they can then spend to run, charge, make power attacks, make bonus additional standard attacks, or increase the power and accuracy of any attack they make. Warbeasts can do all of that on their own, but every time they do, they generate a fury point, and the longer that fury sticks around, the more likely that the 'beast will lose its shit and just start snapping necks like Slim Jims. They also have a maximum fury limit, and when they hit it, they can't do any of those awesome things any more, so they need a warlock about to leach all their anger away. Both can act normally outside of their warcaster/warlock's "control range," but 'jacks can't be given focus, and 'beasts can neither generate Fury nor have it leached.

There are also a handful of models ''other'' than your warnoun which can control these giant fuckers: Marshals and Journeymen. Marshals are basically just novices who have learned to shout loud enough that their orders will get through their charge's thick goddamn skull. This is roughly analogous to trying to use a computer without a mouse; it can be done, but it's never as easy, efficient, or effective. It can still be useful, since they take some load off your warnoun, but it's not always what you want. Journeymen, meanwhile, are basically mini-warnouns, complete with their own FOCUS or FURY score, spell list, and so on. They can control things more efficiently than Marshals, but they're still strictly downgrades from your standard warnouns, so again, it's situational as to whether or not you want them. They're primarily useful for edge cases, when you absolutely must have another 'jack or 'beast but your warnoun is already run ragged.

The final real difference between warjacks, warbeasts, and regular models is the way damage is tracked. Most models just have health boxes to mark as they take damage, but these guys are too beefy for that. Warjacks have a whole ''grid'' of damage boxes, while warbeasts have a damage ''spiral''. These really aren't as complicated as they sound: whenever you take damage, you roll a die to see which column of the grid or spiral to start marking boxes off in, rolling over to the next one if necessary. As these fill up, your 'jack or 'beast might get weaker - it's still standing, but it's taken a pounding, and something important is broken. It might get slower, or weaker in combat, or lose the ability to use focus or fury entirely.

It should be noted that ''in general'' (there are exceptions, of course), Hordes armies tend to have an easier time bringing lots of warbeasts (3 or more) compared to Warmachine armies who tend to have fewer warjacks (1 or 2). This is because FOCUS is a finite resource and most Warmachine factions have few ways to generate extra, while most Hordes factions tend to have more ways to get rid of extra FURY. Also, the FURY system, while not strictly better than FOCUS, does give you a little bit extra flexibility in that there are certain cases where it's okay to leave extra FURY on your warbeasts. For example, if you have a really strong turn but end up generating more FURY than you can leech, you may leave the extra on your beasts because you're hoping you'll get lucky and they won't frenzy, or even if they do frenzy it won't wreck your plans, or you're expecting your enemy to kill one or more of your beasts and take care of that extra FURY for you, or if charging the nearest enemy is your goal. The Journeymen mentioned in a previous paragraph were specifically designed to help ease the FOCUS or FURY burden on your Warnoun, allowing you to take more warjacks or warbeasts if you so desire.

====Colossals and Gargantuans====

Colossals are like warjacks with more FUCKHUEG, because Privateer Press wanted to charge $100 per model for something, and the only way to do that was to make it really big (and, unlike Forge World models, almost actually worth it). Roughly equivalent to Titans in 40K, they can be fielded at any point level and are surprisingly well-balanced, since they have about the same defensive stats as a heavy warjack and cost about the same as two of them, but have loads more health and tons more dakka. Oh yeah, and they have TWO 6-column damage grids to play with, although they generally have less than double the health of a heavy warjack. Gargantuans are the same thing, but for warbeasts. Because of the differences between the Focus and Fury mechanics, colossals are generally seen as mechanically superior, since their resource-manage system benefits from shrinking the number of models the caster has to juggle between.

===Units===

Basically exactly what you'd expect. Units are groups of infantry which operate as, well, a unit on the tabletop. They range from bog-standard foot soldiers to well-trained and heavily-armored specialists and elite assassins, and everything else besides.

Like in Warhammer, most models in a unit only have a single wound and are immediately killed if they take any damage (though there are a few elite infantry units whose models have quite a few health boxes). Unlike in Warhammer, models in a Warmahordes unit act almost as individuals, with the primary restriction on them being that they must stay within a certain distance of the current unit leader, and that the entire unit must run or charge as a group. Other than this, models move on their own and can make attacks individually (and are targeted individually in turn). This removes much of the "shapeless gunblob" that plagues Warhammer.

Other than the basic models, units can be expanded by adding Unit Attachments (UAs) and/or Weapon Attachments (WAs). These add a couple more bodies to the unit, as well as an Officer (a better leader, usually with some handy buffs accompanying them) in the case of UAs or a guy with a better weapon, like the Winter Guard Infantry's RPG dude, in the case of WAs. Other than their better stats and weaponry, these models work in basically the same way as the rest of the unit members.

===Solos===

Single models which act individually. Like units, this is an extremely broad category that covers everything from dedicated support models to axe-wielding maniacs. They're also usually more durable than standard infantry, with at least five health boxes being the stardard, though not enough that most can survive a direct hit from a warjack or warbeast.

===Battle Engines===

Battle Engines are recent additions to the game. They are big, durable, vehicle-sized models on the same 120mm base as colossals, built with a certain task in mind, like support or shooting. They cost about as much as a heavy 'jack, and are generally much more specialized and slightly less durable, but don't need to draw from a warcaster's focus to do their thing.

===Characters===

Characters are not a unit type of themselves; rather, they are uniquely named units, solos or warjacks that are exceptional in one way or another. All warcasters are characters, but other characters include talented mercenaries (Rutger Shaw, Eyriss), charismatic leaders and their followers (Alexia Ciannor and the Risen, Greygore Boomhowler and Co.) or warjacks that have been around long enough to develop a distinct personality or other unique traits (Ol' Rowdy, Beast 09). Characters are unique and you can only take one of a single character in any list, no matter how big the army size; they are typically more expensive than their non-character counterparts, but also have better stat lines, abilities, weapons and skills.

====Epic Characters====

As the story of Warmahordes progresses, so do some of the characters. "Epic" characters are alternate versions of a given character based on things that have happened to them in the story. For example, when War Witch Deneghra was killed, she was resurrected as Wraith Witch Deneghra, and both of these are available as models for use on the tabletop. You can only use one version of any given character in an army.

Epic characters are ''not'' intended to be more powerful than their previous incarnations, just ''different''. Of course, there are some power differences, in the same way that some warjacks or warbeasts are simply better than others, but don't think that it's not worth fielding a given character if you aren't going to use their epic version.

Regular and epic versions of characters used to be referred to with the shorthand "pName" (for "prime") and "eName" for ("epic"). However, recently, some characters have gotten up to their third incarnation. The Privateer Press forumgoers played around with terminology like "lName" (for "legendary") or "eeName" (for... "double epic"?) when referring to the third-incarnation characters, but Privateer Press has stated that it officially prefers the terminology Name1/Name2/Name3, which honestly is much easier.

==List Building==

In the grand old wargaming tradition, every model has a points value and opposing armies have to be the same size. However, the points values of Warmahordes are very small compared to GW properties. 0 points is a small-scale learning game with one warcaster, their battlegroup. 50-75 points is brick-and-mortar-store tournament scale (roughly equivalent to 1500-2000 points of 40K). 100 points is for all-day convention tournaments. Anything bigger than 100 points borders on Apocalypse scale; Privateer Press has released "Unbound" rules to streamline games at 150+ points, and while they're still a bit on the clunky side it still keeps games of that scale to less than a day.

The majority of tournaments require you to write two different army lists and choose between them at the start of the game. This allows you to build one list which can cover for the shortcomings of the other. 1d4chan's official recommendation is to have one Searforge Commission Mercenaries list and one Talion Charter Mercenaries list, allowing you to field both [[dwarf|dwarves]] AND [[pirate|pirates]] at the same tournament.

==Mechanics==

During the game, Warmahordes uses six-sided dice for almost everything. The basic rule is to roll 2d6, add the appropriate stat and bonuses, and compare to the target's defensive stat. There are also ways to add bonus dice, resulting in a 3d6 or even 4d6. In the case of some truly terrifying attacks 5d6 roll.

The system never uses tables or charts, and every unit you purchase comes with its own stat card which contains all relevant rules and statistics needed to use it. As such, Warmahordes players never have to buy a Codex equivalent (though these do exist for those who wish to purchase them, in the form of the ''Forces Of...'' line, and come with all the lore you could wish for in the bargain).

The game system heavily rewards aggressive play, to the point that the game's official tagline was '''''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''''. The most obvious way this is enforced is that a charging unit gets a bonus die on its damage rolls, so the player who goes for the jugular first will probably get in a brutal alpha strike. This does not mean that ranged armies are at a disadvantage, however, as there are plenty of ways to bog down advancing units, and many ranged units bring additional utility to the table in form of special abilities or AOE attacks.

==Factions==

Warmahordes currently has either eleven to thirteen factions across the two games, depending on who you ask. There are five primary factions in Warmachine and four in Hordes, but each game also has a limited release faction in the form of The Convergence of Cyriss for Warmachine and the Grymkin for Hordes. Both also have a catch-all pseudo-faction in the form of Mercenaries and Minions, respectively. These are primarily intended as supplemental models which the primary factions can use to fill strategic holes in their forces' capabilities, but due to popularity among the players, Privateer Press has released rules allowing the Mercenaries and Minions to be fielded as independent forces with their own warnouns leading them.

===Warmachine===
[[File:WarmaHordes-Factions.jpg|700px|thumb|right|A short summary]]

====[[Cygnar]]====

Cygnar are the [[Mary Sue|“good guys”]]. The nation itself is not unimpeachable or always morally correct, but its characters are clearly protagonists. Even when taking a darker turn, they always have a core of moral fiber, etc. If Han Solo is the most evil member of your crew, you are the good guys.

Cygnar is the most advanced human nation; they tend to shoot things with guns, hurt things with lightning, or hurt things by shooting them with lightning guns. They're made out to be a fairly nice place to live if not for the fact they have some bad blood with Khador. They also have the Protectorate of Menoth wanting to overthrow their government (and religion), with the Cygnar/Menoth border literally running right through the Cygnar capital in a Berlin Wall arrangement (except that the Menites were smart enough to put their capital somewhere else). Just to make things all better, Cygnar's the closest to Cryx, who are aiming to exterminate them and everything else on the mainland. The other factions may not like each other much either, but Cygnar is basically in the middle of them all.

Their advanced understanding of magic and mechanics is reflected in that they have most of the best ranged weapons in the game, are best known for their Lightning attack type, and play less aggressively than most other factions (though they do still have some powerful melee models, which almost always have ranged attacks as well). They tend to be more accurate and mobile than the other factions, but don't always hit as hard and are markedly less durable. They aren't helpless in melee, but it isn't their forte. They, like Khador, are generally considered one of the best factions for starting players.

====[[Cryx]]====

If Cygnar are the good guys, Cryx is unashamedly the faction of bad guys. In a world of moral grays, they paint with the deepest blacks.

It's an island nation of zombie pirate demon witch robots that was taken over by a Godzilla sized dragon named Toruk, the father of all dragons. Toruk wants to rule the world (or wreak random destruction, it's a little confusing), and created Cryx as a weapon to use against the dragons that he created (since he created them from his own essence, so [[Derp|they're just as fucking arrogant as he is and refuse to submit to his will]], and they're the only beings on Immoren that can really threaten him directly). Due to his concern about them ganging up on him, he spends his days sitting around doing nothing while claiming everything is going [[Just As Planned]]. Whether or not that's the truth is unknown.

Cryx is an interesting evil army, composed of pirates, undead pirates, ghost warriors, heavily armored liches, and demonic mutant witches. [[Dark Eldar|Their army is generally the fastest, cheapest, and largest on the table, and also hits like a ton of bricks]]. The problem is that they can't take a hit in return, so they have to use dirty tricks to dictate the flow of battle and choose their engagements carefully. As such, Cryx is one of the hardest armies for new players to make proper use of. Still, if utilized properly, Cryx can punch through almost any defense and savage the enemy warnoun before they can blink.

Has horny ladies with [[Promotions|Great Racks]], too. Really. [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSkarre This] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiBlood+Witches is] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSea+Witch a] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSatyxis thing].


====[[Khador]]====

Leave heroes and villains to Cygnar and Cryx. Khador is unconcerned with such things. Military might, honor, and love of the Motherland are all that matter in the cold, frozen north.

Cries of "For the Motherland", red banners, gold triangle-stars, frigid bitches, and beardy berserkers personify Khador. They're a northern Imperial Russia/Soviet Union style nation bent on imperialist conquest. They claim that this is because they've been screwed out of the world domination they once had and rightly deserve, and while this is almost certainly revisionist history b.s., it's been the glue that let them begin to build a modern nation out of disunited scraps.

Despite the fact that most newbies think of Khador as the guys with the biggest, stompiest warjacks, Khador is almost exclusively a dedicated infantry faction. Khador warjacks ''are'' durable, and they do hit like a goddamn steam train in melee, but they are also slow, expensive, inaccurate, and extremely focus-hungry in a faction known for its focus-hungry warcasters. Fortunately, to make up for this, Khadoran infantry are some of the best in the game. They are durable, reliable, mobile, and pack an incredible punch for their price. Whatever the job, Khador has an infantry unit that will do it with style.

Need a squad of [[Space Marines|elite shocktroopers in steam-powered armor ripped from a warjack chassis and wielding weapons that will make even the hardest targets sweat?]] Man-O'-Wars have your back. Heavy infantry stalling your advance? The Widowmaker snipers are on the job; watch those heads go ''pop!'' Need an army of screaming psychopaths charging across the field to decapitate your foes? No problem! We have Doom Reavers for that. Just need some [[Imperial Guard|reliable, flexible, reasonably shooty infantry to swamp a point and hold it against all comers through sheer weight of numbers]]? The Winter Guard have your back. And, no matter the squad, Khador has the buffs to make them into a true terror on the tabletop.

Because of the reliability, simplicity, and flexibility of their infantry, as well as the straightforward way their warjacks function, Khador is, like Cygnar, considered a great faction for new players.

====[[Protectorate of Menoth]]====

A bunch of [[Imperium of Man|religious fanatics]] that worship Menoth, the god of civilization and mankind ([[Emperor of Mankind|just not this guy]]), who is kind of an asshole. The Church of Menoth began falling out with Cygnar about a thousand years ago, since a more benign god named Morrow began gaining favor. While the two churches were able to coexist for hundreds of years, relations between them eventually turned sour, especially because the then-king of Cygnar favored Morrow. Eventually, the Menite church got sick of his shit, wandered off into the desert, discovered petroleum, and endured even more oppression under Vinter Raelthorne IV before the Cygnarans also got sick of his shit and voted him out of office in the traditional feudal manner: with a military coup. The chaos resulting from this allowed the theocracy to form its own quasi-legal nation: the Protectorate of Menoth.

''Technically'' speaking, the Protectorate is not allowed to have a military, which the Protectorate actually adhered to during its early years, but has lately began to ignore. They aren't really ''evil'', per se (they have legitimate Lawful Good [[paladin]]s), but the leaders of the theocracy are, by and large, a pretty awful bunch. The Protectorate's main goal right now is to forcibly convert everyone back to the True Faith (well, at least the humans, anyway - Menoth couldn't care less about everybody else). Most recently, they invaded the eastern half of Llael, who quickly found that they preferred Khador's iron-fisted rule to the Protectorate's flamethrowers.

On the tabletop, the Protectorate is all about synergy. Menite armies field the best support units in the game, which take their ''other'' units from "decent" to "oh my fuck what". The most iconic of these units is the Choir of Menoth, which is hands-down the single best 'jack support unit out there. Menite 'jacks have only middling statlines on their own, but with the Choir (and Menoth's other servants) backing them up, they can become seriously terrifying. As such, the Protectorate is one of the more 'jack-heavy factions in the game, though its infantry is also no slouch.

Menite armies also have a decidedly Ottoman Empire motif, with a dash of [[Inquisition|Spanish Inquisition]] thrown in for good measure. As non-divine magic is considered [[heresy]] by the Menite church, Protectorate armies have a lot of ways to counteract it. Dispel magic abounds, as do plenty of other denial-focused abilities which will put a serious crimp in the style of any opponent. Defensive buffs are also exceptionally common, which makes a Menite army a tough-as-nails brick that's very hard to crack open - so long as its support units are protected. On the other hand, Menite units tend to be quite slow, and there aren't many ways for the faction to increase their mobility. Menite warcasters also tend to be fairly fragile and vulnerable to assassination, so it's important to protect them.

====[[Retribution of Scyrah]]====

Being an [[elf]] [[Grimdark|sucks]]. For a while, everything's good, until you decide to build a bridge to Heaven so all your gods can come over for a few cold ones and sleep with some sexy elf chicks. Then the bridge works, but also explodes and [[Eldar|wipes out pretty much your entire civilization]], so instead of hanging out and partying with your gods you have to pack up and move next to some dwarven hicks. Then you all start aging and getting [[AIDS]] and shit, and also babies start getting born without souls, and the gods say it ''might'' have something to do with the fact that they aren't in Heaven any more so the entire universe might be out of whack. Then, when they go back, [[Slaanesh|something kills them all]], and things just keep getting worse until, one day, the goddess of spring just turns up out of nowhere, wanders into her temple, and then goes into a ''fucking coma'' while dying slowly and with no one having a goddamn clue how to fix her.

So when someone says "hey, did anyone else notice how the day the gods died was ''also'' the day humans discovered arcane magic?", it is, perhaps, a bit understandable that more than a few elves picked up a rifle and went to kill some round-ears.

Retribution units have a very distinct visual design, with a notably [[Weeaboo|sleek, curvy, anime-esque look, complete with neon hair]]. [[Eldar|Most of their army tends to consist of highly specialized, elite units with clearly-defined roles]], without much in the way of generalist infantry. They also have an abundance of options for assassin units, up to and including entire units of ninja elf infantry with magic crossbows. They are mobile, shooty, and tricky, and surprisingly beardy considering that they're, y'know, ''elves''. The Retribution has fantastic infantry and solos all around.

On the other hand, Retribution warjacks and warcasters are generally not too fantastic. Its warjacks (called "myrmidons") are mobile, but fragile, and require a lot of backup to be effective. Its warcasters tend to be utility-based rather than individual powerhouses, and exist largely as sources of buffs for their infantry. On the ''other'' other hand, Retribution infantry are generally solid enough to make this work, and if they can't, then you still have the option of an assassination run - which the Retribution can do with incredible reliability from a frankly ''disgusting'' range.

Because of the Retribution's reliance on tricks and sensitivity about order of activation (certain units really, ''really'' want to go at certain times, and messing this up will cause your army to fold like a house of cards), the Retribution is an incredibly difficult army to play well. It's not weak, but it's not particularly newbie-friendly, and is generally limited to more advanced players.

They're also fans of shaved heads, and can even grow beards, making them the manliest elves ever - not that this is a high bar to <strike>jump</strike> <strike>step</strike> walk over.

Beware of [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/House+Shyeel+Magister mittens].

====[[Convergence of Cyriss]]====

The Convergence is a [[Adeptus Mechanicus|cult]] dedicated to the worship of [[Omnissiah|Cyriss, the Machine Goddess]], the personification of logic, order, science, and mathematical perfection. (Pfft, like any woman god could be close to understanding those things, amirite guyz?) They have taken the technology used to make the artificial brains used in warjacks and applied it to themselves, [[Necrons|uploading their consciousness into machine bodies]] in order to become closer to her. They're actually not bad guys, really - it's just that the driving belief behind their faith is that Cyriss really, ''really'' wants them to turn the entire fucking planet into a <s>giant clockwork robot, exterminating all organic life and rendering the world perfect in her eyes</s> network of specially distributed leylines that act as a circuitboard to call down Cyriss' consciousness into. The reason this is bad is that the places they need to build temples on are the places major cities or temples crop up on, that other factions want to use for various reasons, and in doing so are going to piss off the Wyrm to the point that he destroys all sapient life on the planet when he arrises from Urcaen in a rage about the leylines (IE: Him) being fucked with. Since the rest of the factions take issue with various parts of this, they've turned their technological expertise towards developing more advanced versions of warjacks, called "vectors", to punch their way to the Rapture.

