Why Hordes and soon Warmachine?

Hordes and Warmachine: why do I care?

The main reason is the models. I have liked and even collected a few Privateer Press models. I have used them as D&D miniatures or have just painted them for fun. The models in these games are as visually appealing. If you cannot find a faction in either game that doesn’t visually stimulate then I truly feel sorry for you. I have a few warcasters for varying factions and numerous solos. I even have a Cryx battle box almost complete so I can try them against the forces of Hordes.

Speaking of factions, there are many in both games and they go from your usual undead, uppity elves, pirates, surly dwarves, religious zealots and then to the strange pig men, cold war-esque Russians, lightning channeling warriors, fierce shape changing cannibals, blue sentient trolls and voodoo crocodiles. The amount of playable factions in both Hordes and Warmachine is impressive; and if there isn’t a group that appeals to you, well then once again, I feel sorry for you.





The game play is easy to learn, fast and even free. That is right kiddos. You can download the basic game for Warmachine and Hordes from the Privateer Press website. The basic game rules also come with the starter sets for each faction. I have never seen a company give rules to you for free. Sure these are only the basics, but they are enough to play the game forever, or until you either get bored or want some advanced options.

This is also a fairly cheap game to start. A battle box will give you 3-5 models and they run near $50. This is pretty damn stellar. As a long time G.W. guy, $50 gets you a single unit and maybe a single model. That is nowhere near what you need to play a minimum sized game of 40K or fantasy. Trying to convince someone to drop $100 plus to start a game can be a tough sell. $50 is a bit easier, especially since they also get the rules for free.

The game is brutal. There is not a lot of room for error. A misjudged move, charge or attack can leave a unit exposed and open to some hurt. The ability to adjust your hit and damage rolls is fantastic! You have control over quality or quantity of attacks. Sure you are still dependent on random dice rolls, but you at least can give yourself a greater chance of success. When rolling 2D6 to hit is questionable and you need a hit, throw a third D6 in there for good measure. The same goes for when it comes time to roll damage. If you want it dead then throw on an extra dice to make sure it dies. Now there isn’t an unlimited number of dice to add, and that is all part of the various strategy in Warmachine/Hordes.

There are some cons as in all hobby games. This does cost some cash to start and eventually you will want more stuff. The various units, creatures and robots are not the cheapest models. They run 15-60 dollars per model/unit. This seems pricey, but a lot of the Privateer Press stuff is still metal and that is expensive. The positive part of more expensive models is that you might only need two or three models or a unit of five guys to increase your force for larger games. Also, Privateer Press is moving more and more metal units to their plasti-resin material. This helps drop the price of the expensive metal units and also helps mitigate the dropped model damage that will eventually happen. Still, if I want to jump from 15 point games to 25 point games then I'll need to drop somewhere between 30-60 dollars. I find that very acceptable for a model toy based game.

Even better, Hordes and Warmachine are payable against each other. You like robots and your buddy likes monsters, then so be it. The core rules are the same for both. That is grand as you don’t have to learn two entirely different rules sets to play with monsters or robots. You just have a few minor tweaks between the two systems. Genius stuff right here.

After all this time I am kicking myself a bit as to why I didn't start this game sooner.