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I guess this is a 2 bit thread, first to ask about my expanding assortment of Khador models but secondly to ask about the popularity or lack there of in the UK

First off I really liked the aesthetic of Khador so decided some time ago to pick up and paint the battle box - I wasn't incredibly impressed with the sheer amount of work I had to put in to clean up the models but ultimately I found them enjoyable and have since looked up additional units that interest me which in truth are mainly infantry as I don't have an airbrush for large warjacks

My questions to you, the ever reliable community of Dakka are the following

1. I've ordered a unit of 6 winter guard, a female man hunter and Vladimir (e) with his giant shoulders rock on, these were all bought because I liked the models and wanted to see individually what sculpts were like before committing to buying a £30 box of 10-12 models. Assuming I add say another destroyer on top of my battle box what kind of units should I look at getting? Should I just pick up the book asap? (this will be addressed in the second question) are the units in MKII that are considered staples for Khador? A lot of articles on the battle college aren't up to date and a lot of the lists here confuse me with the lingo

2. I live in a fairly small town in Dorset, England, I don't drive and very few friends play GW table top games let alone alternative companies, I've heard in the US of A Privateer Press have seen a surge over the recent years with the popularity particularly of Warmachine I wander how well has that applied over here? Is it still growing? I've only found one gaming club in Weymouth and telling my friends hey guys don't worry you just need the battle box is easy but in truth they will need the army book later on and probably additional models assuming they want more than 15 minute games so I'm unsure how to approach this line of models

My options are pretty much keep buying Khador models I like the look of while gradually getting to the ones I dislike and stopping or slowly building a list, buy the book and hunt down players to compete against, which right now seems a difficulty! Unless of course I'm slowed, which is debatable

You don't have much need to get any models you dislike. Warmachine is a game where a really strong list can be made out of a majority of models you like and then a few supporting models you are rather neutral to. Not everything you love will always work together well, but unless you chose a faction you don't belong in there shouldn't be too many you dislike.

Some of the staples in khador are full winterguard infantry with all their attachments and kovnik Joe. This unit recently got a resculpt in plastic with the full unit and three rocketeers. Kayazay assassins with their underboss are also still a popular unit.

For jacks, look at the character jacks mostly: behemoth, beast 09, and black Ivan. The kodiak and spriggan seem to be widely accepted as solid noncharacter choices as well. The conquest also performs well of course.

I'm in Southampton, until recently we had no gaming clubs. There's a core of 4-6 people who do war machine. I sold mine due to lack of use and not liking the game. It seems thin on the ground. Malifaux and dreadball seem to be more popular.

Yep if your going to run Winterguard go big or don't bring it, The WGDS is still one of the toughest infantry units in the game and with an IF caster its just a tarpit that's big and nasty. with pIrusk on feat turn its downright unfair in controlling a zone....with pButcher or eVlad it can put out some serious damage.

As for jacks, I love Behemoth, Beast 09, Conquest, Spriggen, Devastators are fun against infantry heavy lists. And my flavor of the month is the Kodiak.

My khador list normally has a mow shocktrooper unit these days and battle mechanik with officer to provide one of those "we're going to be here all week & there's not much you can do about it", great in scenarios.

My meta has seen quite a bit of growth recently. I think we're at the 15-20 player range (enough for a league with spare players) and are in the brighton area so only 100 miles ish away?

Aye "Ravanar" it's not too far but still quite excessive to play a few games, Weymouth, Southampton and Portsmouth are closer so will have to look around see what I can find in the way of clubs or local gaming stores, as there are none here whatsoever. I'm glad you have a core group going on I'm jealous though I suppose that's what I get for living in a little town

Thanks for the comments "Dais" greatly appreciated I'm glad whatever I like the look of wont just be terrible on the table, not that I've played a proper game of Warmachine before

@"Spyral" - your comments really surprise me about Dreadball and Malifaux, the people I know use Mantic models for fantasy and most would not know what Malifaux is, we had a couple of discussions about Dreadball but figured without a few more players amongst us it wouldn't be worth the time. Whilst many people have boards and gaming groups it seems a pretty tough time for some hobbyists that don't have much in the way of local social opportunities. Will try pester some people into using my Everblight starter box for an intro game

@"Darefsky" - I only went a small number of winter guard because of the casting issues I've had in the past, truth be told I'm unsure how exactly I'll tackle cleaning up the metal models though are I suspect they will be much easier than the Khador battlegroup which was horrendous - I'll look over the rules shortly for some khador bits and bobs then take it from there

Cre5po wrote:
Aye "Ravanar" it's not too far but still quite excessive to play a few games, Weymouth, Southampton and Portsmouth are closer so will have to look around see what I can find in the way of clubs or local gaming stores, as there are none here whatsoever. I'm glad you have a core group going on I'm jealous though I suppose that's what I get for living in a little town

Thanks for the comments "Dais" greatly appreciated I'm glad whatever I like the look of wont just be terrible on the table, not that I've played a proper game of Warmachine before

@"Spyral" - your comments really surprise me about Dreadball and Malifaux, the people I know use Mantic models for fantasy and most would not know what Malifaux is, we had a couple of discussions about Dreadball but figured without a few more players amongst us it wouldn't be worth the time. Whilst many people have boards and gaming groups it seems a pretty tough time for some hobbyists that don't have much in the way of local social opportunities. Will try pester some people into using my Everblight starter box for an intro game

@"Darefsky" - I only went a small number of winter guard because of the casting issues I've had in the past, truth be told I'm unsure how exactly I'll tackle cleaning up the metal models though are I suspect they will be much easier than the Khador battlegroup which was horrendous - I'll look over the rules shortly for some khador bits and bobs then take it from there

I don't remember there being much flash or the mold lines being all that bad on the WG when I got them (they were metal though). Keep in mind that the gosh-darn WGDS was a monster to paint (took me like a month) and I don;t remember it that well (must have purged it from my mind like most traumatic events.....).