The Convergence is the absolute ''weirdest'' faction in all of Warmachine, and comes with a slew of special rules that make it play completely differently from anything else on the tabletop. To start with, they are a limited release faction, having only 1 model ever released for them after their initial run and no access to mercenaries at all. Also its warjacks don't have a complete statline; their accuracy in combat is determined entirely by which warcaster you are fielding, as they share their stats with the vectors under their command. This means that your warcaster selection doesn't just alter the basic idea behind your strategy - it completely alters the ''basic functions of your warjacks''.

They also handle focus very differently, with the bottom line being that Convergence 'jacks are ''exceptionally'' focus-efficient, allowing the faction to field more 'jacks than any other without breaking the bank. In 2014, a Convergence player went all the way to the grand finals of the Warmahordes championships with a list consisting almost entirely of vectors, and only lost due to running out of time on the clock. The faction does have some nice infantry, though, if the player wants to field a warcaster with lower combat stats and not have to sit there crying while every attack misses.

Basically, the Convergence is very, ''very'' strange, but not at all weak. It is somewhat limited by a low model count, as Privateer Press hasn't released too much for it yet, and no Mercenaries will work with them, but the faction has the capability to answer any threat with proper planning. If you like clockwork robots or the idea of turning the entire world into a chrome-plated paradise, they're well worth looking into.

----
====[[Crucible Guard]]====

The newest Warmachine faction, a group of alchemists emergening from Llael's resistance movements.

They rely heavily on special effects like Fire or Corrosion and a good bit of mobility. Imagine Gorman di Wulfe as an entire faction and you have it about right.

====[[Mercenaries]]====

As mentioned above, Mercenary models were initially meant to just be options available to multiple factions rather than an army unto themselves. Due to player demand, however, Privateer Press has since released rules for fielding entirely Mercenary forces. These range from [[dwarf|dwarves]] [[Awesome|in powered armour, fielding the O.G. warjacks that served as the basis for the tech that ousted the Orgoth]] to Llaelese rebels fighting for their homeland's freedom to pirates being pirates. Basically, when playing Mercenaries, you pick a theme and, and then go as normal. The only restrictions are that dwarven warjacks must be controlled by dwarven warcasters, and Cephalyx Monstrosities must be controlled by their Overseers. You are now able to mix and match any merc beyond those restrictions. Below are examples of some more thematic armies within the Mercs umbrella/

*'''Steelhead Battalion:''' The premier franchised mercenary company/meatshield manspam horde in the region, jacks of all trades masters of none.
*'''Searforge Commission:''' They're [[dwarves]], and come with everything you'd expect from the same. They aren't going anywhere fast, but they are ''ludicrously'' 'ard, and they hit like a ton of bricks. It's also worth noting that the signature dwarven warcaster, Gorten Grundback, is pretty much the most stupidly tanky thing in the fucking game and is functionally immune to damage. Note, however, that the dwarves in this universe are not Scottish, because the Trollbloods are already Scottish. It is generally agreed that the dwarves in Warmachine have a New Zealand accent.
*'''Puppet Masters:''' The Cephalyx started out as the Iron Kingdoms' steampunkified non-Product-Identity version of the [[Illithid|Illithids]] -- bizarre creatures who live deep underground and love mind-controlling the lesser races of the surface world, except they do it using technology rather than magic. Now they're a Mercenary faction of their own, complete with giant sewn-together Frankenstein monsters which act as their warjack-equivalents. They're extremely new, with very limited unit options - but that's okay since they can steal a unit from another Mercenary faction thanks to the Cephalyx Dominator. Has a focus on dirty tricks rather than straight-up brawling, also has a "human resources" approach to super-buffing its infantry.
*'''Talion Charter:''' Pirates. Lots of pirates. How many pirates can you imagine? There are more than that. Also, a peg-legged Napoleon dwarf. Also, a fuckhueg cannon that is easily the best damn artillery piece in the entire game if you manage to get anything in its line of sight. This group is all about synergy with their units, which on their own are the worst in the game. Start adding in their solos and unit attachments, though, and suddenly you've got yourself a unit that can do some damage.

===Hordes===

====[[Trollbloods]]====

Scottish [[Orks]], and also the good guys of Warmahordes. [[Awesome]]. The Trollbloods are a dying race, as the superior technology of nations like Cygnar and Khador is continually pushing them to the borders of habitable land, and they lack the resources to build warjacks themselves. On the other hand, what they ''do'' have are some seriously fucking scary relatives, so now that the fate of the species is on the line, the trolls have united and called in the inbred redneck cousins as backup - only, in this case, the redneck cousins in question are basically walking mountains that could flatten a building with one hand. They drink, fight, and basically just brawl their way through the world, trying to establish a homeland for themselves, and only occasionally eating someone. Hardly anyone, these days. No one important, anyway. You'd never miss 'em, we swear.

The key word here is ''tough''. Trollblood models can take a ''stupid'' amount of punishment. Most of them are Tough (as in the mechanic), on top of having ridiculous amounts of health boxes and high ARM. They will also kick the ever-loving shit out of anything they reach in melee, because they are pissed off, drunk as shit, Scottish, and also Orks. They run forward, punch whatever they can reach, and then repeat until the enemy is a smear on the pavement. As such, they are one of the simplest armies in all of Warmahordes, and an excellent choice for new players - though they aren't entirely without their own little tricks, and can be just as rewarding for experienced warlocks.

Trollbloods have the dubious honor of being the most shit on faction fluffwise. Cygnar promised them a bunch of lands, but neglected to tell them that said land was in the way of a gigantic Skorne army. Then when they went to the king of Cygnar, Leto, to get the lands they were promised, he basically told them to fuck off. The trolls were not pleased. This, coupled with the fact that the Menite priest-kings used to enslave trollbloods for use as beasts of burdens and menial workers, has caused the leader of the Trollbloods, Chief Madrak Ironhide to unite all the warring kriels. Picking up the cursed axe of Rathrok out of desperation, he is leading the race into a new, uncertain future, carving out their own land, and Dhunia help any pink-skinned human, elf, skorne or undead construct that dares stand in their way.

====[[Circle Orboros]]====

So, on the one hand you have [[Emperor of Mankind|Menoth]], who is the god of mankind, order, and civilization. He's sort of a prick, but he's got the right idea... maybe. On the ''other'' hand, you have the Devourer Wurm, the avatar of all that is chaos - nature, red in tooth and claw. It knows no mercy. It probably doesn't even understand the concept. It cares for nothing save that the cities of the world be torn down and all that is not of nature's domain be rent asunder. This thing is so cruel that in the wars between its worshippers and Menoth's, many of the Wurm's followers converted to Menoth after losing because his treatment was actually KINDER

And the Circle (kinda)[[Derp|worships it]]. The idea is that they want to keep Menoth and the Wurm at each other's throats. Too much civilization(or too much nature) might cause one or the other to turn their attention back on Immoren, and that'd be bad news for ''everybody''. And since civilization is the one on the rise in Immoren right now, that's what they got beef with. The Circle is weird. Most of the time they are too busy stabbing each other in the back for political gain to actually accomplish anything without nearly destroying the world.

So, basically, you have a bunch of ''fucking insane'' druids, all of whom are assholes, running around and shanking anyone who isn't a hippie tree-hugger. For those who cannot be shanked by normal means, they have <s>werewolves</s> '''warp'''wolves, humanoid griffins, and kung-fu goats, along with giant golems, ents (them tree things), and weird-ass Stonehenge magic. They love terrain and messing with unit placement, making them one of the tricksiest forces in the game, as well as extremely situational - if there are a lot of forests about and your opponent isn't particularly good at dealing with them, you're golden. If not, you're probably going to get your shit kicked in. Unless you start planting trees.

====[[Legion of Everblight]]====

Remember when we mentioned that Cryx is led by the evil dragon-god Toruk, who seeks to hunt down and devour his children in order to conquer the world? Yeah, Everblight is one of those children. And, since dragons in this setting are eldritch abominations that leak corrupting blight into everything around them, he's started up his own army in order to keep his daddy from chowing down on his bones. After he got his ass kicked in his initial fight with Toruk, he fled into the north, where he corrupted a bunch of elves, started spawning [[Tyranids|warped creatures]] to serve as his weapons, and found an ogre crazy enough to [[Grimdark|cut open his own fucking chest and shove Everblight's crystal-body into his heart, thus providing him with a new host body]].

The Legion is, in many ways, quite similar to its Warmachine equivalent of Cryx. It is brutally fast and does incredible amounts of damage, but is not particularly durable. However, while Cryx is primarily an infantry-focused faction, the Legion loves its warbeasts. It has many of those that Hordes players would list among the best in the game. Whether at range or up close, the Legion's warbeasts will absolutely wreck whatever you point them at. Plus, they look like freaky eyeless dragon-things, and that's pretty cool.

====[[Skorne]]====

A barbarian empire hailing from beyond the deserts to the east of Cygnar, which were previously thought to be so inhospitable that no one could live out there. As it turns out, this was wrong - it just means that the people living out there are [[Grimdark|crazy, sadomasochistic pain-worshipers with an insatiable thirst for blood]]. Think of Conan the Barbarian mixed with Hellraiser, with not nearly enough sex. A while ago, they got a visit from deposed Cygnarian king Vinter Raelthorne, who kicked out the leaders and decided to use them as pawns to get his kingdom back. Now they have come storming across the sands full of piss and vinegar in search of somewhere to live that sucks marginally less and they're not going to stop murdering the shit out of everyone until they get it gosh-darn it.

On the tabletop, Skorne is roughly equivalent to most newbies' idea of Khador: slow, durable, and pretty much guaranteed to crush whatever they get into melee with. Their warbeasts are brutally dangerous in close quarters, and their infantry aren't any less threatening. They're not really going anywhere fast, but if you want some Roman-style phalanx combat and an army that can take a beating and give it right back, this is your go-to.

[[Grimdark|Also, they field tortured baby elephants to demoralize their foes.]] Because, in case you hadn't figured it out yet, they're pretty messed up in the head.

====[[Grymkin]]====
The Grymkin are the latest Hordes faction to be released and are a limited release faction similar to the Convergence. They are the myths and faerie tales of Caen given life, with various flavors of imps being their main focus. Grymkin Warlocks function differently from the standard variety by not having feats, instead they have what are called Arcana. These arcana come in a wide range of triggered effects and abilities that are chosen before the battle begins with one Trump Arcana serving as a psuedo-feat The Grymkin are a primarily infantry based faction focusing on having troops be insanely hard to kill and then returning them to the battlefield. Most of their models have stupid puny names

====Minions====

[[File:Gatorman oathsworn by mightytinrobot-d5ectj7.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mercenaries|Pirates?]] [[Lizardmen|Aztec dinosaurs?]] Who needs them when you have [[Awesome|aligator warriors]]!]]
The Hordes equivalent of Mercenaries. Everything said there applies here, save that Minions tend to be more along the lines of kobolds, gatormen, and such.

They come in two distinct flavors:

* '''The Blindwater Congregation:''' Voodoo gatormen who dwell in the swamps and have been slowly assimilating the other scaled races. They have tough infantry and excel at beating up living models, but have some difficulties with high-ARM, non-living models like warjacks. They also love them some undead somethin' good, with their voodoo witchcraft and their tendency to speak in a <s>southern drawl</s> cajun yat.
* '''The Thornfall Alliance:''' A new proto-nation, like the United Kriels of the Trollbloods. ''Unlike'' the Trollbloods, the farrow are pig people, which is awesomely ridiculous. They have interesting warlocks with different play styles, but little variation in their forces due to a limited unit list. And all of their warlocks can only use Farrow warbeasts. However, the War Hog (which is the biggest pig around) is beastly enough to do the job in nearly every occasion. Less flexible than Blindwater as they tend to use a more direct approach.

==Getting into Warmahordes==

The best place to go for community thoughts on anything in Warmahordes is the [https://warmachineuniversity.com/mw/index.php/Main_Page WarMachine University community wiki](which replaced the now decunct Battle College in 2018) . It's a great starting resource for any player, whether newbie <strike>or experienced tournament contestant</strike>. Do some reading on any faction that interests you and see what units work and what don't. Take everything they say with a grain of salt, because the contributors don't always know what they're talking about and can sometimes get shit horribly wrong (like /tg/).

No matter what you choose to buy, you'll need a copy of either ''Warmachine Prime MkIII'' or ''Hordes Primal MkIII'', which are the core rulebooks for the games. Except you don't need to buy them anymore, because [http://privateerpress.com/the-rules-are-free the rulebook is free]. You should also look up Privateer Press' token sets, which are very handy for keeping track of status effects, focus and fury points, and so on.

Once you know what you want to play, you're very likely best off getting either the Battlegroup Box for your chosen faction or the All-In-One Army Box, if it's available. Both are absolutely incredible deals for the price. The Battlegroup box will come with a single warnoun and a handful of warjacks or warbeasts, while the All-In-One Army Box is more expensive and comes with a basic starter army (which is usually fairly solid, if not exactly top-tier). Both are great places to start your collection, and will save you a lot of money.

If you like a faction, don't let the "beginner/expert" bits above scare you. Some factions ''are'' generally trickier than others, but none of them are completely inaccessible. You may just have to put some work in before you start seeing results.

You ''do not'' need to pick up the ''Forces'' book for your chosen faction. It's fun to have, but every unit comes with its own stat card which will tell you everything that you need to know to field the unit in question.

EDIT: At time of this edit, Warmahordes is going through an edition change. recommend visiting the Privateer Press main website for more information before you buy. Rulebooks will now be free online.

==See also==
[[Warmachine/Tactics]]

{{Template:Privateer Press}}
[[Category:Wargames]]
[[category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]]
[[Category:Warmachine]]

WARMACHINE

2019-09-07T00:12:46Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:91F1:4BE1:8BA3:3EC4: /* Skorne */

[[Image:Warmachine_Hordes_Logos.png|850px|center]]
<center>'''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''</center>

<center>'''WARMAHORDES V3.0 HAS OFFICIALLY LANDED. THE STORYLINE HAS JUMPED FORWARD THREE YEARS, UNITS HAVE BEEN REBALANCED, AND CORE MECHANICS HAVE BEEN REWORKED TO SOME EXTENT. ALL INFORMATION ON THESE PAGES IS POSSIBLY OUTDATED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.'''</center>
[[File:Skubmachine.jpg|300px|thumb|right|WARMACHINE used to be a game with a particular audience. These days this stuff has been toned down or removed entirely.]]
'''Warmachine''' and '''Hordes''', often called '''Warmahordes''', are tabletop wargames produced by [[Privateer Press]]. Uniquely among other games of the same genre, Warmachine and Hordes are actually built from the ground up to be played with one another. They are essentially the same game with two different flavorings: Warmachine factions are more civilized and make use of giant steam-powered [[magitek]] robots, while Hordes armies tend to be more [[Orks|barbaric]] and use huge-ass kaiju instead. Other than this, the two games are functionally identical to the point of most tournaments allowing armies from either game to be fielded against one another. This has led to most players referring to the game as ''Warmahordes''. Both games are currently in their <s>second</s> third edition (06/29/2016 edition), referred to as ''Prime MkIII'' for Warmachine and ''Primal MkIII'' for Hordes.

Both games are set in and around the [[Iron Kingdoms]], a group of warring states on the western coast of a continent called Immoren. Everyone hates each other, as is par for the course in a wargame setting, and some major power players are dedicated to constantly stirring shit up among the more good-aligned factions so that they keep fighting one another and make themselves too weak to oppose the inevitable zombie invasions. [[Just as planned]].

Immoren is basically what you get if you take a standard high fantasy setting and inject some Industrial Revolution. A long time ago, a bunch of evil sadomasochistic sorcerors from <s>SPAAAACE</s> across the ocean showed up and kicked everybody's shit in. Since only divine magic existed at the time and everyone was basically a bunch of barbarian tribes anyway, humanity didn't really have much in the way of ability to actually ''do'' anything about this, so everything sucked for a while. The citizens of Immoren progressively invented better and better weapons to try and get the Orgoth the fuck off their collective lawn - guns and wizardry were both initially developed as ways to fight them - but it wasn't until the dwarves decided to be fuckin' bros and start supplying the rebels with resources and teaching them the secrets of magitek that things really turned around. This led to the creation of some huge-ass, steam-powered magic robots called the Colossals, which promptly steamrolled the Orgoth right the fuck off the continent and allowed the modern factions to form.

Of course, all of these factions hate each other, so Immoren has been in a state of constant warfare pretty much since it was freed. This would be <s>weird</s> [[awesome]] enough given the anachronism stew that is the setting, since you have [[Cygnar|knights using powered armor and lightning spears]] to charge down [[Khador|Soviet Russians with shotguns and shield-cannons]], but the Iron Kingdoms have since refined the technology that created the Colossals and miniaturized it, giving us the modern steam-powered warjacks that are emblematic of the Warmachine half of the setting. Meanwhile, on the Hordes side of things, several remaining barbarian kingdoms have decided that using [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Imperial Titan]]s to keep them subjugated is cheating, so they've leveled the playing field by bringing Godzilla along for the ride.

The setting differs greatly from most other tabletop wargames in that the story actively progresses as Privateer Press releases further expansions. Characters grow, change, and die, while countries are born, conquered, or razed to the ground. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the small country of Llael, once a peaceful merchant land. It was a point of contention between the other factions for quite some time until it was conquered by Khador, then partially ''counter''-conquered by the Protectorate of Menoth, making it one hell of a dangerous place to live and adding quite a few Llaelese models to the Mercenary lineup to represent the new rebel underground.

In terms of scale, Warmahordes is considered a skirmish-level wargame. Battles are generally much smaller than those taking place in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. Indeed, the smallest games can be run with no more than four or five models. However, the game can expand to a scale similar to 40k, with armies numbering fifty or more models per side. Even at this scale, though, it tends to play faster than the two Warhammer games. It is much smaller, faster-paced, and aggressive (see the tagline), with a greater focus on tactics and positioning of individual models.

Warmahordes is generally a well-balanced game (with one [[Cryx|exception]], though even that isn't as pronounced as it used to be); all of the factions have their niches and are all able to pull off a win if the list is well put together. Furthermore, almost every unit in the game has ''something'' to make it at least somewhat useful. There are very few instances where a unit is completely without merit (though they do exist), and if you like a unit that much, there's almost always some way to make it work.

That being said, there is a downside: whereas 40k and Fantasy are strongly focused on [[your dudes]], with a ton of options for every unit, Warmahordes is much less open to customization. Units are taken as-is, with no options for kitting out individual troopers beyond whether or not you want to add an Officer or a Rocket Launcher Dude to the group. Beyond that, every army must be led by a warcaster or warlock , and every one of these is a named character within the Warmahordes universe. It's entirely possible to use, say, Allister Caine and just act like he's another character of your own creation who happens to share the same model and abilities, but those who are a fan of Games Workshop's "forge a narrative" style may find this irksome.

==Unit types==

===Warcasters and Warlocks===

[[File:202953-1366x768--DesktopNexus.com-.jpg|600px|thumb|right|It's essentially this.]]

Games of Warmahordes tend to revolve around each player's warcaster (Warmachine) or warlock (Hordes). These are powerful battle-wizards who have forged a mental link to your army's robots or kaiju, giving them direct control over their actions. Beyond this, each warnoun brings a list of spells to the table to further augment your army's abilities (or to just blast enemy models to ash), and every one ''also'' has a single-use Feat ability. This can only be used once per game, but is almost always devastatingly powerful and can basically win the game on its own if timed correctly. They're also generally no slouches in combat, with some of them being able to wipe out entire squads of normal soldiers or go toe-to-toe with heavy warjacks (though there are quite a few who ''aren't'' that fantastic in a brawl). What your warnoun does and what types of unit they synergize with is one of the most important parts of building an army and how that army works on the tabletop. No two warnouns are alike; you might be running exactly the same army list, but if you swap out one warnoun for another, you can completely change the playstyle.

Despite their incredible power, however, most games of Warmahordes require you to protect your warnoun rather than throw them into the mix. This is because they are functionally equivalent to the king in a game of chess: lose the warnoun, and you've lost the game.

What makes warcasters and warlocks so powerful is their ability to make use of FOCUS or FURY, respectively. These are the fuel that makes your army work.

Focus is the simpler of the two: warcasters generate focus, which they can then give to their giant robots in order to make them more powerful. Alternately, they can keep it for themselves, to cast spells. Focus is awesome and you want as much of it as you can get. What's worth spending those precious points on?

