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Dear Warmachinists,

I recently got bit by the flintlock & sword bug, and in the interest of not blowing a bajillion dollars on Warhammer Fantasy just to climb into a crappy ruleset, I'm thinking about trying to get into Warmahordes. I've looked at BattleCollege and the PP website, and the Cygnar faction appeals to me, particularly Minutemen, Hunters, Rangers, Long Guns and Kara Sloan. Jumping on some snooty git's head and two-hand throwing him to the firing squad appeals to me.

I am, however, an unrepentant miser and a bit of a conversion junkie. My 40k army is a bashed-together force of Grots-counts-as-Orks, with sprue-based hardsuits, Gnoblar snipers, sneeky gits hiding in barrels, scratchbuilt squigs and cardboard battlewagons abounding. Were it not for my tragic lack of camera, I'd demonstrate.

As is, suffice to say I'm allergic to spending money and much prefer to make my own stuff if I can.

Now, during my bitz-collecting time I've acquired a few WHFB parts, including some Empire flintlock pistols and blunderbusses. My intention with these was to scratch up some Rangers or even Gun Mages with them. Bases would, of course, be Privateer Press-issued, so as not to impact gameplay with the construction of the models.

So, the nitty-gritty questions: would some scratchbuilt Rangers/Gunmages be a thing I could do? What about Minutemen/Hunters? Or would I get told to take my shiz elsewhere? Given the importance of knowing what's what, I'd make a "key" for my army so that my opponents would be able to tell what's what without need to ask every single time.

Two things I've noticed about Warmachine: This game has a great premise, and dang are the models expensive! Failing/supplementing the kitbashed stuff above, another plan of mine was to use some Warlord Games Pike&Shotte dudes as Long Gunners and/or more gun mages. Would that be more acceptable than the hypothetical scratchbashed ones? Or should I just bite the bullet and get a second job? Kara would, of course, be the actual model, as I'm not quite cheese enough to try and 'bash together my warcaster.

Lastly, does Kara, two light warjacks and a blob of blue gunslingers sound like a good starting point to build up from? Or should I go for one of the more "mainstream" casters like Haley or whats-his-face the pistol git? Do I need something a bit more, as we greenskins say, choppy?

Proxies aren't as much of a thing in Warmachine as they are in Warhammer. I wouldn't have any problems playing you at a local game just for the fun of it, but tournaments are generally geared pretty competitively and being able to glance at a model and instantly recognize what it represents is absolutely vital.

Some people get inwardly peeved about mismatching army colors because it throws them off in high pressure situations. I'm not saying that's ok, but a red Cygnar army is easier to deal with at a tourney than scrap-built army would be.

While the models are individually more expensive, its not as much to get an army as you'd think.

You could get a good competitive 50 pt army for under $200 if you look for discounts.

Bite the bullet and shop online. Don't insult all your opponents by scratchbuilding the bulk of your army, and unless you do a good job of it will probably look like crap and your opponents will have a difficult time telling what is what.

Some minor converting is ok, but complete scratchbuilds are a no no. Largely because lots of models are similar(jacks sharing the same body but different weaponry) and people need to be able to quickly tell what is what.


Your army choice is a decent one. I've always liked Sloan and shooty Cygnar. It can definitely work, just realize you'll need a melee unit of some kind to back all that shooting up, its very difficult to shoot enough off the table before stuff gets into charge range.

Scratchbuild with tender, loving care for your army's appearance, not just to save a buck. People can usually tell when someone went out of their way to make something look better versus when they built a proxy with what was on hand. That said, if you built everything really well and everything represents what it was meant to very well, then you will get compliments on your creativity. You could say the threshold for customization is a much higher bar in wm/h.

Right, so only top-quality scratches/bashes. Given I'm no professional, methinks I'll be buying things and only supplementing them with scratchbuilds rather than replacing them entirely. Mimicking specific poses and equipments, that sort of thing. Might be able to get away with Rangers, cloaks are easy enough to do...

Wonder if buying upgrade kits and then "filling the gaps" with generic-ish bits might work.

In that light, how does this sound for an initial 25-pt goal?

Captain Kara Sloan (6)
Hunter 6
Minuteman 5
Squire 2
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team 4
Captain Sam MacHorne & the Devil Dogs (Sam and 9 Grunts)7
Buccaneer 3
Buccaneer 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1

The idea being, Kara and the hunter+squire chill in the backfield, putting out ranged hurt, while the minuteman moves upfield to start shenanigans. Sam&co. are there to be a melee beatstick, with lots of nets and Trash hits for fun and carnage. The Minuteman would go for targets of opportunity, with intent to disrupt squishy supports or grab something that really doesn't want to be in range of Kara, the 13th or the Dogs, then throw it so it is.

Or, if I'm feeling particularly Mercenary(highborn covenant),

Drake MacBain 6
Nomad 6
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)6
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer 2
Mule 8
Captain Sam MacHorne & the Devil Dogs (Sam and 5 Grunts) 5
Buccaneer 3
Goblin Tinker 1

Also being on the cards, with the Nomad and Drake there to punch face, ATGM and Mule to shoot face, and Sam&co. to sit face down so it's not going anywhere.

Depending on what you are building I might recommend the Silverline upgrade pack. It comes with a bunch of backpacks and weapons that look very Cygnarly and can be used to turn a non IK model into a very IK looking one.

While most of my models are PP ones, I do occasionally like to seriously mod them or even use non-pp models. Bits like this can be really helpful.