As I'm sure many of you noticed I wrote an article on the various factions of Warmachine and promised to write one for Hordes. Since all of the comments and reviews were positive I decided I have enough self confidence to write my follow up piece. Hordes uses the same system as Warmachine but with a few differences. Warbest use the Fury system instead of focus and have access to spells called an animus that their Warlock can use. Overall with the way the Fury system works, Hordes needs more Beasts than Warmachine needs Jacks. This is the major difference between the two but I will have a piece on Focus vs Fury as well as Warmachine vs Hordes soon. As promised here is the general overview of all of the various Hordes factions for your enjoyment.
Trollbloods:
The Trolls are a people without a home. These are the good guys of the Iron Kingdoms if there is any. These drunken scottish hoolagins enjoy playing themselves very forward while stacking various damage or ARM buffs onto themselves. The Trolls themselves have the most light warbeasts of any faction. Trolls are very melee oriented and while many of their beasts have excellent ranged attacks, most of their army is better suited to be in melee thanks to the plethora of buffing animi or spells.
Circle Orboros:
The angry hippie druids of Orboros. Circle doesn't play fair, ever. These forest goers enjoy manipulating the terrain on the board or creating more - all of this whilst ignoring its effects. Most of circle plays very fast and hits hard with the exception of their Wolds. These monsters of stone are as slow as Khador jacks and as hard to kill. Circle is also capable of teleporting themselves around with various spells on their casters and effects on their units and solos. Circle is a master of control and denial. They control the board itsself, the enemy and the positions of models with the mastery of a finely sharpened scalpal.
Skorne:
Skorne are the evil and sadistic invaders from the far east. These invaders enjoy playing upfront and in melee much like trolls. However, that is pretty much the end of things when it comes to similarites. Skorne enjoys stacking buffs with their animi and spells but all of these come at a price. These buffs will often times hurt your own men in some form or affect the enemy by debuffing them when they get close. Another key thing is that the Skorne rely upon their beasts to do the dirty work while Trolls like their infantry for the job. Skorne also have a wide variey of casters from spell slingers, to support, to destruction Warlocks.
Legion of Everblight:
An ancient race of elves called the Nyss were corrupted by the evil dragon Everblight, who has made it his duty to destroy everything in his search for power. Each of his Warlocks carry a piece of him so that he can control them and by them their warbeasts. Each Legion Warlock is unique in how they work. They are capable of either spell casting, forward attacks, ranged combat but they are all capable and designed to strengthen their beasts. Legion also has a myriad of solos that help support their beasts with fury managment or buffs as well. Legions beast are also unique because they are as capable in melee as they are at range.
Minions:
Gatormen and Farrow, Gators and Pigs, Luggage and Bacon. These guys are much like Mercs in Warmachine and often considered to be underdevelped due to the lack of options that they have. This is because they got their first Warlock in MKII! Despite this fact they are indeed a fearsome set of minions and hold some of the best options in the game.
Conclusion:
The Hordes side of the spectrum is just as varied and just as strong as the Warmachine side, stronger some would say. Like I said in my last article, I suggest just going with what you think is cool and work from there. Many people end up picking up multiple factions and use them often.
Since this is the last of my game introductions for now I would hope you guys can help me out with ideas for the future. Feel free to email in suggestions - I enjoy chatting with you guys as much as I can.
