Warjacks and warbeasts are a fundamental part of the games Warmachine and Hordes. You will be hard pressed to find a list that doesn't include at least one jack or beast and most likely that will be a heavy. There are many reasons for this but the most simple of these is that jacks and beasts have the easiest time hitting and killing an enemy caster with their ability to boost either the to hit roll or the damage roll.
Now I think one of the most important things to consider when selecting a jack/beast is this: How will this compliment my army? What will it do inside of the army? As a Khador player I often times select just one Warjack because I want to run as many infantry and I select a jack that can kill both a Warcaster as well as a warjack; however when I run my Circle I select beasts for both their ability to kill as well as the animi and abilities that they bring my army. For example compare picking a Feral Warpwolf over a Woldwarden.
A very major part of picking your Warjacks and Warbeasts is of course if you are using Focus or Fury. Because of the restrictions of each system you will be building your lists differently and with different requirements of your heavies.
Warmachine:
Now I think one of the most important things to consider when selecting a jack/beast is this: How will this compliment my army? What will it do inside of the army? As a Khador player I often times select just one Warjack because I want to run as many infantry and I select a jack that can kill both a Warcaster as well as a warjack; however when I run my Circle I select beasts for both their ability to kill as well as the animi and abilities that they bring my army. For example compare picking a Feral Warpwolf over a Woldwarden.
A very major part of picking your Warjacks and Warbeasts is of course if you are using Focus or Fury. Because of the restrictions of each system you will be building your lists differently and with different requirements of your heavies.
Warmachine:
With the way Focus works the most common requirement of a jack is that it is efficient in its focus use. For example the Defender is loved by many a Cygnar player because it normally requires one focus a turn and that lets you use more focus for spells and focus camping. Jacks with either the Aggressive rule or the Heavy Boiler ability are also very common because they do not require attention until later in the game.
Hordes:
There are two major things that go into picking your beasts in Hordes. One is the animus of the beast and the other Fury generation. Often times people will take a beast only for the animus and rarely use it in heavy combat. An example is would be the Gorax or the Seraph. Other beasts such as the Dire Troll Mauler and the Stalker are brought both for their animus and for their ability to wreck havoc upon the enemy.
With the way Fury works you will often times try and take enough beasts so that if one dies you do not lose out on the Fury your Warlock can use. This is something that is up to a player and I have heard many different ideas on how to deal with this from being able to generate twice your normal Fury in a turn to only making sure you can generate a few extra in a pinch.
One of the key things to look at finally is, of course, your warlock/warcaster. This is of course the overall deciding factor since their capabilities to support either multiple or singular beasts/jacks will determine your list and play style more than anything else in the game.
As always feel free to email in suggestions, requests and questions at my 3++ email found here.
Until next time folks and have a happy New Years!
