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With the recent news from Games Workshop, there's been a lot of talk from players of leaving those games and looking into alternatives. Judging by the past few days and the threads started here in the Warmachine and Hordes General Discussion, many of you are looking at Privateer Press' line of games. If so, this thread is for you. I'm going to try to write up a beginner's guide to the games, and will do my best to include relevant points and necessary information.

Last year, Privateer Press underwent a change of editions - from the older, original Mk1 to the newer, more streamlined Mk2. They clarified many of the rules, simplified some things, and reduced the number of abilities a bit. In a single year, Privateer Press released two new core rulebooks, Prime Mk2 and Primal Mk2, along with faction books for each of the existing Warmachine and Hordes factions.

Warmachine is about the civilized nations' struggled in the Iron Kingdoms - the setting of both games. Here you'll find armies organized along typical military lines, with infantry wielding guns, swords, axes, etc, along with giant, steam- and magic-powered robots called warjacks that are controlled by combat wizards called warcasters. Warmachine currently has 5 factions to choose from, as well as a smaller, "unofficial" faction, the mercenaries.

They are:

Khador: This nation is in the northwest of the Iron Kingdoms, and the Khadoran Empire is all about expansion and power. Ruled by an empress, Khador recently invaded and took over the smaller nation of Llael, and has successfully faced off against Cygnar. Khador is a cold northern land, and its people are practical. They build their warjacks to last, and a Khadoran warjack has the heaviest armor and will keep going until it's scrapped. Think Russia, to some extent.

Cygnar: This is the "poster" nation of the Iron Kingdoms. They're the most technologically advanced and most civilized, and have been experimenting with lightning technology for their weapons. Think of Cygnar much like a combination of America and Britain. They have a very combined arms approach, and while they do have a lot of guns in their army, they can also do other things well.

Protectorate of Menoth: The Protectorate used to be controlled by Cygnar, until they decided to rebel and form their own nation. It's a dry, arid, desert-like land, and their wealth comes from diamonds and oil. The Protectorate is a very religious nation, and everything they do is in the name of Menoth, one of the gods of the Iron Kingdoms. They have a variety of cheap troops backed by elite infantry, and their warcasters are very much about buffing their units and warjacks. Lots of fire and synergy.

Cryx: This is the Nightmare Empire, ruled by the Dragonfather, Lord Toruk. Dragons in the Iron Kingdoms are more like demi-gods, and Toruk is the one that created them all. Cryx is all about the undead, and they have a lot of tricks that they can use to achieve their goals. Their warjacks, called helljacks, are generally more fragile than other warjacks, but they can hit hard and quickly. Lots of their infantry is cheap undead(Mechanithralls, Bile Thralls), but they also have elite infantry in the form of Bane Thralls and Bane Knights. Their warcasters collect lots of souls, often have debuff spells, and many of them can also hit hard in melee combat.

Retribution of Scryah: This is the newest faction. The Retribution is a faction of elves, bent on annihilating everyone and everything else in hopes that their dying gods will return. I'm not very familiar with Retribution, so forgive me if that's not entirely correct.

WARMACHINE Mechanics: The primary difference between Warmachine and Hordes is the focus/fury mechanic. Warmachine uses focus. This means that at the beginning of each of your turns, your warcaster is allocated a number of focus points equal to his FOCUS stat. He can then give these focus points to his warjacks to enable them to charge, make power attacks, get additional attacks, more damage, etc. He also uses focus to cast his spells, or he may keep focus points to add to his armor stat. Warcasters generally have between 5 and 10 FOCUS.


Hordes is about the battles in the wilds of the Iron Kingdoms. It represents the struggles of the less civilized nations. Armies in Hordes are a little less organized, a little more rag-tag, unless you're talking about the Skorne.

