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I'm new to Warmachine & Hordes; and like many a new player before me.
I have factions concerns.

I was able to play 3 games the other day to see if I would enjoy playing the game against another person, using my plain jane battle box kits. [Trollbloods / Menoth]

What I'm really pulling my hair out over is what direction do I go?

I played two games with the Trolls, being more interested in Hordes system of fury initially. My opponent was a pretty cool guy who walked me through and gave me advice on how the rules actually work. He told me the Trollbloods battle box isn't that good, as the light war beasts I have don't mesh well with Madrak's feat, more-so in such small point game it was kinda worthless. (I could tell!) Needless to say I got stomped by Legion in the first game but was able to win the second in a battle box v. battle box fight against Khador.

My third game was against a Cygnar player, to which I was able to try out Warmachine with the Protectorate of Menoth, I was able to win, but it was a really close fun game. I found the focus mechanic, although more restricting, easier to grasp and manage rather than Hordes risk management. (Maybe I'm just a terrible gambler.)

This brings me to my concern, what faction fits me best? I enjoy the story and the units behind both.

I believe I play much more defensively, which is why I really liked the spells and abilities behind Menoth (Such as lamentation - pretty sure the reason why I didn't get fried by Cygnar), but it doesn't mean I aim to hide in a corner with a snot bubble coming out of nose making small animal noises. I'll advance, I enjoy systematically shrugging off attacks putting the pressure on in various ways, until I connect with the enemy and grind them down. The key point being, if we are going to fight I'm going to do my damnest to ensure it's on my terms. I also enjoy hitting like a mac-truck if the opportunity presents itself.

I understand Menoth are very buff orientated, and really grind opponents down through control, and Trollbloods can be tough as nails, and pack quite a punch.

What do you, veterans, novices, or others think? Am I looking in the wrong place for this type of playstyle? Can one offer it better than the other?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Focus is easier to grasp and get a hold of as a mechanic.

But really, I would go with the faction you like the look of. Thats the biggest factor.

If you like defensive, buff orientated factions, Menoth is a good place to start. Skorne is probably the best analog to Menoth on the Hordes side of things, although they are more combat focused with their buffs while Menoth has more denial.

I play both Menoth and Skorne so if you have any specific questions about them feel free to ask.

For a defensive playstyle I would lean to menoth (a bit partial since I play Menoth also...and skorne, props to grey templar for playing cool factions he just needs cryx now ) Trolls also tend to buff their stuff, though they are very infantry centric and I know some of their casters can run a brick IIRC.

Also, for fighting under your own terms, menoth has a wonderful solo called the vassal who has an ability called enliven which allows a warjack to move away when they take damage.

Both factions rely heavily on support staff, and have good defensive tech. However while trolls are more of a general synergy faction and have at least one good buff in every area, Protectorate is certainly the more focused of the two on defensive abilities. The faction is flush with "Can't be targeted by" and "Can't be damaged by" and "When a model in this unit damaged" type effects.

In fact one unit the Holy Zealots can for one turn in the game gain both "Models in this unit can't be damaged except by feats and spells this turn" and "Models in this unit can't be targeted by spells this turn". Between the ability "Enliven" and the ability to avoid knockdown, you an make it so it is very hard for the enemy to get more than single melee attack on 'Jack without doing inefficient run-to-surround type stuff, this is at the same time they can't be targeted by non-magical ranged attacks.

Don't misunderstand, trolls can make their stuff hard to kill but they don't have the singular focus on layered defenses and denial that Protectorate does.

Warmachine lets you build relatively small armies- a hundred dollars can get you 35 points if you're smart about it.

Why not choose more than one army?