WARMACHINE / HORDES - Overview

 Greetings people from the shipwreck incoming to the Maws

I've talked for a long time about miniatures and painting , so we are going to take a break today to talk about

Content of the box were were outlined in recent posts for two players. There is a similar box set for his game brother , HORDES, and we've shown how  to paint some miniatures for this fantastic brand responsible for giving life  this great game: PRIVATEER PRESS

But, what  Warmachine / Hordes is? Well, we'll explain it today.

WARMACHINE is a game based in a steampunk theme by 30 mm (although the bases ranging from 30 mm to 120 mm) developed by the American company PRIVATEER PRESS.

The first edition was released in 2003 with the rules of WARMACHINE PRIME, or WARMACHINE MK1, as it is colloquially known today.

This first edition was translated into Spanish by  EDGE in 2004, with all subsequent expansions, apart from  rare exception SUPERIORITY. 

The game is developed inn INMORIEN, an imaginary world taken from RPG D20 IRON KINGDOMS system.

It is of the strongest companies in the world, at the same level of GW, primarily for their high presence in the USA, where the number of followers are a battleforce

As I said, PP decided to try  implantation in Europe in 2004 , but the large number of references for this game ,almost 900 nowadays,  made ​​the logistics cost of facing the prevailing games at that time in the old continent, primarily those related to GW,  too difficult.

Besides the announcement of the rule change, now known as WARMACHINE MK2, discouragement to some of the players.

Today they are in a time of re-expansion in the continent. Stores like GTS now have same all references phiscally and on his website. FOr that, his access is  getting make easily for people nationalwide

 HORDES

And then, what Hordes is? Well, in the world of Inmorien we have two types of  people who manipulate magic:  Warcasters and Warlocks.

Warcasters: were previolusy presented to us in WARMACHINE, use magic points, called focus, to get extra and special actions or enhanced atacks to their servant of war. 

Warlocks: use warbeasts, that are forced to perform these extra and special actions or enhanced attacks. This "forcing" generates anger,  that  must be absorbed by the warloch or lose control of the beasts.

Actually both games share background and rules, being fully compatible, but expanding the tactical possibilities of the game.

GAME

WARMACHINE is played by alternating turns between two or more players. On each turn, when soem general phases completed, the player activates, moves and acts with each model independently. This gives us the first clue of the game, the order of activations, to allow a miniature skills benefit the following somehow.

Each player controls a band, whose number can be set between five and twenty miniatures, usually. This band was organized around a Warcaster an extremely powerful sorcerer with its own name and unique abilities. Around this character is formed the rest of the band, that will have one or more servants, infantry units and / or individual miniatures called themselves "solitaires".

I would like to remark  the warcaster does not cost points, but it gives an amount of extra points to spend with servants depending on what type it is.

The game consists of rolls 2D6, that is added the attribute melee attack, ranged attack or focus (depending on the type of attack) to overcome the opposing defense. After hit comes the damage , it is also done with a 2D6 roll to be added to the POW (Power Of Weapon) for the weapon used. The result is compared with the armor for getting the damage value result.

These rolls can be enhanced, depending on the circumstances, to allow rolling an extra dice. Sometimes we could use even a fourth roll dice.

This quite simple mechanic game enclose ving cases in which rules can include a given room This simple mechanical locks a terribly tactical game since the real strong point are combinations of skills or combos and/or spells that can be got and allowing unexpected and/or very destructive attacks

THE BACKGROUND

The background is one of the aspects more care in WM/H,. Not in vain, every Warcaster/warlock has own name and a history that is intertwined with the other great heroes and villains from other races in in the meantime

  

Every book expanded WM  universe history of in MK1 time. That new generated background was  / not  immovable, as if it happens for example in the case of GW games. These books featuring not only the history, but an elaborate campaign scenarios for several players that  played the same story.

  Currently there is  "basic" rules book, the equivalent of the PRIME MK1 and a "army book" for each faction related to the same background with some small changes to adapt to the emergence of new features and iron out details.

We've also got WRATH book series that expand the background history and introduces new war machines, larger even  than the servants at that moment. It can so far as a giant spectral machine, in the case of Cryx, to a sacred artifact halfway between a Stagecoach and a steam tank , in the case of Menoth.  

After WRATH the story was expanded with COLOSSALS, which allowed the inclusion of tremendous colossal, giant warservants in base 120 mm.

VENGANCE is the latest expansion that adds  the last chapter of the saga.

I would like to remark, again, that all these extensions are not necessary since the cards with stats are included in each blister, apart from COLOSSALS that includes rules of these new mega war servants in the boxes and blister.

WARMACHINE currently has six factions, completelly differentiated, what is added to the four factions of HORDES minions and mercenaries and gives us a total result of twelve factions to choose

LOGISTICS

WM / HORDES is a simple game that requires a few number of miniatures, so that a relatively small initial outlay can allow us to start playing with certain guarantees.

Currently the best way to start is either through one of the basic boxes (you can see the unboxing HERE THE STARTER OF WM), very profitable, or  buying a box of Battlegroup, where we find a warcaster/warlock and a number of Servants of War / Beasts (1-2 heavy and 2-3 light) enough to get started.

The rules have all rules and initial profiles. Furthermore, we found cards for each unit inside the blistersd  and miniatures boxed  sets.

By that, it would be  unnecessary buying the specific manuals for each army is initially.

In addition the game contains enough units to not exhaust the tactical possibilities in a few games, which added to the complete change of game that involves selecting a new Warcaster/Warlock gives us an almost infinite number of possibilities.

Perhaps the biggest drawback we find that all the material currently can find in English. Anyway there are initiatives such as the page THE THIRD OF IRON, where you can download an unofficial translation of the game very accurate, and the game cards of different miniatures.

CONCLUSIONS

WARMACHINE and HORDES is a great game, and perfectly finished with clear and simple rules initially.

From this simple scheme the game opens up a range of tactical possibilities almost endless when you consider the different Warcasters, factions and units that can be selected.

Besides the initial investment is not large, about 45 euros if we talk about the core game between two people, which brings us to 20 points, or 35 euros basic box set faction, ranging between 11 and 14 points, and we can expand  that with any blister to reach those 15-20 points minimum to play in interesting ways.

After a few games we can reaffirm or change the faction without incurring too much cost.

Another great advantage of WM/H is that almost all models are useful, or at least all that I've played with so far, which makes them always usable.

So whether you had never heard of WM/H, like if you felt  attractedu but you have not found the time I leave you here this brief summary might push you to make a try.

And here it for today, navigators, see you in another three more nights!