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I don't like the tiers system. I don't like the way characters work, and I hate the mechanics. This means the game's a tedius exercise in annonyance and boredom for me.
If you're a non-believer, like I am, I'll need to explain these 'characters' and 'tiers,' and 'mechanics.'
Warmachine is centered around uber-mega heroes, who aren't uber, or that heroic - in fact, they're quite, quite bland, and on their own, they're little more than magic machineguns. Some are regular machineguns, and a few, unlucky bastards want to hit people with their gunblades.
Now, combat with your caster's generally a really, really bad idea. You see, in warmachine, your caster's death means YOU AUTOMATICALLY LOSE THE GAME THEN AND THERE, and even if your caster is 'beefy,' he's still not beefy enough to tank through everything. "How can that be? I hear they have these HP-bars, and everything."
Well...
Yes, there are health-bars, but the way the game works is, you roll a damage roll with each attack, and even 'fodder' - say kommunist (bet you can't see what I did there) riflemen can easily deal a fifth of your caster's life in one shot. When those steampunk robots hit you, they hit far in excess of ten damage, which is a huge chunk of life.
But that's all fine and good, right? You can keep your caster away from mobbed riflemen quite easily, as a long-ranged gun in warmachine's averaging 14 inches of epic reach. Easy enough, yeah?
But then you're playing defensively, and last I checked, the game was meant to be played offensively.

Because there's no save system. At all.
Like in lord of the rings, almost all rolling is done who the player whose turn it happens to be, but without faith, might, or will to mix things up.
When that swordcannon hits your boss, he takes damage, and there's not a thing you can do to ward against this. He's damaged. Bam. No save, no 'faith' to negate it, no 'will' to relocate to cover after the shot. Your boss lost a chunk of his life, and the one thing warmahordes players will say now is 'well, why wasn't he in cover?'
Same reason Draigo's not in cover. He's the hero. He has the right to some plot armor, so he can go be heroic.
He's my chosen avatar - the tabletop representation of me. Draigo will drop if you focus fire ons his ass, but he won't drop if you shoot him with five guardsmen. In fact, being hosed by the massed dakka of a hundred nameless infantry is an heroic and badass deed in itself.
If you thought GW was bad with the interactivity (protip: they're rather terrible at it), PP'll make you cranky very quickly.
When it's your opponent's go, it really is his go. You don't get to take saves, there's little counter-magic, what passes for leadership is very rare, and you rarely - if ever - even get to hit back in combat. In other words, when it's not your go, you're watching models get picked off. Yeah, yeah - turns are faster, blah, blah, blah.
I don't care. I wanna roll dice.
I want my models to attack you back. I want some kind of reaction when you charge, so I can shoot my guns at you, or hit you before you hit me, because my dudes are faster/in cover/a wizard did it. I want a save - even a bad one - so I feel like I'm somehow involved in the game. It's not any fun when only half the players get to roll dice, guys. Sorry, it just isn't.

If Draigo was in warmachine, he'd be this generic guy, see. He'd have 'titansword,' which'd total S+P for like 15, and have the 'magic' and 'weaponmaster' powers. He'd have like 19 blips of life. His feat would be something like ¨'everbody within X falls on their ass for a turn,' plus he'd have the same generic spells as everybody else, and 'stormbolter,' which'd be a ranged AOE with a 2 inch blast.
He'd not have any of his special abilities. No grand strategy, no massive statline that's actually different to the generic commanders of his class - further serving to differentiate Draigo and other characters. He'd not have a really special sword, or saves, eternal warrior, or completely alter the armylist just by his presence.
However, if you took two paladins to accompany Draigo, they'd get a really tiny ability, but if you wanted this ability, you could never include - say - land raiders.
If you add a squad of paladins to Draigo and his two pimps, then the two pimps would get another minor power, but only if the army didn't include any land raiders still, and you added a brother-captain.
This would go on and on, 'til the point where you had the exact same 'tier army' as everybody else in the WHOLE DAMN WORLD who runs Draigo.
Why?
Because warmachine is built around casters, and casters have their personal armies. Like in all games ever mad, bad things are inferior to good, and so if Draigo was one of your book's good casters, and Coteaz was one of the bad, you'd see him and his army very often, while Coteaz'd disappear into thin air.
Yes, you have the option to ignore the tier list, but this means you won't get any bonuses - and bonuses, even should they be minor ones, are better than no bonuses at all, so you're going for tiers. Aka, netlists.
