Finally starting WM.

[stevedave]

New to the forums and just wanted to stop in and say "hey". I've been an avid player of 40k for the past 7yrs (Blood Angels/Eldar) and decided that I wanted to give "Warmachine" a try after passing it over for a while. I have the "Prime" rule book from a few years back when I contemplated getting started, but that's all the further I took it. I do have a couple of questions though in regards to Warmachine:

Coming from a 40k background, ROS look like/sound like they would play similar to Eldar. Is that true?

Would either Mercs or ROS be a good starter army?


Overall, I'm at the stage where I'm trying to decide what army to play and I've basically narrowed it down to ROS or Mercs. I like the sound of the play style of ROS, but the aesthetic of the Mercs warjacks really draw me to them (Especially the Mariner). Really like the steampunk style. As far as ROS go, I've found the "lyoss is burning" blog and it's been really helpful. I guess I should aim for 15pt lists from what I've read, as 35pt games can be much for beginners. If I'm missing a few things let me know. Thanks.

[mazgier]

15pts is always good starting level - just enough to get the grip on game mechanics (BTW, I hope you're aware about the edition change and the need to get "Prime Mk. II" rulebook?).
Taking RoS as the "Eldar of Warmachine" may be not the best idea. They're both "elvish", hate other races and are technologically advanced but that's where the similiarities end. RoS isn't really faster than other armies, and they ar not that fragile as Eldar (quite opposite in fact). RoS armies are mostly about combined arms and internal synergies between army components.
Either army may be good for the beginner. That's the beauty of the system - all armies ARE balanced. Mercs however can offer more options. RoS is still quite new army and so does not have that many models/units.
My personal opinion is that Mercs provide more of the "fun factor" in game (I mean here the fluff and the general "feel" of the faction - especially all the pirate shenanigans) but it's only me

[Mr.Pickelz]

Deffinitly check to make sure you got the Prime Mk. II book.

ROS is (imo) an assassin based army, that being, their best builds seem to be around assassination tactics. almost an opposite to Khador style warfare, which is more of a in-your-face kind of deal. their big on synergy and combo's if you like elves, try out Rahn and some light jacks, also take a look at their faction book. You do not need this to play, but it's a good "Foot-in-the-door" to their faction and it also contains their theme lists.

Edit: Mercs are complicated, if you go a pure merc army, even more so when dealing with the commission limits and everything. Commissions are unit limitations that with hold certain units from certain armys. AKA, this model will only work under this commission, or for this warcaster, etc...

[FastEd]

The only concern I would have about running a merc army right out of the gate is that your effectively constrained to whichever sub-faction of mercs you pick, rather then having an entire army worth of models to choose from in any combination. It can make expanding your collection a little difficult once you get to a certain point, and I've seen a couple people stagnate then grow tired of the limited choice of army variation.

I think aside from a slight bump in the number of models needed when you branch out of each sub-faction (contract, to be specific), you should be fine. It occurs to me that I may have just made it sound FAR more complicated then it is for Mercs. As far as RoS goes, and as somebody who still plays 40k as well, the closest analogy I've heard has been a Tau/Eldar (or Taudar if you will) as far as things go, but I hesitate to make that comparison since, aside from a very VERY shallow level, the play styles of 40k and WM/H don't match up well. What I will say is that every army in WM/H can be played in a huge variety of ways, and can sometimes be switched up as simply as swapping in a different warcaster.

My advice is to contact your local Press Ganger to get some demo and discussion time in if you can. There is a Press Gang locator [URL="http://volunteers.privateerpress.com/location/users"]here[/URL] that the kind folks at Privateer have set up.

And finally, remember your on the internet because WM/H is an easy game to have very strong opinions about. Hope that helped a bit!

[stevedave]

If I do Mercs, I would probably choose the Four Star Syndicate since I remember reading they are the least constrained. I tried to look for someone to demo the game for me but no one is local. There is a game store a town over so I think they can demo it for me.

[Mr.Pickelz]

Yea, get the demo first. figure out which of the 2 you like first before jumping into it.

Mercs currently lost both their starter sets, so it will be a bit pricier to get into as well as having all metal models, No plastic what-so-ever.

[scadugenga]

Mercs give you the most versatility than any faction in the game.

However, they are not going to be as specialized in one area as the other factions are--it's a trade off.

With 4 star, you have the most versatility in casters (both Dwarves, Fiona & Broadsides Bart (pirate casters) Drake & both p & e magnus) as well as the ability to take the lesser warlock solos for a bit of hordes-style fun in your WM caster game. Sure, you don't get arcane tempest gun mages or long gunners--but steelhead riflemen are still good go-to guys for ranged fun.

Mercs were my first, and still favorate "faction" in the game. Cygnar comes a slightly more distant second.

[FastEd]

Scadugenga, while the 4 star contract may not get arcane tempest gun mages a few of the theme/tier lists do. In fact, the new Magnus one lets you run all the core Cygnar units (trenchers, long gunners, arcane tempest, etc) as it's tier 1 bonus under Magnus while still letting him use his scratch built jacks he seems to love so much. It makes me sad as a Cygnar player, but all sorts of happy as a fan of the Iron Kingdoms in general.

[scadugenga]

Mags can only get long gunners and trenchers, not gun mages. And that's only with his tier org (which, btw--is fantastic.)

But since the OP was specifically talking about 4-Star--that's what I was addressing.

The only way to get gun mages in a merc force is with highborn covenant/ashlynn's tier..

[wittdooley]

So... to piggy back on this. If I wanted to pick up Mercs as an alternative faction to my Cygnar, using Magnus would allow me to use a lot of my Cygnar units? Very interesting.

Further, how do the Rhulic lists do for mercs?