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Hey all, been thinking about getting started in Warmachine and selling some of my Warhammer stuff. The standard 4 Warmachine factions all seem nice, but the look of the Rhulic/Dwarven mercenaries and their 'jacks has be interested in them quite a bit!

Is it possible to make a good list with just Rhulic units? Unless I'm wrong there's only one Rhulic character Solo, (but he looks pretty cool anyway) so that's one limitation there...

Keep in mind I am an untested fledgling and am still pondering this -

Thoughts?

PS - if there are any players in the Southern California area, please chime in!

Is it possible to make a fun list with just Rhulic models? Yes, but you're going to have repetition problems once you get to higher point values due to the fact that there's not a huge variety of units.

Is it possible to make a highly competitive Searforge list? That varies somewhat - you'll have some good matchups, and you'll have some very, very bad matchups due to the fact that pure Searforge is painfully lacking in magic attacks and is very, very slow. You also simply can't do 3 or 4 list pure steamroller with just dwarves right now, as they only have 2 casters right now.

If you're willing to spread out into Highborn Covenant, you can plug a lot of the gaps that Searforge alone has, while still maintaining a 'dwarves' theme. Generally running things like Gun Mages and some of the other merc utility solos and units.

Rhulic CAN be fun and interesting, but I generally suggest starting out with a main faction first to get a feel for the game. You don't have to, but its worth going into the relationship knowing what the limitations are, since you are just playing a fraction of a faction (like running only Winter Guard in Khador, or Storm Knights in Cygnar).

Are you interested in organized play at all?

Because if you are, you're going to be very limited sticking to
Searforge. Searforge can do a few things really well, but if you
want to be competitive at a tournament, you're going to want
the option to use some of the other mercenary lists. Remember:
Searforge is a part of a larger faction: Mercenaries.

Just to chime in with everybody else, the answer is yes, but. The mercenary faction has different contracts that change what you can and can't take. So as you are looking at the dwarfs you want the searforge contract. However, both the current Rhulic casters can be taken in the highborn covenant and four star contracts giving you more options should you want to expand.

All casters also have a theme list which restricts choices and provides bonuses so get the mercenary book and have a look through those to decide what you fancy.

The but in my first sentence comes back now. If playing for fun and not expecting to wipe the floor with everybody you'll have a good time with Gorten and Durgen (and the third one coming out June/august). If you want to be competitive (i.e. to win every game, especially at tournaments) then there will be major issues to sort out.

I don't know if it's possible either, but I'm going to try it. It's my next project if I ever manage to stop being so stupid lazy as I have been recently.

GrimTeef wrote:Unless I'm wrong there's only one Rhulic character Solo, (but he looks pretty cool anyway) so that's one limitation there...

There's actually 3 Rhulic Character Solos:

Thor Steinhammer

Brun Cragback(lesser Warlock with an armored bear beast)

Lord Rockbottom

I have a guy in my group that does only Rhulic. Variation is light, but on the "upside" there isn't a lot of cash needed to do it.

By that I mean, once you have everything, you have "everything". It's not like the main four where "gotta have it all" can really put a dent in a wallet.

And the stuff is "good" if not great. Horgenhold are some of the best merc infantry, even if they are slow, and Highshields can be damn tough to dislodge. Plus the army can be pretty resilient to knockdown.

But you will really open your options if you play Highborn instead. Acess to the piper, eryiss, alexia, fiona, and ashlyn can really fill some holes that pure Rhulic has.

Thank you guys for your comments, I appreciate it.

I guess I'll have to get the Mercenaries book and give it a read, see what Searforge and Highborn and all that are all really about.

It could all be moot though - there may not even be anyone to play in my area, so I could just be getting the models for painting and display (like I have time to do that...)

I live in So cal and there are LOTS of players around my area.

Pegasus Hobbies has a group of players out in Ontario, There's GMI in Riverside just off Limonite off the 15 FWY, and theres the place out in Pasadena.

I play mostly at GMI these days. A lot of players and just good people. They play Warmahordes pretty much all the time, but the dedicated days are Saturdays and Tuesdays.

GrimTeef wrote:It could all be moot though - there may not even be anyone to play in my area, so I could just be getting the models for painting and display (like I have time to do that...)

Where do you live? Privateer's got a pretty good Press Ganger locator, and it seems that most major cities have at least one these days.

As others have said, it is certainly doable, but it is a limited force. That said, I played Rhulic in our Journeyman league, and generally had fun with them, and did passably well.

But, it was pretty hit or miss - I tended to either win big, or lose big; there were very few close games. And, once people can start playing 35pt lists of whatever they want, a Rhulic-only force is going to be pretty limited, just because of the low model selection.

The same applies to trying to play only gators or pigs, of course - that does not mean that you cannot have fun with them, of course, merely that you are building from a smaller selection.

Thanks for chiming in, hivemind. I actually live fairly close to GMI, it's my FLGS actually. I figured that was where I had the best chance of finding people to play, but you never know what the pedigree of a store's player base is - hard-core win at all costs types, or what. I'd made a post in the Find A Game section here, but had no bites, so it was looking pretty grim for my Warmachine future. Maybe I'll stop by down there on a Tuesday and see what's up. Thanks for the tip!


Laughing Man - I'll check out that Locator as well, though I bet GMI will show up there now that I know a bit more.

warlord - thanks. I'm not overly concerned with winning all my games, I just don't want to be totally hamstrung from the start! I'm open to a somewhat mixed force, but I would want the bulk of it to be Rhulic as I think their 'jacks have a great look, as do their 'casters. I thought I read something that Rhulic units can ally with Khador? That might be a fun group alliance. Isn't that one Rhulic character that has the big bear bodyguard something relating to Khador? Thought he looked kinda the part. I would want that bear in the force, that cracks me up.

Yeah, do me a favor. Go there either Saturday or Tuesday, find Victor, and beat his Cryx hehe.

He's a great dude, and will help you out and warn you of what he'll do before he does it.

In general there are a lot of great people down there. You'll always find a few douchey types but for the most part its good times. I'm a Legion player so maybe I'll cya down there sometime. I won't be there probably for a week or two.