This is something I really hate about warmachine.

Taking him gives you a really beefy, chunky guy, but in order to field him, there's no rules that say you must use all his powers.
If you wanted to, you could take Draigo in a henchman army, or a three raven/three raider list, just for the funny. If you ran 10 paladins, you'd not be penalized by losing access to heavy support dreads.
Right now, at this very moment, those who didn't know about warmachine have been a bit more enlightened, and the fans are angry, but that's just how it is.
There's another thing, too, and it's quite big.
Warmachine, as well as hordes, are skirmish games. They have few dudes, with really short ranges, and 'assassinate' conditions. This is how all skirmish games are, and why I don't like them.
I want lots of dudes. I want battles, with epic heroes, spells, dakka everywhere, and actual attempts for tactics.
Now, some smartass is gonna say 'but if I have almost no range, my game is instantly more tactical!' to which I say you're dumb.'
If everybody in your game has range 'shit' on their guns, while my game features ranges 'pistol,' shit,' 'average,' 'long,' and 'excessively long,' that means my game is far, far more tactical than yours, because I have to think more about threats, while I watch the entire field.
This while you watch midfield, and camp the enemy boss.
Yes, the game has special rules.
Yes, it has ridiculous pauldrons, steampunk communists, ultramarines with a lightning fetish, and elves with powerfists.
No, none of these impress me.
Yes, there is a special sorta saved, called 'tough,' that was added to draw naysayers like me in, but it's primarly on a bullshit orc fashion.
Yes, there are caster that are so good at combat, they can chew through everything for that one turn they trigger their feat, but that sure sounds a lot like point-and-click to me, guys, and situationally reliable at best.
I want to roll dice for my guys. I want a say in what happens to all these expensive pieces of metal and plastic I have bought, even if it's a token one that's readily removed (orks).
I want to hit you back in combat.

"But you can totally build four different jack-variants from this box, man!" I can totally outfit my venerable dread with a long-ranged blob killer, long-ranged anti-tank, or mid-ranged anti-everything, as well as an extremely short-ranged, anti-light infantry template, and it looks roughly 914,551,992,211,555 times better than your warjack. All that just out of the box; however, my codex lets me put a quadrillion other guns on it, in multiple configurations.
Hey, it's even plastic, and has all these optional bits and pieces, so if I run 6 dreads, even if they're all carrying lascannons, they won't look the same. Amazing!
Here's the ultimate kicker, and why I won't play this game. Even if your body's not ready, I'm gonna deliver truth unto you.
The fans.
The fucking fans. You go on and on about Mat Ward, and chaos being gimps. You whine, and shout, and rave, and froth at the mouth about GW this, and GW that. How mean, evil GW doesn't have a forum. You hate the powercreep. Oh my god, GW's so expensive! Oh no! White dwarf's a catalogue, and when GW raises prices, they don't apologize to you.
Boo, hoo! No balls of steel page 5! Oh my god! I want to play competitively, but I can't when everybody's running space wolves - waaaaaaaaah! Leafblower, DAVU, thundershield, metagame, eldratar, razorwolf, loganwing - AND THAT PIECE OF SHIT MAT WARD, MAN! HE FUCKS UP ALL THE FLUFF!!!!
Oh, god, I hate every single one of you, and I bet PP does, too. You don't even play GW anymore, yet you're always around when I fight my marine on marine battles - bitching and moaning.
It's impossible for me to play a game with a userbase like yours. Impossible. Fucking no way in hell will I ever support a company that breeds idiots like you. It will never see my money until you've all been rounded up and executed, so I don't have to feel embarrassed for playing a game associated with you.
And for all the whine, you still don't dare to play me in any game. You still say my vanilla marines are 'broken,' and have 'codex creeped' your precious eldratar footdar DAVU. What happened to page 5? Is that only in warmachine? Your balls of steel shrank after that loss with your muslim/jihad black templar/grey knight terminator rip-offs? That why you're building a human ultramarine army that shoots lightning from its asses, and have Cable's brother Stryker as their Marneus Calgar?
God damn.
That's my rant for today, and we will never discuss this game again. Should I feel the need to say the game sucks, I will refer you to this.
However, I maintain the righ to make fun of your bad models with mark 3 helmets without warning, and am still contractually obligated to throw in one diss at warmahordes each blogpost.