Fury is slightly more complicated, but still not too bad. Warlocks still use fury to cast spells, but they can only generate it themselves by taking damage. But your warbeasts will also generate it as they fight, and your warlock can leach it out of them. This is important, because any warbeast with fury left on it has a chance to flip its shit and just nom the closest unit, whether friendly or enemy, and every warbeast can have only so much fury on it at once before it tops out and needs to remove it to accumulate more. Your warlock can only handle so much fury per turn, so you need to manage it efficiently to keep your army under control. On the other hand, if you aren't generating ''enough'' fury, your warbeasts probably aren't doing the work they need to be, and your warlock might not have enough to fuel their spellcasting. How much can you handle safely?

How much focus your warcaster generates (or how much fury your warlock can leach) each turn is determined by their FOCUS (or FURY) stat. This ranges from 5 (abysmally low) to 10 (stupidly high), with 6 being about average and 8 or higher usually indicating that the warnoun in question is a squishy spell-slinger rather than a frontliner. This also determines the model's control range, which is a distance equal to twice your FOCUS/FURY in inches, and is the maximum distance at which you can manipulate focus or fury. Keeping your robots or kaiju inside that bubble is important, since 'jacks without fuel aren't terribly effective and 'beasts without a babysitter can't hulk our and are liable to start devouring friendly infantry.

It's also worth noting that, when building an army list, a warnoun is effectively worth ''negative'' points. Your army's warnoun costs nothing themselves, and comes with a few free points to spend on warjacks or warbeasts.

===Warjacks and Warbeasts===

Warcasters and warlocks are your generals. Warjacks and warbeasts are their heavy hitters. While there are a few special rules that make the two play a ''bit'' differently (mostly regarding how they fuel their attacks with focus or fury), they're pretty much identical on the tabletop - save that one is a giant robot and the other is a giant monster.

Warjacks are basically seven-ton steampunk Hunter-Killer Terminator golems, tactically equivalent to how we use tanks in Earth warfare but with 100% more awesome and +2 to legs. Meanwhile, warbeasts are huge, hulking mountains of muscle and [[RAEG]], with even the smallest of them capable of reducing a man to paste with one [[Trollbloods|Giant Meaty Fist]]. They all pack crazy powerful weapons, heavy armor, and huge amounts of health, making them the most powerful individual models in an army that aren't warnouns. They also come with a slew of special "power attacks" unique to the larger models, which range from body-slamming a fucker across the tabletop to chucking them like a softball over the nearest building. The downsides are that they're usually slower, easier to hit, and less accurate than infantry, and they cost a bundle for a single model, so losing one hurts more.

Both warjacks and warbeasts also rely heavily on their army's warnoun to unlock their maximum potential for murder. They're plenty big and stompy on their own, but in order to do anything more than simply walk around and swing at things with standard attacks, they require outside help. Warjacks need a warcaster to hand them addtional focus points, which they can then spend to run, charge, make power attacks, make bonus additional standard attacks, or increase the power and accuracy of any attack they make. Warbeasts can do all of that on their own, but every time they do, they generate a fury point, and the longer that fury sticks around, the more likely that the 'beast will lose its shit and just start snapping necks like Slim Jims. They also have a maximum fury limit, and when they hit it, they can't do any of those awesome things any more, so they need a warlock about to leach all their anger away. Both can act normally outside of their warcaster/warlock's "control range," but 'jacks can't be given focus, and 'beasts can neither generate Fury nor have it leached.

There are also a handful of models ''other'' than your warnoun which can control these giant fuckers: Marshals and Journeymen. Marshals are basically just novices who have learned to shout loud enough that their orders will get through their charge's thick goddamn skull. This is roughly analogous to trying to use a computer without a mouse; it can be done, but it's never as easy, efficient, or effective. It can still be useful, since they take some load off your warnoun, but it's not always what you want. Journeymen, meanwhile, are basically mini-warnouns, complete with their own FOCUS or FURY score, spell list, and so on. They can control things more efficiently than Marshals, but they're still strictly downgrades from your standard warnouns, so again, it's situational as to whether or not you want them. They're primarily useful for edge cases, when you absolutely must have another 'jack or 'beast but your warnoun is already run ragged.

The final real difference between warjacks, warbeasts, and regular models is the way damage is tracked. Most models just have health boxes to mark as they take damage, but these guys are too beefy for that. Warjacks have a whole ''grid'' of damage boxes, while warbeasts have a damage ''spiral''. These really aren't as complicated as they sound: whenever you take damage, you roll a die to see which column of the grid or spiral to start marking boxes off in, rolling over to the next one if necessary. As these fill up, your 'jack or 'beast might get weaker - it's still standing, but it's taken a pounding, and something important is broken. It might get slower, or weaker in combat, or lose the ability to use focus or fury entirely.

It should be noted that ''in general'' (there are exceptions, of course), Hordes armies tend to have an easier time bringing lots of warbeasts (3 or more) compared to Warmachine armies who tend to have fewer warjacks (1 or 2). This is because FOCUS is a finite resource and most Warmachine factions have few ways to generate extra, while most Hordes factions tend to have more ways to get rid of extra FURY. Also, the FURY system, while not strictly better than FOCUS, does give you a little bit extra flexibility in that there are certain cases where it's okay to leave extra FURY on your warbeasts. For example, if you have a really strong turn but end up generating more FURY than you can leech, you may leave the extra on your beasts because you're hoping you'll get lucky and they won't frenzy, or even if they do frenzy it won't wreck your plans, or you're expecting your enemy to kill one or more of your beasts and take care of that extra FURY for you, or if charging the nearest enemy is your goal. The Journeymen mentioned in a previous paragraph were specifically designed to help ease the FOCUS or FURY burden on your Warnoun, allowing you to take more warjacks or warbeasts if you so desire.

====Colossals and Gargantuans====

Colossals are like warjacks with more FUCKHUEG, because Privateer Press wanted to charge $100 per model for something, and the only way to do that was to make it really big (and, unlike Forge World models, almost actually worth it). Roughly equivalent to Titans in 40K, they can be fielded at any point level and are surprisingly well-balanced, since they have about the same defensive stats as a heavy warjack and cost about the same as two of them, but have loads more health and tons more dakka. Oh yeah, and they have TWO 6-column damage grids to play with, although they generally have less than double the health of a heavy warjack. Gargantuans are the same thing, but for warbeasts. Because of the differences between the Focus and Fury mechanics, colossals are generally seen as mechanically superior, since their resource-manage system benefits from shrinking the number of models the caster has to juggle between.

===Units===

Basically exactly what you'd expect. Units are groups of infantry which operate as, well, a unit on the tabletop. They range from bog-standard foot soldiers to well-trained and heavily-armored specialists and elite assassins, and everything else besides.

Like in Warhammer, most models in a unit only have a single wound and are immediately killed if they take any damage (though there are a few elite infantry units whose models have quite a few health boxes). Unlike in Warhammer, models in a Warmahordes unit act almost as individuals, with the primary restriction on them being that they must stay within a certain distance of the current unit leader, and that the entire unit must run or charge as a group. Other than this, models move on their own and can make attacks individually (and are targeted individually in turn). This removes much of the "shapeless gunblob" that plagues Warhammer.

Other than the basic models, units can be expanded by adding Unit Attachments (UAs) and/or Weapon Attachments (WAs). These add a couple more bodies to the unit, as well as an Officer (a better leader, usually with some handy buffs accompanying them) in the case of UAs or a guy with a better weapon, like the Winter Guard Infantry's RPG dude, in the case of WAs. Other than their better stats and weaponry, these models work in basically the same way as the rest of the unit members.

===Solos===

Single models which act individually. Like units, this is an extremely broad category that covers everything from dedicated support models to axe-wielding maniacs. They're also usually more durable than standard infantry, with at least five health boxes being the stardard, though not enough that most can survive a direct hit from a warjack or warbeast.

===Battle Engines===

Battle Engines are recent additions to the game. They are big, durable, vehicle-sized models on the same 120mm base as colossals, built with a certain task in mind, like support or shooting. They cost about as much as a heavy 'jack, and are generally much more specialized and slightly less durable, but don't need to draw from a warcaster's focus to do their thing.

===Characters===

Characters are not a unit type of themselves; rather, they are uniquely named units, solos or warjacks that are exceptional in one way or another. All warcasters are characters, but other characters include talented mercenaries (Rutger Shaw, Eyriss), charismatic leaders and their followers (Alexia Ciannor and the Risen, Greygore Boomhowler and Co.) or warjacks that have been around long enough to develop a distinct personality or other unique traits (Ol' Rowdy, Beast 09). Characters are unique and you can only take one of a single character in any list, no matter how big the army size; they are typically more expensive than their non-character counterparts, but also have better stat lines, abilities, weapons and skills.

====Epic Characters====

As the story of Warmahordes progresses, so do some of the characters. "Epic" characters are alternate versions of a given character based on things that have happened to them in the story. For example, when War Witch Deneghra was killed, she was resurrected as Wraith Witch Deneghra, and both of these are available as models for use on the tabletop. You can only use one version of any given character in an army.

Epic characters are ''not'' intended to be more powerful than their previous incarnations, just ''different''. Of course, there are some power differences, in the same way that some warjacks or warbeasts are simply better than others, but don't think that it's not worth fielding a given character if you aren't going to use their epic version.

Regular and epic versions of characters used to be referred to with the shorthand "pName" (for "prime") and "eName" for ("epic"). However, recently, some characters have gotten up to their third incarnation. The Privateer Press forumgoers played around with terminology like "lName" (for "legendary") or "eeName" (for... "double epic"?) when referring to the third-incarnation characters, but Privateer Press has stated that it officially prefers the terminology Name1/Name2/Name3, which honestly is much easier.

==List Building==

In the grand old wargaming tradition, every model has a points value and opposing armies have to be the same size. However, the points values of Warmahordes are very small compared to GW properties. 0 points is a small-scale learning game with one warcaster, their battlegroup. 50-75 points is brick-and-mortar-store tournament scale (roughly equivalent to 1500-2000 points of 40K). 100 points is for all-day convention tournaments. Anything bigger than 100 points borders on Apocalypse scale; Privateer Press has released "Unbound" rules to streamline games at 150+ points, and while they're still a bit on the clunky side it still keeps games of that scale to less than a day.

The majority of tournaments require you to write two different army lists and choose between them at the start of the game. This allows you to build one list which can cover for the shortcomings of the other. 1d4chan's official recommendation is to have one Searforge Commission Mercenaries list and one Talion Charter Mercenaries list, allowing you to field both [[dwarf|dwarves]] AND [[pirate|pirates]] at the same tournament.

==Mechanics==

During the game, Warmahordes uses six-sided dice for almost everything. The basic rule is to roll 2d6, add the appropriate stat and bonuses, and compare to the target's defensive stat. There are also ways to add bonus dice, resulting in a 3d6 or even 4d6. In the case of some truly terrifying attacks 5d6 roll.

The system never uses tables or charts, and every unit you purchase comes with its own stat card which contains all relevant rules and statistics needed to use it. As such, Warmahordes players never have to buy a Codex equivalent (though these do exist for those who wish to purchase them, in the form of the ''Forces Of...'' line, and come with all the lore you could wish for in the bargain).

The game system heavily rewards aggressive play, to the point that the game's official tagline was '''''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''''. The most obvious way this is enforced is that a charging unit gets a bonus die on its damage rolls, so the player who goes for the jugular first will probably get in a brutal alpha strike. This does not mean that ranged armies are at a disadvantage, however, as there are plenty of ways to bog down advancing units, and many ranged units bring additional utility to the table in form of special abilities or AOE attacks.

==Factions==

Warmahordes currently has either eleven to thirteen factions across the two games, depending on who you ask. There are five primary factions in Warmachine and four in Hordes, but each game also has a limited release faction in the form of The Convergence of Cyriss for Warmachine and the Grymkin for Hordes. Both also have a catch-all pseudo-faction in the form of Mercenaries and Minions, respectively. These are primarily intended as supplemental models which the primary factions can use to fill strategic holes in their forces' capabilities, but due to popularity among the players, Privateer Press has released rules allowing the Mercenaries and Minions to be fielded as independent forces with their own warnouns leading them.

===Warmachine===
[[File:WarmaHordes-Factions.jpg|700px|thumb|right|A short summary]]

====[[Cygnar]]====

Cygnar are the [[Mary Sue|“good guys”]]. The nation itself is not unimpeachable or always morally correct, but its characters are clearly protagonists. Even when taking a darker turn, they always have a core of moral fiber, etc. If Han Solo is the most evil member of your crew, you are the good guys.

Cygnar is the most advanced human nation; they tend to shoot things with guns, hurt things with lightning, or hurt things by shooting them with lightning guns. They're made out to be a fairly nice place to live if not for the fact they have some bad blood with Khador. They also have the Protectorate of Menoth wanting to overthrow their government (and religion), with the Cygnar/Menoth border literally running right through the Cygnar capital in a Berlin Wall arrangement (except that the Menites were smart enough to put their capital somewhere else). Just to make things all better, Cygnar's the closest to Cryx, who are aiming to exterminate them and everything else on the mainland. The other factions may not like each other much either, but Cygnar is basically in the middle of them all.

Their advanced understanding of magic and mechanics is reflected in that they have most of the best ranged weapons in the game, are best known for their Lightning attack type, and play less aggressively than most other factions (though they do still have some powerful melee models, which almost always have ranged attacks as well). They tend to be more accurate and mobile than the other factions, but don't always hit as hard and are markedly less durable. They aren't helpless in melee, but it isn't their forte. They, like Khador, are generally considered one of the best factions for starting players.

====[[Cryx]]====

If Cygnar are the good guys, Cryx is unashamedly the faction of bad guys. In a world of moral grays, they paint with the deepest blacks.

It's an island nation of zombie pirate demon witch robots that was taken over by a Godzilla sized dragon named Toruk, the father of all dragons. Toruk wants to rule the world (or wreak random destruction, it's a little confusing), and created Cryx as a weapon to use against the dragons that he created (since he created them from his own essence, so [[Derp|they're just as fucking arrogant as he is and refuse to submit to his will]], and they're the only beings on Immoren that can really threaten him directly). Due to his concern about them ganging up on him, he spends his days sitting around doing nothing while claiming everything is going [[Just As Planned]]. Whether or not that's the truth is unknown.

Cryx is an interesting evil army, composed of pirates, undead pirates, ghost warriors, heavily armored liches, and demonic mutant witches. [[Dark Eldar|Their army is generally the fastest, cheapest, and largest on the table, and also hits like a ton of bricks]]. The problem is that they can't take a hit in return, so they have to use dirty tricks to dictate the flow of battle and choose their engagements carefully. As such, Cryx is one of the hardest armies for new players to make proper use of. Still, if utilized properly, Cryx can punch through almost any defense and savage the enemy warnoun before they can blink.

Has horny ladies with [[Promotions|Great Racks]], too. Really. [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSkarre This] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiBlood+Witches is] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSea+Witch a] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSatyxis thing].


====[[Khador]]====

Leave heroes and villains to Cygnar and Cryx. Khador is unconcerned with such things. Military might, honor, and love of the Motherland are all that matter in the cold, frozen north.

Cries of "For the Motherland", red banners, gold triangle-stars, frigid bitches, and beardy berserkers personify Khador. They're a northern Imperial Russia/Soviet Union style nation bent on imperialist conquest. They claim that this is because they've been screwed out of the world domination they once had and rightly deserve, and while this is almost certainly revisionist history b.s., it's been the glue that let them begin to build a modern nation out of disunited scraps.

Despite the fact that most newbies think of Khador as the guys with the biggest, stompiest warjacks, Khador is almost exclusively a dedicated infantry faction. Khador warjacks ''are'' durable, and they do hit like a goddamn steam train in melee, but they are also slow, expensive, inaccurate, and extremely focus-hungry in a faction known for its focus-hungry warcasters. Fortunately, to make up for this, Khadoran infantry are some of the best in the game. They are durable, reliable, mobile, and pack an incredible punch for their price. Whatever the job, Khador has an infantry unit that will do it with style.

Need a squad of [[Space Marines|elite shocktroopers in steam-powered armor ripped from a warjack chassis and wielding weapons that will make even the hardest targets sweat?]] Man-O'-Wars have your back. Heavy infantry stalling your advance? The Widowmaker snipers are on the job; watch those heads go ''pop!'' Need an army of screaming psychopaths charging across the field to decapitate your foes? No problem! We have Doom Reavers for that. Just need some [[Imperial Guard|reliable, flexible, reasonably shooty infantry to swamp a point and hold it against all comers through sheer weight of numbers]]? The Winter Guard have your back. And, no matter the squad, Khador has the buffs to make them into a true terror on the tabletop.

Because of the reliability, simplicity, and flexibility of their infantry, as well as the straightforward way their warjacks function, Khador is, like Cygnar, considered a great faction for new players.

====[[Protectorate of Menoth]]====

A bunch of [[Imperium of Man|religious fanatics]] that worship Menoth, the god of civilization and mankind ([[Emperor of Mankind|just not this guy]]), who is kind of an asshole. The Church of Menoth began falling out with Cygnar about a thousand years ago, since a more benign god named Morrow began gaining favor. While the two churches were able to coexist for hundreds of years, relations between them eventually turned sour, especially because the then-king of Cygnar favored Morrow. Eventually, the Menite church got sick of his shit, wandered off into the desert, discovered petroleum, and endured even more oppression under Vinter Raelthorne IV before the Cygnarans also got sick of his shit and voted him out of office in the traditional feudal manner: with a military coup. The chaos resulting from this allowed the theocracy to form its own quasi-legal nation: the Protectorate of Menoth.

''Technically'' speaking, the Protectorate is not allowed to have a military, which the Protectorate actually adhered to during its early years, but has lately began to ignore. They aren't really ''evil'', per se (they have legitimate Lawful Good [[paladin]]s), but the leaders of the theocracy are, by and large, a pretty awful bunch. The Protectorate's main goal right now is to forcibly convert everyone back to the True Faith (well, at least the humans, anyway - Menoth couldn't care less about everybody else). Most recently, they invaded the eastern half of Llael, who quickly found that they preferred Khador's iron-fisted rule to the Protectorate's flamethrowers.

On the tabletop, the Protectorate is all about synergy. Menite armies field the best support units in the game, which take their ''other'' units from "decent" to "oh my fuck what". The most iconic of these units is the Choir of Menoth, which is hands-down the single best 'jack support unit out there. Menite 'jacks have only middling statlines on their own, but with the Choir (and Menoth's other servants) backing them up, they can become seriously terrifying. As such, the Protectorate is one of the more 'jack-heavy factions in the game, though its infantry is also no slouch.

Menite armies also have a decidedly Ottoman Empire motif, with a dash of [[Inquisition|Spanish Inquisition]] thrown in for good measure. As non-divine magic is considered [[heresy]] by the Menite church, Protectorate armies have a lot of ways to counteract it. Dispel magic abounds, as do plenty of other denial-focused abilities which will put a serious crimp in the style of any opponent. Defensive buffs are also exceptionally common, which makes a Menite army a tough-as-nails brick that's very hard to crack open - so long as its support units are protected. On the other hand, Menite units tend to be quite slow, and there aren't many ways for the faction to increase their mobility. Menite warcasters also tend to be fairly fragile and vulnerable to assassination, so it's important to protect them.

====[[Retribution of Scyrah]]====

Being an [[elf]] [[Grimdark|sucks]]. For a while, everything's good, until you decide to build a bridge to Heaven so all your gods can come over for a few cold ones and sleep with some sexy elf chicks. Then the bridge works, but also explodes and [[Eldar|wipes out pretty much your entire civilization]], so instead of hanging out and partying with your gods you have to pack up and move next to some dwarven hicks. Then you all start aging and getting [[AIDS]] and shit, and also babies start getting born without souls, and the gods say it ''might'' have something to do with the fact that they aren't in Heaven any more so the entire universe might be out of whack. Then, when they go back, [[Slaanesh|something kills them all]], and things just keep getting worse until, one day, the goddess of spring just turns up out of nowhere, wanders into her temple, and then goes into a ''fucking coma'' while dying slowly and with no one having a goddamn clue how to fix her.

So when someone says "hey, did anyone else notice how the day the gods died was ''also'' the day humans discovered arcane magic?", it is, perhaps, a bit understandable that more than a few elves picked up a rifle and went to kill some round-ears.

Retribution units have a very distinct visual design, with a notably [[Weeaboo|sleek, curvy, anime-esque look, complete with neon hair]]. [[Eldar|Most of their army tends to consist of highly specialized, elite units with clearly-defined roles]], without much in the way of generalist infantry. They also have an abundance of options for assassin units, up to and including entire units of ninja elf infantry with magic crossbows. They are mobile, shooty, and tricky, and surprisingly beardy considering that they're, y'know, ''elves''. The Retribution has fantastic infantry and solos all around.

