Cygnar

[FastEd]

Each of the warcasters (along with everything else) should have a bit of fluff in their entry in the core, and "forces of" book as Bubonicus said, but going into specifics you can find that the stories outside of the unit's actual entries not only involve the characters your using on the field, they all tie together to give a nice view of the current goings on in the world.

It's a little hard to find each and every story about everybody now, since the story line as been progressing since the initial release of Prime almost 8 years ago, and the Mk2 books mostly pick up where the story left off in the last book of Mk1. Rest assured, though, that there is quite a bit of fluff. Maybe not as much as 40k, but that's also been around 3 times as long, and while I love my 40k fluff, I've found the Warmachine/Hordes stories to be more relevant to what's actually happening on the table top. I would even venture to say that there is more fluff for each individual warcaster (except maybe the newest one for each faction) then there is for any character that you can actually use in 40k aside from Kommissar Gaunt who has multiple omni-buses (omni-bi?) about the Taneth first and only (which are fantastic, Abnett always entertains). That's not including the fact that a good number of them were characters in the Iron Kingdoms D&D setting that spawned Warmachine/Hordes (and should be coming out with a new edition sometime this year, working off it's own system based on the Warmachine/Hordes system instead of D&D).

[lordbubonicus]

Good points FastEd. The comment about the progressive storyline iss actually something that popped into my head last night whilst I was trying to sleep.

Privateer Press handle the fluff in a completely different way to Games Workshop, which might be why the OP is having problems finding it. In Warmachine the story is very much an ongoing concern, with the characters evolving as more and more books are released. So it's harder to find a fluff summary that includes everything of relevance. Contrast this to the Codexes in 40K, where the characters are presented fully, and in almost an historical fashion.

[Artein]

We are hoping for a fluff-book, which will have all fluff that was published before Mk.II.

[FastEd]

That would be fantastic. I'd throw down for that, specifically for times when new players around my FLGS want to catch up.

[lordbubonicus]

Yeah, it would be nice. Particularly, as you say, for new players coming into the game. It's a bit rubbish that they have to buy, or borrow, the Mk1 books if they want all of the fluff.

Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware Privateer Press have made no indication that they're even considering a fluff compilation book :-(. So I wouldn't get too excited.

[GentleBen]

Well here's [URL="http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/11/warmachine-armies-of-iron-kingdoms.html"]my take[/URL] on Cygnar. Some of the other posters in here have already mentioned some great background info I skimmed over.

As for your other questions I agree that Cygnar is in no way as omnipresent in the warmachine crowd as Ultramarines are in 40k. Still, it does seem that they and Khador do tend to be played more than any other faction, at least locally.

Also if you crave Cygnar fluff there's a lot to be had in their force book. Every warcaster gets a full page of background, plus there's a lot of info on the nation and its history.

Put me down for a fluff book as well, but I think it may be seen as a bit of a risky endeavor. I think they may be underestimating the demand for it. Especially if they did it inexpensively as just a paperback novel size format. I know a lot of people who would pick it up.

[James diGriz]

Speaking as someone who recently changed LGSes I can say that faction make up will vary on location, I went from being the only Cygnar player around to starting merc's to bring some variety to the store. No complaints playing either.

In my mind Cygnar can be summed up in a couple of major points:
* High tech -
We are starting to play with electricity when everyone else is playing with fire. We also tend toward the specialized troops and tricked out jacks (Last I checked we had the best over all mat and rat for jacks). With this goes the fact that most models are fragile.

For the most part there are 3 parts to Cygnar
a) The good guys, who occasionally have to do bad things (See Leto messing up the deal with the trolls).
b) The good guys, who do bad things for the greater good (See Caine hunt down inquisadors... see the quote for the black 13).
c) Greedy self serving butt heads - see the 4th army and the trolls.... much different than the Leto and the trolls.