TL,DR: I don't play uninteractive skirmish games that cost thousands of dollars, have whiney, bitchy, intrusive fans, or approve of forced list selection. My hobbytime's precious, and - believe it or not - not for hanging out with manchildren who talk big, but can't back themselves up.
HERO 63p · 716 weeks ago
It's just another game system who appeals to a different class to players.
I have 5 armies in 40K and 3 in Fantasy. I used to have 2 Warmachine armies but now I only have 1.
I play Warmachine because of the following:
1. Separate game system; I need something refreshing every now and them. 40K is epic and Warmachine is Skirmish. They're a different animal, so I walk them differently.
2. It's cheaper than Warhammer... in the norm of 2k 40K and 2500 Fantasy, I can get a average sized game of 35pts for 200 bucks. There's no way in hell I'm going to get that to happen with GW games.
3. It takes less time to play Warmachine. I can normally play a 2K 40K game in 2 hours, or maybe a Fantasy game in 3. In Warmachine, the game lasts 1.5 hours, maybe less if my opponent makes a mistake and I capitalize.
I think you can clearly see these example as they are and agree with me that they're just different games. Of course, we can argue about GW's codex creep all day, the price hikes in models, and the advertisement throw-up that is White Dwarf, but that's an argument all in itself. There's nothing I hate about PP, in fact, I think they're doing a great job. Why are you really mad though?
Karnstein · 716 weeks ago
Honestly: Fanboys of any kind are annoying, true. And yes, WM isn't the solution to every 40k problem. If you don't like skirmish games, don't like steampunk or don't like the model design, telling you "if GW balancing sucks, just play Warma" won't help you a bit and yes, it can be annoying. But I still don't get what your trying to tell us... ^^
muggins12 · 716 weeks ago
Went Awer · 716 weeks ago
It's impossible for me to play a game with a userbase like yours. Impossible. Fucking no way in hell will I ever support a company that breeds idiots like you. It will never see my money until you've all been rounded up and executed, so I don't have to feel embarrassed for playing a game associated with you."
I don't get it. 40K breeds the exact same idiots, but you support them?
"That's my rant for today, and we will never discuss this game again. Should I feel the need to say the game sucks, I will refer you to this.
However, I maintain the righ to make fun of your bad models with mark 3 helmets without warning, and am still contractually obligated to throw in one diss at warmahordes each blogpost."
So, basically, you are the idiot that you hate. Unless you're set to use the sarcasm defence.
eriochrome · 716 weeks ago
Captain Kellen · 716 weeks ago
I'll be in the corner...
CK
Marshal_Wilhelm 71p · 716 weeks ago
CptFornost 44p · 716 weeks ago
Mr. Vect · 716 weeks ago
tzeentchling 76p · 716 weeks ago
Also, you want a save? Play an army with lots of Tough, 5++ saves for everyone! Unless you run into the very few casters/models in the game that can deny Tough rolls (think of them as special power weapon auras).
And WTF is the rant about the fanbois? Like the only people that play WM are people who ragequit GW? Or feel dumped on by the new slew of 40K codicies? Please, give me a break. I play 40K, and I play WM. Different games for different moods. Both just as competitively.
Random · 716 weeks ago
Rathstar · 716 weeks ago
Kirby we need you back, such a pointless unobjective rant is not something most people expect of a blog with your name attached.
Rathstar
Roland Durendal · 716 weeks ago
That said, I'll never play Warmahordes as it just doesn't appeal to me. 1 game system is enough.
And Went Awer has a point, the annoying Fanboyism is prevalent in almost every game and system out there. It'll never die out sadly.
Kirby 118p · 716 weeks ago
but really, the first part of this article, was fine. It's an opinion sure, a very strong opinion but it does provide some information. There is other information on 3++ and out there which gives the other perspective (i.e. Tzneetchlings and Archnomads posts) but VT2 does raise some points worth consideration (i.e. no action during your turn, skirmish size, etc.). For people considering the game, these might be important factors.
The 2nd part though, classic VT2 rage :P.
Oh and I think you picked the worst original picture to then complain about the models. They look sweet. :) .
@Refyougee · 716 weeks ago
MoonFever · 716 weeks ago
Mordred · 716 weeks ago
To Kirby: You know this could have been so much better if someone else had written a coherent, thought out discussion comparing both game systems. All this does is tarnish the reputation of this website. Sure many of us have "VT2 hate" (not hate of course, just wish he did not post on this otherwise excellent blog), but it's deserved when posts like this are allowed to be on the front page.
