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Hey All,

A long story short...I have been playing miniature games since Rogue trader came out when I was in Middle school. When Warmachine was first released, I jumped onto Khador mainly because the minis at the time looked the best to me. Though I bought the game I never played, but continued with 40k. I moved around a lot and never could find anyone who played warmachine and I didn't have enough to build another army for someone to play against me. Plus in most places I have lived, 40k was easier to find someone to play against.

When Hordes came out, I went nuts for Trolls and Legion and have but a few circle models. Again, a few people became interested, but my schedule never seemed to be free enough to get any games in. Finally after all these years, I end up in Ohio and I start to play Warmachine and Hordes. However this is where my question comes in, I know 40k pretty well. I know what units can do against specific targets. I know what Bolters are capable of, of what heavy weapons can do to what models or units, however with WM/Hordes, I just can't seem to wrap my head around these concepts and find myself sucking wind hard core. I feel like I can make list well, or well enough, but when it comes time to play, I end up getting my butt handed to me on a platter. I hesitate to buy anymore WM/Hordes cause it would be nice to be winning at least some times.

For example, one of the last games I played was Khador vs. Legion. My friend and I did some things wrong with CRA's from Blighted archers and their other special volley attack, which ripped apart my IFP's in Shield wall formation. So I found myself wondering what the heck? Why can't I seem to win?

For Khador my list is as follows:
Vlad
-Destroyer
8 IFP's with UA
5 Demo Corp
Greylords
Widowmakers

Also recently I thought about buying some PoM namely along these lines:

Reznik
-Blessing of Vengeance
-Devout
-Redeemer
-Hierophant
Vassal
Full Choir
8 Idrians plus UA

So anyways, I just need help determining what units need to be killed first, which one of my units does that best, when to boost and how much focus should I camp and how much focus do I need to give my jacks, when to pop feat, what spells should I cast when and on what...So yeah. I suck at this game, which sucks cause I like better it in many ways to 40k. Plus I can buy armies cheaper than 40k....

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chappy P!

I'm best at Protectorate, but Reznik is still largely a mystery to me. My
feeling is that the Reznik list would use the Redeemers to work on infantry
swarms, the Idrians to hit tough combat units, but I'm not sure if the
Devout and Blessing of Vengeance can make up the slack against highly
armored or versatile targets. If you've gotten the Reznik list vetted by
the PoM boards at PP, then fine. It's just that you'd be hard pressed not to
want to throw Reznik into the mix to make up for the average POW your
rockets and Idrians would be putting out there. I'm nowhere near the ability
of the forumites there, it's just that I can imagine needing Reznik to eliminate
something big and bad, and not having anything else to really cover him
as he decides to go all out.

As far as general strategies go, I lost for six months straight. In that time
I realized that my biggest mistake was not paying attention to careful
positioning. A couple inches in the wrong direction can leave your warcaster
or warlock incredibly exposed to the right mobility tactic or slam.

Also, I relied too often on "average" rolls. I still rely too often on average
rolls. When I slammed things, I relied on needing them to slam more than 3"
in order to be catastrophic. I used aoes on things that needed 8s or 9s to
kill on blast damage.

So average rolls are nice, but 6 or 5 is better, especially when it comes to
hitting something. That's why some people boost on 7s. In order to gain any
effectiveness out of an attack or ability it needs to hit, so using a boosting
mechanism is a good use of resources even if it might prevent you from
casting a spell later on. (Unless you're planning to dance away on Shadow
Wings or Flash, of course). Plan power attacks around spending 2 focus in
order to use them: 1 to power attack and 1 to boost to hit.

I even failed to plan around the possibility of a failed event. So in order to
do what I wanted, I need x, y, and z to occur first. A better player than
me has a contigency plan in case x failed. Me, I just flounder.

I dont know much, but as a fresh new player I can offer this. I played for the very first time after collecting an army and just reading the rule book for a year. I won my first match. My key was simple, I play Hordes, and I knew what the other person had. You learn about the units/jacks/warbeasts just like you would for 40k. You learn simple terms like "reach, critical, slam, AOE, etc.." Once you learn all of this it helps when making a plan.

I play Circle, and I know how fast my units/models move. I know that most armies are going to play catch up against me so its better for me to take first turn.

I dont know much about focus and jacks, only seen them once or twice played, but as for hordes I can say that planning to take down one unit/model at a time works better for me. This way I dont get ahead of myself, dont forget certain abilities, and dont leave a unit/model on the back-burner. Look over your cards often, ask the person you're playing against about his units/models often, and think 2-3 turns ahead like 40k.

Like Malfred said, knowing when to boost is a very BIG key. And a huge part of Hordes, more so then Warmachine I believe.

MAT 6 of a Warpwolf against the DEF 10 of a Khador jack means I hit on 4's. I have fury of 4, so I can boost 2 damage rolls, and make 2 additional attacks.

Hope I help some.

There's always losing better.

Know why and how you lost and try to identify at least one mistake you
made in a previous turn.

Chaplain Pallantide wrote:Vlad
-Destroyer
8 IFP's with UA
5 Demo Corp
Greylords
Widowmakers...

...So anyways, I just need help determining what units need to be killed first, which one of my units does that best, when to boost and how much focus should I camp and how much focus do I need to give my jacks, when to pop feat, what spells should I cast when and on what...So yeah. I suck at this game, which sucks cause I like better it in many ways to 40k. Plus I can buy armies cheaper than 40k....

Here are some tips for the Vlad force.

Learn the ranges and abilities of your spells (an old Warhammer tip from WD) off by heart. It'll speed up your game and you'll be able to think up plans counters to your enemy's plans on the fly.

Vlad: Each turn give the Destroyer one focus and Get Vlad to cast Blood of kings and Signs and Portents. (that's focus solved) Only cast other spells if you have a reason to do so.
Destroyer: Against impossible to shoot targets don't boost hits, scatter and boost damage against critical models (leaders etc.) if you hit them. Remember Boundless charge and Vlad's feat for a surprise long charge (13").
Iron Fang Pikemen. Shieldwall as much as possible. Combine attacks against hard to hit targets.
Greylords: Use the Ice template spell to make key friendly targets such as the destroyer and Demo Corps harder to hit .
Demo Corps: If you're opponent is shooting them (not magic) stand them next to VLad and have him cast Windwall instead of Blood of Kings.
Widowmakers: Keep your distance in cover if possible. Make sure to target unit leaders if possible. Don't shoot things that have lots of health unless you can kill them. Roll damage nomally against low Arm targets with lots of wounds. Make use of Signs and Portents to maximise hits.