jesselowe

Any idea how well the figures would look on the table next to Dust stuff?

Tourneys are usually announced on the events forum at the Cog Collective. There are a few coming up.

Lots of folks. Try Guardian on Monday nights, Portland Game Store on... I think Thursday nights, or Red Castle on Saturdays. The Cog Collective forums and a GroupMe chat are where most stuff gets organized.

Thanks for the tips!

 

Where can I find the basics for how each faction plays?  I do much better with a few big guns than with a horde of little ones.

... that's a little hard to answer, what with the new edition changing things up some. Still, here's a rough sketch:

Cygnar: Plenty of guns, plus a lightning theme. Often have trouble hitting hard, but are very accurate. Tend to murder infantry.

Khador: Used to be all infantry all the time. Now they can run 'jacks pretty well. Said 'jacks are slow (with ways to speed them up) and very heavily armored. Also rather cheap.

Protectorate of Menoth: Synergy. Choir of Menoth makes all their 'jacks better. Can run a pretty solid gunline or melee force. Fire themes.

Cryx: Swarms of undead, and cheap, disposable 'jacks, plus some really nasty warcasters. And they play with souls.

Retribution of Scyrah: A bit of denial, and a mix of shooting and melee. Tend to ignore certain defensive measures.

Convergence of Cyriss: Lots of synergy. These guys operate like a clockwork machine, and aren't recommended for new players because they're rather tricky. Limited faction; they don't get many releases, so it's easy to complete the faction.

Trollbloods: Big ol' bricks of dudes, backed up by big tough beasts. Hit pretty hard.

Skorne: Hard to say - pinning down their faction identity in the new edition is causing a lot of arguments. It seems to be counterpunch: they get real tough, take it on the chin, then hit back extremely hard.

Legion of Everblight: Glass cannons. Fast, ignore some stuff like stealth and clouds, and hit really hard, but can't take a punch.

Circle Orboros: Used to be hit and run. Now seems to be a bit of terrain shenanigans; they can create forests with some models, and really like having them on the table. Tend to be high defense, low armor.

Caveat: Players are still figuring out the faction identities in light of the new edition, and some of these may turn out to be wildly inaccurate after six months of play.

If you want a few big guns instead of a bunch of smaller ones, I recommend you pick a faction you like the look of in terms of models, and then just steer toward the warcasters/warlocks who can run 'jack or 'beast heavy lists. You should also take a look at which factions have the "best" colossals and gargantuans. Of course, that's also up in the air at the moment until we get more table time...

For future reference, keep an eye on the Chain Attack podcast, Battle College (wiki, so a little unreliable depending on contributors), and Muse on Minis (forum and a lot of podcasts, of varying quality), as well as the official forums. 

You have picked an excellent time to start Warmachine; the latest edition, with brand new starter sets, just dropped about a week ago. So now everyone's on a much more level playing field, and a lot of folks are interested in Journeyman leagues (the official escalation format).

As for where to start, you should pick up the starter box for the faction of your choice. It'll be $40 list, come with a single warcaster or warlock, and 2-3 warjacks or warbeasts - enough for a 0-point game, which would be the smallest level one plays at. It also includes the rules, a playmat, and some other useful stuff. Later this year, PP is going to release 2-player starter sets for each game - one with Cryx and Cygnar for Warmachine, one with Trolls and Skorne for Hordes. You may also want to pick up the WarRoom 2 app for iOS or Android, which is free, and the card decks for factions you're interested in (which are not free).

Guardian just got in a bunch of Guild Ball stuff.

It's going to be up to the TO at the event, of course, but "iconic elements" usually means that you should be able to show this model to a moderately experienced player, and they should be able to identify it immediately by sight. Which said, khadoran torso + cygnaran everything else would probably be okay, though I think the proportions would look a little weird.

I wasn't, and then Spartan put the dropships up for pre order. They look really good...

Glad to hear it. Our Portland group is skipping this month so we can go to Enfilade, but next month we should see some more action.

I'm all in on this, at least for now. Always been a sticker for the Clauzewitz games.

Mercenaries spoilers: http://privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-05-16-2016

I hope to be there around 2 or so.

Addendum: if, after research, you decide to unload your Carthaginians, Enfilade's bring and buy will probably be your best bet.

If you're going to Enfilade, that's probably the best place to network with people for finding gaming groups. Just wander down to the main floor between rounds in the FoW tournament.

Convergence of cyriss: http://privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-05-12-2016-0

Does anyone on here play at Red Castle on Sundays?

Does Olympia have a decent venue?

I'd prefer a weeknight at Red Castle in SE portland or a weekend Guardian, but right now any Kings of War plans for me are on hold due to non-gaming stuff :(

This was one of those starter armies...not a battle box. I think maybe it is a 35pt army?

The Cryx all-in-one? You should be good to go, then.

Also, given how the PP website behaves on launch days, I wouldn't count on downloading anything on the 12th >.>

FYI, Red Castle has 40% off Warmachine until the 18th.

So how does it play? Quicker than armada?

I'm looking to flesh out my Undead army, but I'm not terribly fond of a couple of Mantic's models - specifically, the Wights, Soul Reaver Infantry, and Soul Reaver Cavalry. They're ok, but I'd like to find some alternatives. Any ideas for what would work (beyond the obvious, GW's ludicrously overpriced Blood Knights)?

Lion Rampant is a rather generic skirmish game for medieval warfare - I'd say it focuses on around 1000 to 1500, but it's very flexible. Dragon Rampant is the fantasy version, and there are plenty of adaptations to ancients, Dark Ages, and the like. An army would be around 20-40 figures, on a 1:1 figure to man ratio.

Saga does indeed have a Crusades version, the Crescent and the Cross.

I bumped this thread, which has a pretty thorough breakdown on getting started. The faction overview is especially helpful. I believe you can order stuff through Guardian, but it's not quick. Haven Gaming in Salem had some books & dice last time I was in, and I'm sure the Game Matrix up in Tacoma does as well. The Warstore is my usual go-to source for stuff, but they're awfully light on actual Saga material right now. Or you can order directly from Gripping Beast, which might take a while to cross the Atlantic. Gabe and Spencer are members of the Old Glory army - cheap, good-quality figures. It might be easiest to order the books from Amazon, to be honest...

Bumping this topic, as we've had some new and interested players popping by the monthly historical wargames day at Guardian.