Kelmar · 716 weeks ago
Flynn · 716 weeks ago
Guestivus · 716 weeks ago
I mean... that's the point of army lists, isn't it? It's why most of us are okay that 40k is no longer Rogue Trader's 'bring whatever you want', right?
Reynor Padilla · 716 weeks ago
An official GW store gets all my business because it's super kid friendly.
I also don't like the "kill the general and win the game" aspect of WM/H.
KingCronan · 716 weeks ago
I guess I'm just disappointed to see somebody whose opinion i respected slowly lose credibility, at least in my eyes.
Kirby i know you are friends with VT2 or something, but you should really check him every once and a while. I mean look at the comments, not many people found this article productive and a lot of the people who came to this website and loved it (I'm one of these people!)is because it was so well though out, well written, and just full of great advice! Things like this really take away from how good your site really is.
So better luck next time VT2! i look forward to when the old you returns and hits me with blunt but very useful advice about 40k! Not rants about yelling lol ;)
backintheday · 716 weeks ago
Border Prince · 716 weeks ago
Join us.
Except for VT2, the only person left behind when the Warmachine Rapture comes.
Karnstein · 716 weeks ago
I don't get the intention of the article, or rather how it does fits into the 3++ mission. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for me 3++ is YTTH without all the swear-words, nerd-rage and dissing you get there. If I want to read some nerdrage, I'm gonna search a random German TTG forum for a discussion about Finecast or M.Ward. I'm not keen on spending my time figuring out if VT2 has written a quality tactics article or jumped into the kind of rage-fest we've got here.
So concerning the intention of the article:
A) VT2 is pissed about people on forums, whose solution to any 40k/GW related problem is telling everybody, their mum, kids and cat how much GW sucks and that we all would be better of burning our 40k miniatures in the backyard and buy some WM models.
Fine we me, because those are annoying. If I don't like Fantasy or Steampunk on the one hand and love pushing around tons of miniatures, telling to just play WM if I don't like the way GW treats the system, you're not helping me much. Same goes for people pestering me at the FLGS and telling me my system sucks compared to theirs. Won't argue against that.
But like some other people have already said in this discussion: You get those people everywhere and every time a game (or any kind of hobby) grows from a underground thing into something bigger. And saying that Game Z has a crappy user-base and thus is something you can't respect is some kind of fallacy. I mean the WM guys at my store a really civil folks, most of them play other games (including a plethora of board games) and don't spend their time bitching about GW or telling other people how crappy their game really is. Most of them also think that the price for the new Bane thrall box is a bit rich. Which is quite a contrast to some people on German boards, who tell me that increasing prices AND selling inferior goods (Finecast) is okay and not buying the stuff is unreasonable. Saying that the whole game and community sucks, because a minority of players on the web are playing "Mr. smart-ass" or some rather vocal guys at your FLGS are behaving that way is just dumb. That's like saying all people from Country B are alcohol-addicted and have some body-hygiene problems, only because one guy at your workplace from that country stinks like a swine and reeks like a wine-barrel. ^^
So while I don't mind being pissed about fanboys of any kind, I don't think a pure rant is contributing anything to 3++. That's the kind of posting I would expect to see on some personal blog. If you don't want to play warma, that's fine with me. If you think the models are looking bad (I agree with you to a certain degree on that) and the rule system isn't your cup of tea, that's fine for me too.
B) But if the intention of the article was to debunk the arguments of why WM/H is the superior system, it just simply fails. You don't debunk arguments with a nerdrage, esp if one of your key points is that the other system has some kind of immature player base. You debunk those "arguments" with proper counter arguments, which are based on facts and well-researched.
Telling people that WM sucks because their models are a cheap copy from GW (who also heavily borrowed for theirs somewhere else) is an argument grounded on sand. It won't stand and it isn't mature either. So while I agree that there is something like forumitis, I can' see where your article differs from the kind of behavior you're striking out against.
Cheers...
An_Enemy · 716 weeks ago
VT2 79p · 716 weeks ago
When was it people forgot this is a blog, and not the illustred science of tabletop gaming?
So if the blog can't be used to post personal opinions, even when the personal opinion is listed as such, what can be the blog be used for?
WhoreMaWards · 716 weeks ago
This was clearly a humorous article, and it was nicely written. As far as VT2 is concerned, you have to read his articles like you've got a pair.
Bro_Lo 82p · 716 weeks ago
I like WM as a change. It will certainly not take the place of 40k. Ever. I won't comment on the people that play it because I have too many friends that practically pee in their panties over it.
