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Hi, I may be interested to join the horde/warmachine hobby, and just wanted to know what army I should begin with, since I know nothing of them. Here's some of my preferences:

For me, the best looking factions are Cryx, Khador, Skorne and Legion Of Everblight (in this order of preference)
Since I'm at university and that I lost my job because of it, I'm kinda low on cash, so I'm looking to make a relatively cheap army.
I tend to prefer close combat, but not if it means I'm completly defenseless againts a ranged opponent.
I don't like characters that inflict wounds on themselves (just in case there is something like that)

So what do you think is the best for me?

I really don't know much about the Hordes armies but Khador while they do have plenty of trickery to accomplish the beat face, they really do like to beat face with big scary heavy jacks. But give a look to battlecollege and it will break down each unit/jack/caster/solo of each of the factions. But from my understanding most of the Warmachine armies are not bad as a begginners army so you should do fine with whatever you choose.
Here is that link for you http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiKhador

Hope that helps ya somewhat.

Khornate25 wrote:Hi, I may be interested to join the horde/warmachine hobby, and just wanted to know what army I should begin with, since I know nothing of them. Here's some of my preferences:

For me, the best looking factions are Cryx, Khador, Skorne and Legion Of Everblight (in this order of preference)
Since I'm at university and that I lost my job because of it, I'm kinda low on cash, so I'm looking to make a relatively cheap army.
I tend to prefer close combat, but not if it means I'm completly defenseless againts a ranged opponent.
I don't like characters that inflict wounds on themselves (just in case there is something like that)

So what do you think is the best for me?

Well you can start playing for $50 bucks, just buy the battlebox of your preferred faction (they come with starter rules as well). I would also suggest the 2 player kit that comes out sometime soon, so you have the option for playing against a friend (kit has about $200+ in models, a mini rulebook, and templates etc).

If you don't like models who hurt themselves then you may be disappointed in Hoards, as all Warlocks can cut themselves for Fury if their beasts die (and Skorne has a caster who gets bonuses for friendly models hurting him).

The nice thing is all factions are fairly balanced and all are competitive (there are bad lists, but not bad factions).

Also this article may be useful. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/272107.page

Cryx - Fast with high damage, lower armor - tactical army to play.

Khador - Slow with high armor and high melee damage - Point and punch army to play.

Skorne - Powerful Damage and Armor beasts, they self inflict pain and like to kill kittens and bunnies - Tactical army to play.

Legion Of Everblight - Fast with high damage, medium armor. Good range of melee and ranged - Both point and punch plus tactical army to play

Mmm. Seems Khador is the way to go for my simple mind. Just like that, is it weird I'm kinda simple minded and still managed to get to university in philosophy? Life is so weird sometime...

Khador can be simple and straight forward but you can also be tricksy with them too. It's all a matter of what warcaster you use, but overall yes they are pretty simple to figure out and play.

Mmm. Could you tell me about the Protectorate of Menoth? I kind of developped an interest in them.

Khornate25 wrote:Mmm. Could you tell me about the Protectorate of Menoth? I kind of developped an interest in them.

Menoth has been described to me as the "blue magic" faction. They are tricksy, in the sense that they are focused on denial. With Menoth you render parts of the board inaccessible to your opponent and render your models immune to their most powerful abilities. You also do a lot of punishing your opponent for daring to cast spells on his own models, or ending those spells prematurely. There's also a strong sacrifice (suicide) feel to the Protectorate. You've got lots of models that can kill themselves or their underlings for effect. Menoth is apparently also good at fielding many weak warjacks (something they seem to have in common with Cryx).

Disclaimer: I'm new at this myself, and my preferred factions are Cygnar and Everblight.

ElectricPaladin wrote:

Menoth has been described to me as the "blue magic" faction. They are tricksy, in the sense that they are focused on denial. With Menoth you render parts of the board inaccessible to your opponent and render your models immune to their most powerful abilities. You also do a lot of punishing your opponent for daring to cast spells on his own models, or ending those spells prematurely. There's also a strong sacrifice (suicide) feel to the Protectorate. You've got lots of models that can kill themselves or their underlings for effect. Menoth is apparently also good at fielding many weak warjacks (something they seem to have in common with Cryx).

I sort of both agree and disagree with Paladin. I agree with his MTG characterization of being the 'blue magic' faction, but there isn't much suicide in the faction. Most times, we benifit from 'Beneficial Attrition', meaning that we get bonuses if YOU kill us. Also, our warjacks are tough as nails, but not too great in the skill department, by and large.

I gotta say as a protectorate player I just don't see the problems with our jacks, even with the choir gone I would say they are pretty fairly priced. And with the choir watch out. Menoths play style like skorne is so dependent on caster, it is almost hard to generalize their play style.

Khornate25 wrote:Mmm. Seems Khador is the way to go for my simple mind. Just like that, is it weird I'm kinda simple minded and still managed to get to university in philosophy? Life is so weird sometime...

I know I've said it in another thread, but Khador is full of lies and trickery. With Cryx you know they're up to no good and will likely not be doing what their face value suggests. On the face people see big, slow, beatstick units that are easy to hit but can really soak damage. Sure there are units like that, Man O' War variants and juggernaut-chassis warjacks, but they have a ton of ways to speed up their units and warjacks with just a bit of warcaster support. On top of that, they have great infantry that can be frustratingly difficult to hit and they break rules all the time.

I would go Khador or Menoth if you wanted to get in relatively cheap. Find a friend or someone online willing to split this;

http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/two-player-battle-box/warmachine-two-player-battle-box

And buy it from here;

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/


If pricing holds, you are looking at 75 bucks for the box---or roughly 37 bucks for an army + whomever gets the rulebook.

whitekong wrote:I gotta say as a protectorate player I just don't see the problems with our jacks, even with the choir gone I would say they are pretty fairly priced. And with the choir watch out. Menoths play style like skorne is so dependent on caster, it is almost hard to generalize their play style.

I agree. The Crusader, IMO, is about the best valued jack in the game, points-wise. Also, I agree somewhat with Mr. Kong's reticence to over-generalize. However, for a new player, it behooves those of us who follow the Lawgiver to come up with some concise summaries to give him/her an overall 'flavor' of how we function.

First, narrow down the playstyle you wish to play. Many factions can do more than one playstyle (ex: infantry swarm, heavy brick, ranged, assassination, denial) but each faction tends to do one or two playstyles better than all others. Warmachine/Hordes is a Game first, an aesthetic second (big IMO here) so figure out how you want to play, and then we can figure out what models you may want to play as.

I wanted numerous huge, hulking warjacks crushing all before them. I thought this meant Khador and I bought, more or less, the entire Khadoran faction. Turns out Khador plays much more to infantry-centric, so even though I 'thought' I wanted Khador, I really wanted to get into Trolls, who do numerous huge warbeasts and warbeast support much more organically.

So get your play style down, and then find the faction that fits. Saves big $$$ down the road.

Or.....You could pick the Warcaster you want to start with. I find that it also saves money to pick your caster, and build around their theme list. There are detractors of the whole Theme idea, and some are better than others, but it will help you narrow down the options you need to look at for purchasing.