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I'm thinking of getting into warmachine/hordes and I'm trying to pick my first faction. I like the beasts and jacks and I want to play a faction that focuses on them, rather than infantry. So far from my reading it seems like the legion is the most beast friendly. Are there any other factions that favor beasts or jacks?

Skorne are the kings of Beasts
Menoth runs jack heavy the best


If we consider both Jacks and Beast heavy in the same ranks, Legion would probably be 3rd after those two, (4th if you consider Cyriss)

Protectorate and Convergence like to have lots of warjacks. Other warmachine factions have certain casters that can support lots of jacks but it is a more narrow selection. Cygnar and mercs can do okay since they have effective jack marshals but they aren't on the same level as menoth and cyriss. Khador has issues making use of more than two jacks at a time due to focus restraints. Retribution probably wouldn't even take warjacks if they didn't have to some times.


Skorne and Legion bring the most beasts but Circle is no slouch with their beasts either. Trolls typically bring the fewest beasts of all the hordes factions but it is still more than the typical warmachine army brings in jacks. Farrow minions bring a good mix of beasts and infantry but don't have much support. Gator minions have one of the best infantry units in the game so they tend to make room for those guys in lists.

For a first faction I would stay away from Convergence. I want to start with them too, but since they are literally brand new I don't know if it would be that smart because nobody knows how to play them yet, so you'll have a hard time getting tactical advise. They also won't have as much support as the main 4 in terms of models released (at least not at first apparently).

So I'd pick either Menoth if you want jacks or Skorne if you want beasts. Menoth has about the most "dedicated jack buffs" that I know of, which is a good thing since their jacks are pretty average otherwise. Skorne just follows the simple philosophy of "apply elephants liberally to the affected area until the problem is resolved."

NinjaStars wrote:I'm thinking of getting into warmachine/hordes and I'm trying to pick my first faction. I like the beasts and jacks and I want to play a faction that focuses on them, rather than infantry. So far from my reading it seems like the legion is the most beast friendly. Are there any other factions that favor beasts or jacks?

beasts and jacks play a role in every army. In general though, warmachine armies tend to favour "combined arms" far more than hordes armies, and consequently, infantry and solos play a very large role. If anything, a warcaster and their battlegroup is often seen supporting a backbone of heavy infantry. that said, 2 jacks is extremely common across the board. SOme factions - the protectorate, and the convergence have support pieces, and focus mechanisms that generally allow them to run far more warjacks than is commly seen (as focus is a limited resource, and must be split between spells, boosts, power to jacks etc, its very much a game of resource management, and outside of focus multiplying spells like full throttle, and unearthly rage, a limited pool of focus can only go so far when split between infantry and jacks support). that said, there are casters in every faction that allow for a jack-heavy playstyle.
With hordes, with the very nature of fury, and how it is generated, you generally see a lot more warbeasts than you see warjacks in warmachine armies. 1-2 lights, and 2-3 heavies isnt all that uncommon. again, there are casters that prefer infantry, and casters that prefer beasts, but all factions are very capable of running a lot of beasts very well. bear in mind though, there is the "fury tax". hordes beasts cost proportionally more than their immediate warjack equivelants, and factoring in the fact that you will be taking proportionally more, proportionally more expensive pieces, and then factor in support pieces, your space for infantry might be quite limited. this will have consequences when you start playing.

dementedwombat wrote:For a first faction I would stay away from Convergence. I want to start with them too, but since they are literally brand new I don't know if it would be that smart because nobody knows how to play them yet, so you'll have a hard time getting tactical advise. They also won't have as much support as the main 4 in terms of models released (at least not at first apparently).

So I'd pick either Menoth if you want jacks or Skorne if you want beasts. Menoth has about the most "dedicated jack buffs" that I know of, which is a good thing since their jacks are pretty average otherwise. Skorne just follows the simple philosophy of "apply elephants liberally to the affected area until the problem is resolved."

Hmm, id disagree. if youre starting any faction, you are not going to be buying everything, and since you will be starting small/building up, the argument that not everything is available means very little. Also, the notion that no one knows how to play them/hard time with tactical advice. Surely it is more exciting to pave a new road? if anything it is more worthwhile, and more exciting to find things out yourself, discover new combos and not limit yourself to the limited groupthink of "what the internet says". if you like convergence - go for them. start small, build up. have fun.

Indeed. By the time he would be ready to expand his collection, Convergence would be just about due for their second round of releases.

The only downside to playing convergence is that they are new, and as such there might not be much solid advice for how to play them. Everybody, including the experienced players, is still finding what they're all about.

Of course you may enjoy the unknown aspect of the faction. be a trailblazer! thats what is tempting me to pick them up.

Good at Warjacks Tier: Protectorate of Menoth, Convergence of Cyriss
OK at Warjacks Tier: Cygnar, Mercs,
"'Jacks aren't bad, in the Right Context" Tier: Retribution of Scryah, Cryx
"Lol? Wut iz Wertrukker?" Tier: Khador, Green Army Men from a bucket, a Strawberry Poptart

Beasts are Amazing Tier: Skrone, Legion
Beats are Central Tier: Circles, Minions
Beasts are Good Tier: Trolls

I would add a caveat to Khador. their jacks are amazing, but you usually only ever run 1 because they are very focus greedy, as are most of their warcasters.

It's hard not to agree with the above, so I'll add a bit more detail:

Insofar as Warmachine is concerned, Menoth and Convergence are the undisputed kings, and they tend to do ranged and melee quite well with their jacks.

In Hordes, Legion and Skorne tend to use beasts the most, followed by Circle. Legion beasts tend to have a significant ranged focus, while Skorne and Circle tend to have a significant melee focus.

Also, in general, Hordes will have more Beasts than Warmachine will have Warjacks.

This is because the Warcaster has a limited amount of Focus to power the warjacks, but Warlocks need beasts to power themselves.


A typical warmachine list(all factions) will have somewhere between 1-3 warjacks. While a Hordes list will typically have at least 3 warbeasts.

You can get buy with only 1 warjack in Warmachine, but in Hordes taking only 1 beast is risky as it leaves your warlock with very little fury generation.