Bartertown.com

a friend of mine is getting into wm and hordes, since it's the popular game in his area. i just set up a game for he and i to try out the rules online, since he lives 4 states away.

here's my questions.
what's the difference, besides fluff, between the factions in both games?
is 1 a 'shooty' army and another close combat intensive?
is 1 fragile?
is 1 tough?

we've both played wh and 40k since the late 80's. we've played mech and assorted other games along the way. there has to be differences between each force besides fluff.
i'd like to know which does waht, without buying or trading for a force to not like it's style.

For the most part,each faction can be played several different ways. In general though:

Khador--high armor values,the toughest casters in the game,kinda high points costs so forces will be rather small.I would say the best hand to hand army in the game.

Cryx-- high defense so they are kind of hard to hit,but once you do hit,the tend to crumple like paper.Lots of debuff spells,very fast units also.
They have the most arc nodes in the game(arc nodes let you extend the range of your warcasters spells).

Cygnar--can go from shooting heavy to combat heavy depending on which warcaster you choose,solid warjacks,lots of specialty type stuff.

Menoth-- the religious fanatics of the game( LOL )...solid jacks,cheap infantry,lots of buffs,most of their warcasters aren't really meant for hand to hand combat.

Mercs-- some of these will work for any of the factions,some won't work for specific factions...pick and choose what you need tohelp fill a specific role in your faction...or go all-out mercs.

This is just kind of a general run-down of the factions(there is plenty more that can be said)...just kind of giving general info.I would suggest picking up Prime:Remix as it gives you a base to examine the factions from. Also,I would recommend checking out http://www.privateerpress.com/ which is the official PP website...check out the forums (they are down at the moment,due to updating). But,the forums are a great place to ask questions about the different factions,as well as research info on the units that interest you for each faction.

Hope this helps.

i just got the remix book yesterday and am waiting on the horses rulebook.

i've looked over the privateer page, but the online site and store doesn't show every model. i was trying to see what people here, at b-town, were selling. i didn't see much of an explanation as far as factions go. fluff, doesn't give a breakdown, like you did.

thanks, thats what i'm looking for.

would you, or anyone else, mind doing the same for the hordes factions?

thanks again.

No problem at all for the rundown.

To see pics for most all the minis check out: http://www.thewarstore.net/
Neil at the warstore has an excellent site with tons of photos,carries all the minis,as well as the GF9 tokens for the troops and warcasters for the different factions.

As far as Hordes goes....

As with Warmachine,how your army plays will depend on your Warlock. Each one has it's own play style(s).

The other differences of note:
a) how Fury works compared to how Focus works.
b) your Warlocks spell list will depend(somewhat,at least)on what warbeasts you use.

Trollbloods--every model is on a medium sized base or larger,their warlocks have buff type spells to help make them even harder to kill than they already are. The Champions unit is probably the toughest unit in the game. One strategy is commonly called "the brick".

Circle--very mobile army,decent defense,with a good combination of offensive and defensive spells.Currently the only army in Hordes with an arc node like ability.

Legion--only army with lesser warbeasts.Great potential for assassin lists,Their warbeasts ignore alot of LOS blocking modifiers when making attacks or charging,and don't generate soul tokens when killed.Good fury management. Pretty good defense values as well.

Skorne--I haven't really studied that much about them,so cannot really give reliable info about.The do seem to be growing in popularity though.

Again,this is all just general info,and by no means exhaustive and complete.

I has me a khador army, its fun to run around smashing things to bits.. Though sadly no one here plays and it needs a better home.. *shrug*

That's a pretty good rundown of all the factions. I play Skorne in Hordes, (or I will when I get done painting them all), and while I can't talk about playstyle yet, I can say that they have a very cool pseudo-Japanese look that I like.

thanks for the answers guys.

i'll be posting; wtt: 40k , wfb for wm, hordes.

Lord Alaric did an excellent job describing the factions, but I'm bored at work, so I'm going to take a stab at it as well.

KHADOR - Models have a strong Soviet Union theme.
High Armor, low defense, Best Melee fighters at the expense of not doing anything particularly flashy. Simple to play and brutaly effective.
Warjacks are built being all about raw power and armor.

CRYX - Steampunk Undead faction of doom.
Above Average Defense, low hit points, Big Bag O' Tricks Faction.
This is the faction to play when you enjoy the look of confusion on your oppenents face when you do weird stuff no other faction can do.
Warjacks are fragile, but harder to hit.

CYGNAR - Goody Two Shoe Shooty Empire Faction.
Big Bag O' Tricks with lots, and lots, of the best ranged troops in the game.
Warjacks run the entire spectrum, and are the shootiest.

MENOTH - Religious Zealots, shielded by their faith.
Least impressive stat lines, but absoulutely devious special abilities.
Has the most ways of making themselves immune to enemy spells, which considering that Warmachine is all about a Warcaster and his retinue, is nothing to sneeze at.

MERCS - the faction everyone starts collecting thinking it will be cool ,only to trade later because as a Dogs of War outfit they don't really have a cohesive theme or synergy.

My Impression on Hordes

TROLLBLOODS - Hey look we're trolls !!
We hit hard and we regenerate, our Warlocks make us even tougher
Hard to kill and hit hard.

CIRCLE - Druids, Werewolfs, and Wooden men OH MY !!!
I do something freaky and then teleport away !!
Bag o' tricks faction, highly mobile.

SKORNE - Psuedo Persian D&D monsters in fancy armor, Xerces would be proud. Stomp'em with Titans and let the Cyclops show you the way.
Slam him, stomp him, and reroll the lowest die on the attack roll while doing it.

EVERBLIGHT - ZERG RUSH !!!! Freaky alien looking things and dark elves.
Supa Light and Heavy Warbeasts beacuse sometime it's fun to play with extremes. It's like having a Dinosaur teamed up with walking Piranha, lead by a hot evil elf chixor.