Cre5po wrote:

@"Darefsky" - I only went a small number of winter guard because of the casting issues I've had in the past, truth be told I'm unsure how exactly I'll tackle cleaning up the metal models though are I suspect they will be much easier than the Khador battlegroup which was horrendous - I'll look over the rules shortly for some khador bits and bobs then take it from there

The WGI are plastic now aren't they?

The new 13 man WG box set is plastic, but it sounds like the OP has got one of the older 6 man box sets.

There's a group of about 6-8 of us in Southampton that play on thursday nights. We generally play at my place, where we have room for 3 games simultaneously, and newbies are welcome (we had a new joiner 2 weeks ago). PM me if you're interested.

Also there's a club in town called Southampton Sluggaz that meets on friday nights at St Denys Community Centre. It's very much 40k dominated at the moment, (apart from a dreadball league) but there may be some folks there who are into WM/H, I'm not sure - last week was the first time I've been, and that was a special extended session because of the bank holiday, so I'm not sure how typical it was.

Its all to do with where you are.

Warmachine has nearly as many players as 40k in my town, and more dedicated ones for sure.

Very few people play anything else on a regular basis

Cre5po wrote:
2. I live in a fairly small town in Dorset, England, I don't drive and very few friends play GW table top games let alone alternative companies, I've heard in the US of A Privateer Press have seen a surge over the recent years with the popularity particularly of Warmachine I wander how well has that applied over here? Is it still growing? I've only found one gaming club in Weymouth and telling my friends hey guys don't worry you just need the battle box is easy but in truth they will need the army book later on and probably additional models assuming they want more than 15 minute games so I'm unsure how to approach this line of models

Still growing? That I'm unsure about, but it's it's fairly popular in the UK. Some London clubs have totally been taken over by Warmachine others are still a bastion of Games Workshop. In Oxford Warmachine players are around 20% of the club members. One really good thing is that there are plenty of events all over the country most weekends. Have a look here and you can involve yourself in plenty. But that's later on after you get used to the game itself.

To introduce the game to your friends just start them off slow. Play the models each person likes and let them grow naturally. You could run a mini journeyman league or find a local press ganger who could run one for you but that's an intensive way to play and not everybody likes that.

My apologies for the lack of reply sooner

To answer about the WG I picked them up some time ago as a unit of 6 (metal) because I liked the models and tbh wasn't aware of a bigger box with more goodies just assumed it was for bigger games? Not sure. Now I'm in this situation would it be best to buy the box of 10 or expand around the 6 I have using attachments and such?

I'm glad to hear there are clubs up in Southampton I visit regularly so it's certainly worth considering thanks for the heads up "pgmason"

When it came to casting issues it was mainly two things, the Khador battlegroup which was riddled with thick lines and Eiryss whos face is lower on one side, slipping ftw

As I only know one person that plays I've picked up a unit of widowmakers and a marksman - I have a thing for sniper rifles and bows, that's what I'm into anyway - I've heard widowmakers are good, not seen anything about the marksman but at the moment it's not as if it matters

A bit more background is that I've only got back into assembling and painting miniatures in the last 18 months or so and due to 90% of my purchases being with GW I've had very little besides Waywatchers in metal (BOWS YEAHHH) so approaching them is a delicate matter!

Anyway as of now I have

Battlegroup
eVlad
Man-hunter
6 WG
6 Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Destroyer - given to me by a friend so no additional arms - old metal thing

Couple of questions

eVlad - what's his shizzle? Doomreavers benefit from him a fair bit I'm guessing? Tempted by Kayazy Assassins but £30 for a unit of 10, not so sure, be nice to have them of course but I need to flick through the book me thinks - work out the synergy's for myself

Ramble over, please proceed

how on earth did you get 6 widowmakers? I thought they only sold in packs of 4

And yes, eVlad is one of the few casters that can benefit doomreavers due to spellward. Transference allows the doomies to use his focus to boost and his feat can buff them to pow 16 weaponmasters with spd9 and mat 10

Sining wrote:
how on earth did you get 6 widowmakers? I thought they only sold in packs of 4

And yes, eVlad is one of the few casters that can benefit doomreavers due to spellward. Transference allows the doomies to use his focus to boost and his feat can buff them to pow 16 weaponmasters with spd9 and mat 10

You are correct, it was 2am and I was knackered, I guess after writing 6 WG I just put it again! My apologies

May have to invest after I've had a game or two with eVlad then!