The biggest way I would make the comparison between Ultra Marines and Cygnar is in the way their environments are set up. Both exist as kind of an ideal situation beset by opposing forces on all sides. Both are prosperous areas, take care of their people, and tend toward a very if we ran this place everything would be better. Cygnar is a bit different as:
a) they just kicked out the last king and he was a Jerk
b) they don't have as much control of their territory and people, and there are several schisms within their populations.

[GrenAcid]

I have recently got bit in to WM, Cygnar and Mercs are thing Im intrested most, but I have that felling with that shooting we can do nothing to some heavy jack of Khador for example Im right or I just didnt get rules and stuff ?? We can shoot down some Jacks with Hunter?(just an example)

[scadugenga]

I have recently got bit in to WM, Cygnar and Mercs are thing Im intrested most, but I have that felling with that shooting we can do nothing to some heavy jack of Khador for example Im right or I just didnt get rules and stuff ?? We can shoot down some Jacks with Hunter?(just an example)

Oh, there's lots you can do to Khadoran heavy jacks. It all depends on how you want to mix it up.

You have to look at things synergistically.

What makes Khadoran Jacks so mean? Brutal melee ability and massive armor/damage grids.

But they have significant weaknesses as well: Very slow (spd 4 for the most part), very easy to hit (Def 10), and generally short range. (Most of their mean jacks do not have Reach.)

You can easily counter Khadoran advantages:

Depending on the your choice of warcaster, you can either slow/impede Khadoran Jacks (Haley, Nemo) or grant bonuses to damage, extra attacks, free boosted attack rolls) (Haley, Nemo, Kraye, Darius, eStryker, Sloan)

Toss in some merc love and you get nasty combos:

Aiyanna/Holt-- A's spell causes target to take +2 damage from every attack. That's effectively reducing Khadoran armor from 20 (best in game) to 18 (standard heavy)

Gorman di Wulf: His rust bomb attack causes the target to have -2 armor.

Combine the two mercs, and you just turned an arm 20 jack into an arm 16 jack.

Now, let's look at some of the ranged jack pain:

Cygnar:

Hunter: light jack, armor piercing, rof 1: That's pow 6 vs. arm 10 normally. Taking Aiyanna/Wulf into consideration, you're Pow 8 vs Arm 9. Not too shabby.

Defender: Heavy Jack, best ranged gun in the game. Rng 16 Pow 15. Okay normally vs Khador. But with the merc duo, suddenly you're Pow 17 vs Arm 18. Again, that's going to hurt.

Cyclone: Heavy chaingun jack. Sure, not much to think about stock, but with the merc combo, you're Pow 14 vs Arm 18, 2d3 times. It definitely can add up (and drain you of focus too...)

Merc:

Mule: My favorite ranged utility heavy merc jack. Massive pain on the cannon. Same damage as a Defender, but it's critical effect rules. Nothing says loving like throwing your opponent. If you get lucky, it'll hit something it shouldn't and boosted you can do 4d6 + 17 (Aiyanna/wulf combo bonus) vs Arm 18. You're opponent will potentially tear up.

Mariner: Not so good as the Mule--you need lots of sea dogs nearby just in case.

And those are just the ranged jacks. You can have just as much fun with the melee ones:

You want to mess up his day? Take Nemo, add the +2 str spell (both P and E Nemo have iterations of this) and put it on a Centurion (reach) with the A/W merc combo and you have a 22 str/pow attack vs. arm 18. You don't even want to boost damage--you just want more attacks.

Or the Hammersmith: 2 str/pow 21 attacks vs. arm 18 (due to the merc combo)

The variations are out there---let your imagination run wild.

Never put too much fear in your mind about Khador's heavy armor. It's always capable of being dealt with.

[GrenAcid]

I dont like sound of it....its like in M:tG, person who made most powerfull nasty combo win, nothing with tactic on battlefield and happy fireing form trench to trench. Im gonna suck in another game...ehh typical.

Can you tell me If Capitan Kara Solan and her theme force is ok to start with? Im in love in Gun Mages so wanna give them some kick from warcaster. BTW thx for reply.