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Hi all, my local store is starting an escalation league for warmachine (and hordes) with some rather unique rules. I've been interested in warmachine for a while but never really had the motivation to start one, but this seems as good a jumping on point as any. I've spent the last few hours looking through the different factions, and i know the general gist of the game. I'm coming from both fantasy and 40k (with a preference for fantasy) where i've played both HE and Tau respectively. Cue the booing for playing the overpowered armies ect, but i've always loved their fluff.

Before I start in on which factions i've been attracted to here's the rules for the league:

*Week 1-5, your army MUST contain the contents of your initial army (i.e. your battlebox or alternative list provided by the store).

Week 1 - Battlebox or alternative list.
Week 2 - 15 points.
Week 3 - 25 points.
Week 4 - 25 points, but you may switch your warlock/warcaster.
Week 5 - 35 points, you may use either of your two casters, but must use the same one the entire week.
Week 6 - 35 points, no limitations. Bring whatever you want, however you want, as often as you want.

I'm interested in quite a few factions, and i like to paint heavily so the asthetics of the army are important. I find painting larger monsters/creatures better, and i'm not too big of a fan of large flat surfaces for painting. Aesthetically this means i've been mostly drawn to retribution, legion of everblight, circle, and possibly (thought i'm not really sure here) trollbloods. Fluff wise i've also been attracted to the new convergance of cyriss as i'm a very math and science inclined person (part of the attraction of the tau).

Recently i completed another escalation league with HE where i ran a pure cav, with mostly fliers and enjoyed how with the high movement i was able to dictate the terms of engagement for most of the game. I've also been enjoying the sheer aggressiveness of this type army as opposed to the more passive role i've taken in cases of tau and infantry elves. From what i've read retribution is the lead in this department? I've also fond the idea of Khador's heavy armour but slow moving and large(?) army somewhat interesting as thats not a playstyle i've ever had the chance to try.

The final consideration is money, I really don't want to overspend here. The black friday deals are looking quite good as all but everblight will follow the rules easily out to 25, unfortunate that they haven't posted prices yet. I'm also a bit nervous doing the black friday deal as (i figure) it would be spent directly to PP instead of into the local store. While a large number of models for an army seems appealing it would be a bit expensive financially, and i'd rather an army I can expand to 35 without really throwing down a huge amount of cash.

Basically I'm looking for a bit of advice on what army would be best to start with and would mesh best with everything I've described, or just advice in general.

Thanks guys!

zuriel45 wrote:
...enjoyed how with the high movement i was able to dictate the terms of engagement for most of the game. I've also been enjoying the sheer aggressiveness of this type army as opposed to the more passive role i've taken in cases of tau and infantry elves.

This screams Circle to me. Movement shenanigans, warbeasts that are very deadly, not too many flat surfaces for painting (save perhaps the wolds).

I would recommend splitting the two player battle box for Hordes with a friend as a cheap way of getting into the game. Great models and a pretty solid starting battle box.

Welcome to the Iron Kingdoms. Enjoy your stay. I'm sure someone will offer you an Ironclad Plushie soon

Welcome to the Iron Kingdoms, you will like it here.

I would look at Legion or Circle.

As to Black Friday deals. Discount Games Inc is running their own version of the them with IMHO better army compositions for a better price.

Unfortunately from what i've seen on the Discount Games Inc deals their stuff doesn't contain the battlebox, which are the figures I have to use for the first 5 weeks of the league. I've been looking to Circle and i like their models, I've also been looking closer at retribution and their models look good. How do they play?

Unfortunately I think the Circle is the answer to all of your points except being good for a new player. They are maybe the most difficult battlebox to play even for experienced players, and I think you'll just end up frustrated. Last year I took them for an escalation league because I wanted to try a new faction and they were the most appealing from a painting standpoint. I greatly enjoyed painting them, but have had no success in playing with them. I've run that list in two different escalation leagues so far and only won a single game in the first two rounds of each.

Two Argus is a terrible waste of points and you're stuck with them for five weeks. Kaya requires precision placement in a game that doesn't allow pre-measuring outside of the caster's control area, and will die very quickly if you misjudge something. The Feral Warpwolf is a total beast and you'll be happy wrecking stuff with him every week, but the rest of the box is not newb friendly.

I've only played against Retribution once and I like their style, but they seem to not be newb friendly either. Maybe someone else with experience can speak to that better.

Khador in my opinion is the best for a new player, with Menoth being a close second. Both of these boxes are forgiving of mistakes and fairly straight forward in their play, allowing you to focus on the mechanics of the game. Coming from 40K you might be a bit put off on the game mechanics. While I think it's a MUCH better game, Warmachine has a lot of nuances that are key to playing well: activation order, precise estimates of ranges, timing of feats, etc.

Best of luck and I'm sure you'll enjoy this game as much or more than Warhammer.

As a note, if you are following Journeyman Rules, you do have access to "Alternate" Battleboxes. For example for Circle you can use the standard battlebox (pKaya, 2 Argus, Feral), the 2 Player Alternate (pKaya, Winter Argus, Argus, Feral) or the Journeyman Alternate (pBaldur, Wordwarden, Wordguardian). I have no expereince with Circle, so I can't give you any advice on these battlegroups, but they are something to consider.

I'm also linking the journeyman rules which have all of the alt. battle boxes.

http://privateerpress.com/files/Journeyman%20League%20Rules.pdf