Much better than the dread article... and actually funny.
x
@oldgrue · 716 weeks ago
"And for all the whine, you still don't dare to play me in any game. "
Its called shunning. Socially excluding people who are unpleasant. Although if you have the acumen for Go i could certainly use some practice.
Badger[Fr] · 716 weeks ago
Let's not even mention Flames of War and its ugly and horribly expensive models made of a mish-mash of resin, metal, and plastic. And you know what baffles me? That some people still buy Battlefront's crap when Zvezda and Plastic Soldier make beautiful models for less than half the price.
Not that Warmachines and FoW are bad games, far from it. They may both pale in comparison of AT-43, but they're still enjoyable nonetheless, even if FoW is a thinly-disguised 40k clone. I wouldn't be playing them if they were boring, after all. But claiming these two games are the best thing since sliced bread reeks of sheer fanboyism.
ItsPinkItsFluffy · 716 weeks ago
Also wouldnt that argument also go the same for VT2 with the initial post, with insecurity that people are moving away from GW to PP.
Its his personal opinion on a blog site, nerdrage or not.
Couldnt give a rats arse who does or doesnt play GW or PP as long as when they play they play to the best ability they can.
Dont NETLIST its for stupid people, do things like picking up a book, reading it and making an army yourself, thats the problem with have the bleeding armies its all everyone does, copy and quote everyone else, but someone had that original idea. Just do it yourself. If you cant then really you shouldnt be playing a table top skirmish or wargame.
@MadeFromCorpses · 716 weeks ago
Adding "This is my opinion" to a post does not exclude that post from being critiqued on its worth to the readers. This could've been a valuable post about the cons of Warmachine, but it's just wasted bytes of nerdrage.
Spider-pope · 716 weeks ago
I was put off from Warmachine for the longest time solely by the attitude of some of its more ardent supporters online. Is it really that hard to understand that the best way to recruit new players to your favour game is NOT to go onto other forums and slag off the competition? It's really difficult to get on my good side when you open a dialogue by telling me how wrong i am in my choice of hobbies and how i should be doing it like you. And sadly some of the more popular podcasts fall into the habit of slagging off GW at every turn which does nothing to improve my opinion of Warmachine and everything to lower my opinion of their podcast and reduce the chance of me venturing onto their site again.
Fortunately this "big man" syndrome douchebaggery seems limited to the online world, with everyone i've encountered involved in Warmachine being far, far more polite and welcoming.
General Smooth · 716 weeks ago
Insultatron 5000 · 716 weeks ago
Bommar 33p · 716 weeks ago
Prometheus 101p · 716 weeks ago
Chosenbythesun . · 716 weeks ago
The great thing about hobbies is that it does become an intensely personal choice, and therefor brings out the passion of that individual. That's what I used to love about managing a game store, firing up somones passion for a game.
If you like my game, great. If you don't, great.
However, if you ever make me feel like less of a person for my choice of a game, I'll rearrange your internal organs alphabetically. There's no need for rudeness in a social setting.
:)
GrimComm · 716 weeks ago
*looks at chat on the left*
Oh he's your friend Kirby? So that's why you're letting him walk all over you and destroy the credibility and quality of the site. I don't agree with your choice but those are the consequences.
Stand up for the quality we know you believe in, don't let this guy manipulate you because you have personal relationship. It's destroying your credibility.
grumhelden 25p · 716 weeks ago
For instance heres a fact:Tier lists are designed as fun, alternate ways to build a list by limiting options to a thematic range.
And heres an opinion: Everyone/Noone use tier lists everywhere/nowhere because they suck.
Other than that VT2, add some structure to your rants and they will be much better, and stick to facts, that you then apply opinion to, not one ill-informed judgement about one aspect that you build the rest on.
But thats just my opinion.
COR · 716 weeks ago
ChubToad · 716 weeks ago
Sethis · 716 weeks ago
moug · 716 weeks ago
Megad00mer 57p · 716 weeks ago
A) This article makes it painfully obvious you've never really given Warmahordes a fair shake. Either that or you sucked at it (can't spam Razorbacks and call it "tactics" in Warmahordes) and then rage quit. The generalities you state here are so ignorant that anyone who's ever really played Warhahordes can dismiss this entire article as the ravings of an uninformed neckbeard.
