Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Is the 2 player starter set worth it price and unit wise? Had a hard enough time convincing friends to buy the 40k starter set which is roughly the same price, but you get a lot more out of it.

Interested in trying Warmachine, saw a few armies that look interesting.

I'd much rather not invest in a starter set with units that I don't want to use. Having read through the lore/background alone it came down to Trolls or Cyngar and Trolls are so much more appealing to me.

Any ideas one how best to learn the game, without buying the starter sets, would really just like to get Troll stuff.

If you're interested in one of the armies they contain then they are, regardless of whether you're paying retail or buying at a discount. For that price you get two Battlegroups ($50.00 retail value each), 2 heavy infantry units ($45.00 retail value each) and a small rulebook which are comparable to the GW ones where they contain all the rules but none of the fluff. I'd say the Hordes one comes out a bit better value than the Warmachine one because it contains units that will see more use once you expand past the starter games stage, but that doesn't mean that the Warmachine one is bad or anything. Certain Khador builds can make use of the Man-O-Wars, and the alternate battlegroup for the Menoth side is great.

Might also check out the PP summer sale. Their webstore is down at the moment, but those bundles are usually pretty good deals too.

I love Steampunk and recently 40k has been too much drama that I need to take a step back, branch out to something else.

Not to mention, not a lot of people around my area like the large epic battle type games that I do in 40k and prefer skirmishes.

I just tried an intro game of WM and loved it. My Khador starter set is already painted up, except for the handle of Sorscha's weapon. Tonight I'll tackle the widow makers. The starter sets both look awesome, and if I hadn't already scooped up a summer sale 2 yrs ago, I'd buy a WM starter myself. They look awesome for value. Plus you can probably sell the half you don't want on here for $50, easy.

Yeah, but I would rather not get the starter set if possible, didn't get that feeling from them that I got from Trolls.

Something that I think that you are overlooking is that there are starter sets called battleboxes for each faction. These consist of a warcaster/warlock (for Trolls its Madrak Ironhide, aka pMadrak or Madrak1), a number of warjacks/warbeats (Trolls contains 3 beasts, I think an Axer Light Warbeast and two Impaler Lights. The quantities might be reversed) and the quickstart rules for the game system (fundamentally how to use warcaster/warlock, warjacks/warbeasts, and how focus/fury work). They are the recommended starter product for the game, and are, more or less, balanced against each other. They are also pretty cheap, so it makes that initial investment small in case you decide to jump ship.

The two player starter set is technically a better deal IF you can find another player to split it with and IF you want one of the factions. The 2 player set basically ends up being a battlebox, plus a unit for each faction, plus a mini-rulebook. It is a good entry tool for two players, but if you don't want either faction don't feel obligated to pick it up. Just grab the battlebox and play a couple of games against another box, and then when you are ready pick up the core rulebook (Warmachine Prime or Hordes Primal, depending on your army) and expand from there.

If you want to start Trolls, I'd recommend the battle box because its a great value and everything is useful(note that the specific combo is gakky, but the models are good when you add some other stuff)


Think of the battle box as getting Madrak, an Axer, an Impaler, and a second Impaler as a freebie you might occasionally use.

Next, get the plastic heavy kit to magnetize(maybe even 2 of these), Mulg the Ancient, pDoomshaper, the kreilstone bearer+stone scribes unit, and a unit of Kreil warriors with the UA and at least 1 Caber thrower.

That will get you started.


After that, just play tons of 15 games with just warlock and beasts. This will get you a solid grasp of the basic rules.

Then once you've got the basics, go up to 25 points with some units. And then play a ton of games.


Warmachine is heavily based on experience.

Thanks a lot actually.

Yeah I will just get the Battlebox and go from there.

Not the biggest fan of metal models but apparently I can get the battlebox trolls in plastic

I'd learn to love metal.

PP's metals are far superior to their plastics, which range from ok to pretty poor. They especially have trouble with mold lines.

 Grey Templar wrote:
I'd learn to love metal.

PP's metals are far superior to their plastics, which range from ok to pretty poor. They especially have trouble with mold lines.

Mostly because their 'plastic' isn't the same stuff as GW plastic at all. Its more of a resin (think FW or Finecast stuff) and is much softer/doesn't hold detail as well. I have stopped thinking of it as plastic, because you can't use plastic glues on it which means it might as well be metal. Normally the biggest advantage of plastic from a player POV is that it is cheaper (but 10 guys in plastic and 10 guys in metal cost the same for PP) and is easier to assemble (but for PP stuff you have to use super glue either way) but PP fails on both counts here.