Trollbloods: The trollbloods have been persecuted for centuries, and recently have been struggling to keep hold of their lands amidst raging warfare and a host of other problems. The army is almost entirely on medium bases, and 99% of the army has the Tough rule - when a model with Tough is killed, on a d6 roll of 5 or 6 it is merely knocked down. These are the "good guys" of Hordes. They are a little like Protectorate, in that the army has a lot of synergy between units.

Skorne: The Skorne Empire is to the east of the Iron Kingdoms, across the Bloodstone Marches, and the Skorne have come to invade the Iron Kingdoms. They're evil, sadistic, and very much a warrior-based society. They have warbeasts called Titans, giant bipedal elephants, that they torture and train to kill in battle. The Skorne also have a variety of heavy infantry, as well as lighter infantry.

Circle Orboros: These are the druids, and their goal is to bring a sort of balance by reducing the impact of man in the Iron Kingdoms. They're basically eco-terrorists, and they use a lot of magic to get what they want. Their warbeasts are generally giant werewolves, called warpwolves. They also have Satyrs, and giant stone-and-wood constructs called Wolds that often have the ability to make magic-based attacks. Some of their infantry is elite, but they rely a lot on their warbeasts to get the job done.

Legion of Everblight: Everblight is one of the dragons in the Iron Kingdoms. He was "killed" centuries ago, and his athanc, a crystal containing his soul, was brought to the far north in hopes that he would never return. Unfortunately, he came back. Everblight wants to kill all the other dragons and rule over everyone, and he started with the northern elves - the Nyss. His warbeasts are draconic beasts with a lot of rules that ignore other rules. Legion has a lot of very powerful warbeasts and some strong warlocks.

HORDES mechanics: Hordes uses the Fury mechanic. Each warlock begins the game with fury points equal to his FURY stat. *However*, unlike in Warmachine, fury doesn't get replenished at the beginning of each of your turns. Instead, warlocks force their warbeasts to perform actions, and then leach the fury from them at the start of your turn. For example, a warbeast may be forced to charge - you put 1 fury point on your warbeast. You take two extra attacks, and put 2 fury on the warbeast, for a total of 3 fury. In your next turn, your warlock takes those 3 fury points off the warbeast to replenish any fury points he may have spent casting spells during the previous turn. The game is very much about managing all your fury points properly.


Beginning the Game:

If you're looking to start playing Warmachine or Hordes, an excellent place to start would be by purchasing the core rulebook - Prime Mk2 for Warmachine, and Primal Mk2 for Hordes. Each rulebook contains all the rules you need to play, as well as a basic selection of model stats for some of the units of each faction.
Each faction in both games has a starter box, called a Battle Box, that contains a warcaster or warlock along with a selection of warjacks and warbeasts. The Battle Boxes total a value of about 11 points, and are generally a good place to start for smaller games. This will let you learn the focus/fury mechanic for your faction. Instead of getting a Battle Box, you can also choose to pick up a warcaster/warlock and several warjacks/warbeasts separately, although then the points values may be different from the normal Battle Boxes.
Privateer Press games use a card system, and each model and unit comes with a stat card in the box or blister that will tell you what it does in the game. Cards are invaluable for marking warjack and warbeast damage, and card sleeves and erasable markers come in handy here. There are faction decks available, called Mk2 2010 Faction decks, that contain every card for every unit from Mk1, updated with Mk2 rules. I recommend getting your faction deck, because it allows you to easily proxy units, solos, warjacks, etc, and makes it easier to plan future purchases. You can also check out the stats for warcasters and warlocks in your faction without having to buy the model itself.

The Faction of _______ books contain history and background for your faction, as well as a selection of new models for Mk2 - generally about 11 new releases for each faction. They also contain Theme Forces, which are "army lists" that restrict your unit choices to fit a particular warcaster or warlock's theme army. These aren't strictly necessary to play, although many players get their faction book just for the theme forces. I play both Khador and Circle Orboros, and while I own the Forces of Khador book, I haven't yet picked up the Forces of Circle Orboros book.

