Editing WARMACHINE (section)

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

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

Cygnar are the “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 (and just like West Germany, 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. 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.

====[[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 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 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]]====

Worshipers of Menoth, the god of civilization and mankind; 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 begun 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.

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.  Lastly, their infantry is generally terrible; exemplars hit like a truck if they can get into melee in a meta that favors shooty [[Khador|red]] and [[Cygnar|blue]] gunlines, but their bread and butter ranged unit can't reliably hit anything despite having AOE 3.

====[[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 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, 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]]. 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 cult dedicated to the worship of 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, 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. Also, the last time gods were summoned into Caen, the bridge between worlds exploded, splitting continent in half, which also should be considered.

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.


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

The newest Warmachine faction, a group of alchemists emerging from Ord, where they fled after Khador conquered Llael, in part to capture the holdings and cutting-edge research of the resident premier Alchemists of the setting, the Order of the Golden Crucible. Those who weren't killed or captured escaped into Ord or Cygnar, and as the Order was a national organization centered in Llael rather than a nation, they were able to slowly reorganize in Ord. 
They've formed an alliance with both Cygnar and Llael's resistance movements, and are (secretly) acting as a proxy/mercenary army for the Ordic King, who sheltered them from Khador and funded the Order while they reorganized the Crucible Guard from glorified technicians/security/deliverymen to a military force more technologically advanced than Cygnar at this point. 

For example, Khador's Assault Kommandoes are the direct result of taking Crucible research and resources - chemically treated to be immune to Corrosion, Fire, seeing through Smoke, and wielding high-weight mustard gas-compound bombs to make Trenchers' signature advantage their largest weakness. 

Now that the Crucible Guard have resolved to retake their old forts and laboratories, (and test out their new and horrifying weapons so it doesn't happen again), and they're honestly showing the Assault Kommandoes/Khadorans how it's done. 
Most Crucible units are immune or resistant to Fire and Corrosion and have MUCH better guns, often capable of multiple chemical effects. What might take multiple greylords concentrating to freeze with magic, the CG freezes with some super liquid-nitrogen from a Dragon's Breath rocket, and boom - a whole area is just frozen. While Khador built a horse-driven troika "tank", the Crucible Guard built actual giant steam-tanks/offroad gun-trains and a train-Colossal that's basically a steampunk Lord of Skulls. 

While Cygnar got the Minuteman warjack chassis and a single warcaster a working (if finicky and limited) jump pack, Crucible Guard has platoons of daredevil "The Rocketeer"-style Rocketmen with sleek jetpacks, WWII bomber jackets, hand-dropped bombs, carbines, shotguns, and pneumatic-driven pilebunkers (carrying experimental chemicals Crucible scientists want to see the aftereffects of on human targets). And the CG Rocket(wo)man warcaster carries a set of flamethrowers that would make a Menite jack jealous. 
  

They rely heavily on range and special effects like Rust, Fire, or Corrosion, and a good bit of mobility. Imagine Gorman di Wulfe as an entire faction and you have it about right; heavily steam/dieselpunk in attire, gas masks everywhere. 

Unlike Gorman, the CG is also taking human experimentation to an uncomfortable level: their Character medic is basically Fabulous Bill, and they kidnap addicts and vagrants off the streets, and inject them with chemicals that kill them, mutate them into Killer Crocs, or give them incredibly unstable psychic/magic powers. They then grab some notebooks, throw the strait-jacketed guys at the enemy first just to see what happens, and start writing. One of their warcasters actually gave himself his warcaster powers: his intention is to patent it and eventually sell it if it doesn't kill him first.

Mechanically Crucible Guard is mostly a shooting army, with only one non-warjack combat centric unit, the assault troopers - budget Man'o-Wars essentially. Most jacks are utility/ranged, but the Toro stands out as a combat warjack. When they can get it, it's not uncommon for Cygnar or even Khador players to replace their own jacks with Toros. Why'd Cygnar ever retire it?

====[[Infernals_Warmachine|Infernals]]====

Infernals hail beyond the afterlife of Urcean, hunting souls. A specific group of Infernals, the Nonokrian Order, are seeking to claim the debt that was promised by Thamar for the gift of magic to mortals. Specifically: two-thirds of humanity's souls. The Old Witch, Zevanna Agha, had been working to keep them at bay. She went so far as to release the Legendary Defiers of Menoth and mythical Grymkin to both exterminate Infernalists (who are typically pretty depraved, which seriously attracts Grymkin hoping to torment and punish them) or buy herself and the world more time and prepare them for interdimensional invasion, kind of like a vaccine, if the vaccine was a different live virus.

