Cygnar

[scadugenga]

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.

All wargames have combos--WM just kicks it up a notch.

Any theme list is going to be harder for a new player to start with, as you're limited with your force choices.

Kara's may be a bit more forgiving because she's such a shooter.

Though if you're going to go deep into the tier with Kara, you're not going to get much out of your gun mages.

Caine (cygnar) and Ashlynn (merc) are the two warcasters who's tiers pimp out the gun mages.

I think Caine actually works better with gun mages, as he can give them snipe, allowing them to free up their rune shot choice with either the thunderbolt or brutal shot options.

Ashlynn's tier list lets her take gun mages as merc units, so it opens up the field a bit more to non-arcane gun mage options.

It all really depends on what faction you like more, and what model you're drawn to. (Kara kicks severe arse, btw. That boomstick of hers hurts!)

You'll really only get 1 gun mage unit in a 35pt Kara tier if you're going all the way to T4.

[FastEd]

Don't get to discouraged by the whole ability/spell combo bit, it isn't all the game is about. Sure, it can help, but more often then not it's there to assist in your chances of pulling off a maneuver or strategy then just bowl over your opponent's army. While some people do try to buff something to levels that allow it to walk through the center of your army, racking up the body count along the way, lists that function that way tend to be one-trick ponies. If you take a second to sit back, glance your opponent's cards and think about what your opponent has just done and why you will probably pick up what they are going for. From there it's just a matter of denying them the chance to enact their master plan. For instance, the last time I used Saeryn's (Legion of Everblight) feat (models in my battlegroup can't be targeted by melee for one round) after running my heavy beasts forward my opponent looked me in the eye, applauded my bait, then told me he wasn't going to fall for that. Then he backed his army up...and I proceeded to feel far less clever.

[Dyrnwyn]

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.

From what I've found thus far, Warmahordes is quite different from MtG, because in magic, if your combo is 'these three cards and 5 mana on the table and I win' you can build your deck chock full of cheap 'search your library' cards and insure your combo is in effect by turn 5.

Warmahordes doesn't have that kind of 'hah! combo goes off, you never saw it coming, and you're dead now!' that Magic has. All your opponent's models are on the table, you can ask to see their cards and what they do, and you should grasp what kind of combos they are capable of with a glance and a moment of thought. Moreover, if you can see that one or two models are going to be essential to his combo - you can kill them first, before he gets it off. In addition, the vagaries of dice and range can ensure that despite setting up the combo, you can still see it fail.

While Warmahordes is much more about unit synergy than 40k is, it isn't entirely combo driven like Magic is, and the combos aren't hidden face down in the opponent's deck, but out in the open, before the first turn even starts.

[Grailkeeper]

Thanks for all the help,

some models I really like are the black 13th mage team? they are a character unit - I dunno what that means- can you tell me what they are like cos they look great.

Also what is a solo? Another one I quite like is the ragman mercanarie- is he compatabile with Cygnar/ what does he do?

[lordbubonicus]

No problem, I'm always happy to help out. To answer your questions in turn:

A character unit just means that you are only allowed one example of that unit in your army. The same goes for character solos, character warjacks/warbeasts etc. All 'character' army list entries are denoted by "FA:C" (i.e. Field Allowance: Character).

The Black 13th are generally considered to be an excellent choice for most Cygnar armies. They have a range of powerful abilities, and are fairly versatile. They're also able to deal with a large variety of threats that many of the other units in the Cygnar army cannot.

A solo is a single model, that activates individually and isn't attached to any unit, warjack/warbeast or warcaster/warlock. It's basically a unit of a single model. Solos often have specialised roles and can be fairly powerful.

We don't know anything about the Ragman beyond what the model looks like and the small blurb that accompanies him. He's from the upcoming "Warmachine: Wrath" book, which is the first expansion book for Warmachine Mk2 and is going back to Privateer Press' usual model of giving all factions an update at the same time.

[FastEd]

Well, apparently Bubonicus has it covered.

To expand on the 'Character' bit, it represents specific named units/models. The Black 13th, for instance, has three members all each with their own name (Watts, Lynch, and Ryan), where as a normal unit of Arcane Tempest Gun Mages represents any unit of that type anywhere, thus they aren't named. Generally characters are effective, but you tend to pay a premium for their expanded or more powerful abilities. Of note is the difference between Field Allowance: 1 (FA: 1) and FA: C, as in a game large enough to use two (or more) Warcasters in your army you can field multiples of the FA: 1 unit (Number of warcasters X field allowance), but still only one copy of an FA: C unit/model as it is unique.

Hope I added a little, since Bubonicus pretty much covered everything, and correctly to boot.

[DarkLink]

Black 13th is awesome. I started warmachine not too long ago with Kara, and it's a lot of fun. I use a unit of Stormblades backed up by a Cyclone, Defender, and the Black 13th. The cyclone is invaluable in my limited experience, as its templates can dissuade all but the toughest of infantry from charging at you, giving you an extra turn or two of shooting. And the B13 are great at picking off key enemy models like solos, as well as giving you a means to bypass concealment and stealth.

And with Kara, get Rienholdt. Always.



If you like Kara, I'd get her, Rienholdt, the plastic heavy jack kit (which can be magnetized to be a Defender, Cyclone or Ironclad), the Black 13th, and go from there. See what other Cygnar units you like and add them in as you go.

[thetallest]

Heya Grailkeeper

I'm going to largely echo what the others have said - the main source of the fluff are the army books - so I'd make a point of trying to track down the cygnar book and have a look at it. You can also go on Privateer Press' forums - the Cygnar faction forum will likely be able to give you a quick rundown on the different casters and their fluff.

Be careful about comparing the warcasters in warmachine to special characters in 40k/Fantasy - they don't translate at all - I would be more inclined to think of them as the King in chess - they are the lynchpin in your army and need to be protected at all costs during the game (that's not to say that they can't swing in to deliver the beat-down - more that if they die you lose)

[DarkLink]

Right. Warmachine is like chess, where you're trying to corner the other person's king while protecting your own. Taking out every one of your opponent's models is a perfectly viable way of doing that, but you can also pull a clever move and win without significant casualties.

40k sets the kings aside, and the two armies just go at it. Special characters are your Queens, normally.

And that's probably about as far as the metaphor can be streched.

[doom-kitten]

Kara Sloan is my main warcaster, as for gun mages I'd rather trenchers. Smoke bombs rule, they block LOS and you can't shoot or charge what you can't see.