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Thoughts on Warmahordes

1K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  lokis222 
#1 ·
Just curious.

I have found warmahordes to be a very well balanced game. I have not found any particular faction to be overpowered and almost every game I have played, I found it came down to choices in game as to how the game ended.

I have found some factions easier to pick up and play than others. I have found some to be a bit harder to master. However, I don't consider any faction to be a top faction or a weak faction.

So, in your opinion, has this been your experience? In asking this, I am looking for people's opinions and I am not trying to start a flame war.

Cheers,
Josh
 
#2 · (Edited)
You're feelings aren't very far off - Warmahordes is an extremely well balanced game. When I first started, I did hear people whining that "this faction is over powered" and "that faction is under-powered" from a few people online, but what I quickly came to realise is that every person had a different opinion of what was under or over powered - some thought Ret was overpowered, some underpowered, some thought Menoth was unbeatable, others said it was too soft, some thought Khardor couldn't possibly win, yet others thought they were impossible to crack. What it really was is that every army was fairly balanced, but players had troubles overcoming particular opponents using those lists.

I'd suggest you look at This Thread which is a statistical analysis of games played during the 4 Templecon tournaments over in the USA - over 400 games, 160 players, and some representation by every army in the range.

What it found was that the "top" army won about 58% of it's games, the bottom army, about 43% of it's games - basically less than 8% difference either way, and within the margin of error.

Hell, when ever I've looked up tournament results, I've always been quite impressed that there's usually a good selection of winning factions - it's never top tier and bottom tier factions, it's all about the particular set of players who turn up, and what factions the good players fancy. Hell, look back through the results of major tourneys around, and you'll probably find every single faction has been in first place at some point in the recent past. No faction is left behind.

It's one of the really good things about this game, and PP way of releasing it - everything gets updated and refreshed all at once, no waiting years while your army slowly decays.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Having read the two pages, maybe trollbloods or menoth might be more of a challenge. Great find. +rep
Yeah, Retribution suffer a little because they have a smaller range of options than other forces - however, in the right hands, they can be amazingly deadly. In one list of major tournaments so far this year, they've had as many 1st place gets as Cryx have (link). Legion, the other low scoring army at Templecon, also has a few firsts to it's name. Menoth and Trolls haven't gotten a 1st yet, though there have been a few 2nds and 3rds, and the year is young yet. Plus, I know Menoth can do well when in good hands, because one of our better players down here (dicegod) won the super series with them at the end of last year, all while using a number of units that some netlisters had dissed as poor (Clensers, Idrians, Vindictus). Just goes to show, it's not all in the list.

I think Trolls and Menoth just tend to take a little more thought, as they're factions that rely a lot of synergy and order of activation, meaning that making a mistake that costs the game is done slightly more frequently - but if you play a good game with them, they're as strong as anything out there.
 
#5 ·
Pretty much every faction for Warmachine and Hordes contains overpowering elements. Each Warcaster/Warlock affects their faction list differently. Some Warcasters/Warlocks have higher learning curves then others.

Each faction has its specialties as a whole. Retribution is the jack of all trades but master of none. Retribution units tend to be above average at melee, range and support. They fail to to be exceptional in all of the above rolls.

Retribution also has a knack for assassination. Meaning your whole game can revolve around caster killing while ignoring objectives.

The game mechanics are both balanced and fun. Warmahordes is also evolving. Since I started playing 2 years ago I've enjoyed numerous supplements to the core mechanics that were not only free, but worth learning and playing. It takes me back to when gamesworkshop paid attention to their customers.

No quarter is a stellar magazine that makes White Dwarf look like cancer inducing toilet paper. No Quarter features amazing battle reports, new units, game rules, painting, converting and terrain building articles.

Privateer Press pays close attention to their fanbase and will often take their suggestions and wishlisting into account in everything they produce.

The Privateer Press tournament support is also solid. They have numerous tournament formats complete with prize support and unique rules. In example my local store just finished a journey man league. The rules of the tournament were that each player purchases a battle box and must use its contents. Each week the player was allowed to add x amount of points to their lists. After 4-5 weeks you were allowed to buy a new caster. The formats allowed new players to get use to the game and veteran players to use new factions. Players who painted units each week were awarded battle points to encourage the hobby as a whole. Every week you were assigned an opponent, but were also allowed to play up to 5 additional games a week for an additional battle point to encourage learning rules quickly and making friends.



The fluff is below average at times with enough exceeds to keep you intrested in the story line. Fortunately new stories are being added to no quarter magazines and quarterly rules supplements.

The models for the most part are easy to clean and assemble. Some models suffer from poor scaling and lack of detail. Honestly most infantry models from MK1(1st edition) are not that much to look at. Fortunately the Warjacks and Warbeasts all look pretty good.

All of the 2011 scultps are pretty damn good so the company is obviously growing and improving.

So you're not going to have models on the caliber of the Dark Eldar.

All of the new Warjack/Warbeast plastic kits are a godsend. For example the Retribution plastic Warjack kits allows you to build either a Phoenix, Hydra, or Manticore. So if you're good with magnets then you can have all 3 Jacks on 1 chasis. I've done this with 3 kits so that I can effectively save tons of cash by swapping heads and arms.

The community is fantastic. There's no rumor addiction because Privateer Press is open and honest. There's no rule bashing or faction hate because the game has true balance. There's reasons to discuss the games future and to wish list about new releases since the games developers listen and pay attention to their community.

Warmahordes is on a rise and will keep growing. You're better to get into the hobby now and show support for what it the best table top game since Warhamer 40k. If not then just wait another 2 years when it replaces Warhammer 40k as the larges table top miniature game and jump on the bandwagon
 
#7 ·
i've heard some people say "warmahordes is balanced because everything is broken". i kind of agree with this. it usually revolves around the casters and their feats. if you have absolutely no understanding of your opponents army and he knows yours, you will likely not win hardly ever. you'll be sitting there saying damn that's broken. but once you've learned everyone's tricks you'll realize you have multiple ways to counter them. so in short warmahordes is very balanced, and tons of fun to play. i also like that they release something for everyone at the same time as stated earlier.
 
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