What do I need to start playing WARMACHINE?

July 20th, 2011

When I first took an interest in starting WARMACHINE, I googled the title of this post and was surprised that I couldn’t find a really good answer. There were a few how-to videos and some forum posts, but no definitive list of necessities. I’ve thought of writing this post for some time and it has occurred to me that there are different levels of “playing” WARMACHINE. There’s the minimum you need to just play a friendly battlebox game and then there’s what you need if you want to paint the models, and what if you really want to dig right in and get into the painting and the modelling and the basing and the fluff…
One of the greatest things about WARMACHINE is that you can get in at any level. The more interested you are, the deeper the rabbit hole goes, but for casual play it’s not deep at all. So I think this is more deserving of a series of posts, each going a little deeper than the last into what is needed for WARMACHINE.

So, really, what do you need to play WARMACHINE?

Tier 1

  • A faction Battlegroup Box
  • Exacto knife
  • Super Glue
  • Four d6s
  • Tokens or beads
  • A tape measure
  • Dry-Erase marker
  • Protective Card Sleeves
  • A 4’x4′ flat playing surface
  • Someone to play against
Let discuss each item in further detail:

 

Faction Battlegroup Box

Cygnar Battlegroup Box

Cygnar Battlegroup Box

This is a box containing a collection of models that includes a Warcaster and typically 2-4 Warjacks and their associated stat cards.  These battelgroups are balanced against each other so that any faction battlegroup can be played against any other faction and not be at a disadvantage.  For WARMACHINE the battlegroups were originally all in metal, but I would encourage you to get the newer Plastic Battlegroup as they are easier to assemble and have updated sculpts.  There are four plastic WARMACHINE battlegroup boxes currently available: Cryx, Cygnar, Khador and Protectorate of Menoth.
The Battlegroup Box also contains a set of Quick Start Rules, which can also be downloaded directly from Privateer Press.  These rules cover all the basics you will need for Battlegroup Box games.
WARMACHINE games are played by players with equal point armies.  Typically these army point values are 15, 25, 35, 50, 75 and 100, not to mention the newest Unbound rules that can use 150pts and up.  In my experience 35 and 50 point games are the most common depending on how much time people want to play.  Most Battlegroups are 11 points with some being more, but as mentioned the boxes are balanced against one another, so it works well.
Not sure which faction to get?  Here’s the low-down on each:
  • Cryx are mostly undead and mechanical abominations that work for an all power Dragon, Lord Toruk, who may or may not be a god.  They have a lot of tricks up their sleeves.
    • More info: Battle College – Cryx
  • Cygnar, the jewel of the Iron Kingdoms, have among the most technologically advance warjacks of all the Factions.  They are big on ranged attacks and electricity.
    • More info: Battle College – Cygnar
  • Khador are brutal expansionists, looking always to expand the motherland at the expense of weaker nations.  They believe in big, heavy hitting warjacks that can take a beating.
    • More info: Battle College – Khador
  • Protectorate of Menoth worship Menoth, the creator of man, and they like to burn heretics and non-believers.

Exacto Knife

Exacto Knife

Exacto Knife

Mold lines are just a fact of WARMACHINE life.  Both plastic and metal models are made from pieces cast in molds and all these molds have seams that will leave undesirable mold lines on your models.  Some pieces may have larger pieces of extra material (ofter referred to as flash) from where the material was injected or where a particular part of a mold failed.  Learn right from the start to remove the flashing and use the knife to gently scrape/cut the mold lines away.  This is easier on the plastic models as you can often get the job done with just the knife and not a set of small files.  Although I hesitated to include this on the Tier 1 list, I think this is the right thing to do.  Start removing those lines now, because once you get the model assembled it can be all but impossible to removed them.