Army lists in Privateer Press games run off a point system, with each model assigned a specific point value. Games are usually played at the following point levels: 15, 25, 35, 50. Higher point games are possible, but also take much longer to play. When building your army, you pick and choose models that total up to your game's point value. Warcasters and warlocks are a bit different, in that they are "free" to add to your army, and each has a number of warjack and warbeast "points" that he can allocate to your army. For example, the Butcher of Khardov, a Khador warcaster, has 6 warjack points. These points can only be spent on warjacks, but it also means that your army is effectively 6 points higher. A 35 point army led by the Butcher is effectively 41 points(35+6=41).

A note on game support: Privateer Press has volunteers called Pressgangers, that are the people who run tournaments, organized play, and introduce people to the game through demo games. When starting out, if you're living in a big city, it might be a great idea to ask around your local FLGS and see if there is a Pressganger in the area. They should be happy to run you through a game or two and teach you the rules. Not all areas have Pressgangers, but if your area does it's worth seeking him/her out - they're generally the people who go a step above and beyond to teach newcomers the game and keep the community organized and running smoothly.




I hope this is a good general introduction to Privateer Press games. I have been playing since 2005, and I'm a huge fan of the game - I'd love to see more players get introduced to the games, and hopefully the guide helps answer some questions. Welcome to the Iron Kingdoms!

Good stuff. Coming from Warhammer 40k recently I can say this:

Initially Warmachine/Hordes can be much cheaper then Warhammer 40k because you can play a lot of fun battles and not be left out because you don't have enough stuff to play, but eventually the bug will hit strong and you may find yourself in the gameshop or ebay blowing money left and right.......(looks over shoulder to see if wife is around).........the rules are also a lot more fun to me compared to 40k. I still play 40k, but my new passion is WarmaHordes!

awesome work Mr. Grey

Nice post Grey. I currently have 3 and roughly a half (25 points of Legion) and all of them combined are about what a single, competitive 2k army for 40k would cost. Each army is at least 35 points or more with having options to run different army types.

The thing I see (take Cygnar for example) is the same army with one caster (Siege) plays completely differently with a different caster (xHaley). Siege wants to get into attrition fights while either Haley just makes your opponent hate you. Same can go for Epic Stryker and both Nemos. They all love lightning based lists but eStryker wants to do the work himself while Nemo is throwing relying more on the jacks with him. Then you have another caster like epic Caine who brings an army with him because the rules say so.

So you won't have situations like you have with 40k where you're having to buy 10 boxes of marines to have enough options for everything. If you want a unit of Gun Mages, you buy that box and then decide when you want to buy the Officer (which should be at the same time because he is that good).

FWIW, the 6 tray GW case that used to hold the infantry for my marine models (the vehicles were in their own Sabol bag) now holds my Cygnar, Retribution, and Legion armies.

we need this stickied

Turned this into an article:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/A_Beginner%27s_Guide_to_Privateer_Press_by_Mr._Grey

I'll edit this link into the sticky above. Please use it to refer newbies!

I am one of those people that are going to be moving away from GW and into Privateer Press. However, I do have one question:

Can you order your units online? Anytime I got to the website, all I see available are parts and Battleboxes. Can you get the models through your FLGS only, or am I missing something?

Thanks!

Malfred: Thanks! Didn't even think to write an article instead of a forum post.

Mr. Puma: Privateer Press works a little differently from Games Workshop - their online store only sells bits and a few other items, not the whole range.
While I support going to your local store and purchasing there, I can also recommend the Warstore as an awesome online place to get your Privateer Press minis. I also hear good things about Miniaturemarket, and I've shopped from Brookhurst Hobbies' online store before as well.

With the success of the Mk2 release last year, Privateer Press has been experiencing some growing pains, and the influx of new players can sometimes make it hard to find certain models and units because of high demand. PP staffers have chimed in on the issue before on their forums, and they're aware of the problem and working to produce minis as quickly as they can to meet demand.

