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So I have noticed a lot more people talking about warmachines/hordes and it is making me interested. I have a few questions.

Can someone give me a brief rundown of the game? I am gathering that hordes is more of the fantasy setting than warmachines.

How big is a usual game or army? (What all do I need to get started also how much does it usually cost to get started?) (How long does an average game last?)

How do you construct the army? I understand you need a warlock, but what are the other restrictions?

I am really digging the circle of Orboros, Can someone suggest some builds for them? I like the blackclad wayfarer, pretty much all the units (wolves, tharn ravagers and bloodtrackers, druids, reeves, and skinwalkers), warpwolves, and satyrs. I would prefer to be somewhat competitive yet flexible. I like units that are versatile.

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

Hordes and Warmachine are both set in the same world (the Iron Kingdoms). It is a steampunk setting. Warmachine focuses on the "civilised" factions and Hordes on the barbaric factions that inhabit the wilderness.
Similar to Warmachine, you build your faction around a character model. In Hordes, this is a Warlock. Warlocks control beasts, who can be "pushed" and generate fury to perform special actions. The warlock can then leech the fury to cast spells. The problem (and strategy) arises if you produce more than your warlock can leech- then your beasts go crazy and may attack your dudes. Hordes is a game of risk management. Warlocks also tend to not be as straight out tough as Warcasters but can transfer damage to their beasts, meaning they can be deceptively durable. A normal army would have a Warlock, a heavy beast, a couple of lights, and then some solos and units. Units are like squads in 40K, and solos are something like special characters. The game is won on scenario or by assassinating the other player's leader.
One major thing about Warmachine and Hordes is that each unit has some special ability that it can use, and knowing how to combo these is the key to victory. You don't get many (or any) options in equipment, but once deployed units have a plethora of options open to them, supplemented by "buff" spells from their casters and solos. The other thing is that positioning is viciously important- an inch can mean the game. This takes some getting used to but is very satisfying once you do.
The four factions are Trollbloods (the good guys - put upon scottish/native american types who rely on their native toughness and the power of their full blood troll allies to win. They loot a lot of battered tech from the other factions too.) Circle (nasty druids who want to bring down civilisation. Fragile but tricksy. Stone constructs and big beasties abound) Legion (the enslaved forces of a disembodied dragon. Yes. He spawns "dragon spawn" from his blood, and corrupts various tribes to be under his sway. Vicious, assisination based playstyle.) and Skorne (Sorta evil persian themed with big stompy beasts and lots of direct, powerful attacks. Slow, but hits hard.)

Depending on the points level you play, an army can be anything from a caster and a couple of beasts (a small skirmish) to a slightly bigger game with a unit and a solo or two, to the more normal 3 or so units, couple of solos, and beasts plus warcaster. It's generally cheaper to build a force than 40K, but once you get into it you will find it is tempting to keep pickign up options and often it will end up costing the same.

The army system uses points. The caster gives you an allottment of "free" points that can be spent only on beasts. So usually you will see at least one beast with a caster. Apart from that, you just add units and solos as you want them. Some units are limited to one or two per army, this is noted in their description. All units come with their rules so it's not a huge concern.

Circle, I can't help much with. All I can tell you is that you can change your game entirely with a new caster, which is one of the main attractions.
Hope this helped!

Yea that helped a bunch. Thanks.

So a small game is just a warlock and some beasts? About how many points is that?

A large game is about 3 units, 2 solos, the warlock and war beasts?

Is there some rule you have to follow for creating the army, like a certain amount of units or beasts, like core/troops you need to take?

Is there a main rule book and then army books that you need? I've also seen something about cards?

Sorry for all the questions. I am looking into finding a smaller type game that isn't too complicated and can be played relatively quickly.

There are no real restrictions on on your overall army build (aside from tier lists for the various Warlocks/Warcasters), and there is a main book, either Primal or Prime MK2 along with the various faction books.

Yes, there are card sets for each Faction out there.

I've been looking a little more at the models for Orboros and have narrowed it down to a few that I really like. I am wondering if they would make a decent army.

Warlock - either Kaya or Kromac
Warbeasts - (do I need light warbeasts? I guess argus if I do) still any of the warpwolves or satyrs
Solos - Blackclad wayfarer, Wolf lord Morraig, and maybe druid wilder
Units - druids, tharn wolf riders, warpborn skinwalkers, and maybe tharn ravagers or wolves

You don't need any light beast. Kromac function as athe beatstick of circle, you may want to read battlecollege on him and couple others

try making a 15 point first then expand from there

Thanks. BattleCollege is pretty cool. I don't know any of the point total so I can't make any lists yet, but I am narrowing down what I like.

