Starting out in Warmachine

In my last post I mentioned that I was thinking about a new skirmish game, I had thought to try either Malifaux or Warmachine. Well, on Saturday morning I head over to Irresistible Force to pick up a few more paints, I needed some more metals. While I was there I asked Gavin, the owner, about Warmachine. I am by no means new to wargaming, but the whole Privateer Press sensation passed me by, it must have been kicking off during my lengthy hiatus. It seems that it is the game of choice for competitive play, the rules being super tight. Furthermore, the community likes it as a tournament ruleset, and apparently there are tournament specific variations on the generic ruleset. Another interesting thing is that it is fully compatible with the "fantasy" counterpart Hordes, which only expands playability.

Back to my tale, I spent about an hour chatting to Gavin, having a look around and eyeballing the lovely figures on offer before stumbling across the starter set for Warmachine and Hordes. I stood there for around five minutes, thinking, erring, before committing, I will play this game. So I picked up the awesome looking boxed set with great steam powered machines. Additionally, the store has a very active Warmachine scene, so I can get a game which is a bonus. Of course I need to learn to play first.

I got home with my shiny new box and eagerly opened it up. Booklets, rulebook and bags of figures (which appear to be restic) all awaited my eager hands. My box has two factions, Khador and the Protectorate of Menoth, and I decided to paint up the casters from both sides first, to set the tone for the forces. I decided to paint both sides with a red colour in the mix so that I could field them together in 40k if I wanted to as, Guard, Mechanicum or Ecclesiarchy forces.

I really like the aesthetics of the figures, I don't know how I feel about the Iron Kingdoms fluff yet as I don't really know all that much about it, and it doesn't really figure as prominently as the background of the "Galaxy in Flames" of 40k, but I can catch up with that later. The steampunk style of the machines has a Mechanicum feel to it, and certainly the Khador infantry would look awesome fighting for the Emperor of Mankind. 

This chap could quite easily be an Ecclesiarchy Cardinal, or perhaps a Martian Techpriest.

I have been reading the little rulebook as and when I could, but I always find the best way to learn a new game is simply to play it. Once I have painted up some more stuff I will try and arrange a game with someone at Irresistible Force. I have an aversion to playing with bare figures. One of the major problems I have had so far is that Warmachine doesn't lead with its fluff like Warhammer and 40k do, so I don't really know which faction I want to play from a fluff perspective. I also struggled to find a good beginners guide, but then stumbled across the unfortunately title "Vomkrieg" blog who does a really good series of blog posts on starting Warmachine, you can see it here. I think I need to do some more reading when I am not totally shattered from working a twelve hour day, and things might be a little more "in focus".

So there we have it, a new game with a low model count committed to. Hopefully I will find the game enjoyable, if not my Imperial 40k Collection has just gained some more bodies anyway.