Overall a very good read. Figured I would a few tidbits of info for Retribution.

Retribution believes that killing enemy warcasters will keep one of their remaining two gods from dying. The other god currently is frozen and being held somewhere in Khador (i don't have my book nearby). The army has a variety of units and works best with combined arms.

Another minor fluff thing that just seemed off to me. The Skorne were tricked to coming to the Iron Kingdoms...I wouldn't necessarily call them evil or sadistic either but thats just because I play them.

I would also like to see the Mercenariness/Minions sections added because you can field them as stand alone armies now.

Edit

Whenever Privateer Press releases an update/expansion book like Wrath all the factions are updated for that system (so warmachine in this case). So no waiting for years for a codex/army book to be redone.

Once again a very good introduction to the game.

Users have the rights to edit existing articles, so if you think of
anything new, feel free to edit the article.

Very good read. I was just about to jump into 40K and then the price increase took place.

A buddy of mine just bought his first warmachine/hordes army and I'm looking to do the same.

I've heard people say Hordes can be played as its own game or an expansion to Warmachine. Are hordes armies competitive with Warmachine armies?

I also know that PP is moving towards more plastics now as GW did. Are the factions in WM and H mostly metal? Factions I'm looking at are Cryx in WM and Everblight in Hordes.

Thanks again for the read.

To answer your two questions I'll break it down into point form

- Hordes and Warmachine are very much compatible and competitive with one another. Both systems work off different mechanics, fury for Hordes and focus for Warmachine. There are pros and cons to each, but none of these points make one definitively better than the other. Effective it boils down to Hordes and Warmachine being two different games that just happen to be compatible. Neither is an expansion of the other.

- The majority of models at PP are metal. They are in the process of transitioning, but it will be a long process. Very few things are in plastic at the moment. There is no one faction that has its majority in plastic yet. PP seems to be attempting to do a slow convert across the board.

I hope that helps

So I could play a Hordes army against a Warmachine army and not get smoked?

Nope! They're made completely to play against each other.

Also, Sarge Sunny, I didn't even know there was plastic models. I google it, and find out the models that I plan to use a good load of in my army (Fennblades) have a plastic kit. DAY = MADE.

Yeah, they only have a few units and the majority of standard jacks for each faction in plastic.

So, as another noob contemplating a crossover from 40k, I've ordered a PoM Battlegroup. What would I add to the army from there to make it into an effective fighting force? I was thinking maybe infantry units? Also,I don't know ANYTHING about Kreoss, so any information about what he does would be appreciated.

From the battlegroup, I'd first pick up a Choir. They're excellent warjack support, and are pretty much a must-have if you plan on fielding more than one or two 'jacks. After that, if you don't plan on switching to a different Warcaster (and even if you do, if you like the looks of Severius or eFeora), a Redeemer would also be an excellent choice.

Unitwise, beyond the Choir, I'd consider Zealots or the Temple Flameguard. Zealots, with their attachment, are one hell of a tarpit, and their firebombs are great for both clearing out infantry swarms and putting the hurt on warjacks. The Flameguard also tarpit rather well due to Shieldwall and their UA's minifeat, and can do some decent damage with Combined Melee Attacks.

If I wanted powerhouse 'jacks, would I be correct in assuming that Khador is the faction I would want to pick?

Khador's the faction of axe to face and stupidly heavy armor. Their jacks are harder to kill than everyone elses, but are slower before buffs. This doesn't neccessarily mean their Jacks are better than everyone elses, of course. With their omnipresent support, Menite jacks can hit harder and more accurately with almost as much armor, and Cygnar jacks like the Stormclad match our hitting power, although they typically lack the survivability.

Cryx doesn't have the raw damage dealing potential outside of the Death Jack, but with their plethora of debuffs and assorted shenanigans, they can still wreck face with the best of them, and boast the most impressive defense of all Warjacks.

