Deadnight wrote:
Best way to describe them though is as below. bear in mind, these are vague comparsions using 40k as a basis -BUT you cant take them side for side. this is a skirmish game, while 40k is an army game. these similarities are similarities only in the vaguest of senses - warmachine is nothing like 40k, and in a lot of ways, talking about similarities does it a bit of a disservice.

Khador are the angry imperialist russians seeking to reclaim their ancient empire.In khador, there is no such thing as "excessive force", and in khadoran, the word for "bigger" is the same as "better". they are kind of like a cross between space wolves and imperial guard. they're generally seen as the "axe to face" faction, and are fantastic beatsticks, but they also excel at offloading ridiculous amounts of damage at short range. they also have the best artillery in the game, and while often seen as a beatstick faction, they have excellent ranged options too. khador as a shooty army are perfectly viable. In terms of armour, you're talking about the equivelants of land raiders and baneblades. khador have the widest mix of infantry types with power-armoured infantry (Men o War), heavy infantry (Iron Fangs), medium and light infantry (winter guard), irregular infantry and guerrillas (manhunters, kossites). in terms of jacks, they only make large ones. and in terms of fluff, they have fewer jacks, but make up for it with more heavy infantry, heavy cavalry and horse drawn tanks.

Cygnar are the imperium of the IK. they've got the most wealth, best technology and are surrounded on all sides by their enemies. they're forweard thinking and liberal in the sense that 19th century britain was "liberal" and forward thinking. In game terms they act like a cross between tau, and ultramarines. while khador like BIG guns that put HUGE holes in the ground, and use rockets, mortars and flamethrowers, cygnarans like rapid firing long range (long in this game is 14") gatling guns and rapid firing rifles. they are more a combined arms kind of army with 2 distinct troops choices - trenchers (marines) and long gunners (army) backed up by knighty orders (sword knights, precursers etc) and backed up by the Storm-noun units and divisions (the lightning themed units in cyngar). cygnar also makes the most use out of mercenaries of all the factions.

Menoth are the taliban of the IK. they're the denial and buffing faction. No, you cant go there. No, these guys are immune to ranged attacks, no these guys cant be knocked down. effectively, they play by stopping you doing what you want to do, and then they counter punch. they like fire. in terms of their make up, they are divided aong the lines of zealous infantry, and knightly orders. they're a very synnerginistic army with overlapping layers of buffing and deck stacking. their units tend to be statwise inferior to the other factions, but the buffs they bring to the table more than compensate.

Cryx are the gutter fighters of the iron kingdoms. they use every dirty trick imaginable. they're the offensive de-buffing faction. that arm 20 jack is now arm15. smash smash smach. its dead. cryx like to melt things and steal souls and use all manner of sneaky, dirty underhanded tactics. in terms of thier make up, you've got zombies/necromantic contstructions, summoned "daemons" for want of a better word (bane thralls/knights), ghost/undead pirates, amazon warrior women, blighted ogres and trollbloods, and your general assorted riffraff, scum, murderers, thugs and mercenaries. their jacks tend to be hard to hit, utterly brutal in melee, and very very squishy.

Retribution are like a sci-fi cygnar. in ways they're similar, but along a parallel path, and one where they punish magic users above all else. their jacks are like Protoss from Starcraft in that most tend to have a forcefield that protects them. overall though, they're more limited in choices an options, but thats very much because they're the "new" faction. dont let that fool you into thinking they're not competitive. they are.

Deadnight wrote:
Trollbloods: Braveheart Trolls

Trollbloods - Large, tough, strong with a kilt and tartan wearing scottish highlander theme and a back story that begins like the Trail of Tears, until their version of "Crazy Horse" starts winning when he binds the tribes together. The most "good guy" choice, with some Dirty Dozen, Braveheart and the Incredible Hulk thrown in for spice. Pieces can cost more than average to collect because they are larger and require more metal to manufacture. trollbloods are seen as the "brick" faction. they tend to grind out an attrition based win. they hit hard, but their true strength is being able to buff themselves up with overlapping layers of buffs, and absorb whatever you throw at them, and laugh it all off. they are also the "humourous" faction. No, they're not orky, and no they're not comedy, but they have some amusing moments, especially as the faction as a whole always seems to be hungry they like drinking, fighting and carousing with the trollblood maidens afterwards.


