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I've been considering buying a small army to play around with. The games seem shorter and more in-depth in terms of tactics. I plan on building a small army for either Warmachine or Hordes, but I don't know which one to start with. Khador, Cryx, Trollbloods, Skorne, and Legion of Everblight all look the coolest to me out of all of the armies (I know that's a lot). Which army is the most noob friendly of the those that I listed? I want to start out with something that can do well in almost all situations but still have enough tactics and combinations to keep me interested in the game.

The rules are available online.

http://privateerpress.com/company/mkii-rules-and-model-info-available-for-pdf-download

Think about Warmachine first, since Hordes is getting a rules update later on. Any particular
faction interest you?

And from the two Warmachine factions think weather you want to brutally beat face in ignoring your opponents attacks (Khador) or be more sneaky and jump on your opponent's vulnerable units using debuffing spells and strong attacks while avoiding main parts of enemy (Cryx).

Well if focusing primarily on Warmachine would be better, Khador or Cryx are what factions I'm interested in playing. Out of the two which would be the easiest to learn? Could somebody provide a breakdown of both of these factions and their playstyles?

Khador: High armour but easy to hit jacks, slow and high powered. No light jacks. Infantry is versitile- snipers, heavy infantry in steam armour, all rounders and foam at the mouth berserkers. They've got some sneak units too.

Cryx are fast moving, and have a lot of arc nodes on their lights (which allow casting spells from the jacks.) their casters and units focus on making enemies weaker and then pouncing. The jacks can be fragile, but they are hard to pin down. Their infantry is wierd and wacky- a lot of it can come back from the dead or explodes when it dies!

For learning definitely go with Khador. Walk up and punch them in the mouth. That is all you need to know. There is depth, but starting out is simple.

I chose Cryx, and have yet to develop the finesse I need to pull off wins.

With regards to the comment about arc nodes, as you don't presently play, allow me to try and explain why that is sooo good:

Normally, spells have a range of 6 - 12". Some spells just buff your guys, some can be devastating to your opponent's guys. I'm sure a few have longer ranges than that - but you get the general idea.

Your caster (warcaster or warlock, system dependent) is like your king in chess - if he/she dies, you lose the game.

So... you might not want your caster to be that close to the enemy...

Each warcaster/warlock has a control range equal to their focus/fury stat x2 - which will give you a range of 10 - 20". If you have an arcnode in your control range, you can cast spells and measure LOS and distance from the arcnode rather than your caster - so you could have an arcnode 14" away from your caster and cast your spells from there - gaining a ranges greater than 20".

Cryx, Retribution, and Cygnar (to my knowledge - I don't see a lot of Mercs or Protectorate players around in my area) have good access to Arcnodes.

niceas wrote:Cryx, Retribution, and Cygnar (to my knowledge - I don't see a lot of Mercs or Protectorate players around in my area) have good access to Arcnodes.

Protectorate also has several arc nodes, Magnus is the only Merc who can get an arc node (Renegade) and Old Witch the only Khador caster who has access to node.

Alas, we menites only have 2 arc nodes: The Revenger, and the Guardian. However, it is very common for multiple Revengers to be on the field, so...

And Blessing of Vengeance.

@s1gns:

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Goreshade the Bastard (awesome name)

Dirty. Cryx. Tricks.

Warcaster Skarre has a very potent weapon called: Great Rack... she f'ing knocks people down with her breasts...then shivs them.
What more motivation do you need?

I'm starting to get into Priviteer press, but I'm holding out until after Hordes Mk2 comes out to go full out.
I have problems between Cryx and Skorne (leaning towards Cryx though).

Sanctjud wrote:@s1gns:

Warcaster Skarre has a very potent weapon called: Great Rack... she f'ing knocks people down with her breasts...then shivs them.
What more motivation do you need?

I think you are confusing the meaning of the word "Rack", it means the Horns on her head, but it makes for some great imagery.

Funny how they never really specify which rack they are referring to...