On the other hand, Retribution warjacks and warcasters are generally not too fantastic. Its warjacks (called "myrmidons") are mobile, but fragile, and require a lot of backup to be effective. Its warcasters tend to be utility-based rather than individual powerhouses, and exist largely as sources of buffs for their infantry. On the ''other'' other hand, Retribution infantry are generally solid enough to make this work, and if they can't, then you still have the option of an assassination run - which the Retribution can do with incredible reliability from a frankly ''disgusting'' range.

Because of the Retribution's reliance on tricks and sensitivity about order of activation (certain units really, ''really'' want to go at certain times, and messing this up will cause your army to fold like a house of cards), the Retribution is an incredibly difficult army to play well. It's not weak, but it's not particularly newbie-friendly, and is generally limited to more advanced players.

They're also fans of shaved heads, and can even grow beards, making them the manliest elves ever - not that this is a high bar to <strike>jump</strike> <strike>step</strike> walk over.

Beware of [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/House+Shyeel+Magister mittens].

====[[Convergence of Cyriss]]====

The Convergence is a [[Adeptus Mechanicus|cult]] dedicated to the worship of [[Omnissiah|Cyriss, the Machine Goddess]], the personification of logic, order, science, and mathematical perfection. (Pfft, like any woman god could be close to understanding those things, amirite guyz?) They have taken the technology used to make the artificial brains used in warjacks and applied it to themselves, [[Necrons|uploading their consciousness into machine bodies]] in order to become closer to her. They're actually not bad guys, really - it's just that the driving belief behind their faith is that Cyriss really, ''really'' wants them to turn the entire fucking planet into a <s>giant clockwork robot, exterminating all organic life and rendering the world perfect in her eyes</s> network of specially distributed leylines that act as a circuitboard to call down Cyriss' consciousness into. The reason this is bad is that the places they need to build temples on are the places major cities or temples crop up on, that other factions want to use for various reasons, and in doing so are going to piss off the Wyrm to the point that he destroys all sapient life on the planet when he arrises from Urcaen in a rage about the leylines (IE: Him) being fucked with. Since the rest of the factions take issue with various parts of this, they've turned their technological expertise towards developing more advanced versions of warjacks, called "vectors", to punch their way to the Rapture.

The Convergence is the absolute ''weirdest'' faction in all of Warmachine, and comes with a slew of special rules that make it play completely differently from anything else on the tabletop. To start with, they are a limited release faction, having only 1 model ever released for them after their initial run and no access to mercenaries at all. Also its warjacks don't have a complete statline; their accuracy in combat is determined entirely by which warcaster you are fielding, as they share their stats with the vectors under their command. This means that your warcaster selection doesn't just alter the basic idea behind your strategy - it completely alters the ''basic functions of your warjacks''.

They also handle focus very differently, with the bottom line being that Convergence 'jacks are ''exceptionally'' focus-efficient, allowing the faction to field more 'jacks than any other without breaking the bank. In 2014, a Convergence player went all the way to the grand finals of the Warmahordes championships with a list consisting almost entirely of vectors, and only lost due to running out of time on the clock. The faction does have some nice infantry, though, if the player wants to field a warcaster with lower combat stats and not have to sit there crying while every attack misses.

Basically, the Convergence is very, ''very'' strange, but not at all weak. It is somewhat limited by a low model count, as Privateer Press hasn't released too much for it yet, and no Mercenaries will work with them, but the faction has the capability to answer any threat with proper planning. If you like clockwork robots or the idea of turning the entire world into a chrome-plated paradise, they're well worth looking into.

----
====[[Crucible Guard]]====

The newest Warmachine faction, a group of alchemists emergening from Llael's resistance movements.

They rely heavily on special effects like Fire or Corrosion and a good bit of mobility. Imagine Gorman di Wulfe as an entire faction and you have it about right.

====[[Mercenaries]]====

As mentioned above, Mercenary models were initially meant to just be options available to multiple factions rather than an army unto themselves. Due to player demand, however, Privateer Press has since released rules for fielding entirely Mercenary forces. These range from [[dwarf|dwarves]] [[Awesome|in powered armour, fielding the O.G. warjacks that served as the basis for the tech that ousted the Orgoth]] to Llaelese rebels fighting for their homeland's freedom to pirates being pirates. Basically, when playing Mercenaries, you pick a theme and, and then go as normal. The only restrictions are that dwarven warjacks must be controlled by dwarven warcasters, and Cephalyx Monstrosities must be controlled by their Overseers. You are now able to mix and match any merc beyond those restrictions. Below are examples of some more thematic armies within the Mercs umbrella/

*'''Steelhead Battalion:''' The premier franchised mercenary company/meatshield manspam horde in the region, jacks of all trades masters of none.
*'''Searforge Commission:''' They're [[dwarves]], and come with everything you'd expect from the same. They aren't going anywhere fast, but they are ''ludicrously'' 'ard, and they hit like a ton of bricks. It's also worth noting that the signature dwarven warcaster, Gorten Grundback, is pretty much the most stupidly tanky thing in the fucking game and is functionally immune to damage. Note, however, that the dwarves in this universe are not Scottish, because the Trollbloods are already Scottish. It is generally agreed that the dwarves in Warmachine have a New Zealand accent.
*'''Puppet Masters:''' The Cephalyx started out as the Iron Kingdoms' steampunkified non-Product-Identity version of the [[Illithid|Illithids]] -- bizarre creatures who live deep underground and love mind-controlling the lesser races of the surface world, except they do it using technology rather than magic. Now they're a Mercenary faction of their own, complete with giant sewn-together Frankenstein monsters which act as their warjack-equivalents. They're extremely new, with very limited unit options - but that's okay since they can steal a unit from another Mercenary faction thanks to the Cephalyx Dominator. Has a focus on dirty tricks rather than straight-up brawling, also has a "human resources" approach to super-buffing its infantry.
*'''Talion Charter:''' Pirates. Lots of pirates. How many pirates can you imagine? There are more than that. Also, a peg-legged Napoleon dwarf. Also, a fuckhueg cannon that is easily the best damn artillery piece in the entire game if you manage to get anything in its line of sight. This group is all about synergy with their units, which on their own are the worst in the game. Start adding in their solos and unit attachments, though, and suddenly you've got yourself a unit that can do some damage.

===Hordes===

====[[Trollbloods]]====

Scottish [[Orks]], and also the good guys of Warmahordes. [[Awesome]]. The Trollbloods are a dying race, as the superior technology of nations like Cygnar and Khador is continually pushing them to the borders of habitable land, and they lack the resources to build warjacks themselves. On the other hand, what they ''do'' have are some seriously fucking scary relatives, so now that the fate of the species is on the line, the trolls have united and called in the inbred redneck cousins as backup - only, in this case, the redneck cousins in question are basically walking mountains that could flatten a building with one hand. They drink, fight, and basically just brawl their way through the world, trying to establish a homeland for themselves, and only occasionally eating someone. Hardly anyone, these days. No one important, anyway. You'd never miss 'em, we swear.

The key word here is ''tough''. Trollblood models can take a ''stupid'' amount of punishment. Most of them are Tough (as in the mechanic), on top of having ridiculous amounts of health boxes and high ARM. They will also kick the ever-loving shit out of anything they reach in melee, because they are pissed off, drunk as shit, Scottish, and also Orks. They run forward, punch whatever they can reach, and then repeat until the enemy is a smear on the pavement. As such, they are one of the simplest armies in all of Warmahordes, and an excellent choice for new players - though they aren't entirely without their own little tricks, and can be just as rewarding for experienced warlocks.

Trollbloods have the dubious honor of being the most shit on faction fluffwise. Cygnar promised them a bunch of lands, but neglected to tell them that said land was in the way of a gigantic Skorne army. Then when they went to the king of Cygnar, Leto, to get the lands they were promised, he basically told them to fuck off. The trolls were not pleased. This, coupled with the fact that the Menite priest-kings used to enslave trollbloods for use as beasts of burdens and menial workers, has caused the leader of the Trollbloods, Chief Madrak Ironhide to unite all the warring kriels. Picking up the cursed axe of Rathrok out of desperation, he is leading the race into a new, uncertain future, carving out their own land, and Dhunia help any pink-skinned human, elf, skorne or undead construct that dares stand in their way.

====[[Circle Orboros]]====

So, on the one hand you have [[Emperor of Mankind|Menoth]], who is the god of mankind, order, and civilization. He's sort of a prick, but he's got the right idea... maybe. On the ''other'' hand, you have the Devourer Wurm, the avatar of all that is chaos - nature, red in tooth and claw. It knows no mercy. It probably doesn't even understand the concept. It cares for nothing save that the cities of the world be torn down and all that is not of nature's domain be rent asunder. This thing is so cruel that in the wars between its worshippers and Menoth's, many of the Wurm's followers converted to Menoth after losing because his treatment was actually KINDER

And the Circle (kinda)[[Derp|worships it]]. The idea is that they want to keep Menoth and the Wurm at each other's throats. Too much civilization(or too much nature) might cause one or the other to turn their attention back on Immoren, and that'd be bad news for ''everybody''. And since civilization is the one on the rise in Immoren right now, that's what they got beef with. The Circle is weird. Most of the time they are too busy stabbing each other in the back for political gain to actually accomplish anything without nearly destroying the world.

So, basically, you have a bunch of ''fucking insane'' druids, all of whom are assholes, running around and shanking anyone who isn't a hippie tree-hugger. For those who cannot be shanked by normal means, they have <s>werewolves</s> '''warp'''wolves, humanoid griffins, and kung-fu goats, along with giant golems, ents (them tree things), and weird-ass Stonehenge magic. They love terrain and messing with unit placement, making them one of the tricksiest forces in the game, as well as extremely situational - if there are a lot of forests about and your opponent isn't particularly good at dealing with them, you're golden. If not, you're probably going to get your shit kicked in. Unless you start planting trees.

====[[Legion of Everblight]]====

Remember when we mentioned that Cryx is led by the evil dragon-god Toruk, who seeks to hunt down and devour his children in order to conquer the world? Yeah, Everblight is one of those children. And, since dragons in this setting are eldritch abominations that leak corrupting blight into everything around them, he's started up his own army in order to keep his daddy from chowing down on his bones. After he got his ass kicked in his initial fight with Toruk, he fled into the north, where he corrupted a bunch of elves, started spawning [[Tyranids|warped creatures]] to serve as his weapons, and found an ogre crazy enough to [[Grimdark|cut open his own fucking chest and shove Everblight's crystal-body into his heart, thus providing him with a new host body]].

The Legion is, in many ways, quite similar to its Warmachine equivalent of Cryx. It is brutally fast and does incredible amounts of damage, but is not particularly durable. However, while Cryx is primarily an infantry-focused faction, the Legion loves its warbeasts. It has many of those that Hordes players would list among the best in the game. Whether at range or up close, the Legion's warbeasts will absolutely wreck whatever you point them at. Plus, they look like freaky eyeless dragon-things, and that's pretty cool.

====[[Skorne]]====

A barbarian empire hailing from beyond the deserts to the east of Cygnar, which were previously thought to be so inhospitable that no one could live out there. As it turns out, this was wrong - it just means that the people living out there are [[Grimdark|crazy, sadomasochistic pain-worshipers with an insatiable thirst for blood]]. Think of Conan the Barbarian mixed with Hellraiser, with not nearly enough sex. Now they have come storming across the sands full of piss and vinegar in search of somewhere to live that sucks marginally less and they're not going to stop murdering the shit out of everyone until they get it gosh-darn it.

On the tabletop, Skorne is roughly equivalent to most newbies' idea of Khador: slow, durable, and pretty much guaranteed to crush whatever they get into melee with. Their warbeasts are brutally dangerous in close quarters, and their infantry aren't any less threatening. They're not really going anywhere fast, but if you want some Roman-style phalanx combat and an army that can take a beating and give it right back, this is your go-to.

[[Grimdark|Also, they field tortured baby elephants to demoralize their foes.]] Because, in case you hadn't figured it out yet, they're pretty messed up in the head.

====[[Grymkin]]====
The Grymkin are the latest Hordes faction to be released and are a limited release faction similar to the Convergence. They are the myths and faerie tales of Caen given life, with various flavors of imps being their main focus. Grymkin Warlocks function differently from the standard variety by not having feats, instead they have what are called Arcana. These arcana come in a wide range of triggered effects and abilities that are chosen before the battle begins with one Trump Arcana serving as a psuedo-feat The Grymkin are a primarily infantry based faction focusing on having troops be insanely hard to kill and then returning them to the battlefield. Most of their models have stupid puny names

====Minions====

[[File:Gatorman oathsworn by mightytinrobot-d5ectj7.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mercenaries|Pirates?]] [[Lizardmen|Aztec dinosaurs?]] Who needs them when you have [[Awesome|aligator warriors]]!]]
The Hordes equivalent of Mercenaries. Everything said there applies here, save that Minions tend to be more along the lines of kobolds, gatormen, and such.

They come in two distinct flavors:

* '''The Blindwater Congregation:''' Voodoo gatormen who dwell in the swamps and have been slowly assimilating the other scaled races. They have tough infantry and excel at beating up living models, but have some difficulties with high-ARM, non-living models like warjacks. They also love them some undead somethin' good, with their voodoo witchcraft and their tendency to speak in a <s>southern drawl</s> cajun yat.
* '''The Thornfall Alliance:''' A new proto-nation, like the United Kriels of the Trollbloods. ''Unlike'' the Trollbloods, the farrow are pig people, which is awesomely ridiculous. They have interesting warlocks with different play styles, but little variation in their forces due to a limited unit list. And all of their warlocks can only use Farrow warbeasts. However, the War Hog (which is the biggest pig around) is beastly enough to do the job in nearly every occasion. Less flexible than Blindwater as they tend to use a more direct approach.

==Getting into Warmahordes==

The best place to go for community thoughts on anything in Warmahordes is the [https://warmachineuniversity.com/mw/index.php/Main_Page WarMachine University community wiki](which replaced the now decunct Battle College in 2018) . It's a great starting resource for any player, whether newbie <strike>or experienced tournament contestant</strike>. Do some reading on any faction that interests you and see what units work and what don't. Take everything they say with a grain of salt, because the contributors don't always know what they're talking about and can sometimes get shit horribly wrong (like /tg/).

No matter what you choose to buy, you'll need a copy of either ''Warmachine Prime MkIII'' or ''Hordes Primal MkIII'', which are the core rulebooks for the games. Except you don't need to buy them anymore, because [http://privateerpress.com/the-rules-are-free the rulebook is free]. You should also look up Privateer Press' token sets, which are very handy for keeping track of status effects, focus and fury points, and so on.

Once you know what you want to play, you're very likely best off getting either the Battlegroup Box for your chosen faction or the All-In-One Army Box, if it's available. Both are absolutely incredible deals for the price. The Battlegroup box will come with a single warnoun and a handful of warjacks or warbeasts, while the All-In-One Army Box is more expensive and comes with a basic starter army (which is usually fairly solid, if not exactly top-tier). Both are great places to start your collection, and will save you a lot of money.

If you like a faction, don't let the "beginner/expert" bits above scare you. Some factions ''are'' generally trickier than others, but none of them are completely inaccessible. You may just have to put some work in before you start seeing results.

You ''do not'' need to pick up the ''Forces'' book for your chosen faction. It's fun to have, but every unit comes with its own stat card which will tell you everything that you need to know to field the unit in question.

EDIT: At time of this edit, Warmahordes is going through an edition change. recommend visiting the Privateer Press main website for more information before you buy. Rulebooks will now be free online.

==See also==
[[Warmachine/Tactics]]

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WARMACHINE

2019-09-07T00:11:24Z

2600:1700:30C0:7F40:91F1:4BE1:8BA3:3EC4: /* Circle Orboros */

[[Image:Warmachine_Hordes_Logos.png|850px|center]]
<center>'''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''</center>

<center>'''WARMAHORDES V3.0 HAS OFFICIALLY LANDED. THE STORYLINE HAS JUMPED FORWARD THREE YEARS, UNITS HAVE BEEN REBALANCED, AND CORE MECHANICS HAVE BEEN REWORKED TO SOME EXTENT. ALL INFORMATION ON THESE PAGES IS POSSIBLY OUTDATED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.'''</center>
[[File:Skubmachine.jpg|300px|thumb|right|WARMACHINE used to be a game with a particular audience. These days this stuff has been toned down or removed entirely.]]
'''Warmachine''' and '''Hordes''', often called '''Warmahordes''', are tabletop wargames produced by [[Privateer Press]]. Uniquely among other games of the same genre, Warmachine and Hordes are actually built from the ground up to be played with one another. They are essentially the same game with two different flavorings: Warmachine factions are more civilized and make use of giant steam-powered [[magitek]] robots, while Hordes armies tend to be more [[Orks|barbaric]] and use huge-ass kaiju instead. Other than this, the two games are functionally identical to the point of most tournaments allowing armies from either game to be fielded against one another. This has led to most players referring to the game as ''Warmahordes''. Both games are currently in their <s>second</s> third edition (06/29/2016 edition), referred to as ''Prime MkIII'' for Warmachine and ''Primal MkIII'' for Hordes.

Both games are set in and around the [[Iron Kingdoms]], a group of warring states on the western coast of a continent called Immoren. Everyone hates each other, as is par for the course in a wargame setting, and some major power players are dedicated to constantly stirring shit up among the more good-aligned factions so that they keep fighting one another and make themselves too weak to oppose the inevitable zombie invasions. [[Just as planned]].

Immoren is basically what you get if you take a standard high fantasy setting and inject some Industrial Revolution. A long time ago, a bunch of evil sadomasochistic sorcerors from <s>SPAAAACE</s> across the ocean showed up and kicked everybody's shit in. Since only divine magic existed at the time and everyone was basically a bunch of barbarian tribes anyway, humanity didn't really have much in the way of ability to actually ''do'' anything about this, so everything sucked for a while. The citizens of Immoren progressively invented better and better weapons to try and get the Orgoth the fuck off their collective lawn - guns and wizardry were both initially developed as ways to fight them - but it wasn't until the dwarves decided to be fuckin' bros and start supplying the rebels with resources and teaching them the secrets of magitek that things really turned around. This led to the creation of some huge-ass, steam-powered magic robots called the Colossals, which promptly steamrolled the Orgoth right the fuck off the continent and allowed the modern factions to form.

Of course, all of these factions hate each other, so Immoren has been in a state of constant warfare pretty much since it was freed. This would be <s>weird</s> [[awesome]] enough given the anachronism stew that is the setting, since you have [[Cygnar|knights using powered armor and lightning spears]] to charge down [[Khador|Soviet Russians with shotguns and shield-cannons]], but the Iron Kingdoms have since refined the technology that created the Colossals and miniaturized it, giving us the modern steam-powered warjacks that are emblematic of the Warmachine half of the setting. Meanwhile, on the Hordes side of things, several remaining barbarian kingdoms have decided that using [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Imperial Titan]]s to keep them subjugated is cheating, so they've leveled the playing field by bringing Godzilla along for the ride.

The setting differs greatly from most other tabletop wargames in that the story actively progresses as Privateer Press releases further expansions. Characters grow, change, and die, while countries are born, conquered, or razed to the ground. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the small country of Llael, once a peaceful merchant land. It was a point of contention between the other factions for quite some time until it was conquered by Khador, then partially ''counter''-conquered by the Protectorate of Menoth, making it one hell of a dangerous place to live and adding quite a few Llaelese models to the Mercenary lineup to represent the new rebel underground.

In terms of scale, Warmahordes is considered a skirmish-level wargame. Battles are generally much smaller than those taking place in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. Indeed, the smallest games can be run with no more than four or five models. However, the game can expand to a scale similar to 40k, with armies numbering fifty or more models per side. Even at this scale, though, it tends to play faster than the two Warhammer games. It is much smaller, faster-paced, and aggressive (see the tagline), with a greater focus on tactics and positioning of individual models.

Warmahordes is generally a well-balanced game (with one [[Cryx|exception]], though even that isn't as pronounced as it used to be); all of the factions have their niches and are all able to pull off a win if the list is well put together. Furthermore, almost every unit in the game has ''something'' to make it at least somewhat useful. There are very few instances where a unit is completely without merit (though they do exist), and if you like a unit that much, there's almost always some way to make it work.