Retribution's warjacks, on the other hand, are fairly durable generalists, all sporting good ranged weapons on top of their middling melee potential, with unique abilities and a regenerating force field to top it off. They kind of fall under the jack of all trades, master of one (pun intended) category.

Khador Jacks are more based towards being self efficient. Their lack the buff spells that other armies have that increase armour, to surpass the standard twenty, and etc. Other armies also tend to have higher RAT, MAT and Defense. However, don't let that dissuade you. What Khador has are spells and buffs that focus on dealing damage or getting in their face faster.

If you define powerhouse on the sole ability to deal damage, then yes I'd say Khador is probably what you're looking for. Oh, we're also the only faction that has a jack with natural 25 armour to make up for lack of shields on our jacks.

Most of our jacks, anyway. The Spriggan would like a word with you.

Oh right, I don't know how I forgot about our lovable flare launcher.

Hm, very interesting. I hadn't ever really though about Warmachine/Hoards until recently, and this is a great way to help people understand the background and type of game that it is in case they'd like to get started. I don't know when, or if, I'll ever get around to getting any PP minis, since I'd still like to play some 40k with my Orks, but it's certainly a growing idea, and this has helped with that initial interest.

One thing I don't get, the warcaster points allow you to have the lets say 35 point army with some bonus units up to 6 points in that example? Looking at the quick start sheet for the Cygnar box the army is 11pts because the warcaster covers the 6pts from one of the models?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also is there a limit to the number of waracsters you can have in some way? Like how in 40k you can have only 4 HQ in an army (or 2 HQ for you non-space wolves ) Otherwise I could see things getting out of hand.

Warcasters are limited by the point level of the game. Until the 100 point level, you can field only one Warcaster, and the game ends when all a player's warcasters are dead.

Portaljacker wrote:One thing I don't get, the warcaster points allow you to have the lets say 35 point army with some bonus units up to 6 points in that example? Looking at the quick start sheet for the Cygnar box the army is 11pts because the warcaster covers the 6pts from one of the models?.

That is right, if we do the math for the cygnar battlebox
Stryker -6
Ironclad 7
Lancer 6
Charger 4
=> total is 11

Now if we would change the warcaster from Stryker to Siege Brisbane, who has 5 warjack points, the list would be 12 points in total. These free points from warcaster have to be spent on warjacks that are controlled by the warcaster, so you cannot use them to get more infantry etc.

To more clearly clarify Retribution's position:

There is a good amount of circumstantial evidence that human mages gained their power at the cost of the Iosan Gods, and their continued use is draining their remaining Gods, who will die if nothing changes. Oh, and Khador accidentally kidnapped one of the only 2 of their gods known to be alive(Zerkova interrupted Goreshade, who had found the God in stasis in an ice tomb. Since Goreshade obviously thought it was important, she decided that maybe she should bring it back to the Motherland without knowing what it was).

So, a minor question, since I've been browsing Maelstrom/WarStore and been checking out the minis, how difficult is the learning curve for playing a Cryx force? I like the look of the miniatures a lot, but I'm sort of getting the feeling that they're more involved than the other factions.

DiscoVader wrote:So, a minor question, since I've been browsing Maelstrom/WarStore and been checking out the minis, how difficult is the learning curve for playing a Cryx force? I like the look of the miniatures a lot, but I'm sort of getting the feeling that they're more involved than the other factions.

I think that the cryx are actually one of the easiest factions to learn. You have to put the list together correctly, but there are less activation order problems than in Menoth, the units tend to be self supporting like khadors and you don't need the combined arms like Cygnar. Of course winning constantly requires practice, but they are not the most difficult faction to learn. I would focus on checking the warcasters and looking at one that is more clear cut and not go for the more complex ones at first.

This is of great interest to me, being a forlorn, upset and generally p***ed off GW buyer for nearly 20 years.

I really like the look of Warmachine/Hordes and I am looking to start as soon as my disposable income allows.
Thanks Grey!