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I've been looking at starting to play warmachine. I'm a Tau player in warhammer 40k.Does retribution fit the Tau style of play(IE lot of mech suits, ignore rules of the game, and shooting orientated.)? Also If I was to start retribution where would I even start. I only want tournament level models.

Hey, hope I can help, I am still fairly newish, but Ret is my faction, so take this with salt.

In regards to shooting oriented, gunline, well, not really.

Gunlines don't really exist in Warmachine, due to shortened ranges and strength. It's a balancing mechanic. If you can shoot, they're one or two turns from hitting you, and they will punch harder then you shoot.

Retribution can laugh at LOS restrictions for 1 unit (Mage Hunters with UA), 2 if you run Tier, but they lack against anything other then chaff and jacks. Anything with decent stats or multiple boxes won't be troubled by them overly much.

Ret doesn't really have anything like crisis suits, our only multi wound non-jack, non-warcaster are destors, and they aren't a high pick for many players. Griffons are close, as a fast support unit, but most casters can't really run more then 2-3 jacks comfortably.

As to tournament models, not really such a thing in Warmachine. If you want to delineate like that, most would advise you miss Heavy Rifle Teams, Destors, Gorgons and Nayl at first. They have their place (except maybe Nayl), but they can be harder to get usage out of.

All I've got sorry, hope this helps.

Retribution can shoot well, but as the farseer post above says, shooting is not the same. Retribution tends to have a high volume of small-arms fire that is above the curve for their points. You won't find many big guns in ret, though you will find a quite a few options with cool gimmicky rules. Every heavy warjack has a gun and none of them are vanilla or bland.

If you want lots of robots, try Convergence of Cyriss. If you want to ignore the rules, Legion of Everblight is right up your alley.

 Dais wrote:
Retribution can shoot well, but as the farseer post above says, shooting is not the same. Retribution tends to have a high volume of small-arms fire that is above the curve for their points. You won't find many big guns in ret, though you will find a quite a few options with cool gimmicky rules. Every heavy warjack has a gun and none of them are vanilla or bland.

If you want lots of robots, try Convergence of Cyriss. If you want to ignore the rules, Legion of Everblight is right up your alley.

If you want to play Convergence, keep this in mind. They're not an easy faction to start with. (I did and am loving it though) They play like a machine. Each individual part isn't that great, but when they work together as one they become more than the some of their parts. I know that sounds cliche' and what every army SHOULD be like, but in fact, Convergence's rules actively support this. For example, the warjacks/vectors use focus, but can then send a spent focus to another vector nearby and so you can create a chain effect of free focus if you do it right.
They also have a lot of shooting tricks with some shooty casters.

Edit: but really, read up on the fluff and see what grabs your attention. The fluff is awesome so don't over look it.

I went to my FLGS this afternoon and bought the Retribution Batlle box. any tips or tricks on adding to this battlebox?

ramman2004 wrote:
I went to my FLGS this afternoon and bought the Retribution Batlle box. any tips or tricks on adding to this battlebox?

I wouldn't worry too much about adding to it yet. Get the feel of it a little. Warmachine is very much like a fighting video game character. You can like the look or sound of them but you won't really know if you like how they play until you get your hands dirty. Which isn't to say Ret is a bad pick or anything, I think they're cool as, just that expanding right away something best done when you have some idea which path you want to take. That said, most factions can be played in a way that suits everyone, even if it's not immediately apparent.

Otherwise just pick the unit you like the look of the most.

When first starting it's really important that you don't expand your army to fast. try to get in 10 games in at the battlebox to 15 point level before expanding farther into your army up to 25 points and then 35. There is a good chance you'll jump factions and it's easier to make the jump if you're not to heavily invested in a particular army. Proxy or borrow models until you have a good idea of what you want to play, it would suck to drop $200 on Griffons to find out that you hate playing Vyros2.

If you'd like an idea of what models get played the most check out the Tournament section over at Discountgamesinc, where they have the army lists from most major tournaments in the 7 months so you can see what's currently popular. Lists from the World Team Championship tend to be very conservative "standard" lists from each faction, with a few outliers of people who scewed their lists to take advantage of the format. Which means if you go through the lists and see a unit like Mage Hunter Strike Force, which almost every person takes in one of their two lists, you know it's worth picking up. However do not just copy and paste their lists though, the lists are a good starting point, but if you don't understand why a certain model is in the list you're not going to have a good time. There are times when I think "why would I ever put model X in the list" then a few days later someone like Jake Van Meter(aka JVM aka the Prophet of Everblight aka the most beautiful man in Warmachine) will say that he would never play said list without Model X and I feel like an idiot for not understanding why.

Also as I mentioned JVM and as a Legion player myself, if you want to play an elf faction that is easily one of the top four armies in the game, has very good shooting, and ignores rules(85% of the models regularly played can ignore both Terrain and Line of Sight) check out Legion of Everblight. It's also one of the cheapest factions to build up to Tournament ready status, if you buy used you can get armies for the two most popular Legion casters, Vayl2 and Saeryn, for about $175-$225 depending on how you build it.

ramman2004 wrote:
I've been looking at starting to play warmachine. I'm a Tau player in warhammer 40k.Does retribution fit the Tau style of play(IE lot of mech suits, ignore rules of the game, and shooting orientated.)? Also If I was to start retribution where would I even start. I only want tournament level models.