That being said, there is a downside: whereas 40k and Fantasy are strongly focused on [[your dudes]], with a ton of options for every unit, Warmahordes is much less open to customization. Units are taken as-is, with no options for kitting out individual troopers beyond whether or not you want to add an Officer or a Rocket Launcher Dude to the group. Beyond that, every army must be led by a warcaster or warlock , and every one of these is a named character within the Warmahordes universe. It's entirely possible to use, say, Allister Caine and just act like he's another character of your own creation who happens to share the same model and abilities, but those who are a fan of Games Workshop's "forge a narrative" style may find this irksome.

==Unit types==

===Warcasters and Warlocks===

[[File:202953-1366x768--DesktopNexus.com-.jpg|600px|thumb|right|It's essentially this.]]

Games of Warmahordes tend to revolve around each player's warcaster (Warmachine) or warlock (Hordes). These are powerful battle-wizards who have forged a mental link to your army's robots or kaiju, giving them direct control over their actions. Beyond this, each warnoun brings a list of spells to the table to further augment your army's abilities (or to just blast enemy models to ash), and every one ''also'' has a single-use Feat ability. This can only be used once per game, but is almost always devastatingly powerful and can basically win the game on its own if timed correctly. They're also generally no slouches in combat, with some of them being able to wipe out entire squads of normal soldiers or go toe-to-toe with heavy warjacks (though there are quite a few who ''aren't'' that fantastic in a brawl). What your warnoun does and what types of unit they synergize with is one of the most important parts of building an army and how that army works on the tabletop. No two warnouns are alike; you might be running exactly the same army list, but if you swap out one warnoun for another, you can completely change the playstyle.

Despite their incredible power, however, most games of Warmahordes require you to protect your warnoun rather than throw them into the mix. This is because they are functionally equivalent to the king in a game of chess: lose the warnoun, and you've lost the game.

What makes warcasters and warlocks so powerful is their ability to make use of FOCUS or FURY, respectively. These are the fuel that makes your army work.

Focus is the simpler of the two: warcasters generate focus, which they can then give to their giant robots in order to make them more powerful. Alternately, they can keep it for themselves, to cast spells. Focus is awesome and you want as much of it as you can get. What's worth spending those precious points on?

Fury is slightly more complicated, but still not too bad. Warlocks still use fury to cast spells, but they can only generate it themselves by taking damage. But your warbeasts will also generate it as they fight, and your warlock can leach it out of them. This is important, because any warbeast with fury left on it has a chance to flip its shit and just nom the closest unit, whether friendly or enemy, and every warbeast can have only so much fury on it at once before it tops out and needs to remove it to accumulate more. Your warlock can only handle so much fury per turn, so you need to manage it efficiently to keep your army under control. On the other hand, if you aren't generating ''enough'' fury, your warbeasts probably aren't doing the work they need to be, and your warlock might not have enough to fuel their spellcasting. How much can you handle safely?

How much focus your warcaster generates (or how much fury your warlock can leach) each turn is determined by their FOCUS (or FURY) stat. This ranges from 5 (abysmally low) to 10 (stupidly high), with 6 being about average and 8 or higher usually indicating that the warnoun in question is a squishy spell-slinger rather than a frontliner. This also determines the model's control range, which is a distance equal to twice your FOCUS/FURY in inches, and is the maximum distance at which you can manipulate focus or fury. Keeping your robots or kaiju inside that bubble is important, since 'jacks without fuel aren't terribly effective and 'beasts without a babysitter can't hulk our and are liable to start devouring friendly infantry.

It's also worth noting that, when building an army list, a warnoun is effectively worth ''negative'' points. Your army's warnoun costs nothing themselves, and comes with a few free points to spend on warjacks or warbeasts.

===Warjacks and Warbeasts===

Warcasters and warlocks are your generals. Warjacks and warbeasts are their heavy hitters. While there are a few special rules that make the two play a ''bit'' differently (mostly regarding how they fuel their attacks with focus or fury), they're pretty much identical on the tabletop - save that one is a giant robot and the other is a giant monster.

Warjacks are basically seven-ton steampunk Hunter-Killer Terminator golems, tactically equivalent to how we use tanks in Earth warfare but with 100% more awesome and +2 to legs. Meanwhile, warbeasts are huge, hulking mountains of muscle and [[RAEG]], with even the smallest of them capable of reducing a man to paste with one [[Trollbloods|Giant Meaty Fist]]. They all pack crazy powerful weapons, heavy armor, and huge amounts of health, making them the most powerful individual models in an army that aren't warnouns. They also come with a slew of special "power attacks" unique to the larger models, which range from body-slamming a fucker across the tabletop to chucking them like a softball over the nearest building. The downsides are that they're usually slower, easier to hit, and less accurate than infantry, and they cost a bundle for a single model, so losing one hurts more.

Both warjacks and warbeasts also rely heavily on their army's warnoun to unlock their maximum potential for murder. They're plenty big and stompy on their own, but in order to do anything more than simply walk around and swing at things with standard attacks, they require outside help. Warjacks need a warcaster to hand them addtional focus points, which they can then spend to run, charge, make power attacks, make bonus additional standard attacks, or increase the power and accuracy of any attack they make. Warbeasts can do all of that on their own, but every time they do, they generate a fury point, and the longer that fury sticks around, the more likely that the 'beast will lose its shit and just start snapping necks like Slim Jims. They also have a maximum fury limit, and when they hit it, they can't do any of those awesome things any more, so they need a warlock about to leach all their anger away. Both can act normally outside of their warcaster/warlock's "control range," but 'jacks can't be given focus, and 'beasts can neither generate Fury nor have it leached.

There are also a handful of models ''other'' than your warnoun which can control these giant fuckers: Marshals and Journeymen. Marshals are basically just novices who have learned to shout loud enough that their orders will get through their charge's thick goddamn skull. This is roughly analogous to trying to use a computer without a mouse; it can be done, but it's never as easy, efficient, or effective. It can still be useful, since they take some load off your warnoun, but it's not always what you want. Journeymen, meanwhile, are basically mini-warnouns, complete with their own FOCUS or FURY score, spell list, and so on. They can control things more efficiently than Marshals, but they're still strictly downgrades from your standard warnouns, so again, it's situational as to whether or not you want them. They're primarily useful for edge cases, when you absolutely must have another 'jack or 'beast but your warnoun is already run ragged.

The final real difference between warjacks, warbeasts, and regular models is the way damage is tracked. Most models just have health boxes to mark as they take damage, but these guys are too beefy for that. Warjacks have a whole ''grid'' of damage boxes, while warbeasts have a damage ''spiral''. These really aren't as complicated as they sound: whenever you take damage, you roll a die to see which column of the grid or spiral to start marking boxes off in, rolling over to the next one if necessary. As these fill up, your 'jack or 'beast might get weaker - it's still standing, but it's taken a pounding, and something important is broken. It might get slower, or weaker in combat, or lose the ability to use focus or fury entirely.

It should be noted that ''in general'' (there are exceptions, of course), Hordes armies tend to have an easier time bringing lots of warbeasts (3 or more) compared to Warmachine armies who tend to have fewer warjacks (1 or 2). This is because FOCUS is a finite resource and most Warmachine factions have few ways to generate extra, while most Hordes factions tend to have more ways to get rid of extra FURY. Also, the FURY system, while not strictly better than FOCUS, does give you a little bit extra flexibility in that there are certain cases where it's okay to leave extra FURY on your warbeasts. For example, if you have a really strong turn but end up generating more FURY than you can leech, you may leave the extra on your beasts because you're hoping you'll get lucky and they won't frenzy, or even if they do frenzy it won't wreck your plans, or you're expecting your enemy to kill one or more of your beasts and take care of that extra FURY for you, or if charging the nearest enemy is your goal. The Journeymen mentioned in a previous paragraph were specifically designed to help ease the FOCUS or FURY burden on your Warnoun, allowing you to take more warjacks or warbeasts if you so desire.

====Colossals and Gargantuans====

Colossals are like warjacks with more FUCKHUEG, because Privateer Press wanted to charge $100 per model for something, and the only way to do that was to make it really big (and, unlike Forge World models, almost actually worth it). Roughly equivalent to Titans in 40K, they can be fielded at any point level and are surprisingly well-balanced, since they have about the same defensive stats as a heavy warjack and cost about the same as two of them, but have loads more health and tons more dakka. Oh yeah, and they have TWO 6-column damage grids to play with, although they generally have less than double the health of a heavy warjack. Gargantuans are the same thing, but for warbeasts. Because of the differences between the Focus and Fury mechanics, colossals are generally seen as mechanically superior, since their resource-manage system benefits from shrinking the number of models the caster has to juggle between.

===Units===

Basically exactly what you'd expect. Units are groups of infantry which operate as, well, a unit on the tabletop. They range from bog-standard foot soldiers to well-trained and heavily-armored specialists and elite assassins, and everything else besides.

Like in Warhammer, most models in a unit only have a single wound and are immediately killed if they take any damage (though there are a few elite infantry units whose models have quite a few health boxes). Unlike in Warhammer, models in a Warmahordes unit act almost as individuals, with the primary restriction on them being that they must stay within a certain distance of the current unit leader, and that the entire unit must run or charge as a group. Other than this, models move on their own and can make attacks individually (and are targeted individually in turn). This removes much of the "shapeless gunblob" that plagues Warhammer.

Other than the basic models, units can be expanded by adding Unit Attachments (UAs) and/or Weapon Attachments (WAs). These add a couple more bodies to the unit, as well as an Officer (a better leader, usually with some handy buffs accompanying them) in the case of UAs or a guy with a better weapon, like the Winter Guard Infantry's RPG dude, in the case of WAs. Other than their better stats and weaponry, these models work in basically the same way as the rest of the unit members.

===Solos===

Single models which act individually. Like units, this is an extremely broad category that covers everything from dedicated support models to axe-wielding maniacs. They're also usually more durable than standard infantry, with at least five health boxes being the stardard, though not enough that most can survive a direct hit from a warjack or warbeast.

===Battle Engines===

Battle Engines are recent additions to the game. They are big, durable, vehicle-sized models on the same 120mm base as colossals, built with a certain task in mind, like support or shooting. They cost about as much as a heavy 'jack, and are generally much more specialized and slightly less durable, but don't need to draw from a warcaster's focus to do their thing.

===Characters===

Characters are not a unit type of themselves; rather, they are uniquely named units, solos or warjacks that are exceptional in one way or another. All warcasters are characters, but other characters include talented mercenaries (Rutger Shaw, Eyriss), charismatic leaders and their followers (Alexia Ciannor and the Risen, Greygore Boomhowler and Co.) or warjacks that have been around long enough to develop a distinct personality or other unique traits (Ol' Rowdy, Beast 09). Characters are unique and you can only take one of a single character in any list, no matter how big the army size; they are typically more expensive than their non-character counterparts, but also have better stat lines, abilities, weapons and skills.

====Epic Characters====

As the story of Warmahordes progresses, so do some of the characters. "Epic" characters are alternate versions of a given character based on things that have happened to them in the story. For example, when War Witch Deneghra was killed, she was resurrected as Wraith Witch Deneghra, and both of these are available as models for use on the tabletop. You can only use one version of any given character in an army.

Epic characters are ''not'' intended to be more powerful than their previous incarnations, just ''different''. Of course, there are some power differences, in the same way that some warjacks or warbeasts are simply better than others, but don't think that it's not worth fielding a given character if you aren't going to use their epic version.

Regular and epic versions of characters used to be referred to with the shorthand "pName" (for "prime") and "eName" for ("epic"). However, recently, some characters have gotten up to their third incarnation. The Privateer Press forumgoers played around with terminology like "lName" (for "legendary") or "eeName" (for... "double epic"?) when referring to the third-incarnation characters, but Privateer Press has stated that it officially prefers the terminology Name1/Name2/Name3, which honestly is much easier.

==List Building==

In the grand old wargaming tradition, every model has a points value and opposing armies have to be the same size. However, the points values of Warmahordes are very small compared to GW properties. 0 points is a small-scale learning game with one warcaster, their battlegroup. 50-75 points is brick-and-mortar-store tournament scale (roughly equivalent to 1500-2000 points of 40K). 100 points is for all-day convention tournaments. Anything bigger than 100 points borders on Apocalypse scale; Privateer Press has released "Unbound" rules to streamline games at 150+ points, and while they're still a bit on the clunky side it still keeps games of that scale to less than a day.

The majority of tournaments require you to write two different army lists and choose between them at the start of the game. This allows you to build one list which can cover for the shortcomings of the other. 1d4chan's official recommendation is to have one Searforge Commission Mercenaries list and one Talion Charter Mercenaries list, allowing you to field both [[dwarf|dwarves]] AND [[pirate|pirates]] at the same tournament.

==Mechanics==

During the game, Warmahordes uses six-sided dice for almost everything. The basic rule is to roll 2d6, add the appropriate stat and bonuses, and compare to the target's defensive stat. There are also ways to add bonus dice, resulting in a 3d6 or even 4d6. In the case of some truly terrifying attacks 5d6 roll.

The system never uses tables or charts, and every unit you purchase comes with its own stat card which contains all relevant rules and statistics needed to use it. As such, Warmahordes players never have to buy a Codex equivalent (though these do exist for those who wish to purchase them, in the form of the ''Forces Of...'' line, and come with all the lore you could wish for in the bargain).

The game system heavily rewards aggressive play, to the point that the game's official tagline was '''''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''''. The most obvious way this is enforced is that a charging unit gets a bonus die on its damage rolls, so the player who goes for the jugular first will probably get in a brutal alpha strike. This does not mean that ranged armies are at a disadvantage, however, as there are plenty of ways to bog down advancing units, and many ranged units bring additional utility to the table in form of special abilities or AOE attacks.

==Factions==

Warmahordes currently has either eleven to thirteen factions across the two games, depending on who you ask. There are five primary factions in Warmachine and four in Hordes, but each game also has a limited release faction in the form of The Convergence of Cyriss for Warmachine and the Grymkin for Hordes. Both also have a catch-all pseudo-faction in the form of Mercenaries and Minions, respectively. These are primarily intended as supplemental models which the primary factions can use to fill strategic holes in their forces' capabilities, but due to popularity among the players, Privateer Press has released rules allowing the Mercenaries and Minions to be fielded as independent forces with their own warnouns leading them.

===Warmachine===
[[File:WarmaHordes-Factions.jpg|700px|thumb|right|A short summary]]

====[[Cygnar]]====

Cygnar are the [[Mary Sue|“good guys”]]. The nation itself is not unimpeachable or always morally correct, but its characters are clearly protagonists. Even when taking a darker turn, they always have a core of moral fiber, etc. If Han Solo is the most evil member of your crew, you are the good guys.

Cygnar is the most advanced human nation; they tend to shoot things with guns, hurt things with lightning, or hurt things by shooting them with lightning guns. They're made out to be a fairly nice place to live if not for the fact they have some bad blood with Khador. They also have the Protectorate of Menoth wanting to overthrow their government (and religion), with the Cygnar/Menoth border literally running right through the Cygnar capital in a Berlin Wall arrangement (except that the Menites were smart enough to put their capital somewhere else). Just to make things all better, Cygnar's the closest to Cryx, who are aiming to exterminate them and everything else on the mainland. The other factions may not like each other much either, but Cygnar is basically in the middle of them all.

Their advanced understanding of magic and mechanics is reflected in that they have most of the best ranged weapons in the game, are best known for their Lightning attack type, and play less aggressively than most other factions (though they do still have some powerful melee models, which almost always have ranged attacks as well). They tend to be more accurate and mobile than the other factions, but don't always hit as hard and are markedly less durable. They aren't helpless in melee, but it isn't their forte. They, like Khador, are generally considered one of the best factions for starting players.

====[[Cryx]]====

If Cygnar are the good guys, Cryx is unashamedly the faction of bad guys. In a world of moral grays, they paint with the deepest blacks.

It's an island nation of zombie pirate demon witch robots that was taken over by a Godzilla sized dragon named Toruk, the father of all dragons. Toruk wants to rule the world (or wreak random destruction, it's a little confusing), and created Cryx as a weapon to use against the dragons that he created (since he created them from his own essence, so [[Derp|they're just as fucking arrogant as he is and refuse to submit to his will]], and they're the only beings on Immoren that can really threaten him directly). Due to his concern about them ganging up on him, he spends his days sitting around doing nothing while claiming everything is going [[Just As Planned]]. Whether or not that's the truth is unknown.

Cryx is an interesting evil army, composed of pirates, undead pirates, ghost warriors, heavily armored liches, and demonic mutant witches. [[Dark Eldar|Their army is generally the fastest, cheapest, and largest on the table, and also hits like a ton of bricks]]. The problem is that they can't take a hit in return, so they have to use dirty tricks to dictate the flow of battle and choose their engagements carefully. As such, Cryx is one of the hardest armies for new players to make proper use of. Still, if utilized properly, Cryx can punch through almost any defense and savage the enemy warnoun before they can blink.

Has horny ladies with [[Promotions|Great Racks]], too. Really. [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSkarre This] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiBlood+Witches is] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSea+Witch a] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSatyxis thing].


====[[Khador]]====

Leave heroes and villains to Cygnar and Cryx. Khador is unconcerned with such things. Military might, honor, and love of the Motherland are all that matter in the cold, frozen north.

Cries of "For the Motherland", red banners, gold triangle-stars, frigid bitches, and beardy berserkers personify Khador. They're a northern Imperial Russia/Soviet Union style nation bent on imperialist conquest. They claim that this is because they've been screwed out of the world domination they once had and rightly deserve, and while this is almost certainly revisionist history b.s., it's been the glue that let them begin to build a modern nation out of disunited scraps.

Despite the fact that most newbies think of Khador as the guys with the biggest, stompiest warjacks, Khador is almost exclusively a dedicated infantry faction. Khador warjacks ''are'' durable, and they do hit like a goddamn steam train in melee, but they are also slow, expensive, inaccurate, and extremely focus-hungry in a faction known for its focus-hungry warcasters. Fortunately, to make up for this, Khadoran infantry are some of the best in the game. They are durable, reliable, mobile, and pack an incredible punch for their price. Whatever the job, Khador has an infantry unit that will do it with style.

Need a squad of [[Space Marines|elite shocktroopers in steam-powered armor ripped from a warjack chassis and wielding weapons that will make even the hardest targets sweat?]] Man-O'-Wars have your back. Heavy infantry stalling your advance? The Widowmaker snipers are on the job; watch those heads go ''pop!'' Need an army of screaming psychopaths charging across the field to decapitate your foes? No problem! We have Doom Reavers for that. Just need some [[Imperial Guard|reliable, flexible, reasonably shooty infantry to swamp a point and hold it against all comers through sheer weight of numbers]]? The Winter Guard have your back. And, no matter the squad, Khador has the buffs to make them into a true terror on the tabletop.

Because of the reliability, simplicity, and flexibility of their infantry, as well as the straightforward way their warjacks function, Khador is, like Cygnar, considered a great faction for new players.

====[[Protectorate of Menoth]]====

A bunch of [[Imperium of Man|religious fanatics]] that worship Menoth, the god of civilization and mankind ([[Emperor of Mankind|just not this guy]]), who is kind of an asshole. The Church of Menoth began falling out with Cygnar about a thousand years ago, since a more benign god named Morrow began gaining favor. While the two churches were able to coexist for hundreds of years, relations between them eventually turned sour, especially because the then-king of Cygnar favored Morrow. Eventually, the Menite church got sick of his shit, wandered off into the desert, discovered petroleum, and endured even more oppression under Vinter Raelthorne IV before the Cygnarans also got sick of his shit and voted him out of office in the traditional feudal manner: with a military coup. The chaos resulting from this allowed the theocracy to form its own quasi-legal nation: the Protectorate of Menoth.

''Technically'' speaking, the Protectorate is not allowed to have a military, which the Protectorate actually adhered to during its early years, but has lately began to ignore. They aren't really ''evil'', per se (they have legitimate Lawful Good [[paladin]]s), but the leaders of the theocracy are, by and large, a pretty awful bunch. The Protectorate's main goal right now is to forcibly convert everyone back to the True Faith (well, at least the humans, anyway - Menoth couldn't care less about everybody else). Most recently, they invaded the eastern half of Llael, who quickly found that they preferred Khador's iron-fisted rule to the Protectorate's flamethrowers.

