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Themadpainter
12-24-2010, 11:26 AM
I am a longtime Warhammer player and I used to play 40k also about a decade ago. I'm not sure what the pull is to Warmachine but its really grabbing my interest. I should tell you that I have never even watched a game of it being played I just think the models and books book neat. I will be watching a game here this sunday though to get a slight feel for it and to see if I want to go ahead and dive head first into the game.

My question to you all is in your opinions what makes Warmachine fun/different/whatever compared to Warhammer? Or just tell me anything you feel like sharing about the game. Thank you :)

scadugenga
12-24-2010, 06:19 PM
Welcome, Themadpainter!

Warmachine (and Hordes) is a ridiculously fun game. When a friend pitched it to me several years ago, he described it as a steampunk fantasy wargame with elements of battletech and WWE style mayhem, rockem sockem robots style.

Even with that hype, it wasn't until I demo'd a game at Gencon before I caught the bug. The game plays fast, and the rules while deceptively simple, allow for some really deep gameplay thought.

Plus--large magical steampunk robots.

Plus, PP did an amazing job building their world setting and cosmology. In many cases, it feels much more "realistic" than you would imagine.

Definitely give it a try!

Themadpainter
12-24-2010, 11:39 PM
Yes I feel I may be catching the "bug" and I haven't even watched a battle yet! The models and books are so rich and there is so much high praise from the players about the game and the company that makes it. I was in the process if switching WFB armies but I may well take that money and put it into Warmachine instead! Hopefully I can get a demo or at least watch a battle down at my FLGS. I'm sure I can, the Warmachine dudes down there are almost more willing to talk shop then anyone else. Thanks for the input scadugenga, much appreciated.

scadugenga
12-25-2010, 12:49 AM
I have to say that Privateer Press did one thing right that I haven't heard any other company do:

They listen to their player base.

The Mk2 beta rules for both Warmachine and Hordes were released to the entire player base for free--just so they could get the feedback and make the game that the players wanted.

Someone at PP really understands making the consumer happy. :)

Themadpainter
12-25-2010, 12:58 AM
That is awesome and unheard of! I also am liking the smaller model count compared to the other games and faster game times. Could be easier to get your buddies to join in.

tjkopena
12-25-2010, 02:22 PM
It's worth noting that posting rules is really only unheard of in miniatures gaming. It's basically expected of boardgames that the rules are posted online by the manufacturers, and not doing so is a major negative mark. It's an interesting point about how miniatures companies see their business and their customers that they don't generally post their rules online, even as they regularly say the books are break even efforts or even loss leaders for the miniatures. Meanwhile, for all the boardgames that could and are quite readily copied by crafts-oriented people, the rules are almost invariably posted online by their companies. PP's open beta is somewhat novel in table gaming, but note that it's almost de rigeur in computer gaming.

As to the original question, the feel of Warmachine vs 40k is quite different. I strongly encourage checking it out before investing heavily. It's a good game and has a lot of neat aspects, including the universe & cosmology, but I personally have never taken to it as strongly as 40k because of its heavy focus on melee, relatively limited mobility, and finer grained fiddlyness. For example, I feel like almost every match starts by spending a couple turns running straight at each other before anything happens. There's a lot of focus on exact model positioning & facing, with crazy tricks about models rotating around each other at precise angles to avoid strikebacks and so on, all of which can be contentious to do with custom terrain & minis rather than a more abstract boardgame setting. Obviously opinions differ and some people swear by the game, but definitely check it out first.

Themadpainter
12-25-2010, 05:10 PM
I will for sure I plan on checking out a game in my FLGS and definitely a batrep or 2 on the web.

Themadpainter
12-28-2010, 04:56 PM
Well I got my Prime MK II book and Cygnar book today!!! SO much reading to do. Hopefully next week I'll be able to buy at least my battle group and then move on from there.

Faultie
12-28-2010, 08:02 PM
Congrats! You can go onto Privateer Press's website and find a Press Ganger near you, and they would be happy to run a demo game (or a few) for you. Reading the rules is important, but getting in a demo game really helps to figure out how things work on the table. The PG can answer any questions you might have on interactions and tips for playing and collecting.

Where abouts are you located? If it is anywhere near the DC Metro area, I'd demo for you myself. Otherwise, go here (http://volunteers.privateerpress.com/location/users) to find another PG to help you out. Good luck!

scadugenga
12-28-2010, 09:32 PM
Gratz, man!

And what Faultie said.

Welcome to the fray!

Just be careful, PP, even moreso than GW products, inspire rapid purchasing all out of proportion to need. ;)

Themadpainter
12-29-2010, 06:23 AM
After briefly reading the books I can say that... wow they are rich. I can also get a feel of the companies mentality and it is refreshing to say the least. Also I have heard about "Page 5" but never read it till now, its hilarious. I love it!

Voices
01-08-2011, 01:58 PM
Welcome, Themadpainter!
Plus, PP did an amazing job building their world setting and cosmology. In many cases, it feels much more "realistic" than you would imagine.

