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Hello.

I am quitting WHFB and 40k to play warmachine to follow my club and friends and i need your advices to choose a faction in this game.

I know that all faction are balanced and i love that since i dont seek the OP faction just the fun one that match my style.

What i love the most is resistance (love to have big resistant guys) and versatility (dont like to be limited to contact OR ranged).

In wharhammer i played chaos warrior (to give you an idea of what i like).

Sorry for making the 100000 post on this subject but i really need advices to get it right from the begining and not doing again my mistake with warhammer (5 armies before finding the correct one).

If you need other information i would be happy to provide.

Thanks for your help.

Derev




P.S. sorry for bad english


Automatically Appended Next Post:
After reading quite a lot i am hesitating between Trollblood and skorne.

Which one do you think will goes the best with what i explained before?

Chaos in 40k were never the toughest mofo out there, they scarified a ton for greater power

and that is definitely Skorne

My bad, the chaos warrior was on WHFB not 40k. in 40k i was a classic space marine.

can you elaborate the differences between the 2 factions and why you advices skorne please

Both factions are pretty reliant on Synergy

Skorne is famous for its insane damage, probably the highest in the game among any of the factions. In addition they have decent mobility and survivability.

Trolls have the toughest people around, their heavies can often heal and pretty much ALL their infantry literally have a 'tough' rule (some infantry from all other factions have this rule as well, but seriously like ALL trolls are tough). They have pretty solid damage as well

I don't know much about Fantasy, but if I were to compare it to 40k, I would definitely put the thematic equivalent to Trolls are Orcs and Skorne is Chaos

derevan wrote:
Hello.

I am quitting WHFB and 40k to play warmachine to follow my club and friends and i need your advices to choose a faction in this game.

I know that all faction are balanced and i love that since i dont seek the OP faction just the fun one that match my style.

Welcome to the iron Kingdoms Derevan. *here, have some free goggles, and a warpwolf teddy bear*. I hope you enjoy your stay here - you'll be in good company.

Indeed - the game is very well balanced, so you dont need to worry as to whether your choices are *bad* - everything can be built into a game winning strategy.

derevan wrote:

What i love the most is resistance (love to have big resistant guys) and versatility (dont like to be limited to contact OR ranged).

In wharhammer i played chaos warrior (to give you an idea of what i like).

With respect, saying "what i like in warhammer" is kind of meaningless. I say this for two reasons. one. its a brand new game. why do the same old army with the same old thing? and two. No armies in warmachine, or its sister game hordes are directly comparable to 40k.

As to liking resistance, and versatility - the big obvious one that sticks out for me is Khador in warmachine. they are the archetypal 'hard' faction, with excellent attrition, and a very versatily killbook in terms of ranged abilities, and melee beatstickiness. Within the hordes camps, trolls and skorne come to mind, but hordes factions as a whole (with the exception of everblight) tend to more melee heavy, than ranged.

Bear in mind though - 'resistance' in this game isnt what your used to. there are no paladins, with 2+ saves, 3+ invulnerables, and multiple wounds. If you imagine a pendulum between inflicting damage, and absorbing damage, the pendulum is swung very much in favour of inflicting damage. everything can be 'one-turned' - even the hardest things. Dont go into the game expecting your opponents blows to slide off you like water - as i say - everything in this game knows how to throw a knockout blow.

derevan wrote:

Sorry for making the 100000 post on this subject but i really need advices to get it right from the begining and not doing again my mistake with warhammer (5 armies before finding the correct one).

If you need other information i would be happy to provide.

Thanks for your help.

we dont mind helping noobs. bear in mind though - ultimately this is your decision. we cant make it for you. we cant, and shouldnt tell you what you should take.

derevan wrote:

After reading quite a lot i am hesitating between Trollblood and skorne.

Which one do you think will goes the best with what i explained before?

Have a look at Khador too - as i said - they probably have more versatility - troll ranged abilities are a bit on the lower end of the spectrum, and the same is true for skorne.

But on the whole - it boils down to the aesthetics, and the fluff. both run pretty hard warbeasts, both have great heavy infantry, and both have fantastic internal synnergies. but trolls are more of a attritional tarpit, and skorne are a bit more on the movement shenanigans, and manipulation abilities side of things, if you ask me.