On the tabletop, the Protectorate is all about synergy. Menite armies field the best support units in the game, which take their ''other'' units from "decent" to "oh my fuck what". The most iconic of these units is the Choir of Menoth, which is hands-down the single best 'jack support unit out there. Menite 'jacks have only middling statlines on their own, but with the Choir (and Menoth's other servants) backing them up, they can become seriously terrifying. As such, the Protectorate is one of the more 'jack-heavy factions in the game, though its infantry is also no slouch.

Menite armies also have a decidedly Ottoman Empire motif, with a dash of [[Inquisition|Spanish Inquisition]] thrown in for good measure. As non-divine magic is considered [[heresy]] by the Menite church, Protectorate armies have a lot of ways to counteract it. Dispel magic abounds, as do plenty of other denial-focused abilities which will put a serious crimp in the style of any opponent. Defensive buffs are also exceptionally common, which makes a Menite army a tough-as-nails brick that's very hard to crack open - so long as its support units are protected. On the other hand, Menite units tend to be quite slow, and there aren't many ways for the faction to increase their mobility. Menite warcasters also tend to be fairly fragile and vulnerable to assassination, so it's important to protect them.

====[[Retribution of Scyrah]]====

Being an [[elf]] [[Grimdark|sucks]]. For a while, everything's good, until you decide to build a bridge to Heaven so all your gods can come over for a few cold ones and sleep with some sexy elf chicks. Then the bridge works, but also explodes and [[Eldar|wipes out pretty much your entire civilization]], so instead of hanging out and partying with your gods you have to pack up and move next to some dwarven hicks. Then you all start aging and getting [[AIDS]] and shit, and also babies start getting born without souls, and the gods say it ''might'' have something to do with the fact that they aren't in Heaven any more so the entire universe might be out of whack. Then, when they go back, [[Slaanesh|something kills them all]], and things just keep getting worse until, one day, the goddess of spring just turns up out of nowhere, wanders into her temple, and then goes into a ''fucking coma'' while dying slowly and with no one having a goddamn clue how to fix her.

So when someone says "hey, did anyone else notice how the day the gods died was ''also'' the day humans discovered arcane magic?", it is, perhaps, a bit understandable that more than a few elves picked up a rifle and went to kill some round-ears.

Retribution units have a very distinct visual design, with a notably [[Weeaboo|sleek, curvy, anime-esque look, complete with neon hair]]. [[Eldar|Most of their army tends to consist of highly specialized, elite units with clearly-defined roles]], without much in the way of generalist infantry. They also have an abundance of options for assassin units, up to and including entire units of ninja elf infantry with magic crossbows. They are mobile, shooty, and tricky, and surprisingly beardy considering that they're, y'know, ''elves''. The Retribution has fantastic infantry and solos all around.

On the other hand, Retribution warjacks and warcasters are generally not too fantastic. Its warjacks (called "myrmidons") are mobile, but fragile, and require a lot of backup to be effective. Its warcasters tend to be utility-based rather than individual powerhouses, and exist largely as sources of buffs for their infantry. On the ''other'' other hand, Retribution infantry are generally solid enough to make this work, and if they can't, then you still have the option of an assassination run - which the Retribution can do with incredible reliability from a frankly ''disgusting'' range.

Because of the Retribution's reliance on tricks and sensitivity about order of activation (certain units really, ''really'' want to go at certain times, and messing this up will cause your army to fold like a house of cards), the Retribution is an incredibly difficult army to play well. It's not weak, but it's not particularly newbie-friendly, and is generally limited to more advanced players.

They're also fans of shaved heads, and can even grow beards, making them the manliest elves ever - not that this is a high bar to <strike>jump</strike> <strike>step</strike> walk over.

Beware of [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/House+Shyeel+Magister mittens].

====[[Convergence of Cyriss]]====

The Convergence is a [[Adeptus Mechanicus|cult]] dedicated to the worship of [[Omnissiah|Cyriss, the Machine Goddess]], the personification of logic, order, science, and mathematical perfection. (Pfft, like any woman god could be close to understanding those things, amirite guyz?) They have taken the technology used to make the artificial brains used in warjacks and applied it to themselves, [[Necrons|uploading their consciousness into machine bodies]] in order to become closer to her. They're actually not bad guys, really - it's just that the driving belief behind their faith is that Cyriss really, ''really'' wants them to turn the entire fucking planet into a <s>giant clockwork robot, exterminating all organic life and rendering the world perfect in her eyes</s> network of specially distributed leylines that act as a circuitboard to call down Cyriss' consciousness into. The reason this is bad is that the places they need to build temples on are the places major cities or temples crop up on, that other factions want to use for various reasons, and in doing so are going to piss off the Wyrm to the point that he destroys all sapient life on the planet when he arrises from Urcaen in a rage about the leylines (IE: Him) being fucked with. Since the rest of the factions take issue with various parts of this, they've turned their technological expertise towards developing more advanced versions of warjacks, called "vectors", to punch their way to the Rapture.

The Convergence is the absolute ''weirdest'' faction in all of Warmachine, and comes with a slew of special rules that make it play completely differently from anything else on the tabletop. To start with, they are a limited release faction, having only 1 model ever released for them after their initial run and no access to mercenaries at all. Also its warjacks don't have a complete statline; their accuracy in combat is determined entirely by which warcaster you are fielding, as they share their stats with the vectors under their command. This means that your warcaster selection doesn't just alter the basic idea behind your strategy - it completely alters the ''basic functions of your warjacks''.

They also handle focus very differently, with the bottom line being that Convergence 'jacks are ''exceptionally'' focus-efficient, allowing the faction to field more 'jacks than any other without breaking the bank. In 2014, a Convergence player went all the way to the grand finals of the Warmahordes championships with a list consisting almost entirely of vectors, and only lost due to running out of time on the clock. The faction does have some nice infantry, though, if the player wants to field a warcaster with lower combat stats and not have to sit there crying while every attack misses.

Basically, the Convergence is very, ''very'' strange, but not at all weak. It is somewhat limited by a low model count, as Privateer Press hasn't released too much for it yet, and no Mercenaries will work with them, but the faction has the capability to answer any threat with proper planning. If you like clockwork robots or the idea of turning the entire world into a chrome-plated paradise, they're well worth looking into.

----
====[[Crucible Guard]]====

The newest Warmachine faction, a group of alchemists emergening from Llael's resistance movements.

They rely heavily on special effects like Fire or Corrosion and a good bit of mobility. Imagine Gorman di Wulfe as an entire faction and you have it about right.

====[[Mercenaries]]====

As mentioned above, Mercenary models were initially meant to just be options available to multiple factions rather than an army unto themselves. Due to player demand, however, Privateer Press has since released rules for fielding entirely Mercenary forces. These range from [[dwarf|dwarves]] [[Awesome|in powered armour, fielding the O.G. warjacks that served as the basis for the tech that ousted the Orgoth]] to Llaelese rebels fighting for their homeland's freedom to pirates being pirates. Basically, when playing Mercenaries, you pick a theme and, and then go as normal. The only restrictions are that dwarven warjacks must be controlled by dwarven warcasters, and Cephalyx Monstrosities must be controlled by their Overseers. You are now able to mix and match any merc beyond those restrictions. Below are examples of some more thematic armies within the Mercs umbrella/

*'''Steelhead Battalion:''' The premier franchised mercenary company/meatshield manspam horde in the region, jacks of all trades masters of none.
*'''Searforge Commission:''' They're [[dwarves]], and come with everything you'd expect from the same. They aren't going anywhere fast, but they are ''ludicrously'' 'ard, and they hit like a ton of bricks. It's also worth noting that the signature dwarven warcaster, Gorten Grundback, is pretty much the most stupidly tanky thing in the fucking game and is functionally immune to damage. Note, however, that the dwarves in this universe are not Scottish, because the Trollbloods are already Scottish. It is generally agreed that the dwarves in Warmachine have a New Zealand accent.
*'''Puppet Masters:''' The Cephalyx started out as the Iron Kingdoms' steampunkified non-Product-Identity version of the [[Illithid|Illithids]] -- bizarre creatures who live deep underground and love mind-controlling the lesser races of the surface world, except they do it using technology rather than magic. Now they're a Mercenary faction of their own, complete with giant sewn-together Frankenstein monsters which act as their warjack-equivalents. They're extremely new, with very limited unit options - but that's okay since they can steal a unit from another Mercenary faction thanks to the Cephalyx Dominator. Has a focus on dirty tricks rather than straight-up brawling, also has a "human resources" approach to super-buffing its infantry.
*'''Talion Charter:''' Pirates. Lots of pirates. How many pirates can you imagine? There are more than that. Also, a peg-legged Napoleon dwarf. Also, a fuckhueg cannon that is easily the best damn artillery piece in the entire game if you manage to get anything in its line of sight. This group is all about synergy with their units, which on their own are the worst in the game. Start adding in their solos and unit attachments, though, and suddenly you've got yourself a unit that can do some damage.

===Hordes===

====[[Trollbloods]]====

Scottish [[Orks]], and also the good guys of Warmahordes. [[Awesome]]. The Trollbloods are a dying race, as the superior technology of nations like Cygnar and Khador is continually pushing them to the borders of habitable land, and they lack the resources to build warjacks themselves. On the other hand, what they ''do'' have are some seriously fucking scary relatives, so now that the fate of the species is on the line, the trolls have united and called in the inbred redneck cousins as backup - only, in this case, the redneck cousins in question are basically walking mountains that could flatten a building with one hand. They drink, fight, and basically just brawl their way through the world, trying to establish a homeland for themselves, and only occasionally eating someone. Hardly anyone, these days. No one important, anyway. You'd never miss 'em, we swear.

The key word here is ''tough''. Trollblood models can take a ''stupid'' amount of punishment. Most of them are Tough (as in the mechanic), on top of having ridiculous amounts of health boxes and high ARM. They will also kick the ever-loving shit out of anything they reach in melee, because they are pissed off, drunk as shit, Scottish, and also Orks. They run forward, punch whatever they can reach, and then repeat until the enemy is a smear on the pavement. As such, they are one of the simplest armies in all of Warmahordes, and an excellent choice for new players - though they aren't entirely without their own little tricks, and can be just as rewarding for experienced warlocks.

Trollbloods have the dubious honor of being the most shit on faction fluffwise. Cygnar promised them a bunch of lands, but neglected to tell them that said land was in the way of a gigantic Skorne army. Then when they went to the king of Cygnar, Leto, to get the lands they were promised, he basically told them to fuck off. The trolls were not pleased. This, coupled with the fact that the Menite priest-kings used to enslave trollbloods for use as beasts of burdens and menial workers, has caused the leader of the Trollbloods, Chief Madrak Ironhide to unite all the warring kriels. Picking up the cursed axe of Rathrok out of desperation, he is leading the race into a new, uncertain future, carving out their own land, and Dhunia help any pink-skinned human, elf, skorne or undead construct that dares stand in their way.

====[[Circle Orboros]]====

So, on the one hand you have [[Emperor of Mankind|Menoth]], who is the god of mankind, order, and civilization. He's sort of a prick, but he's got the right idea... maybe. On the ''other'' hand, you have the Devourer Wurm, the avatar of all that is chaos - nature, red in tooth and claw. It knows no mercy. It probably doesn't even understand the concept. It cares for nothing save that the cities of the world be torn down and all that is not of nature's domain be rent asunder. This thing is so cruel that in the wars between its worshippers and Menoth's, many of the Wurm's followers converted to Menoth after losing because his treatment was actually KINDER

And the Circle (kinda)[[Derp|worships it]]. The idea is that they want to keep Menoth and the Wurm at each other's throats. Too much civilization(or too much nature) might cause one or the other to turn their attention back on Immoren, and that'd be bad news for ''everybody''. And since civilization is the one on the rise in Immoren right now, that's what they got beef with. The Circle is weird. Most of the time they are too busy stabbing each other in the back for political gain to actually accomplish anything without nearly destroying the world.

So, basically, you have a bunch of ''fucking insane'' druids, all of whom are assholes, running around and shanking anyone who isn't a hippie tree-hugger. For those who cannot be shanked by normal means, they have <s>werewolves</s> '''warp'''wolves, humanoid griffins, and kung-fu goats, along with giant golems, ents (them tree things), and weird-ass Stonehenge magic. They love terrain and messing with unit placement, making them one of the tricksiest forces in the game, as well as extremely situational - if there are a lot of forests about and your opponent isn't particularly good at dealing with them, you're golden. If not, you're probably going to get your shit kicked in. Unless you start planting trees.

====[[Legion of Everblight]]====

Remember when we mentioned that Cryx is led by the evil dragon-god Toruk, who seeks to hunt down and devour his children in order to conquer the world? Yeah, Everblight is one of those children. And, since dragons in this setting are eldritch abominations that leak corrupting blight into everything around them, he's started up his own army in order to keep his daddy from chowing down on his bones. After he got his ass kicked in his initial fight with Toruk, he fled into the north, where he corrupted a bunch of elves, started spawning [[Tyranids|warped creatures]] to serve as his weapons, and found an ogre crazy enough to [[Grimdark|cut open his own fucking chest and shove Everblight's crystal-body into his heart, thus providing him with a new host body]].

The Legion is, in many ways, quite similar to its Warmachine equivalent of Cryx. It is brutally fast and does incredible amounts of damage, but is not particularly durable. However, while Cryx is primarily an infantry-focused faction, the Legion loves its warbeasts. It has many of those that Hordes players would list among the best in the game. Whether at range or up close, the Legion's warbeasts will absolutely wreck whatever you point them at. Plus, they look like freaky eyeless dragon-things, and that's pretty cool.

====[[Skorne]]====

A barbarian empire hailing from beyond the deserts to the east of Cygnar, which were previously thought to be so inhospitable that no one could live out there. As it turns out, this was wrong - it just means that the people living out there are [[Grimdark|crazy, sadomasochistic pain-worshipers with an insatiable thirst for blood]]. Think of Conan the Barbarian mixed with Hellraiser. Now they have come storming across the sands full of piss and vinegar in search of somewhere to live that sucks marginally less and they're not going to stop murdering the shit out of everyone until they get it gosh-darn it.

On the tabletop, Skorne is roughly equivalent to most newbies' idea of Khador: slow, durable, and pretty much guaranteed to crush whatever they get into melee with. Their warbeasts are brutally dangerous in close quarters, and their infantry aren't any less threatening. They're not really going anywhere fast, but if you want some Roman-style phalanx combat and an army that can take a beating and give it right back, this is your go-to.

[[Grimdark|Also, they field tortured baby elephants to demoralize their foes.]] Because, in case you hadn't figured it out yet, they're pretty messed up in the head.

====[[Grymkin]]====
The Grymkin are the latest Hordes faction to be released and are a limited release faction similar to the Convergence. They are the myths and faerie tales of Caen given life, with various flavors of imps being their main focus. Grymkin Warlocks function differently from the standard variety by not having feats, instead they have what are called Arcana. These arcana come in a wide range of triggered effects and abilities that are chosen before the battle begins with one Trump Arcana serving as a psuedo-feat The Grymkin are a primarily infantry based faction focusing on having troops be insanely hard to kill and then returning them to the battlefield. Most of their models have stupid puny names

====Minions====

[[File:Gatorman oathsworn by mightytinrobot-d5ectj7.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mercenaries|Pirates?]] [[Lizardmen|Aztec dinosaurs?]] Who needs them when you have [[Awesome|aligator warriors]]!]]
The Hordes equivalent of Mercenaries. Everything said there applies here, save that Minions tend to be more along the lines of kobolds, gatormen, and such.

They come in two distinct flavors:

* '''The Blindwater Congregation:''' Voodoo gatormen who dwell in the swamps and have been slowly assimilating the other scaled races. They have tough infantry and excel at beating up living models, but have some difficulties with high-ARM, non-living models like warjacks. They also love them some undead somethin' good, with their voodoo witchcraft and their tendency to speak in a <s>southern drawl</s> cajun yat.
* '''The Thornfall Alliance:''' A new proto-nation, like the United Kriels of the Trollbloods. ''Unlike'' the Trollbloods, the farrow are pig people, which is awesomely ridiculous. They have interesting warlocks with different play styles, but little variation in their forces due to a limited unit list. And all of their warlocks can only use Farrow warbeasts. However, the War Hog (which is the biggest pig around) is beastly enough to do the job in nearly every occasion. Less flexible than Blindwater as they tend to use a more direct approach.

==Getting into Warmahordes==

The best place to go for community thoughts on anything in Warmahordes is the [https://warmachineuniversity.com/mw/index.php/Main_Page WarMachine University community wiki](which replaced the now decunct Battle College in 2018) . It's a great starting resource for any player, whether newbie <strike>or experienced tournament contestant</strike>. Do some reading on any faction that interests you and see what units work and what don't. Take everything they say with a grain of salt, because the contributors don't always know what they're talking about and can sometimes get shit horribly wrong (like /tg/).

No matter what you choose to buy, you'll need a copy of either ''Warmachine Prime MkIII'' or ''Hordes Primal MkIII'', which are the core rulebooks for the games. Except you don't need to buy them anymore, because [http://privateerpress.com/the-rules-are-free the rulebook is free]. You should also look up Privateer Press' token sets, which are very handy for keeping track of status effects, focus and fury points, and so on.

Once you know what you want to play, you're very likely best off getting either the Battlegroup Box for your chosen faction or the All-In-One Army Box, if it's available. Both are absolutely incredible deals for the price. The Battlegroup box will come with a single warnoun and a handful of warjacks or warbeasts, while the All-In-One Army Box is more expensive and comes with a basic starter army (which is usually fairly solid, if not exactly top-tier). Both are great places to start your collection, and will save you a lot of money.

If you like a faction, don't let the "beginner/expert" bits above scare you. Some factions ''are'' generally trickier than others, but none of them are completely inaccessible. You may just have to put some work in before you start seeing results.

You ''do not'' need to pick up the ''Forces'' book for your chosen faction. It's fun to have, but every unit comes with its own stat card which will tell you everything that you need to know to field the unit in question.

EDIT: At time of this edit, Warmahordes is going through an edition change. recommend visiting the Privateer Press main website for more information before you buy. Rulebooks will now be free online.

==See also==
[[Warmachine/Tactics]]

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[[Category:Wargames]]
[[category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]]
[[Category:Warmachine]]

WARMACHINE

2019-09-06T23:51:42Z

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[[Image:Warmachine_Hordes_Logos.png|850px|center]]
<center>'''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''</center>

<center>'''WARMAHORDES V3.0 HAS OFFICIALLY LANDED. THE STORYLINE HAS JUMPED FORWARD THREE YEARS, UNITS HAVE BEEN REBALANCED, AND CORE MECHANICS HAVE BEEN REWORKED TO SOME EXTENT. ALL INFORMATION ON THESE PAGES IS POSSIBLY OUTDATED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.'''</center>
[[File:Skubmachine.jpg|300px|thumb|right|WARMACHINE used to be a game with a particular audience. These days this stuff has been toned down or removed entirely.]]
'''Warmachine''' and '''Hordes''', often called '''Warmahordes''', are tabletop wargames produced by [[Privateer Press]]. Uniquely among other games of the same genre, Warmachine and Hordes are actually built from the ground up to be played with one another. They are essentially the same game with two different flavorings: Warmachine factions are more civilized and make use of giant steam-powered [[magitek]] robots, while Hordes armies tend to be more [[Orks|barbaric]] and use huge-ass kaiju instead. Other than this, the two games are functionally identical to the point of most tournaments allowing armies from either game to be fielded against one another. This has led to most players referring to the game as ''Warmahordes''. Both games are currently in their <s>second</s> third edition (06/29/2016 edition), referred to as ''Prime MkIII'' for Warmachine and ''Primal MkIII'' for Hordes.

Both games are set in and around the [[Iron Kingdoms]], a group of warring states on the western coast of a continent called Immoren. Everyone hates each other, as is par for the course in a wargame setting, and some major power players are dedicated to constantly stirring shit up among the more good-aligned factions so that they keep fighting one another and make themselves too weak to oppose the inevitable zombie invasions. [[Just as planned]].

Immoren is basically what you get if you take a standard high fantasy setting and inject some Industrial Revolution. A long time ago, a bunch of evil sadomasochistic sorcerors from <s>SPAAAACE</s> across the ocean showed up and kicked everybody's shit in. Since only divine magic existed at the time and everyone was basically a bunch of barbarian tribes anyway, humanity didn't really have much in the way of ability to actually ''do'' anything about this, so everything sucked for a while. The citizens of Immoren progressively invented better and better weapons to try and get the Orgoth the fuck off their collective lawn - guns and wizardry were both initially developed as ways to fight them - but it wasn't until the dwarves decided to be fuckin' bros and start supplying the rebels with resources and teaching them the secrets of magitek that things really turned around. This led to the creation of some huge-ass, steam-powered magic robots called the Colossals, which promptly steamrolled the Orgoth right the fuck off the continent and allowed the modern factions to form.

