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I picked up a pretty big menoth lot and I'm considering trading some of it. I'm really looking at a retribution army I love the way their jacks look but I know NOTHING about them and I literally started playing 2 days ago. How do they compare to menoth or khador or really any other faction? Are they very magic heavy? I'm doing a journeyman league and no one is playing this army and I haven't heard anyone say they even own them. So can you give me some pointers tips tricks or just in general places to start? Thanks dakka!

Retribution does have a lot of spells. And magic attacks. all the ranged weapons on their jacks are magical.

Their Jacks have decent armor, but have very few damage boxes. We're talking a heavy that a the number of boxes that other factions would have on a light.

Half the jacks have a regenerating force field that gets damaged before their normal boxes, which slightly compensates for their low box number. But it is a system and can be disabled. A lot of their weapons are also reliant on the same system.

The battle box is a solid place to start from what I hear.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Retribution does have a lot of spells. And magic attacks. all the ranged weapons on their jacks are magical.

Their Jacks have decent armor, but have very few damage boxes. We're talking a heavy that a the number of boxes that other factions would have on a light.

Half the jacks have a regenerating force field that gets damaged before their normal boxes, which slightly compensates for their low box number. But it is a system and can be disabled. A lot of their weapons are also reliant on the same system.

The battle box is a solid place to start from what I hear.

I asked my FLGS owner and he said they were a garbage army. I love some of their models and I like their units, I just don't wanna start collecting something that no matter what type of list or how competitive it is it will always be bottom of the barrel. I have three tabs open from PP forums to just random blogs and no one seems to say that though...so I'm not exactly sure what to believe.

they are definitely not garbage.

They are personally the last thing I want to face across the table. Especially Rhan or the stupidly broken Ravyn's "Snipe-feat-go!". I have a personal vendetta against both those casters.

they are a little harder to learn compared to other factions and not very forgiving of mistakes, but they are certainly competitive enough.

 Grey Templar wrote:
they are definitely not garbage.

They are personally the last thing I want to face across the table. Especially Rhan or the stupidly broken Ravyn's "Snipe-feat-go!". I have a personal vendetta against both those casters.

they are a little harder to learn compared to other factions and not very forgiving of mistakes, but they are certainly competitive enough.

Well thank you then, I'm super interested in them but I was worried I would just get handed every game. Is the starter box (I know this sounds ignorant) the best place to start?

I don't know enough about them to make that call, but if other boxes are any indication its not a bad start.

Retribution certainly isn't garbage, but may have a steeper learning curve than other factions. There is a castor for just about any type of force you want to play but the warjack and unit choices need to support the caster's style. Rhan is good at repositioning, with battle mages you can re arrange the entire board to your liking. Ossyan's feat is great on ranged units. What to kill a colassal, take mage hunter strike force, and on ossyan's feat turn they get 4 dice on damage rolls.

No unit is bad, the only caster I know people shy from is pVyros.

Plus if you do get sucked in and end up buying their Colossal, you will never have to be in doubt about winning the "most extreme shoulder pads in Warmachine" contests. The Hyperion makes Space Marines look pathetic by comparison.

 Gharron wrote:

I asked my FLGS owner and he said they were a garbage army. I love some of their models and I like their units, I just don't wanna start collecting something that no matter what type of list or how competitive it is it will always be bottom of the barrel. I have three tabs open from PP forums to just random blogs and no one seems to say that though...so I'm not exactly sure what to believe.

Your FLGS owner is going to be sad the first dozen times you magehunter strikeforce snipe feat go his caster

 Grundz wrote:

 Gharron wrote:

I asked my FLGS owner and he said they were a garbage army. I love some of their models and I like their units, I just don't wanna start collecting something that no matter what type of list or how competitive it is it will always be bottom of the barrel. I have three tabs open from PP forums to just random blogs and no one seems to say that though...so I'm not exactly sure what to believe.