 

Super Glue

Super Glue

P3 and Gorilla Super Glue

Both the plastic and the metal models need to be assembled.  For this you must use  a Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, such as Super Glue.  I myself prefer Gorilla Super Glue, the fumes don’t irritate my eyes like some other brands, it’s available at a lot of stores and it seems to have better hold strength once dried.

d6s

4d6

4d6 (Four Six-sided dice)

WARMACHINE revolves around the rolling of six-sided dice (or d6’s).  For most combat actions you will roll 2d6s to see if your action hits and then you roll another 2d6 to see how much damage is done.  However, some attack rolls and damage rolls can be boosted to use additional dice.  It’s unlikely in a Battlegroup Box game you would ever be rolling more than 3 or 4 dice at a time.

 

Tape Measure

Tape Measure

Tape Measure

In addition to the rolling of d6s, measuring distances is a key aspect of WARMACHINE.  A thin flexible tape measure is invaluable.  It needn’t be excessively long as your typical play surface is only 4’x4′, giving you a theoretical maximum measuring distance a little under 5’8″, but realistically you won’t ever be measuring much more than 20″.

 

Dry-Erase Marker

Dry-Erase Markers

Dry-Erase Markers

Some models can take more than one point of damage before they are destroyed.  In these cases the model’s card will have damage boxes that can be marked off to keep track of the accumulated damage.  For models like Warjacks the damage boxes are in a special grid and which boxes are damaged determine how the machines are affected, such as not being able to run if the movement boxes are all damaged.  The easiest way to keep track of this is by used dry-erase markers.  These work best in conjunction with the protective card sleeves below, I myself have not tried writing and erasing directly on the card, so you’re on your own if you do.

Protective Card Sleeves (Clear)

Protective Card Sleeves

Protective Card Sleeves

You can protect your cards in a variety of ways.  I prefer the individual protective sleeves as shown above.  They are designed to be used for CCGs so they are more rugged than a standard card sleeve that might protect a baseball card.  Make sure you get Clear!  Many of them have solid colored backs and you need to be able to see both sides of the cards.  You can also use the hard plastic sleeves, though they tend to be too loose fitting, resulting in a card that slides around possible mis-aligning your damage boxes from the marks you have made.  The last option I’ve seen is to use full card sleeve pages that snap into a binder which provides good protection and keeps your cards organized, but won’t stack up as small or be re-arrangeable.  And sometimes you need to show another player a card, it’s easier to not unsnap an entire page to hand to them.

Tokens

Cygnar Tokens

Cygnar Faction Tokens

You will need some type of token to represent different effects in the game, most generally that will be focus points.  Each Warcaster starts each turn with a number of focus that they can then assign to his Warjacks or keep for himself.  You’ll need some way to represent this.  Glass beads, pennies, pieces of paper, whatever you have available.  Or you can always get the Privateer Press token set for your faction which contains not only focus tokens, but also ways to represent other effects such as spells and being set on fire.

 

4’x4′ Flat Play Surface

And lastly you need a place to play.  Any table or section of floor will work fine.  It needn’t be exactly 4’x4′, something small is perfectly acceptable, though going much larger will only lead to more turns of just movement and no action.  WARMACHINE is not a game of hide-and-seek, it’s meant to have player “play like they have a pair”, with the opposing forces rushing each other and quickly joining in combat.  The Quick Start Rules suggest at least 40″ of play space separate the two players.

 

Someone to Play Against

And of course you’ll need someone else who also has at least the Tier 1 list to play against.  If you cannot persuade a friend or loved one into playing along, fear not!  You FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) can often come to the rescue.  Find somewhere nearby with an active WARMACHINE group that has open play.  I have yet to meet anyone, newb or veteran, who doesn’t love a Battlegroup game.  One of those special things about WARMACHINE is that the rules are tuned such that all size battles are fun and challenging, no matter how many models you own or how many games you’ve played.  If even that fails, you can pickup an additional Battlegroup Box and play against yourself.  If nothing else, this is a good way to get a good handle on your models and their abilities and to try out another faction.



Images originating from the Privateer Press website are © 2001—2011 Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. WARMACHINE ®, P3™, Cygnar™, Cryx™, Khador™, Protectorate of Menoth™, and their logos are trademarks of Privateer Press, Inc. Images and trademarks used without permission. This website is unofficial and is not endorsed by Privateer Press.

 
July 20th, 2011
WARMACHINE
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