As some may have noticed, recently at Top Deck, a new force has taken over the right hand wall, encroaching on the time-honored place of Reaper Miniatures and Historicals. What is this rising star? Its the twin gaming system produced by a company called Privateer Press named Warmachine and Hordes (affectionately and hereafter called Warmahordes). This will be a bit of an introduction into this system, specifically tailored to those familiar with Warhammer 40K.
The first thing a lot of people will notice when looking at a game of Warmahordes in action, is that the armies are significantly smaller than those used in systems by Games Workshop. Usually a Warmahordes force numbers around 20 models, with numbers fluctuating depending upon the army and build in question. Warmahordes as a system is designed to be fast to play. The objective for each game is to kill the enemy leader (called a Warcaster in Warmachine and a Warlock in Hordes) in a manor reminiscent of Chess. However, it is the Warcaster/lock that controls the most fearsome elements of your army, the massive Warjacks and ferocious Warbeasts and they can only control them within a limited area. So, unlike in chess where it is ideal to keep your King as far from the enemy pieces as possible, in Warmahordes it is required for you to move your leader into the fray.
One thing that often confuses people, is the difference between Warmachine and Hordes. I'll go ahead and clear that up a bit. Warmachine and Hordes are twin game systems, with only a few differences and are designed to be played together. They are not two entirely different systems (like Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K). Specifically, the differences lie in the interaction of Warcasters and Warjacks, and Warlocks and Warbeasts. In Warmachine, your leader is called a Warcaster and controls Warjacks, providing them with bonuses in the form of FOCUS points. Each Warcaster produces a certain amount of FOCUS which it can then use to provide bonuses to its Warjacks, cast spells or do certain other things. In Hordes, your leader is called a Warlock and controls Warbeasts. In hordes, the mechanic is reversed. Your Warbeasts produce FURY, which your Warlocks then leach and use to power spells and provide bonuses.
One considerable difference in the game system, is in the releases provided for it by Privateer Press. Instead of producing and updating each army alone and creating 'codex creep' Privateer Press produces and releases new rules and models for each faction together, usually with a new update book that provides the rules for new toys each faction receives. This maintains a striking amount of balance between all the factions. Another difference, is in the fact that all books produced for the game are entirely optional when it comes to purchases (other than the rulebook). Each model produced by Privateer Press is provided with a card that details all the rules required to play with said model.
The actual game play of Warmahordes is very fast, and its not uncommon for tournaments to have a time limit for turns (usually round 7-10 minutes a turn, with 3 minute extensions for one round) The current record for shortest game ever played was 8 minutes, and was during this years Gencon. Another theme for the game play is that there is a heavy reliance on stacking abilities between different models. There's an abundance of models that provide bonuses to others, and can turn a very poor unit into an astounding one.
Finally, another theme for Warmahordes is the sheer lethality of play. Basic infantry models die by the bucket load, and nothing in this game is safe. There is very little forgiveness for mistakes or room for error. I hope this has been some help.
Remember, PLAY LIKE YOU'VE GOT A PAIR!
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