No, it does win the ease of assembly argument. Both use superglue but the plastics never need pinning and rareley need the hold pieces together for 5-10 minuites while the glue dries. The plastics are aply glue, hold for 30 seconds to a minute, let sit as glue cures.

The plastic PP uses requires more effort in mold line removal than GW style plastics but it doesn't eat exacto blades like metal. I extremley rareley use files but I believe they do nasty things to PP plastics and files are slower no matter what the material.

FYI, summer sale is back. 25pt tier 3 Calandra list for trollbloods


[

 tdwg83 wrote:
FYI, summer sale is back. 25pt tier 3 Calandra list for trollbloods


[

Where?

Nah, its not resin(but it has many of its qualities)

Its just a different kind of plastic. One which plastic glue/cement doesn't effect.

And PP actually does charge less for their plastic models. Every time they've rereleased a unit in plastic from metal the cost has gone down.

Model detail is superior on their metals as well. At this point, I don't really care about ease of assembly(but they do have some difficult models I'll grant)

Zodiark wrote:

 tdwg83 wrote:
FYI, summer sale is back. 25pt tier 3 Calandra list for trollbloods


[

Where?

http://store.privateerpress.com/trollbloodsummersalebundle.aspx

Mate linked me to that sale since I've been on the edge of buying in for a while. Do you have a rough idea of the savings? Menoth are calling out to be bought ; /

 ChaoticMind wrote:
No, it does win the ease of assembly argument. Both use superglue but the plastics never need pinning and rareley need the hold pieces together for 5-10 minuites while the glue dries. The plastics are aply glue, hold for 30 seconds to a minute, let sit as glue cures.

The plastic PP uses requires more effort in mold line removal than GW style plastics but it doesn't eat exacto blades like metal. I extremley rareley use files but I believe they do nasty things to PP plastics and files are slower no matter what the material.

If you are used to GW plastics like me then there is basically no difference between the plastics and the metals in terms of assembly - super glue doesn't hold instantly and is generally a pain to work with (have to be careful not to stick things/yourself together accidentally). If you need to hold a pieces together less for a plastic model then that is more a function of the joint design being better rather than the glue - the speed it cures doesn't change.

@Grey Templar. I know its not a resin (because that would be a good way to have your mass market minatures line fail hard), but its closer to it than GW plastic. I'm not convinced regarding the charging less thing though - I made the mistake of buying some plastic Houseguard Halberdiers (the plastic ones look terrible and I have given up de mould lining them, and you can still hunt down metal ones...) and they are the same cost as the most expensive infantry boxes for Ret. The Strike Force and Invictors are both metal, both have the same number of models and are both cheaper - so if the Harlberdiers have gotten cheaper they must have been hideously overpriced before.

 Yonan wrote:
Mate linked me to that sale since I've been on the edge of buying in for a while. Do you have a rough idea of the savings? Menoth are calling out to be bought ; /

You just get the tokens, dice, & pin for free.

Cheers. I'll keep an eye out for a different deal then as I'm in no rush. *arches fingers patiently*

Powerguy wrote:

 ChaoticMind wrote:
No, it does win the ease of assembly argument. Both use superglue but the plastics never need pinning and rareley need the hold pieces together for 5-10 minuites while the glue dries. The plastics are aply glue, hold for 30 seconds to a minute, let sit as glue cures.

The plastic PP uses requires more effort in mold line removal than GW style plastics but it doesn't eat exacto blades like metal. I extremley rareley use files but I believe they do nasty things to PP plastics and files are slower no matter what the material.

If you are used to GW plastics like me then there is basically no difference between the plastics and the metals in terms of assembly - super glue doesn't hold instantly and is generally a pain to work with (have to be careful not to stick things/yourself together accidentally). If you need to hold a pieces together less for a plastic model then that is more a function of the joint design being better rather than the glue - the speed it cures doesn't change.

@Grey Templar. I know its not a resin (because that would be a good way to have your mass market minatures line fail hard), but its closer to it than GW plastic. I'm not convinced regarding the charging less thing though - I made the mistake of buying some plastic Houseguard Halberdiers (the plastic ones look terrible and I have given up de mould lining them, and you can still hunt down metal ones...) and they are the same cost as the most expensive infantry boxes for Ret. The Strike Force and Invictors are both metal, both have the same number of models and are both cheaper - so if the Harlberdiers have gotten cheaper they must have been hideously overpriced before.

They were more expensive before.

Every unit that got rereleased in plastic has thus far had a discount when it got changed. Except for the Winter Guard as I recall, but now they come with 3 Rocketeers while the metal unit didn't.