Trolls are resilient and kinda sorta take part of the game away from the opponent (albeit a small part for all but the more experienced players) by being almost trample proof. 90% of the troll models are on medium bases or larger. While that means that small bases don't block line of sight to them, it also means that enemy warnouns can't go running through their ranks in an attempt to reach the caster. Trolls also have a 33.3% chance of shrugging off every mighty blow. It shouldn't be relied upon, but is useful for potentially blocking a charge lane or doing something of the like. The trolls may not be able to deal the alpha strike damage that skorne can, but they can do it, receive the counter strike, and be ready to give it another go via all the defensive buffs the army has. Plus trolls have all the drunkards.

I too am new to the game and a Skorne player and will say that almost every army can play Beast Heavy, Shooty Heavy, Infantry Heavy, it depends more on the Warlock/Warcaster. I primarily was a WHFB player and hated the fact that the big cool stuff was mostly not worth the points and could be defeated by 1/2 their points in slaves or goblins or held up the entire game. This game is not like that. I chose Skorne for the big beasts and trust me they run them better than any other army thanks to their beast handlers. And overall when it comes to the big models on the table Hordes will generally run them better than Warmachine. The Fury/Focus dynamic is difference but even a big heavy jack can typically be allocated only 3 focus which you would spend to charge, buy attacks, boost attack and damage rolls and so on. Light warbeasts alone can usually be forced 3 times which is used to charge, boost attack and damage rolls and buy attacks like focus, whereas our heavy beasts can be forced 4 or in some cases 5 times. So if you like the big beasts you may want to lean Hordes, if you would rather focus on infantry Warmachine generally does that better and their Focus mechanic is a little more user friendly.So like Talamare I recommend them.

I'm Cryx which is a fun and quirky army imo, though some say it OP. Without talking about rules I've always thought Khador was more imposing from a standpoint of look at them, wow they're big and burly.

Thanks for all the splendid ansewr. I think i will follow all the advices and go skorne. We already have lots of people in my club playing khador so i wanna do something else and since i like the idea of big beasts i think horde is better.

Is it possible with skorne to play fast only big beasts ( dont really like numerous troups units)?

Definitely. You won't want to do only beasts, but majority beasts is definitely viable.

For warlocks, pMorghoul would be the number one choice.

You'll want a bronzeback, a titan gladiator(maybe 2), a Cyclops Brute, along with a Krea.


For support, every Skorne player needs to have Paingiver Beast Handlers. They are infantry that do nothing but support your beasts. Get at least one full unit, probably 2.

Then the Agonizer. Good support solo and fury bank. He can really screw Warjacks.

A Mortithurge Willbreaker is also practically mandatory for Morghoul as he helps with that tiny control area problem he has. Plus Puppet Master and Ancillary attack are awesome.

For infantry, pMorghoul likes independent infantry that doesn't need support. So Nhilators are a good choice. Hard hitting, good at clearing infantry, and Tough to boot.


Molik Karn is our character Cyclops and he works well with Morghoul. Plus Morghoul likes his Animus. With Abuse and Enrage, Molik Karn is hitting enemy heavies with pow17 weapon master.

The naturally fast Beasts in the Faction are Molik Karn and Archidon

Gladiator gets special props for being able to other Beasts +2" Movement

In addition Gladiator gets Gland Slam and Bronzeback gets beatback which gives them additional distance on certain actions

pMorghoul can give things +2 Speed
pMakeda can gives +5" Movement

Well if you want pure resilience, Cygnar can do some decent resilience lists, something like pStryker, 2 centurions, journeyman, Horgenhold Forgeguard which are dwarfs with giant hammers and thick armour, stuff like that. But it isn't at all a typical Cygnar list, and will suffer against some enemies.

 Talamare wrote:
The naturally fast Beasts in the Faction are Molik Karn and Archidon

Gladiator gets special props for being able to other Beasts +2" Movement

In addition Gladiator gets Gland Slam and Bronzeback gets beatback which gives them additional distance on certain actions

pMorghoul can give things +2 Speed
pMakeda can gives +5" Movement

I should add that that +2 speed from Morghoul also gives +2str. So his spell isn't worse.