B ) I can understand being a GW fanboy and constantly hearing PP fanboys putting down the company you are loyal to can get a bit grating, but instead of maturely explaining why you still enjoy GW, you nerdrage vomited nonsense for 2 paragraphs and came off like an angry 13 year old.
But you have to admit, other than models and lore, GW doesn't have much to be loyal too anymore these days. People can only be treated like walking piggy banks for so long.
You're 100% entitled to your opinion. Personally I love WarmaHordes and think it's a fantastic game system. There are more tactical options with an army consisting of as little as 3 models than there is in a 40k army that can be 50 models or more. Don't dismiss the fluff either. The Iron Kingdoms setting isn't as detailed as the history of 40k but it's still full of great character driven stories with an ongoing narrative. It can be difficult to get into the lore though, with so much of it spread out between so many different sources, many of which are out of print.
I still love 40k and play that regularly as well. Been playing it going on 13 years and I'm not quitting anytime soon.
Because...and brace yourself here.....It's ok to like multiple game systems. Shocking I know. All the same, I'm fully aware that WarmaHordes isn't for everyone. Maybe if you presented your argument like an adult with actual thought out points people wouldn't be bashing you so hard. Next time, take a deep breath and calm down before you make yourself look the fool on the internet.
Sage in a Rage · 716 weeks ago
Brendan · 716 weeks ago
MoonFever · 716 weeks ago
Mark wells GW CEO · 716 weeks ago
AoM · 716 weeks ago
I want lots of dudes. I want battles, with epic heroes, spells, dakka everywhere, and actual attempts for tactics.
Now, some smartass is gonna say 'but if I have almost no range, my game is instantly more tactical!' to which I say you're dumb.'
If everybody in your game has range 'shit' on their guns, while my game features ranges 'pistol,' shit,' 'average,' 'long,' and 'excessively long,' that means my game is far, far more tactical than yours, because I have to think more about threats, while I watch the entire field.
This while you watch midfield, and camp the enemy boss."
insert Infinity here. The only thing you're missing is "lots of dudes."
So WM/H isn't for you. Great. That doesn't mean the game sucks. Only a relatively small number of people play Wargods, but that doesn't mean it sucks either.
I know this was your vitriolic rant on a blog that focuses on 40K, but your comparison between Draigo (was I the only one who wondered why you were using a character warjack as your avatar in the beginning of this argument?) and a warcaster was about as applicable as comparing Street Fighter's Ryu with Eddie Gordo from Tekken. Sure, they are both characters in their respective games, but the games themselves are not the same at all once you get past the fact that it is you against an opponent. Hell, compare Draigo to the queen in a game of chess. It makes just as much sense.
I'm not knocking your opinion. As you said somewhere above, it's your opinion. I've got no power to say you are wrong or right there. I just think you could have taken time to so a bit more than just trashing something with comments like "bullshit orcs" and the description of the Menoth models (yeah, the ever-growing shoulder pad trend sucks ass). The valid points you made got overshadowed by those types of claims.
Grand Master Raziel · 716 weeks ago
I had a brief, dubious flirtation with Warmachine, primarily because one of my friends got into it. He got me out of it by pouring a lot of money into it and breaking the system when I was still playing with mostly just the Cryx starter set, but I did have one game against someone else that I won pretty handily. The guy was playing Menoth, and while I was sludging down his holy warriors with my evil little chickens of doom, he let his caster blunder into charge range of my Slayer Helljack. I spent a couple activation points to boost the jack's to-hit and damage rolls, and one-shotted the caster. With the caster down, my opponent's jacks all deactivated. Game over, I won.
That was my last ever game of Warmachine.
Say what you want about 40K, but at least if your HQ goes down, you can still keep playing with what you've got left.
Stormcaller3801 · 716 weeks ago
Personally, I'm a major Privateer fanboy. I've got every book they've made, including a couple doubles, and armies for every faction save Minions (which may not be a real faction; I'm not sure the status just now).
It would be more accurate to say that per the standard scenarios, if your warcaster/warlock dies, you lose immediately. There's other ones (such as the scenarios in the Mk I supplement Escalation) wherein losing your warcaster just hampers you a good deal. Absolutely nothing prevents you from setting up a scenario where you can lose your warcaster and keep at it- or even try playing without a warcaster at all. Happened in Escalation.
Theme lists are options- and there's more coming out all the time. I use them sometimes, other times I don't; sometimes I make my own theme for my army. On a few occasions I've discovered that my army idea was already a theme list- I'd just stumbled upon it. They are an option designed to increase enjoyment of the game based upon player feedback from the special forces lists offered up in an issue of No Quarter. Nothing more and nothing less.