Of course, all of these factions hate each other, so Immoren has been in a state of constant warfare pretty much since it was freed. This would be <s>weird</s> [[awesome]] enough given the anachronism stew that is the setting, since you have [[Cygnar|knights using powered armor and lightning spears]] to charge down [[Khador|Soviet Russians with shotguns and shield-cannons]], but the Iron Kingdoms have since refined the technology that created the Colossals and miniaturized it, giving us the modern steam-powered warjacks that are emblematic of the Warmachine half of the setting. Meanwhile, on the Hordes side of things, several remaining barbarian kingdoms have decided that using [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Imperial Titan]]s to keep them subjugated is cheating, so they've leveled the playing field by bringing Godzilla along for the ride.

The setting differs greatly from most other tabletop wargames in that the story actively progresses as Privateer Press releases further expansions. Characters grow, change, and die, while countries are born, conquered, or razed to the ground. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the small country of Llael, once a peaceful merchant land. It was a point of contention between the other factions for quite some time until it was conquered by Khador, then partially ''counter''-conquered by the Protectorate of Menoth, making it one hell of a dangerous place to live and adding quite a few Llaelese models to the Mercenary lineup to represent the new rebel underground.

In terms of scale, Warmahordes is considered a skirmish-level wargame. Battles are generally much smaller than those taking place in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. Indeed, the smallest games can be run with no more than four or five models. However, the game can expand to a scale similar to 40k, with armies numbering fifty or more models per side. Even at this scale, though, it tends to play faster than the two Warhammer games. It is much smaller, faster-paced, and aggressive (see the tagline), with a greater focus on tactics and positioning of individual models.

Warmahordes is generally a well-balanced game (with one [[Cryx|exception]], though even that isn't as pronounced as it used to be); all of the factions have their niches and are all able to pull off a win if the list is well put together. Furthermore, almost every unit in the game has ''something'' to make it at least somewhat useful. There are very few instances where a unit is completely without merit (though they do exist), and if you like a unit that much, there's almost always some way to make it work.

That being said, there is a downside: whereas 40k and Fantasy are strongly focused on [[your dudes]], with a ton of options for every unit, Warmahordes is much less open to customization. Units are taken as-is, with no options for kitting out individual troopers beyond whether or not you want to add an Officer or a Rocket Launcher Dude to the group. Beyond that, every army must be led by a warcaster or warlock , and every one of these is a named character within the Warmahordes universe. It's entirely possible to use, say, Allister Caine and just act like he's another character of your own creation who happens to share the same model and abilities, but those who are a fan of Games Workshop's "forge a narrative" style may find this irksome.

==Unit types==

===Warcasters and Warlocks===

[[File:202953-1366x768--DesktopNexus.com-.jpg|600px|thumb|right|It's essentially this.]]

Games of Warmahordes tend to revolve around each player's warcaster (Warmachine) or warlock (Hordes). These are powerful battle-wizards who have forged a mental link to your army's robots or kaiju, giving them direct control over their actions. Beyond this, each warnoun brings a list of spells to the table to further augment your army's abilities (or to just blast enemy models to ash), and every one ''also'' has a single-use Feat ability. This can only be used once per game, but is almost always devastatingly powerful and can basically win the game on its own if timed correctly. They're also generally no slouches in combat, with some of them being able to wipe out entire squads of normal soldiers or go toe-to-toe with heavy warjacks (though there are quite a few who ''aren't'' that fantastic in a brawl). What your warnoun does and what types of unit they synergize with is one of the most important parts of building an army and how that army works on the tabletop. No two warnouns are alike; you might be running exactly the same army list, but if you swap out one warnoun for another, you can completely change the playstyle.

Despite their incredible power, however, most games of Warmahordes require you to protect your warnoun rather than throw them into the mix. This is because they are functionally equivalent to the king in a game of chess: lose the warnoun, and you've lost the game.

What makes warcasters and warlocks so powerful is their ability to make use of FOCUS or FURY, respectively. These are the fuel that makes your army work.

Focus is the simpler of the two: warcasters generate focus, which they can then give to their giant robots in order to make them more powerful. Alternately, they can keep it for themselves, to cast spells. Focus is awesome and you want as much of it as you can get. What's worth spending those precious points on?

Fury is slightly more complicated, but still not too bad. Warlocks still use fury to cast spells, but they can only generate it themselves by taking damage. But your warbeasts will also generate it as they fight, and your warlock can leach it out of them. This is important, because any warbeast with fury left on it has a chance to flip its shit and just nom the closest unit, whether friendly or enemy, and every warbeast can have only so much fury on it at once before it tops out and needs to remove it to accumulate more. Your warlock can only handle so much fury per turn, so you need to manage it efficiently to keep your army under control. On the other hand, if you aren't generating ''enough'' fury, your warbeasts probably aren't doing the work they need to be, and your warlock might not have enough to fuel their spellcasting. How much can you handle safely?

How much focus your warcaster generates (or how much fury your warlock can leach) each turn is determined by their FOCUS (or FURY) stat. This ranges from 5 (abysmally low) to 10 (stupidly high), with 6 being about average and 8 or higher usually indicating that the warnoun in question is a squishy spell-slinger rather than a frontliner. This also determines the model's control range, which is a distance equal to twice your FOCUS/FURY in inches, and is the maximum distance at which you can manipulate focus or fury. Keeping your robots or kaiju inside that bubble is important, since 'jacks without fuel aren't terribly effective and 'beasts without a babysitter can't hulk our and are liable to start devouring friendly infantry.

It's also worth noting that, when building an army list, a warnoun is effectively worth ''negative'' points. Your army's warnoun costs nothing themselves, and comes with a few free points to spend on warjacks or warbeasts.

===Warjacks and Warbeasts===

Warcasters and warlocks are your generals. Warjacks and warbeasts are their heavy hitters. While there are a few special rules that make the two play a ''bit'' differently (mostly regarding how they fuel their attacks with focus or fury), they're pretty much identical on the tabletop - save that one is a giant robot and the other is a giant monster.

Warjacks are basically seven-ton steampunk Hunter-Killer Terminator golems, tactically equivalent to how we use tanks in Earth warfare but with 100% more awesome and +2 to legs. Meanwhile, warbeasts are huge, hulking mountains of muscle and [[RAEG]], with even the smallest of them capable of reducing a man to paste with one [[Trollbloods|Giant Meaty Fist]]. They all pack crazy powerful weapons, heavy armor, and huge amounts of health, making them the most powerful individual models in an army that aren't warnouns. They also come with a slew of special "power attacks" unique to the larger models, which range from body-slamming a fucker across the tabletop to chucking them like a softball over the nearest building. The downsides are that they're usually slower, easier to hit, and less accurate than infantry, and they cost a bundle for a single model, so losing one hurts more.

Both warjacks and warbeasts also rely heavily on their army's warnoun to unlock their maximum potential for murder. They're plenty big and stompy on their own, but in order to do anything more than simply walk around and swing at things with standard attacks, they require outside help. Warjacks need a warcaster to hand them addtional focus points, which they can then spend to run, charge, make power attacks, make bonus additional standard attacks, or increase the power and accuracy of any attack they make. Warbeasts can do all of that on their own, but every time they do, they generate a fury point, and the longer that fury sticks around, the more likely that the 'beast will lose its shit and just start snapping necks like Slim Jims. They also have a maximum fury limit, and when they hit it, they can't do any of those awesome things any more, so they need a warlock about to leach all their anger away. Both can act normally outside of their warcaster/warlock's "control range," but 'jacks can't be given focus, and 'beasts can neither generate Fury nor have it leached.

There are also a handful of models ''other'' than your warnoun which can control these giant fuckers: Marshals and Journeymen. Marshals are basically just novices who have learned to shout loud enough that their orders will get through their charge's thick goddamn skull. This is roughly analogous to trying to use a computer without a mouse; it can be done, but it's never as easy, efficient, or effective. It can still be useful, since they take some load off your warnoun, but it's not always what you want. Journeymen, meanwhile, are basically mini-warnouns, complete with their own FOCUS or FURY score, spell list, and so on. They can control things more efficiently than Marshals, but they're still strictly downgrades from your standard warnouns, so again, it's situational as to whether or not you want them. They're primarily useful for edge cases, when you absolutely must have another 'jack or 'beast but your warnoun is already run ragged.

The final real difference between warjacks, warbeasts, and regular models is the way damage is tracked. Most models just have health boxes to mark as they take damage, but these guys are too beefy for that. Warjacks have a whole ''grid'' of damage boxes, while warbeasts have a damage ''spiral''. These really aren't as complicated as they sound: whenever you take damage, you roll a die to see which column of the grid or spiral to start marking boxes off in, rolling over to the next one if necessary. As these fill up, your 'jack or 'beast might get weaker - it's still standing, but it's taken a pounding, and something important is broken. It might get slower, or weaker in combat, or lose the ability to use focus or fury entirely.

It should be noted that ''in general'' (there are exceptions, of course), Hordes armies tend to have an easier time bringing lots of warbeasts (3 or more) compared to Warmachine armies who tend to have fewer warjacks (1 or 2). This is because FOCUS is a finite resource and most Warmachine factions have few ways to generate extra, while most Hordes factions tend to have more ways to get rid of extra FURY. Also, the FURY system, while not strictly better than FOCUS, does give you a little bit extra flexibility in that there are certain cases where it's okay to leave extra FURY on your warbeasts. For example, if you have a really strong turn but end up generating more FURY than you can leech, you may leave the extra on your beasts because you're hoping you'll get lucky and they won't frenzy, or even if they do frenzy it won't wreck your plans, or you're expecting your enemy to kill one or more of your beasts and take care of that extra FURY for you, or if charging the nearest enemy is your goal. The Journeymen mentioned in a previous paragraph were specifically designed to help ease the FOCUS or FURY burden on your Warnoun, allowing you to take more warjacks or warbeasts if you so desire.

====Colossals and Gargantuans====

Colossals are like warjacks with more FUCKHUEG, because Privateer Press wanted to charge $100 per model for something, and the only way to do that was to make it really big (and, unlike Forge World models, almost actually worth it). Roughly equivalent to Titans in 40K, they can be fielded at any point level and are surprisingly well-balanced, since they have about the same defensive stats as a heavy warjack and cost about the same as two of them, but have loads more health and tons more dakka. Oh yeah, and they have TWO 6-column damage grids to play with, although they generally have less than double the health of a heavy warjack. Gargantuans are the same thing, but for warbeasts. Because of the differences between the Focus and Fury mechanics, colossals are generally seen as mechanically superior, since their resource-manage system benefits from shrinking the number of models the caster has to juggle between.

===Units===

Basically exactly what you'd expect. Units are groups of infantry which operate as, well, a unit on the tabletop. They range from bog-standard foot soldiers to well-trained and heavily-armored specialists and elite assassins, and everything else besides.

Like in Warhammer, most models in a unit only have a single wound and are immediately killed if they take any damage (though there are a few elite infantry units whose models have quite a few health boxes). Unlike in Warhammer, models in a Warmahordes unit act almost as individuals, with the primary restriction on them being that they must stay within a certain distance of the current unit leader, and that the entire unit must run or charge as a group. Other than this, models move on their own and can make attacks individually (and are targeted individually in turn). This removes much of the "shapeless gunblob" that plagues Warhammer.

Other than the basic models, units can be expanded by adding Unit Attachments (UAs) and/or Weapon Attachments (WAs). These add a couple more bodies to the unit, as well as an Officer (a better leader, usually with some handy buffs accompanying them) in the case of UAs or a guy with a better weapon, like the Winter Guard Infantry's RPG dude, in the case of WAs. Other than their better stats and weaponry, these models work in basically the same way as the rest of the unit members.

===Solos===

Single models which act individually. Like units, this is an extremely broad category that covers everything from dedicated support models to axe-wielding maniacs. They're also usually more durable than standard infantry, with at least five health boxes being the stardard, though not enough that most can survive a direct hit from a warjack or warbeast.

===Battle Engines===

Battle Engines are recent additions to the game. They are big, durable, vehicle-sized models on the same 120mm base as colossals, built with a certain task in mind, like support or shooting. They cost about as much as a heavy 'jack, and are generally much more specialized and slightly less durable, but don't need to draw from a warcaster's focus to do their thing.

===Characters===

Characters are not a unit type of themselves; rather, they are uniquely named units, solos or warjacks that are exceptional in one way or another. All warcasters are characters, but other characters include talented mercenaries (Rutger Shaw, Eyriss), charismatic leaders and their followers (Alexia Ciannor and the Risen, Greygore Boomhowler and Co.) or warjacks that have been around long enough to develop a distinct personality or other unique traits (Ol' Rowdy, Beast 09). Characters are unique and you can only take one of a single character in any list, no matter how big the army size; they are typically more expensive than their non-character counterparts, but also have better stat lines, abilities, weapons and skills.

====Epic Characters====

As the story of Warmahordes progresses, so do some of the characters. "Epic" characters are alternate versions of a given character based on things that have happened to them in the story. For example, when War Witch Deneghra was killed, she was resurrected as Wraith Witch Deneghra, and both of these are available as models for use on the tabletop. You can only use one version of any given character in an army.

Epic characters are ''not'' intended to be more powerful than their previous incarnations, just ''different''. Of course, there are some power differences, in the same way that some warjacks or warbeasts are simply better than others, but don't think that it's not worth fielding a given character if you aren't going to use their epic version.

Regular and epic versions of characters used to be referred to with the shorthand "pName" (for "prime") and "eName" for ("epic"). However, recently, some characters have gotten up to their third incarnation. The Privateer Press forumgoers played around with terminology like "lName" (for "legendary") or "eeName" (for... "double epic"?) when referring to the third-incarnation characters, but Privateer Press has stated that it officially prefers the terminology Name1/Name2/Name3, which honestly is much easier.

==List Building==

In the grand old wargaming tradition, every model has a points value and opposing armies have to be the same size. However, the points values of Warmahordes are very small compared to GW properties. 0 points is a small-scale learning game with one warcaster, their battlegroup. 50-75 points is brick-and-mortar-store tournament scale (roughly equivalent to 1500-2000 points of 40K). 100 points is for all-day convention tournaments. Anything bigger than 100 points borders on Apocalypse scale; Privateer Press has released "Unbound" rules to streamline games at 150+ points, and while they're still a bit on the clunky side it still keeps games of that scale to less than a day.

The majority of tournaments require you to write two different army lists and choose between them at the start of the game. This allows you to build one list which can cover for the shortcomings of the other. 1d4chan's official recommendation is to have one Searforge Commission Mercenaries list and one Talion Charter Mercenaries list, allowing you to field both [[dwarf|dwarves]] AND [[pirate|pirates]] at the same tournament.

==Mechanics==

During the game, Warmahordes uses six-sided dice for almost everything. The basic rule is to roll 2d6, add the appropriate stat and bonuses, and compare to the target's defensive stat. There are also ways to add bonus dice, resulting in a 3d6 or even 4d6. In the case of some truly terrifying attacks 5d6 roll.

The system never uses tables or charts, and every unit you purchase comes with its own stat card which contains all relevant rules and statistics needed to use it. As such, Warmahordes players never have to buy a Codex equivalent (though these do exist for those who wish to purchase them, in the form of the ''Forces Of...'' line, and come with all the lore you could wish for in the bargain).

The game system heavily rewards aggressive play, to the point that the game's official tagline was '''''PLAY LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR!'''''. The most obvious way this is enforced is that a charging unit gets a bonus die on its damage rolls, so the player who goes for the jugular first will probably get in a brutal alpha strike. This does not mean that ranged armies are at a disadvantage, however, as there are plenty of ways to bog down advancing units, and many ranged units bring additional utility to the table in form of special abilities or AOE attacks.

==Factions==

Warmahordes currently has either eleven to thirteen factions across the two games, depending on who you ask. There are five primary factions in Warmachine and four in Hordes, but each game also has a limited release faction in the form of The Convergence of Cyriss for Warmachine and the Grymkin for Hordes. Both also have a catch-all pseudo-faction in the form of Mercenaries and Minions, respectively. These are primarily intended as supplemental models which the primary factions can use to fill strategic holes in their forces' capabilities, but due to popularity among the players, Privateer Press has released rules allowing the Mercenaries and Minions to be fielded as independent forces with their own warnouns leading them.

===Warmachine===
[[File:WarmaHordes-Factions.jpg|700px|thumb|right|A short summary]]

====[[Cygnar]]====

Cygnar are the [[Mary Sue|“good guys”]]. The nation itself is not unimpeachable or always morally correct, but its characters are clearly protagonists. Even when taking a darker turn, they always have a core of moral fiber, etc. If Han Solo is the most evil member of your crew, you are the good guys.

Cygnar is the most advanced human nation; they tend to shoot things with guns, hurt things with lightning, or hurt things by shooting them with lightning guns. They're made out to be a fairly nice place to live if not for the fact they have some bad blood with Khador. They also have the Protectorate of Menoth wanting to overthrow their government (and religion), with the Cygnar/Menoth border literally running right through the Cygnar capital in a Berlin Wall arrangement (except that the Menites were smart enough to put their capital somewhere else). Just to make things all better, Cygnar's the closest to Cryx, who are aiming to exterminate them and everything else on the mainland. The other factions may not like each other much either, but Cygnar is basically in the middle of them all.

Their advanced understanding of magic and mechanics is reflected in that they have most of the best ranged weapons in the game, are best known for their Lightning attack type, and play less aggressively than most other factions (though they do still have some powerful melee models, which almost always have ranged attacks as well). They tend to be more accurate and mobile than the other factions, but don't always hit as hard and are markedly less durable. They aren't helpless in melee, but it isn't their forte. They, like Khador, are generally considered one of the best factions for starting players.

====[[Cryx]]====

If Cygnar are the good guys, Cryx is unashamedly the faction of bad guys. In a world of moral grays, they paint with the deepest blacks.

It's an island nation of zombie pirate demon witch robots that was taken over by a Godzilla sized dragon named Toruk, the father of all dragons. Toruk wants to rule the world (or wreak random destruction, it's a little confusing), and created Cryx as a weapon to use against the dragons that he created (since he created them from his own essence, so [[Derp|they're just as fucking arrogant as he is and refuse to submit to his will]], and they're the only beings on Immoren that can really threaten him directly). Due to his concern about them ganging up on him, he spends his days sitting around doing nothing while claiming everything is going [[Just As Planned]]. Whether or not that's the truth is unknown.

Cryx is an interesting evil army, composed of pirates, undead pirates, ghost warriors, heavily armored liches, and demonic mutant witches. [[Dark Eldar|Their army is generally the fastest, cheapest, and largest on the table, and also hits like a ton of bricks]]. The problem is that they can't take a hit in return, so they have to use dirty tricks to dictate the flow of battle and choose their engagements carefully. As such, Cryx is one of the hardest armies for new players to make proper use of. Still, if utilized properly, Cryx can punch through almost any defense and savage the enemy warnoun before they can blink.

Has horny ladies with [[Promotions|Great Racks]], too. Really. [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSkarre This] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiBlood+Witches is] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSea+Witch a] [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiSatyxis thing].


====[[Khador]]====

Leave heroes and villains to Cygnar and Cryx. Khador is unconcerned with such things. Military might, honor, and love of the Motherland are all that matter in the cold, frozen north.

Cries of "For the Motherland", red banners, gold triangle-stars, frigid bitches, and beardy berserkers personify Khador. They're a northern Imperial Russia/Soviet Union style nation bent on imperialist conquest. They claim that this is because they've been screwed out of the world domination they once had and rightly deserve, and while this is almost certainly revisionist history b.s., it's been the glue that let them begin to build a modern nation out of disunited scraps.

Despite the fact that most newbies think of Khador as the guys with the biggest, stompiest warjacks, Khador is almost exclusively a dedicated infantry faction. Khador warjacks ''are'' durable, and they do hit like a goddamn steam train in melee, but they are also slow, expensive, inaccurate, and extremely focus-hungry in a faction known for its focus-hungry warcasters. Fortunately, to make up for this, Khadoran infantry are some of the best in the game. They are durable, reliable, mobile, and pack an incredible punch for their price. Whatever the job, Khador has an infantry unit that will do it with style.

