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CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO
09-28-2009, 10:24 PM
A friend and I were looking for a new game to play,we've both been getting increasingly disgusted with 40K and games-workshop in general and thought it best to step away for awhile and take in a breath of fresh air.One of the other guys in our gaming group gave us each an AT-43 armies,but we are both modelers and painters as much as gamers.We just can't seem to get that excited about AT-43,don't get me wrong,it looks like a cool game just doesn't tickle my fancy.It was at this point, I recalled seeing a War Jack I had seen on ebay a year or two back,I showed my friend the Warmachine site and he decided to give it a try.
The problem is that we nothing about the game.I thought maybe you guys can help me out with some questions I had.
1)My buddy believes the game is played on a 4x4 table, is this true? Is that the standard? What is the usually point cost for a standard game? (what do they play at tournaments? we like to play with tourney points and board size in case we ever go to one)
2)How big are these figures? The War Jacks look pretty big,but the characters on foot are what I'm most curious about.(I don't really know scales 1/35 or 28mm and the like,a simple 40K reference will do,bigger-smaller-same size as a terminator will do) Will my 40K scenery do? I have a 4x4 and a 4x6 table with enough scenery to completely pack both with some to spare.Is a table set up like 40K (25%),more or less cover? Is cover even as important in this game as it is to 40K.I don't want to unknowingly give a faction an unfair advantage.
3)Are the factions set up the same as most other games? One group are better shooters,while others excel at hand to hand and still another has more powerful mages or are they all the same and the leader you take makes the armies different?
4)Is hordes and warmachine the same game and you just have the options of taking creatures instead of steam powered robots or are they 2 different things?
5)What should we use the rule book,the PDF I've been reading about,both,neither?
6)At first glance, I really like the look of the mercenaries,can you field an army of just them, where can I find the rules for them? Do they have army books of are their lists in the rulebook used? Is there a starter box for them (been looking around,but can't find anything).Lastly are the mercenaries a good choice for a pure noob? Is there a better group to cut my teeth on and then start collecting mercenaries?

Thanks for reading and please answer as much or as little as you can, any help in anyway will be greatly appreciated !

Lux
09-28-2009, 11:15 PM
1) 4x4's are standard, with normal points being either 35 or 50 in MkII, and either 500 or 750 in MkI.

2) Figs are roughly 30mm scale, and so most GW terrain works perfectly fine. 25%-40% terrain is appropriate. As in 40k, some armies and army builds are better with less terrain, some with more.

3) The factions are not quite the same as GW's. I think BOLS is planning to post a few faction overview articles in the future, but until then here's a quick sum up of the basic 4 warmachine factions. I'll let others post the overview for mercs, hordes, and the retribution. The armies are different, and the leaders you take make them even more different. Some warcasters favor warjacks, some favor ranged, others melee. Some favor infantry, some favor buffing their army, some do the work themselves, and even within those broad descriptions there are variations. One melee or ranged warcaster may prefer some units over others.

Khador- lower defense, lots of armor, most things hit very hard in melee. Shooting tends to be inaccurate AOE's. Quite a few specialist units such as widowmaker snipers, or greylord mages.

Cygnar- Kind of the space marines of the game, as in, they're pretty good at everything. Some of the best direct fire shooting in the game. Infantry tends to be pretty elite.

Menoth- has more internal synergies than the other WM factions. Their units and warjacks tend to have lower basic stats, but get better with all the buffs they can be given. Shooting tends to be short ranged, powerful AOE's.

Cryx- very little shooting, but has lots of offensive magic instead. Jacks tend to have good speed, high defense, and lower armor. Infantry are slower, but are often also cheap and many units will never run away since they are undead. They debuf their opponents more than buffing themselves.

4) Hordes is a different game. Warlocks have fury instead of focus, which works a little differently. That said, both games are 100% designed to play together.

5) Use the PDF. The new rulebook with the updated rules for warmachine will be released in January. The hordes rules will be released next Summer. If you have a hordes player and a warmachine player, the WM player will need to use the old rules that come on the cards with the units until the Hordes MkII public field test hits in late November.

6) You can field a merc army. It's kind of complex to describe them, and its late and I'm so I'll let others do that. You can field a pirate army, a dwarf army, a force loyal to the deposed king of Cygnar, and others, including a mix of the above.


Lux

CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO
09-30-2009, 09:43 PM
Thanks LUX,Your info helped out a great deal.After reading your response and looking through privateers boards,I've decided to go with Cygnar.I have another question for you.We plan on playing a dozen duels before expanding or forces to the next level.Duels are 15pts and I'll get an additional 6 for Stryker (21pts total),the battle box comes to 17pts,even though we'll only use the battle box contents early on.I was looking to buy something else to fill the 4 pts at this level,that I will later probably use often in larger forces.I was looking at picking up a Journeyman Warcaster or Field Mechaniks at full strength to fill 3 of the 4 loose points.Which do you think is more vital to this force and will be a unit that I will want in my expanded force ?Which is more useful ? Is there a unit that I have overlooked and should take before either above mentioned unit? Thanks for your help.

Lux
10-01-2009, 09:38 AM
At the duel level, just stick to the battlebox. Under the old system, they were all pretty balanced at roughly 300 points or so. Learn how warjacks and focus works before getting into infantry and solos.

Your plan to play a bunch of low level games before expanding is a very good one, and something I offen recommend to new players in pretty much any game system!

When you do expand, think about a basic infantry unit, such as either sword knights, stormblades, storm guard, or long gunners. You'll have a better idea of whether you want to go with a melee or ranged unit after playing those battlebox games. Solo's that show up in most Cygnar lists are: Journeyman warcaster (aka Jr.), The Squire for more focus for your warcaster, a Gun Mage Captain Adept, and Captain Arlen Strangeways. Mechanicks are also a decent choice.

The squire, mechaniks, and strangeways are very nice at duel level since they can all help your warjacks or help your warcaster by giving him/her more focus to give the jacks.


What factions are your buddies playing?

Lux

CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO
10-02-2009, 10:08 AM
The first ten games or so we are planing to play duels w/just the battle boxes,after that we were planning to play more duels,but filling the lose points.I have four lose points at duel level and my buddy has three.After playing the first group of duels w/the battle boxes we were going to fill the lose points and play five or ten more,then expand our armies to the next levels.Our closest store is about an hour away and we have to drive through downtown Pittsburgh to get there.So,I was thinking of getting some unit (whatever type) to fill the extra points while I was up there and had the money to do so.This purchased unit will get used in the second set of duels that we play and I wanted it to be a unit that is important to the battle box and duel level games,while at the next level,will be a unit that I will definitely through in and already know how to use.So I guess what I'm asking is after the battle what is the next unit at 4 points. My buddy is playing Chador.

GentleBen
10-02-2009, 12:36 PM
If you need to fill 4 pts exactly then your best bet is probably the Black 13th. There are lots of things they can do to help you out. They have brutal damage so they can damage warjacks, but they can also make an AoE that will do Pow 12's to anyone inside, or they can place an AoE that will cause models in it to lose stealth. Very helpful for 4 pts.

My second choice at 4 pts would be a field mechanic unit filled out for 3, and then the mercenary solo Reinholdt. He can give stryker a second shot which will allow you to disrupt an additional warjack each turn with his pistol, and his spyglass and lucky charm abities are also very useful. You could also consider a blister of Stormsmiths. This will give you 3 helpful 1 pt solos that you could use instead of Reinholdt or the extra gobbers for the field mechanik.

Finally you could also try sword knights. A min. unit is 4 pts and they will have arm 19 when arcane shielded. The lancer with its reach weapon will augment their flank ability.