It almost worked - the Infernals of the Nonokrian Order were holding out for a bit more corruption, a bit more war-induced desperation, etc. But the Grymkin were killing a lot of infernalists and upsetting the demonic timetable, and so instead of preventing or delaying the invasion while Caen got its crap together, the Infernals sighed, said "This ain't looking good on my centennial evaluation either way, so cowabunga it is!" and mobilized what agents they had, and the Oblivion Crisis began. With Cygnar and Llael getting their crap kicked in THOROUGHLY, as is tradition. 

Minor name Princess Regna Gravnoy also repeatedly attempts to assassinate Ayn Vanar while her forces are spread thin and recovering (from breaking their arms killing Stryker, Nemo, and half the Cygnaran army), and claim the Khadoran throne with several Kayazy. So Khador is now the center of some spy vs spy drama, except Ayn is cheating by hanging out with and deploying the Butcher. Classic Khador. 


Infernals have possibly the most unique mechanical rules for any faction. With their own resource called 'Essence' that is used much like focus, but can only be obtained by sacrificing some of their own units... or killing the other player's units that have them. 
Unique to Infernals is that they can summon Horrors (their version of Warjacks) mid-battle, allowing them a degree of flexibility unobtainable with most other factions, and several have powerful animi, like Warbeasts. 

They have several excellent solos as well, most with Marked Soul, meaning the Infernal Master (warlock/caster equivalent) can have their strongest minions souls repossessed and tortured forever while replacing their model with a bouncing baby Horror of your choice. 

Infernals require careful decision-making however, as leaving your rare Marked Souls open to attacks can be a devastating setback, and while your basic goons are pretty average, they're important as a resource and you don't want to WASTE them. Most can shield guard for your important units, and their job is usually to die somehow, somewhere, so your masterplan goes off. 

Infernals are incredibly powerful played correctly, but if you let (or more accurately can't stop the other player from) destroying either your cultists or your souls, you will run out of power very quickly, and your army will began to literally dissolve, and on average, you have a very strong first 3 turns, but beyond that, you will exhaust yourself. If the other player can endure your onslaught, you may be playing too conservatively; overextend and you will be punished or disrupted.

====[[Orgoth_Warmachine|Orgoth]]====
They're back. The OG big bad of the setting have returned. Your typical wild-haired, horned warriors from far beyond the western Sea that liked to pillage, plunder, and perform human sacrifice to their demonic gods. 

The Orgoth were backed up by Infernals called the Fellgoeth order, which are rivals from the the above-mentioned Infernal faction, which technically are just the Nonokrian order. Thanks to Thamar's bargain and the Nonokrian Infernals aid, and the rise of warjacks and gunpowder and all the joys of industrial warfare, the Orgoth were driven off and forced to keep out of Immorren for centuries. 

Defeated and banished, the Orgoth asked the Fellgoeth Infernals for aid in creating their own version of steampunk magic-tech in the hopes of another go. Eventually they succeeded, creating their own dark variation warjacks fueled by trapped spirits and tortured souls. After their main rivals, the Nonokrians, screwed up and were kicked out, the Fellgoeth want to reclaim their top spot. 

The Orgoth began their invasion at Khador about five years after the Battle of Hedge Hold. They quickly conquered the provinces Kos, Razokov, and Borstoi(basically the south west coastline of Khador), and after a brief break to carry out thousands of human sacrifices, they began marching of the capital Khardov, where they were temporarily repulsed. 

A very new faction (only released 2022), so the meta around them is still being ironed out. What is known is that they have a much smaller range of models than other factions. To compensate, the synergies within the Faction are strong and/or models have uniquely powerful abilities. 

Basically, imagine if Chaos from ''Warhammer Fantasy Battles'' decided to undergo their own industrial revolution, and you get the picture.

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

Mercenary models were initially meant to be auxiliaries available to multiple factions rather than an army unto themselves. Due to their popularity, Privateer Press has since released rules for fielding pure 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.