As for not dying- well, hey. I can't really help you there because I'm not sure what you're doing save for thinking there's no options available except to either charge in sword first or run and hide. I've gotten by just fine without doing either- and depending on the warcaster, doing one or the other (or both). My Skarre lists typically keep the Pirate Queen in the backfield, tossing support spells around and arcing attack spells through her 'jacks. There's no clear path to her, nor can my opponent afford to ignore the units closer. So she goes largely unscathed up until I throw everything into an assault and find out whether I can decisively win, or epically fail. By comparison my Feora list tends to act as a burning spear slicing through the enemy's ranks, opening up a path so that she can bring the fight to the enemy and either fail horribly or win decisively in person as her minions eliminate their opposites. And Nemo tends to just try and stay away from anything that looks dangerous while augmenting the heck out of his lightning-armed allies so that they can grind the opponent to dust.
Price-wise, it's a draw to my mind. Similar prices on average for an army, though GW tends to bump their prices every year and Privateer doesn't, which I appreciate a good bit. Heck- sometimes they drop. When the Bane Thralls went from a six figure box and two blister packs to max out a unit to the newer 10 figure box, the total cost actually went down. Not bad at all. If you don't like the style of the armies though- hey. To each their own. I've skipped any number of games simply because I couldn't find a faction that I liked the look of.
And as for background- well, honestly? I think Privateer wins. The factions tend to be complex, the plot advances steadily, and once you look at all the material out there it's hard to say that the Iron Kingdoms are lacking detail. The Iron Kingdoms Campaign Guide is a tremendous resource of information, both direct and in passing. No Quarter magazine and the wargame expansions flesh things out wonderfully, in all directions. There's large chunks left unexplored (such as the recently discovered continent of Zu), and what we do have just keeps getting new details. I may be biased here (quite likely in fact) but given that in comparison I took a vacation from 40k from 3rd edition to 5th, and I came back without anything differing... If 40k has the edge in background, then I'd say it's going to inevitably lose that in time as the Iron Kingdoms just keeps developing and changing.
Archnomad · 716 weeks ago
Kirby, do your integrity a favour and take this vitriol off your site.
Archy · 716 weeks ago
He'd not have any of his special abilities. No grand strategy, no massive statline that's actually different to the generic commanders of his class - further serving to differentiate Draigo and other characters. He'd not have a really special sword, or saves, eternal warrior, or completely alter the armylist just by his presence."
This in particular proves my above statement.
You don't have a clue.
WurstFahrer · 716 weeks ago
In addition, this just shows the fact that privateer press people are in fact, fanboys. A great deal of us GW fans are often very critical of the company, but as soon as someone criticizes warmapoop the butthurting begins. I recommend that you all pull the veil from your own eyes, and realize that both PP and gw are the same, making the same crappy games with the same overpriced models. Even that is not true, GW models have superior quality both in options and other things.
I guess to sum up my previous statements, PP fans go to hell!
VT2 79p · 716 weeks ago
PP attracts the most vile, short-sighted, idiotic of players. For the betterment of mankind, it's important that you gather in your own clubs, where only warmachine is ever played, so that I won't have my games cut by morons who start frothing and ranting about how marine on marine is dumb, Ward has ruined what you once loved (protip: it was Jervis, Gav, and Alessio), then randomly start raving about prices.
Believe me, I know how much you hate it when I point out the flaws in your sacred game, and since no one else on the entire internet is willing to, that's what I'll keep doing.
Please, PP fans, start your own clubs.
Also, don't be surprised that your skirmish game is rapidly becoming an actual wargame, as there's no long-term money to be had from systems with limited figures and options. That's why 2nd edition became 3rd edition, as well as the reason for GW no longer supporting its own lines of skirmish games.
Voidman_Spiff 42p · 716 weeks ago
"Fucking no way in hell will I ever support a company that breeds idiots like you." I literally laughed out loud. Can't see the forest for the trees, eh? Remember, whenever you split people into 'us' and 'them,' you automatically become one of 'them.'
Roland Durendal · 716 weeks ago
His article was written as a sarcastic, cynical, tongue in cheek critique. If you don't get that and you take what he says seriously and at face value, take a step back, realize it's a fuckin' game we're talking about, maybe take a lesson or two in sarcasm in literature, and then laugh at what he says and get past his writing style to see the valid criticisms he makes. Or, I don't know, maybe just ignore his article and don't feel the need to comment on it.