Also, you can't charge and benefit from Savagery, so the total threat range is the same. Morghoul can also hand out Abuse multiple times a turn while at best you could do a hotswap with Savagery.

I come again to seek your advices. I just read a lot about skorne but my club told me that if i really like playing big beasts then troll would be better. Knowing club member i prefer to come here and ask this community for additional vision

And the more games i see the more i love the idea of buffing my troops.

As i said on my previous post i really like to play big guy. How will that go with skorne? Wouldnt troll be better for that?

In my experience Skorne play as many -if not more- beasts than trolls. They can't even come close of infantry buffing though; trolls do that extremely well.

You can't go wrong with either if you want robust melee fighters with a good range of beasts and heavy infantry. Trolls have more large infantry but skorne have quite a lot too. Trolls buff infantry better and shoot a little better while skorne buff beasts better. They both hit very hard in melee.

derevan wrote:
I come again to seek your advices. I just read a lot about skorne but my club told me that if i really like playing big beasts then troll would be better. Knowing club member i prefer to come here and ask this community for additional vision
And the more games i see the more i love the idea of buffing my troops.
As i said on my previous post i really like to play big guy. How will that go with skorne? Wouldnt troll be better for that?

generally speaking, warmachine factions play more "troop heavy", whilst hordes factions tend to be "beast heavy" with troops being very much in the supporting role. that said, trolls do better at running infantry than most hordes factions.

to answer your question - both factions have casters that can run multiple heavy beasts extremely well. Both factions have great support pieces (although i think skorne have better dedicated beast support) that help this along. trolls offer a better attrition game, whereas shorne tend to be more aggressive and harder hitting.

I think you should go with the faction whose aesthetics you enjoy the most. or buy the starters for both. they're not expensive. think about what you could get for the price of a 1000, or 1500pt 40k army?

Does the troll regeneration have a real impact on the game or is it just a useless feature. I have read the book 3 times but dont really understand how it works.

Sure it can have a real effect.

You're about to lose the game and you only have a single EBDT left. He's in charge range of the enemy caster but he's lost his mind(so only 1 dice to hit)

You force him to regenerate, get his body back, and go maul the enemy caster for the win.


It basically lets you get one more round out of a troll before it dies. It punishes your opponent for not finishing a troll off.

Whelps can also help heal. With enough of them out, you could potentially completely heal a troll beast back to full.

does skorne have the same possibility to heal his beasts?

derevan wrote:
I come again to seek your advices. I just read a lot about skorne but my club told me that if i really like playing big beasts then troll would be better. Knowing club member i prefer to come here and ask this community for additional vision

And the more games i see the more i love the idea of buffing my troops.

As i said on my previous post i really like to play big guy. How will that go with skorne? Wouldnt troll be better for that?

I strongly disagree with the idea that Trolls run beasts better. Trolls generally focus on infantry, whereas Skorne tend to be pretty flexible in that regard, leaning toward heavier beast usage. There is a single exception in the Trollblood faction, and he runs a /large/ number of beasts, but outside him I wouldn't say there's much of a comparison.

Edit: Regarding healing.

Trollblood regeneration is typically most useful when you have 'order of activation' issues. A warlock can spend fury to heal a warbeast, and typically that's how you'll do most of your healing, making regeneration redundant. Furthermore, using regeneration reduces the damage output on your beasts, which is something you really want to avoid.

However.

If you absolutely must activate your beast before your caster, either to open a charge lane, or knock something down, etc etc, sometimes you wouldn't be able to use your warlock to heal your warbeast. In that case, regeneration can be a godsend. Skorne may not have regenerate on their beasts, but they /do/ have beast-handlers. That unit can heal their warbeasts in much the same way as regenerate, which can clear up those order-of-activation difficulties.

derevan wrote:
does skorne have the same possibility to heal his beasts?

Yes.

Paingiver Beast Handlers have 3 special actions they can do on any skorne beast.

1) Heal D3 damage

2) give it a strength buff and make it have to charge or slam for free

3) put on/take away any amount of Fury from the beast


Plus any Warlock can spend 1 fury to heal a beast in his battlegroup 1 damage point, this applies to all Hordes factions.