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I was given an army of Trolls and a starter set of I think its spelled Kadour, I am having a really hard time figuring out how to properly use the trolls and such so I was told I am much better at doing the Warmachine guys. So whats a great and powerful army for a starting player for the steam punked mecha dudes?

Grix and Kadour seem kinda cool and I also like the aspect of the guys that are the best at shooting...forget the name of them right now. They are suppose to be very shooty types of people.

welcome to warmachine.
the first thing to do is decide if you want to stick with trolls or khador or start cryx or cygnar(the shooty guys).
you already have the best start for the khador army in the starter set. and im not sure how many troll models you have. it may be that your just having an easier time with the durable heavy warjacks opposed to light trollblood beasts.
the second thing i would suggest you do is get the main mark 2 rulebook if you decide to play one of the warmachine factions or wait for the hordes book to be released in a couple of months. the core rulebook will help you get a better grasp of the rules.
for expanding past the starter sets i can only really suggest avoiding character units, character jacks, and any cavalry for a little bit. they are very good but also tend to have very complex rules interactions that might be hard to work out right away.

I don't know... if he wanted to stay with Khador and build off Sorcha Beast-09 is hard to find fault with other than being expensive dollar wise.

What do you have for Trolls so far. In MK II we've got a really good boost to overall competitiveness but the Trolls are not always obvious on how you should be playing them. If you would like to try some tactics on them we can work that direction too.

Otherwise choosing what force you'd like to work on would help us give you more specific advise.

If you decide to go with a Warmachine army, I'd also suggest getting the faction book for the related faction, the Hordes faction books won't be out until after Gencon. You'll be able to see the stats for everything that the faction can field and come to your own conclusions on what to buy. In general, if you stick to Khador, they tend to be big and slow and hit like a ton of bricks.

I play Khador and Trolls so I can give you some insight into both.

Khador were my first army. They are great for new players and are forgiving to new player mistakes.

They are generally an in your face army with their casters being very combat oriented. They also have the most template weapons eventhough they are not the best at shooting. If you like an army that can take a beating, give a beating and you don't mind them being slow, then Khador is for you.

Trolls are a somewhat similar to Khador in respects that they can really dish out the pain and can take a beating. They are pretty slow too. Trolls have a unique way to gain buffs in nearly every stat - primarily to DEF and ARM. The Trolls work well as one. You say that all WM/Hordes armies should do this, but Trolls need this more than any other. Their only weaknesses are that they are mostly mounted on medium bases and they are dead slow. But this is a good trade off, when most trolls have Weaponmaster (3d6 dmg instead of 2d6), high ARM, multiple wounds, and Thresher.
As for Warlocks, their best two are Madrak Ironhide, which comes in the starter box and Borka Kegslayer, which aside from being my favourite caster, is a immense support caster that buffs your guys and can beatdown almost anything.

My advice for Khador purchases is:

Manhunters
Yuri The Axe
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Anything with a Bombard on it, to throw pie plates at the enemy.
Demo Corps.
Greylord Ternion - IMO the most important Khador unit.

For Trolls

1-2 units of Champions
Krielstone Unit + Unit Attachment
Dire Troll Mauler
1 Fell Caller for each unit of Champions
Champion Hero
Borka Kegslayer
Mulg - Awesome Beatstick.

What would you suggest for a Cryx army just getting into? I'm thinking of starting them or the protectors because both of them have their own books and are one of the 3 that have them out now.

Cryx book is coming in shortly I believe. Still, starting cryx the easiest way is battlebox, or get a helljack kit and a pack of deathrippers plus a caster of choiche. (preferably skarre, denny or gaspy with this setup). Then add warwitch siren or a skarlock depending on need and availability. For units Mechthralls are wortth their weight in gold IMHO, especially with denny.

Trial list for Denny:
Warwitch Deneghra +6
- slayer 6
- Deathripper 4
- Deathripper 4
- skarlock 2
- max unit mechthralls 5

This is a pretty nice list for 15 points and they are even all in the main ruilebook, so no needing to buy the faction book just yet. This list works with Deneghra, pirate quen skarre and iron lich Asphyxious, although the last has a little less to offer the mechanithralls.

Try this, or if you have any questions, just ask...


After playing you can

Scything Touch from Gaspy on McThralls are pretty brutal...............if they hit .

I like the denny list as it's 'out of the box' mostly.

The thing is if they hit they will do damage to most things, even heavy jacks (especially on the charge). MechThralls haven't got a lot of problems hitting most Heavy's. that is when they need the extra strength. however, if they want to hit something a bit more nimble then a debuff on the target def is probably better then a improved STR on them...

This is why I think denny and Skarre are better for them. Denny can help hitting and by debuffing the target even help them do more damage, Skarre has her feat and dark guidance.

Yeah I was thinking of just getting the box set and seeing where it takes me. Warmachine defiantly seems easier to get into money wise vs 40k.