For real, ya'll are acting like he insulted you personally. It's. A. GAME.
And here's some advice, if you don't like what's on TV, turn the channel. So if you don't like VT2 or his articles or don't care to read about someone's opinion of WH, then FUCKIN' DON'T READ IT. Seriously. You all are drawn to this e-drama shit like light to flies. It's why I stopped reading YTTH; it's why I stopped going to Forums. People just want to fuckin' argue pointless shit, not bring up valid counter-arguments or evidence, and just plug their ears and say "NAH AH! You're wrong!"
Ya'll need to grow the fuck up.
Sorry Kirbs, but it had to be said.
grim · 716 weeks ago
Clayman · 716 weeks ago
Megad00mer 57p · 716 weeks ago
McNs · 716 weeks ago
I agree that the PP fan-base can be a little caustic, particularly when every "I R MAD AT GW" degrades to a pissing contest over whether or not Warmahordes is a 40K replacement. That said...
Most of this was factually incorrect. It is correct that Warmachine is a smaller scale game, doesn't have anything approaching the 3++ mechanic that lets Draigo or other SUPAH DUDEZ walk across the board with impunity, and that killing the opposing warcaster/warlock does equal endgame.
I'd go through point-by-point on where you're wrong, but I'm sure the counter-venom would be equally as false and I don't have the time/effort to waste on that.
tl;dr - Fail @ rant.
Newbreed · 716 weeks ago
stefano · 716 weeks ago
It's like to expect to get funny when you go to watch an horror movie.
WM is just another game, and to evaluate this game you have to clear off your mind 40k.
Nurglitch · 716 weeks ago
It goes to a nice article on how to write like a wanker, something that VT2 is obviously trying hard to do.
Deathcult Nihilist · 716 weeks ago
Meister_Kai · 716 weeks ago
You hate Warmachine because there are no Space Marines. Xenos players like Warmachine because there are no goddamn Space Marines. All of the whiny players are, you guessed it, xenos players that are tired of being second class citizens to Space Marines.
Can you honestly blame them? I mean really.
I want to play Retribution. Is the fluff not as good as Eldar fluff? Yep. However, is the Retribution god of war a drunken sorority slut every Space Marine SC gets to knock around to get a badge on their sash? Fuck no. Every WM faction feels badass when you read the fluff that actually comes from the mouths of who's book you're reading. Every faction is respectable, no one is "gay" or "dirty Tau" or whatever.
No, you don't have to do tier lists dude, they are just fun. Sure some of them are actually good, how the hell is this a bad thing?
So you don't like skirmish games huh, you need big epic history changing battles? Too bad none of these actually happen in 40K, the fluff hasn't advanced in how long? It took Retribution a year (or less) to advance its story, Eldar hasn't advanced since 3d edition.
Sorry, Warmachine doesn't give Space Marine players a chance to feel their own brand of "I am badass and no one else is". Cry me a fucking river. Oh I'm sorry, you already are.
Kirby 118p · 716 weeks ago
1) this site has never been and never will be about traffic. I love me some stats but that's all.
2) VT2 has liberty to post what he wants. I've asked him to post more tactics/analysis articles to outweigh his rant articles.
3) VT2's rant articles make up less than a tiny % of the posts on this site and most of them, whilst polarising, are better than this (see finecast for example).
4) with regards to the small percentage these articles make up and as others have said, don't respond to them - you're fuelling the fire so to speak. I would prefer VT2's articles to have a point and I personally felt the first half of this one was fine, wasn't so keen on the eggnought one though but others like the finecast rant? fine by me. Again, I've asked VT2 to post more of his tactics and get his act together on the GK review (and for those of you complaining about him doing it, the SM review was well received by most people whilst still written in VT2's style).
I think the lack of solid analysis posts of late for VT2 has led to people who are not familiar with the site/his past work to think this is common place or all that he can do. This is not the case and hopefully we can get some productive discussion going on his next posts which actually pertain to the world of 40k gameplay.
devoncodain · 715 weeks ago
Jonno · 715 weeks ago
vomkrieg 61p · 702 weeks ago
At the end of the day we are all playing with our toy soldiers.
I've put together my thoughts about the two games on my blog
Part one - http://vom-krieg.blogspot.com/2011/10/warhammer-4...
Part two - http://vom-krieg.blogspot.com/2011/10/warhammer-4...