I think this has to due with the fact that WM/Hordes popped out of PP's Iron Kingdoms setting for D&D 3rd Ed, largely because PP also realized...magical steampunk robots.

The first book published for IK was The Longest Night, first volume of the Witchfire trilogy. During that trilogy's production, PP also released the first Monsternomicon and Locked and Loaded: the Iron Kingdoms Character Primer.

After it's conclusion, 3.5 was about to shelve, and PP took their planned IK World Guide and split it into the Character Guide and World Guide...the sad part was that it took a year (or more) for each book to come out sequentially, and that delay cost the interest of a lot of RPers...

Personally, what got me into the whole thing were the fantastic covers by (usually, and until recently) Matt Wilson. (gallery here: http://www.mattwilsonart.com/home.shtml)

The artwork for it still floats around: you can see the cover of the Character Guide by looking at the portrait artwork for Rutger Shaw (Mercs) and Taryn di la Rovissi (Mercs); and for the World Guide by glancing at the portrait of Dannony Blythe and Bull (again, Mercs). Samantha MacHorne was famously on the cover of L&L.

But then again, WM 1.0 also shelved a few months following the conclusion of Witchfire, so it was all good for us!

And welcome to the sandbox!

lovell.harmon
01-12-2011, 09:58 AM
Our club in Philadelphia, PA (PAGE - Philadelphia Area Gaming Enthusiast) plays Warhammer, 40K and Warmachine. In most cases, players play at least two of the three. I agree that Warmachine is a faster play and smaller model count - which means it might be possible to get three games of Warmachine done in one night, while you're only going to get one (possibly two) games of 40K in the same night.

Luckily, you can find players for either at our club. I personally have about 250 points of Cygnar, 6,000 points of Necron and about 2,500 points of Tyranid. My sons (both in college) have Dark Eldar, Space Wovles, Eldar, and Tau for 40K, and Protectorate and Retribution for Warmachine.

On any given Sunday night, you can usually find a player for any of these games - boy are we lucky!

FastEd
01-12-2011, 04:13 PM
After it's conclusion, 3.5 was about to shelve, and PP took their planned IK World Guide and split it into the Character Guide and World Guide...the sad part was that it took a year (or more) for each book to come out sequentially, and that delay cost the interest of a lot of RPers...


Rumor (read: I believe official, but I forgot the source what seems like forever ago) has it that the Iron Kingdoms setting will be coming back out using it's own system.

scadugenga
01-12-2011, 06:28 PM
Rumor (read: I believe official, but I forgot the source what seems like forever ago) has it that the Iron Kingdoms setting will be coming back out using it's own system.

One can only hope.

WotC's OGL for 3.0/3.5 absolutely trashed and ruined the pen&paper RPG market, IMO.

So much tripe was released.

So many good games either closed down, or converted to OGL to "stay competitive."

Then they ruined D&D with 4.0.

WotC is the debbil of RPG's.

FastEd
01-13-2011, 04:26 AM
I've seen a lot of people make the swap over to Pathfinder, and plenty of Iron Kingdom tweaks to make it fall in line with Pathfinder. Seems to be nothing but great things if you liked 3.5, though I have unfortunately not gotten the chance to play with it myself.

mikethefish
01-13-2011, 11:47 PM
The rumor is official - according to Matt Wilson. They are indeed in the process of making their own rpg. At the time of the statement, the core rules for the rpg would be fairly similar to the core rules of their wargames (basically 2-3 dice plus skill, trying to hit a target number. Some stats might have similar names, etc). Don't expect it to happen soon, however.

FastEd
01-14-2011, 03:04 PM
The initial info was January this year, but I suspect it would have had a full announcement by now if that were the case. Hopefully still sometime in the first quarter.

Image
01-14-2011, 11:00 PM
Just wanted to point out that some friends and I recently got into Warmachine and I am very excited about this system! I do have a few complaints about it - primarily melee ranges, but certain templates help with that - though for the most part, I find it a thrilling, fast-paced game which really does reward being bold while punishes you when you don't have a strong plan. Warcasters are the perfect example, fittingly so, they can pump out a lot of damage themselves and are formidable modesl, but if you get caught out in the open, you very well might lose the game. They are, for us, the queen pieces from Chess.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it as much as we have! Remember that choosing your caster is nearly as important as choosing your army, especially if your group decides on using theme lists (which we have!). Happy gaming!

Whoop!
03-31-2011, 05:56 PM
Just picked a battle box up. Khador? Picked up some deep red metal flake paint. Those Steampunk models look SWEET! I'm signing off and going to assemble and paint my first steam powered combat hot rod!

Fildrigar
04-27-2011, 09:53 PM
The initial info was January this year, but I suspect it would have had a full announcement by now if that were the case. Hopefully still sometime in the first quarter.

Further Information about it will be released at Lock and Load in June. No idea when it will be released, especially considering that last year they released a book a month. Hopefully they will have an initial release of something ( even just a quick start rule system with an adventure ) sometime this year.