Short answer: It sounds like Ret will be closest to what you want.

long answer: This ain't 40K. Gunlines, tourney level models, that type of thing don't really exist. At least not in the same way as 40K. The game really promotes combined arms and the models are more about how they work together than just taking the "Tourney" level models in a list. Though for Ret it is really hard to go wrong with the Mage Hunter Strike Force. And based on what you posted you probably want to get them as one of your first major purchases. I'd get a full unit and the UA that goes with them.

 Mordekiem wrote:

ramman2004 wrote:
I've been looking at starting to play warmachine. I'm a Tau player in warhammer 40k.Does retribution fit the Tau style of play(IE lot of mech suits, ignore rules of the game, and shooting orientated.)? Also If I was to start retribution where would I even start. I only want tournament level models.

Short answer: It sounds like Ret will be closest to what you want.

long answer: This ain't 40K. Gunlines, tourney level models, that type of thing don't really exist. At least not in the same way as 40K. The game really promotes combined arms and the models are more about how they work together than just taking the "Tourney" level models in a list. Though for Ret it is really hard to go wrong with the Mage Hunter Strike Force. And based on what you posted you probably want to get them as one of your first major purchases. I'd get a full unit and the UA that goes with them.

Weeeeeeeell....

While I wouldn't say that there are tourney level models, there are a couple that don't quite rise to the occasion.

As all things made by humans, the balance in the game is pretty good, but it isn't perfect. In the beginning, I'd stay away from the heavy rifle team, Nayl, the Gorgon, Hydras... uhh.... There are a couple others that you'll struggle to find a good place for, but not many.

Warmachine isn't like 40k, there aren't bad models and good models to the same degree. Nothing exists in a vacuum, the strength of everything is dependent on synergy and how you play it.

Any army you play the starting procedure will be the same: pick up the battlebox, play as many battlebox games as you can, if you like them try to figure out what works with the battlebox 'caster and see if you can make some of that work. A few armies have auto-include support pieces that are so cheap and versatile that you almost leave them behind, Ret doesn't.

As to stuff that works like Tau you can usually get more done in the ranged game in Warmachine than Hordes, particularly running Cygnar or Ret; the I-don't-like-your-rules aspect is more Legion, Cryx, and Circle's game but Cygnar and Ret can both get in on it.

Generally speaking there aren't really 'tournament-grade' models; the power curve is a lot flatter than it is in 40k. You can play almost anything and win so long as you know your army, know your opponent's army, and play smart.

That said the Internet seems to think the 'best' Retribution warcaster is Rahn, if you're planning on actually playing in tournaments. There aren't auto-win buttons, you still have to be good at the game and build intelligent armies.

 BoardroomHero wrote:

 Mordekiem wrote:

ramman2004 wrote:
I've been looking at starting to play warmachine. I'm a Tau player in warhammer 40k.Does retribution fit the Tau style of play(IE lot of mech suits, ignore rules of the game, and shooting orientated.)? Also If I was to start retribution where would I even start. I only want tournament level models.

Short answer: It sounds like Ret will be closest to what you want.

long answer: This ain't 40K. Gunlines, tourney level models, that type of thing don't really exist. At least not in the same way as 40K. The game really promotes combined arms and the models are more about how they work together than just taking the "Tourney" level models in a list. Though for Ret it is really hard to go wrong with the Mage Hunter Strike Force. And based on what you posted you probably want to get them as one of your first major purchases. I'd get a full unit and the UA that goes with them.

Weeeeeeeell....

While I wouldn't say that there are tourney level models, there are a couple that don't quite rise to the occasion.

As all things made by humans, the balance in the game is pretty good, but it isn't perfect. In the beginning, I'd stay away from the heavy rifle team, Nayl, the Gorgon, Hydras... uhh.... There are a couple others that you'll struggle to find a good place for, but not many.

Heavy rifle team isn't particularly bad, it's just that for the same points you can get a much better solo, or even a solo that does what the Heavy Rifle Team would do but better. Retribution has a lot of really good solos and a whole bunch of mediocre infantry (and one really weirdly built heavy cavalry). So, yes, do avoid them unless you find the model cool and don't mind a minor handicap. I mean, it is a railgun-toting pair of elves.

--

Things to avoid in Retribution summarized: Garryth, Heavy Rifle Team, Destors (the unit, NOT the Thane), Nayl, and Elara.
There are some situational models such as the Battle Mages or the Hyperion that sort of requires a thought and a list to work, but most will work on their own. If you pick up a Houseguard unit, you have to pick up one or two Houseguard Thanes. This is important and one of few sources of stealth ignoring for the faction (the only source outside of a feat). Always remember that the faction is a combined arms faction. Most models has a place both in melee and in shooting, with only a few exceptions, so plan to do both.

--

The initial battle box I really don't like. I have had really bad games with Kaelyssa, she's not my caster. The problem is that the big deal with her is the Phantom Hunter which doesn't mesh with a Manticore. Now, the Manticore is nice and can get some great benefits from it, but on the other hand the Manticore wants to use covering fire. Her feat and tier lists are also odd - so you have an army that is nearly all stealth and now you give them all stealth? Oh well, there's other benefits to the feat as well, but still. But this is me complaining :p Try Rahn. He is a real push-over. Or at least, that's what he does to others. Push them over. A lot.