Your FLGS owner is going to be sad the first dozen times you magehunter strikeforce snipe feat go his caster

He plays menoth and that's what I have now but my gf is looking to play and she liked these two so I'm gonna have to look into some elves =D Do you guys feel like the battlebox is a good start? I'm not really sure where to move forward but I'm sure I can find that =)

 Gharron wrote:

 Grundz wrote:

 Gharron wrote:

I asked my FLGS owner and he said they were a garbage army. I love some of their models and I like their units, I just don't wanna start collecting something that no matter what type of list or how competitive it is it will always be bottom of the barrel. I have three tabs open from PP forums to just random blogs and no one seems to say that though...so I'm not exactly sure what to believe.

Your FLGS owner is going to be sad the first dozen times you magehunter strikeforce snipe feat go his caster

He plays menoth and that's what I have now but my gf is looking to play and she liked these two so I'm gonna have to look into some elves =D Do you guys feel like the battlebox is a good start? I'm not really sure where to move forward but I'm sure I can find that =)

oh i can help with that, the beast of war battle box and beyond series did retribution and where to expand apon that, its about an hour long and i recommend having the book with you to read along with them on their choices

http://www.beastsofwar.com/warmachine/battlebox-retribution-scyrah/ here is the link i defently recomend watching it, even if you dont use retribution just to know the cheap trics they can do on some of their stuff

 Gharron wrote:

 Grundz wrote:

 Gharron wrote:

I asked my FLGS owner and he said they were a garbage army. I love some of their models and I like their units, I just don't wanna start collecting something that no matter what type of list or how competitive it is it will always be bottom of the barrel. I have three tabs open from PP forums to just random blogs and no one seems to say that though...so I'm not exactly sure what to believe.

Your FLGS owner is going to be sad the first dozen times you magehunter strikeforce snipe feat go his caster

He plays menoth and that's what I have now but my gf is looking to play and she liked these two so I'm gonna have to look into some elves =D Do you guys feel like the battlebox is a good start? I'm not really sure where to move forward but I'm sure I can find that =)

harbinger can be a tough fight because of her feat, but in general ret laughs at shielding (most all their attacks are magic) and have a pretty good toolbox vs menoths raw power
Careful about reznik though, that all-magic stuff can work against you

 Gharron wrote:

 Grundz wrote:

 Gharron wrote:

I asked my FLGS owner and he said they were a garbage army. I love some of their models and I like their units, I just don't wanna start collecting something that no matter what type of list or how competitive it is it will always be bottom of the barrel. I have three tabs open from PP forums to just random blogs and no one seems to say that though...so I'm not exactly sure what to believe.

Your FLGS owner is going to be sad the first dozen times you magehunter strikeforce snipe feat go his caster

He plays menoth and that's what I have now but my gf is looking to play and she liked these two so I'm gonna have to look into some elves =D Do you guys feel like the battlebox is a good start? I'm not really sure where to move forward but I'm sure I can find that =)

Short answer yes, kaelyssa is pretty amazing with that backlash, cast on enemy jack and every time you Damage it, controlling caster gets a point of damage. Cast backlash, attack jack with strike force, then assassinate caster. Kaelyssa is also the only real answer to stealth in all of retribution.

Retribution are not garbage. That being said they do have a couple of bad matchups, stealth being the major one.

They have a bit of a steep learning curve, but they can be very competitive.

I've been reading on the PP forums about them. It just seems like you have to min/max this army to ensure when EVERYTHING you need to happen CAN happen. If you lose even one proper piece you're in deep and the whole strategy goes down the hole.

Eh, the PP forums say a lot of things that the rest of the internet thinks is of dubious quality. I don't know how accurate that particular statement is, but there is certainly precedent for other opinions to be more valid.

 dementedwombat wrote:
Eh, the PP forums say a lot of things that the rest of the internet thinks is of dubious quality. I don't know how accurate that particular statement is, but there is certainly precedent for other opinions to be more valid.

Where would you suggest I go? Is there a blog I can start with?

I vote read the Muse on Minis forums.