Warlock - Kromac
Warbeasts - all 3 flavors of warpwolves (feral, pureblood, and stalker)
Solos - wayfarer, war wolf, reeve hunter, or totem hunter
Units - druids, tharn wolf riders, skinwalkers, and reeves

I still have to read more to figure out what works best with what though. Shifting stones may help the synergy of the army or at least help get the wayfarer across the table on the last turn. Using war wolfs with reeves or some other configuration.

So at 15 points, what can I field? Will I have enough points to play Kromac, a warbeast, unit, and a solo?

http://www.forwardkommander.com/

Online list builder.

15 points is really restrictive if you wan to play with kromac. he likes his big furries and his big furries like him.

with Kromac you really want 2 big beasts that work well with each other and if you can spare that 1 point, swamp gobbers to hide you from shooting

id probably play 1 pureblood and 1 stalker, ...if im expecting cygnar I'll play purebood and feral plus swampgobbers or or Stalker and Gnarlhorn

its a very do or die list

Thank you for the list builder malfred. I am just now getting a chance to play around with it. What are the tiers?

Thanks for the advice Bakerofish. I am noticing that with kromac.

Tiers are a way to build around a theme, based on a Warlock's 'personality' . They limit the kinds of models you can take, but you trade off by getting certain bonuses.

boogeyman wrote:Thank you for the list builder malfred. I am just now getting a chance to play around with it. What are the tiers?

Thanks for the advice Bakerofish. I am noticing that with kromac.

its not that bad all the other characters are as restricted at 15 pts (with the exception of Goreshade...damn cheater)

im running him in a 15-25-35 pt tourney this weekend so ill let ya know how that goes. I've run him in the past for good results (2nd) and we'll see if we can secure a win for this one.

boogeyman wrote:Thank you for the list builder malfred. I am just now getting a chance to play around with it. What are the tiers?

Thanks for the advice Bakerofish. I am noticing that with kromac.

As said the Tiers are themed builds around the different 'caster/warlock. It limits what forces you can use but gives you bonuses in exchange. They are detailed out in the individual faction books. Each version has 4 tiers per individual warlock, you have to meet the tier levels in succession (meet tier 1 to get to tier 2, etc.).

If you are running Kromac, I can probably detail his Tiers if you'd like, just let me know.

If you have an iPhone, download iBodger (its free). It may also have an Anroid version but I don't know. This is all that I use for list building.

Yes, there is an Android version, it is great.

This thread can be helpful for you, since you've been looking into Circle

Personally, I started out with Protectorate of Menoth but changed to Circle Orboros and sold my Menoth army. Circle isn't a straight forward faction to play, but they do have nice abilities. Pretty steep learning curve, but I love it

Wow. That is some great stuff guys. Thanks.

I noticed the iBodger and forwardkommander have differing point costs, but I guess I will figure it out when I pick up a book.

That thread was pretty cool too.

I have been playing around with a couple of lists already. All of them at 35 points. I just can't narrow it done yet. There are too many cool models.

I have also found a cygnar gun mage theme I like and a cryx pirate theme, to go along with a few orboros lists, kromac and krueger. (the krueger one lets me play certain models and still stay in a theme)

I will post some lists later when I have some time.

Thanks again everyone.

Hi boogeyman,

I don't know about forwardkommander, but the guy who does iBodger does his absolute best to make sure that his points values are correct. If something isn't, then he fixes it very quickly and uploads a new version. I have it on my iPhone and I love it. If you're using iBodger, then you shouldn't worry too much about having incorrect point costs, although of course it's still a good idea to double-check once you get your book or faction cards.

iBodger also has "official" permission from Privateer Press to include all the stuff it does - the programmer talked to PP's legal department about it before he first published it to the iTunes App store.

Bakeroffish has it right with Kromac, he does like his beasts. I usually run him with a Feral Warpwolf, Pureblood Warpwolf, and maybe a Gnarlhorn Satyr or a Gorax, then fill in the rest of his points with infantry that might be useful to have. He's a fun caster to play.

When in doubt, assume iBodger is right. Fowardkommander tends to be a little buggy, in my experience, especially if you want to use a theme force.

Thanks again everyone. Can anyone tell me how to delete lists on iBodger?

I will play around some more, but I have a 35 point pirate cryx theme list; a 35 point gun mage cygnar list; a 35 point druid theme list, ravager, and whatever models I like list . I also have a 15 point Thagrosh list and Kromac list that I would like to get some feedback on. I will post them in the army list section a little later.

Hold list for abit, a delete option will come out

at least that is how on my galaxy tab

On the iPhone, you delete lists by holding your finger on the right side of the list for a few seconds(where the point values display), then swipe your finger left. A little red "delete" box should pop up. Hit the delete button and you're done.

Thanks for the information. I finally was able to delete and edit my lists. I still have no idea what I am doing when I am building the lists. I will post a bunch of 15 points lists from 5 different factions over in the army list section. Any help would be great.