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So I am new and am thinking about starting to play Warmachine as either Retribution or Circle but reading the rules and watching/playing a few games I was wondering an important question. Can you win without your Warcaster being alive? Especially if you run a jack heavy team?

No because if your warcaster dies the game is over.

In almost all the scenarios, your caster/warlock being killed means you lose. In the few where that doesn't happen, your jacks assigned to the caster will just stand there, while beasts without a Warlock will run off. That means that in those cases, you'll probably lose anyway.

This is at once a very cool and for some people very annoying part of the game. Quite a few people's strategy for winning a match is to use the elements in their list to deliver a well-suited model (often your own caster) to within killing range of the enemy caster. Some casters are primarily suited to this style of play, like Sorscha for Khador.

With this in mind....If I play Retribution or Circle who should I stay away from as my Warcaster?

And also who is a better warcaster?

if you're afraid of your caster getting assasinated, Circle (like all Hordes factions) warlocks can transfer damage away to their beasts if they've got the fury to do so and the fury-less beasts to send the damage to. However, that requires that you not spend all the fury on your warlock and will hurt your beasts. In addition to that, there are still things that can prevent transfers (the ability grieveous wounds, for example) and even defensive spells and/or camping focus with your warcaster for armor (the ability Arcane Assasin).

From what I've seen, lists that are built for assasination will generally suffer if you manage to keep them from setting up their run. If you can manage that, you'll probably be able to wear the opponent down or possibly set up an assasination attempt of your own if you have a force that has the means for it. I'm not an expert on how circle works, so I'll leave a comparison between them and the Retribution for someone else to make.

Yes, sort of. Circle Wold constructs do not go wild when your Warlock dies so they can continue to fight normally.

I suggest reading the cards/pages for the casters you are interested in.
If you can pick up on their playstyle by reading them, then you are a bit more likely to remember what you need to do in a game.
At least that is what works for me.

When you read Caine's card, you pick up quick that he wants to shoot the crap out of stuff and get the hell out.
Butcher wants to smash face.

Also, Malfred has an article up here on Dakka for the Retribution book.
That could help steer you to a particular Ret caster.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

MarkoDoornbos wrote:if you're afraid of your caster getting assasinated, Circle (like all Hordes factions) warlocks can transfer damage away to their beasts if they've got the fury to do so and the fury-less beasts to send the damage to. However, that requires that you not spend all the fury on your warlock and will hurt your beasts. In addition to that, there are still things that can prevent transfers (the ability grieveous wounds, for example) and even defensive spells and/or camping focus with your warcaster for armor (the ability Arcane Assasin).

From what I've seen, lists that are built for assasination will generally suffer if you manage to keep them from setting up their run. If you can manage that, you'll probably be able to wear the opponent down or possibly set up an assasination attempt of your own if you have a force that has the means for it. I'm not an expert on how circle works, so I'll leave a comparison between them and the Retribution for someone else to make.

Circle, at least Baldur, seems to be all about making it tough for you to move/set things up, and then getting in your face with constructs.

I really think that in WM/H you cannot worry overly about being assassinated.
You play your game and try to keep the other guy from playing his.
If you do this well, and have a little luck, you get a win.

When you lose, you need to think about what you did, and where you made mistakes, flubbed activation order, or misread a card.
I haven't encountered a completely un-winnable matchup. But there are some tough ones.
You really have to have a plan going into a game. You can't really just throw together a list and expect to do well.

I'd say have a wee read at Battle College :

battlecollege.wikispaces.com/

It's still being converted to mark 2 but will give you a good general idea as to how the various casters play, what jacks run welll with them, that kind of thing.