Need a squad of [[Space Marines|elite shocktroopers in steam-powered armor ripped from a warjack chassis and wielding weapons that will make even the hardest targets sweat?]] Man-O'-Wars have your back. Heavy infantry stalling your advance? The Widowmaker snipers are on the job; watch those heads go ''pop!'' Need an army of screaming psychopaths charging across the field to decapitate your foes? No problem! We have Doom Reavers for that. Just need some [[Imperial Guard|reliable, flexible, reasonably shooty infantry to swamp a point and hold it against all comers through sheer weight of numbers]]? The Winter Guard have your back. And, no matter the squad, Khador has the buffs to make them into a true terror on the tabletop.

Because of the reliability, simplicity, and flexibility of their infantry, as well as the straightforward way their warjacks function, Khador is, like Cygnar, considered a great faction for new players.

====[[Protectorate of Menoth]]====

A bunch of [[Imperium of Man|religious fanatics]] that worship Menoth, the god of civilization and mankind ([[Emperor of Mankind|just not this guy]]), who is kind of an asshole. The Church of Menoth began falling out with Cygnar about a thousand years ago, since a more benign god named Morrow began gaining favor. While the two churches were able to coexist for hundreds of years, relations between them eventually turned sour, especially because the then-king of Cygnar favored Morrow. Eventually, the Menite church got sick of his shit, wandered off into the desert, discovered petroleum, and endured even more oppression under Vinter Raelthorne IV before the Cygnarans also got sick of his shit and voted him out of office in the traditional feudal manner: with a military coup. The chaos resulting from this allowed the theocracy to form its own quasi-legal nation: the Protectorate of Menoth.

''Technically'' speaking, the Protectorate is not allowed to have a military, which the Protectorate actually adhered to during its early years, but has lately began to ignore. They aren't really ''evil'', per se (they have legitimate Lawful Good [[paladin]]s), but the leaders of the theocracy are, by and large, a pretty awful bunch. The Protectorate's main goal right now is to forcibly convert everyone back to the True Faith (well, at least the humans, anyway - Menoth couldn't care less about everybody else). Most recently, they invaded the eastern half of Llael, who quickly found that they preferred Khador's iron-fisted rule to the Protectorate's flamethrowers.

On the tabletop, the Protectorate is all about synergy. Menite armies field the best support units in the game, which take their ''other'' units from "decent" to "oh my fuck what". The most iconic of these units is the Choir of Menoth, which is hands-down the single best 'jack support unit out there. Menite 'jacks have only middling statlines on their own, but with the Choir (and Menoth's other servants) backing them up, they can become seriously terrifying. As such, the Protectorate is one of the more 'jack-heavy factions in the game, though its infantry is also no slouch.

Menite armies also have a decidedly Ottoman Empire motif, with a dash of [[Inquisition|Spanish Inquisition]] thrown in for good measure. As non-divine magic is considered [[heresy]] by the Menite church, Protectorate armies have a lot of ways to counteract it. Dispel magic abounds, as do plenty of other denial-focused abilities which will put a serious crimp in the style of any opponent. Defensive buffs are also exceptionally common, which makes a Menite army a tough-as-nails brick that's very hard to crack open - so long as its support units are protected. On the other hand, Menite units tend to be quite slow, and there aren't many ways for the faction to increase their mobility. Menite warcasters also tend to be fairly fragile and vulnerable to assassination, so it's important to protect them.

====[[Retribution of Scyrah]]====

Being an [[elf]] [[Grimdark|sucks]]. For a while, everything's good, until you decide to build a bridge to Heaven so all your gods can come over for a few cold ones and sleep with some sexy elf chicks. Then the bridge works, but also explodes and [[Eldar|wipes out pretty much your entire civilization]], so instead of hanging out and partying with your gods you have to pack up and move next to some dwarven hicks. Then you all start aging and getting [[AIDS]] and shit, and also babies start getting born without souls, and the gods say it ''might'' have something to do with the fact that they aren't in Heaven any more so the entire universe might be out of whack. Then, when they go back, [[Slaanesh|something kills them all]], and things just keep getting worse until, one day, the goddess of spring just turns up out of nowhere, wanders into her temple, and then goes into a ''fucking coma'' while dying slowly and with no one having a goddamn clue how to fix her.

So when someone says "hey, did anyone else notice how the day the gods died was ''also'' the day humans discovered arcane magic?", it is, perhaps, a bit understandable that more than a few elves picked up a rifle and went to kill some round-ears.

Retribution units have a very distinct visual design, with a notably [[Weeaboo|sleek, curvy, anime-esque look, complete with neon hair]]. [[Eldar|Most of their army tends to consist of highly specialized, elite units with clearly-defined roles]], without much in the way of generalist infantry. They also have an abundance of options for assassin units, up to and including entire units of ninja elf infantry with magic crossbows. They are mobile, shooty, and tricky, and surprisingly beardy considering that they're, y'know, ''elves''. The Retribution has fantastic infantry and solos all around.

On the other hand, Retribution warjacks and warcasters are generally not too fantastic. Its warjacks (called "myrmidons") are mobile, but fragile, and require a lot of backup to be effective. Its warcasters tend to be utility-based rather than individual powerhouses, and exist largely as sources of buffs for their infantry. On the ''other'' other hand, Retribution infantry are generally solid enough to make this work, and if they can't, then you still have the option of an assassination run - which the Retribution can do with incredible reliability from a frankly ''disgusting'' range.

Because of the Retribution's reliance on tricks and sensitivity about order of activation (certain units really, ''really'' want to go at certain times, and messing this up will cause your army to fold like a house of cards), the Retribution is an incredibly difficult army to play well. It's not weak, but it's not particularly newbie-friendly, and is generally limited to more advanced players.

They're also fans of shaved heads, and can even grow beards, making them the manliest elves ever - not that this is a high bar to <strike>jump</strike> <strike>step</strike> walk over.

Beware of [http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/House+Shyeel+Magister mittens].

====[[Convergence of Cyriss]]====

The Convergence is a [[Adeptus Mechanicus|cult]] dedicated to the worship of [[Omnissiah|Cyriss, the Machine Goddess]], the personification of logic, order, science, and mathematical perfection. (Pfft, like any woman god could be close to understanding those things, amirite guyz?) They have taken the technology used to make the artificial brains used in warjacks and applied it to themselves, [[Necrons|uploading their consciousness into machine bodies]] in order to become closer to her. They're actually not bad guys, really - it's just that the driving belief behind their faith is that Cyriss really, ''really'' wants them to turn the entire fucking planet into a <s>giant clockwork robot, exterminating all organic life and rendering the world perfect in her eyes</s> network of specially distributed leylines that act as a circuitboard to call down Cyriss' consciousness into. The reason this is bad is that the places they need to build temples on are the places major cities or temples crop up on, that other factions want to use for various reasons, and in doing so are going to piss off the Wyrm to the point that he destroys all sapient life on the planet when he arrises from Urcaen in a rage about the leylines (IE: Him) being fucked with. Since the rest of the factions take issue with various parts of this, they've turned their technological expertise towards developing more advanced versions of warjacks, called "vectors", to punch their way to the Rapture.

The Convergence is the absolute ''weirdest'' faction in all of Warmachine, and comes with a slew of special rules that make it play completely differently from anything else on the tabletop. To start with, they are a limited release faction, having only 1 model ever released for them after their initial run and no access to mercenaries at all. Also its warjacks don't have a complete statline; their accuracy in combat is determined entirely by which warcaster you are fielding, as they share their stats with the vectors under their command. This means that your warcaster selection doesn't just alter the basic idea behind your strategy - it completely alters the ''basic functions of your warjacks''.

They also handle focus very differently, with the bottom line being that Convergence 'jacks are ''exceptionally'' focus-efficient, allowing the faction to field more 'jacks than any other without breaking the bank. In 2014, a Convergence player went all the way to the grand finals of the Warmahordes championships with a list consisting almost entirely of vectors, and only lost due to running out of time on the clock. The faction does have some nice infantry, though, if the player wants to field a warcaster with lower combat stats and not have to sit there crying while every attack misses.

Basically, the Convergence is very, ''very'' strange, but not at all weak. It is somewhat limited by a low model count, as Privateer Press hasn't released too much for it yet, and no Mercenaries will work with them, but the faction has the capability to answer any threat with proper planning. If you like clockwork robots or the idea of turning the entire world into a chrome-plated paradise, they're well worth looking into.

----
====[[Crucible Guard]]====

The newest Warmachine faction, a group of alchemists emergening from Llael's resistance movements.

They rely heavily on special effects like Fire or Corrosion and a good bit of mobility. Imagine Gorman di Wulfe as an entire faction and you have it about right.

====[[Mercenaries]]====

As mentioned above, Mercenary models were initially meant to just be options available to multiple factions rather than an army unto themselves. Due to player demand, however, Privateer Press has since released rules for fielding entirely Mercenary forces. These range from [[dwarf|dwarves]] [[Awesome|in powered armour, fielding the O.G. warjacks that served as the basis for the tech that ousted the Orgoth]] to Llaelese rebels fighting for their homeland's freedom to pirates being pirates. Basically, when playing Mercenaries, you pick a theme and, and then go as normal. The only restrictions are that dwarven warjacks must be controlled by dwarven warcasters, and Cephalyx Monstrosities must be controlled by their Overseers. You are now able to mix and match any merc beyond those restrictions. Below are examples of some more thematic armies within the Mercs umbrella/

*'''Steelhead Battalion:''' The premier franchised mercenary company/meatshield manspam horde in the region, jacks of all trades masters of none.
*'''Searforge Commission:''' They're [[dwarves]], and come with everything you'd expect from the same. They aren't going anywhere fast, but they are ''ludicrously'' 'ard, and they hit like a ton of bricks. It's also worth noting that the signature dwarven warcaster, Gorten Grundback, is pretty much the most stupidly tanky thing in the fucking game and is functionally immune to damage. Note, however, that the dwarves in this universe are not Scottish, because the Trollbloods are already Scottish. It is generally agreed that the dwarves in Warmachine have a New Zealand accent.
*'''Puppet Masters:''' The Cephalyx started out as the Iron Kingdoms' steampunkified non-Product-Identity version of the [[Illithid|Illithids]] -- bizarre creatures who live deep underground and love mind-controlling the lesser races of the surface world, except they do it using technology rather than magic. Now they're a Mercenary faction of their own, complete with giant sewn-together Frankenstein monsters which act as their warjack-equivalents. They're extremely new, with very limited unit options - but that's okay since they can steal a unit from another Mercenary faction thanks to the Cephalyx Dominator. Has a focus on dirty tricks rather than straight-up brawling, also has a "human resources" approach to super-buffing its infantry.
*'''Talion Charter:''' Pirates. Lots of pirates. How many pirates can you imagine? There are more than that. Also, a peg-legged Napoleon dwarf. Also, a fuckhueg cannon that is easily the best damn artillery piece in the entire game if you manage to get anything in its line of sight. This group is all about synergy with their units, which on their own are the worst in the game. Start adding in their solos and unit attachments, though, and suddenly you've got yourself a unit that can do some damage.

===Hordes===

====[[Trollbloods]]====

Scottish [[Orks]], and also the good guys of Warmahordes. [[Awesome]]. The Trollbloods are a dying race, as the superior technology of nations like Cygnar and Khador is continually pushing them to the borders of habitable land, and they lack the resources to build warjacks themselves. On the other hand, what they ''do'' have are some seriously fucking scary relatives, so now that the fate of the species is on the line, the trolls have united and called in the inbred redneck cousins as backup - only, in this case, the redneck cousins in question are basically walking mountains that could flatten a building with one hand. They drink, fight, and basically just brawl their way through the world, trying to establish a homeland for themselves, and only occasionally eating someone. Hardly anyone, these days. No one important, anyway. You'd never miss 'em, we swear.

The key word here is ''tough''. Trollblood models can take a ''stupid'' amount of punishment. Most of them are Tough (as in the mechanic), on top of having ridiculous amounts of health boxes and high ARM. They will also kick the ever-loving shit out of anything they reach in melee, because they are pissed off, drunk as shit, Scottish, and also Orks. They run forward, punch whatever they can reach, and then repeat until the enemy is a smear on the pavement. As such, they are one of the simplest armies in all of Warmahordes, and an excellent choice for new players - though they aren't entirely without their own little tricks, and can be just as rewarding for experienced warlocks.

Trollbloods have the dubious honor of being the most shit on faction fluffwise. Cygnar promised them a bunch of lands, but neglected to tell them that said land was in the way of a gigantic Skorne army. Then when they went to the king of Cygnar, Leto, to get the lands they were promised, he basically told them to fuck off. The trolls were not pleased. This, coupled with the fact that the Menite priest-kings used to enslave trollbloods for use as beasts of burdens and menial workers, has caused the leader of the Trollbloods, Chief Madrak Ironhide to unite all the warring kriels. Picking up the cursed axe of Rathrok out of desperation, he is leading the race into a new, uncertain future, carving out their own land, and Dhunia help any pink-skinned human, elf, skorne or undead construct that dares stand in their way.

====[[Circle Orboros]]====

So, on the one hand you have [[Emperor of Mankind|Menoth]], who is the god of mankind, order, and civilization. He's sort of a prick, but he's got the right idea... maybe. On the ''other'' hand, you have the Devourer Wurm, the avatar of all that is chaos - nature, red in tooth and claw. It knows no mercy. It probably doesn't even understand the concept. It cares for nothing save that the cities of the world be torn down and all that is not of nature's domain be rent asunder. This thing is so cruel that in the wars between its worshippers and Menoth's, many of the Wurm's followers converted to Menoth after losing because his treatment was actually KINDER

And the Circle [[Derp|worships it]]. Sort of, some of them want to bring it back to wipe the world clean and start over from scratch, some worship the balance that it's a part of with Menoth and want to prevent it from killing everything. It's weird. The Circle is weird. Most of the time they are too busy stabbing each other in the back for political gain to actually accomplish anything without nearly destroying the world.

So, basically, you have a bunch of ''fucking insane'' druids, all of whom are assholes, running around and shanking anyone who isn't a hippie tree-hugger. For those who cannot be shanked by normal means, they have <s>werewolves</s> '''warp'''wolves and kung-fu goats, along with giant golems, ents (them tree things), and weird-ass Stonehenge magic. They love terrain and messing with unit placement, making them one of the tricksiest forces in the game, as well as extremely situational - if there are a lot of forests about and your opponent isn't particularly good at dealing with them, you're golden. If not, you're probably going to get your shit kicked in. Unless you start planting trees.

====[[Legion of Everblight]]====

Remember when we mentioned that Cryx is led by the evil dragon-god Toruk, who seeks to hunt down and devour his children in order to conquer the world? Yeah, Everblight is one of those children. And, since dragons in this setting are eldritch abominations that leak corrupting blight into everything around them, he's started up his own army in order to keep his daddy from chowing down on his bones. After he got his ass kicked in his initial fight with Toruk, he fled into the north, where he corrupted a bunch of elves, started spawning [[Tyranids|warped creatures]] to serve as his weapons, and found an ogre crazy enough to [[Grimdark|cut open his own fucking chest and shove Everblight's crystal-body into his heart, thus providing him with a new host body]].

The Legion is, in many ways, quite similar to its Warmachine equivalent of Cryx. It is brutally fast and does incredible amounts of damage, but is not particularly durable. However, while Cryx is primarily an infantry-focused faction, the Legion loves its warbeasts. It has many of those that Hordes players would list among the best in the game. Whether at range or up close, the Legion's warbeasts will absolutely wreck whatever you point them at. Plus, they look like freaky eyeless dragon-things, and that's pretty cool.

====[[Skorne]]====

A barbarian empire hailing from beyond the deserts to the east of Cygnar, which were previously thought to be so inhospitable that no one could live out there. As it turns out, this was wrong - it just means that the people living out there are [[Grimdark|crazy, sadomasochistic pain-worshipers with an insatiable thirst for blood]]. Think of Conan the Barbarian mixed with Hellraiser. Now they have come storming across the sands full of piss and vinegar in search of somewhere to live that sucks marginally less and they're not going to stop murdering the shit out of everyone until they get it gosh-darn it.

On the tabletop, Skorne is roughly equivalent to most newbies' idea of Khador: slow, durable, and pretty much guaranteed to crush whatever they get into melee with. Their warbeasts are brutally dangerous in close quarters, and their infantry aren't any less threatening. They're not really going anywhere fast, but if you want some Roman-style phalanx combat and an army that can take a beating and give it right back, this is your go-to.

[[Grimdark|Also, they field tortured baby elephants to demoralize their foes.]] Because, in case you hadn't figured it out yet, they're pretty messed up in the head.

====[[Grymkin]]====
The Grymkin are the latest Hordes faction to be released and are a limited release faction similar to the Convergence. They are the myths and faerie tales of Caen given life, with various flavors of imps being their main focus. Grymkin Warlocks function differently from the standard variety by not having feats, instead they have what are called Arcana. These arcana come in a wide range of triggered effects and abilities that are chosen before the battle begins with one Trump Arcana serving as a psuedo-feat The Grymkin are a primarily infantry based faction focusing on having troops be insanely hard to kill and then returning them to the battlefield. Most of their models have stupid puny names

====Minions====

[[File:Gatorman oathsworn by mightytinrobot-d5ectj7.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mercenaries|Pirates?]] [[Lizardmen|Aztec dinosaurs?]] Who needs them when you have [[Awesome|aligator warriors]]!]]
The Hordes equivalent of Mercenaries. Everything said there applies here, save that Minions tend to be more along the lines of kobolds, gatormen, and such.

They come in two distinct flavors:

* '''The Blindwater Congregation:''' Voodoo gatormen who dwell in the swamps and have been slowly assimilating the other scaled races. They have tough infantry and excel at beating up living models, but have some difficulties with high-ARM, non-living models like warjacks. They also love them some undead somethin' good, with their voodoo witchcraft and their tendency to speak in a <s>southern drawl</s> cajun yat.
* '''The Thornfall Alliance:''' A new proto-nation, like the United Kriels of the Trollbloods. ''Unlike'' the Trollbloods, the farrow are pig people, which is awesomely ridiculous. They have interesting warlocks with different play styles, but little variation in their forces due to a limited unit list. And all of their warlocks can only use Farrow warbeasts. However, the War Hog (which is the biggest pig around) is beastly enough to do the job in nearly every occasion. Less flexible than Blindwater as they tend to use a more direct approach.

==Getting into Warmahordes==

The best place to go for community thoughts on anything in Warmahordes is the [https://warmachineuniversity.com/mw/index.php/Main_Page WarMachine University community wiki](which replaced the now decunct Battle College in 2018) . It's a great starting resource for any player, whether newbie <strike>or experienced tournament contestant</strike>. Do some reading on any faction that interests you and see what units work and what don't. Take everything they say with a grain of salt, because the contributors don't always know what they're talking about and can sometimes get shit horribly wrong (like /tg/).

No matter what you choose to buy, you'll need a copy of either ''Warmachine Prime MkIII'' or ''Hordes Primal MkIII'', which are the core rulebooks for the games. Except you don't need to buy them anymore, because [http://privateerpress.com/the-rules-are-free the rulebook is free]. You should also look up Privateer Press' token sets, which are very handy for keeping track of status effects, focus and fury points, and so on.

Once you know what you want to play, you're very likely best off getting either the Battlegroup Box for your chosen faction or the All-In-One Army Box, if it's available. Both are absolutely incredible deals for the price. The Battlegroup box will come with a single warnoun and a handful of warjacks or warbeasts, while the All-In-One Army Box is more expensive and comes with a basic starter army (which is usually fairly solid, if not exactly top-tier). Both are great places to start your collection, and will save you a lot of money.

If you like a faction, don't let the "beginner/expert" bits above scare you. Some factions ''are'' generally trickier than others, but none of them are completely inaccessible. You may just have to put some work in before you start seeing results.

You ''do not'' need to pick up the ''Forces'' book for your chosen faction. It's fun to have, but every unit comes with its own stat card which will tell you everything that you need to know to field the unit in question.

EDIT: At time of this edit, Warmahordes is going through an edition change. recommend visiting the Privateer Press main website for more information before you buy. Rulebooks will now be free online.

==See also==
[[Warmachine/Tactics]]

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[[Category:Wargames]]
[[category:Skirmish-Level Wargames]]
[[Category:Warmachine]]