Skorne: Roman/Samurai Legions with slightly more torture and pain.

A mix of Roman, Samurai and Persian influences, particularly in fancy ornate armor. A cruel empire of slavery, war and conquest revolving around a warrior society, a warrior cult that glorifies death in battle against overwhelming odds (its their only way of acheiving immortality as the Skorne reject the gods, and face only oblivion on death otherwise) and a study of death magic and ancestor worship. The Skorne despise the gods, and especially those who worship dieties, and consider themselves all the stronger for standing on their own, without any dieties to aid them. They are the hordes faction that is most likely to look like an organized army in uniform. They employ enslaved crocodiles, the elephantine Titans and a soul fueled terracotta army of warrior-golems to bolster their numbers.


Legion: Blighted evil goblin-elves who worship a dragon (who commands them with a tyranid-like hive mind) that has genetically twisted them in his own image and into his perfect army.
The Elves look more like goblins, their leader is a dragon-possessed ogre who grew wings (and promptly ate another dragon). They fight with primitive bows and swords but wield scary magic and breed dragon blood spawned monsters that are a cross between sharks-on-land and a dinosaur. They play by their own rules (ignore terrain, LOS etc), and hope to eat the souls of all the other dragon-gods. Lots of female characters ranging from weird deformed mutants to bow hunters to ninjas to sorceresses. overall they're fast and tend to be the most beast-heavy faction. definately a hit and run/glass cannon faction that focuses purely on assassination and "killing the other guy" as opposed to grabbing objectives and playing the attrition game.


Circle: Faustian Terrorist Druids meet up at Stonehenge for a tree spiking or a human sacrifice.
Forget tree hugging hippies. THese guys are the wrath of the hurricane. these guys embody purely the wild, powerful, untameable and incredibly destructive aspect of nature. Fires, floods, earthquakes and disaster. These nature manipulators believe that civilization will bring about the destruction of mankind. They seek to destroy civilisation, and restore "balance" to the world. They draw their power from a being that essentially represents the end times. They will steal babies, blight the harvest and make Faustian deals to advance their agenda. Their army consists of druids, wildmen and hunters, werewolves, beastmen, stone-golems, sacred stone markers, grizzly-sized goats, and anyone they can manipulate to serve them. They source their magics from the very wilds themselves, and use magic to manipulate terrain and nature itself(earth and stone, wind, lightning etc), slay foes, teleports or makes their minions stronger. they're a surprisingly resilient glass cannon/ guerrilla faction. lots of dirty tricks and manipulations.


The Farrow Minions (the mercenaries of hordes- they're a subfaction, like WMs pirates and dwarves) - the iron Kingdoms do not have ork. Instead, they have Pork! Farrow are scavenging Boars who walk on their hind legs and carry scavenged/looted rifles. They are led by a self styled, (if somewhat deluded) Conan the Boar-barian, and are allied with a Mad Scientist who created Frankenstein cyborg-pigs sewn together from spare parts of bodies and robots to do their dirty work. A new addition to the game, there are fewer choices of models if played with one of their own generals, but all units and solos can be included in almost any Hordes Army.

The Alligator Minions. Hordes doesnt do lizardmen. they do Gatormen. With Bayou and Voodoo, and sinister undead undertones these Gatormen are leather hide tough, but fight with only simple spears and possess no technology not even bows and arrows. They are joined by other swamp creatures such as poison tree frogs, giant snapping turtles who spit acid, and fishmen who like to sneak up behind you. Another new addition to the game, there are fewer choices of models if played with one of their own generals, but all units and solos can be included in almost any Hordes Army.