The game is played with white metal, plastic, and resin miniatures representing military characters from the Iron Kingdoms setting. Battles are fought between warcasters from rival nations, the large steam-powered warjacks that the warcasters control, and troops consisting of humans and fantasy races.
Warmachine has been the recipient of the 2003 Origins Awards for Best Fantasy Miniatures Rules and Best Fantasy Miniatures Series.[2] In 2005 Warmachine won Game of the Year at Origins and Gamers Choice for Best Miniatures.
A compatible companion game involving the savage factions named Hordes was released in 2006. The Hordes branding has since been retired with the launch of the MKIV edition.
Overview
Warmachine's most distinctive feature is the inclusion of Warcasters and Warjacks (the war machines from which the game derives its name). Warjacks, or 'jacks' for short, are techno-steam powered constructs designed for waging war. They are, in general, powered by a coal-burning steam engine and guided by an arcane supercomputer-like "brain" called a cortex. Heavily armored and often carrying oversized weaponry, 'jacks fill a role similar to traditional military armor such as tanks and artillery. They are several times more durable and powerful than normal troops, but are far more costly.
Warcasters are the pivotal characters of the game. They are powerful generals and spellcasters who have learned to control warjacks as well as serve multiple other roles. In addition to guiding the warjacks' destructive power, they are the army commanders, potent combatants, and powerful spellcasters. Each has a special feat that can be used once per battle; their effects range from subtle to explosive and can be enough to alter the tide of battle.
In addition to warcasters and warjacks, armies can field supporting infantry troops of many varieties, powerful machines of war called battle engines, durable structures that support their infantry troops, and even more massive versions of warjacks known as colossals. Some are infantry or gunners, while others have more specialized roles, from warjack repairmen to "journeyman" warcasters—novice versions of the models that command armies. Most of these troops come in groups and move in formations, but there are also independent characters called solos.
In the first major expansion, Warmachine: Wrath, battle engines were introduced. Battle engines are huge mechanical constructs that are not warjacks and thus do not require focus. Each faction has one battle engine available at the moment.
The second major expansion, Warmachine: Colossals, gave each faction towering warjacks known as Colossals. Taking a role similar to a battleship, each Colossal is heavily armed and capable of dealing and receiving large amounts of damage. Their powerful presence is balanced by their high cost to include them in an army, making the loss of a Colossal during the course of a game a heavy loss of resources.
The third major expansion, Warmachine: Vengeance, added new Epic versions of older warlords, as well as new units, solos and warjacks. The new journeyman warcasters introduced with the video game Warmachine: Tactics (see below) were also added.
Most recently, through the CID or Community Integrated Development process, a new model type has been added called structures. These immobile models often deploy far ahead of normal forces, but may not change positions throughout the game, and provide a powerful, if situational, bonus to your army. Stationed atop the largest base size in the game, these massive buildings can be seen from anywhere on the battlefield, making them tempting targets, but often powerful fortifications.
In June 2024, it was announced that Steamforged Games had acquired the Iron Kingdoms brand, which includes Warmachine and related other titles.[3]
Gameplay
The overall gameplay is supposed to encourage aggression rather than defensive tactics, such as sitting behind fortifications. This was referred to among players and the game's developers as 'Page 5' in previous versions of the game, however in the "Mark 3" rules, the company has pushed into a more balanced direction with regards to both aggressive versus controlling strategies, and the previous performative masculine rhetoric.
Warmachine is similar to many other miniature wargames in that each army consists of several units, each of which acts during a turn. Individual units move, attack, and may perform other actions such as repairing a warjack or using a feat. The primary mechanic unique to Warmachine is the use of focus points. Each warcaster receives a certain number of focus points each turn, which represents that warcaster's power. At the beginning of the turn, focus may be spent to pay for ongoing abilities and allocated between the warlord and 'jacks in the caster's battlegroup within their "Control Area" or sphere of influence - a distance based on the 'caster's focus stat. Focus allows warjacks to become more accurate and powerful by "boosting" their attacks, and to perform special actions called "Power Attacks" such as slamming a model across the battlefield with their heft or throwing an enemy model at another model. Additionally warcasters can use focus to cast spells performing all manner of arcane effects from attacks, to movement bonuses, to offensive/defensive enhancements. Good focus management can often be the difference between winning and losing. The warcaster is the single most important model on either side in the game. If a player's warcaster is killed, they lose the game, no matter how many casualties, or how much damage, they have inflicted on the enemy.
Releases
The first book, Warmachine: Prime, was originally released in 2003, with a revised edition, Warmachine: Prime Remix, released in early 2007. All of the subsequent books have been expansions of Prime. Each expansion usually introduces new warcasters, warjacks, units, and solos, as well as new model subtypes – such as cavalry units – that add new strategies and complexities to each faction. With the release of Mk II, all previous books models have been folded into the new Forces of Warmachine series.
Mark I Warmachine
Warmachine: Prime – 2003
Warmachine: Escalation – 2004
Warmachine: Apotheosis – 2005
Warmachine: Superiority – 2006
Warmachine: Prime Remix – 2007
Forces of Warmachine: Pirates of the Broken Coast – 2007
Warmachine: Legends – 2008
Mk II is a complete reworking of the game, with every model available changed and/or recosted, alongside the changes to the rules set. The cards for all models from the Mk I line are also available for purchase as Faction Decks as of January 2010, as is a new template set.
Mark II Warmachine
Warmachine: Prime Mk II – January 2010
Warmachine: Wrath – June 2011
Warmachine: Colossals – July 2012
Warmachine: Vengeance – March 2014
Warmachine: Reckoning – June 2015
Forces of Warmachine is the name of a series of expansions that each focus on a themed army, as opposed to having additions to all of the factions.
Forces of Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah – 2009
Forces of Warmachine: Cygnar – February 2010
Forces of Warmachine: Khador – March 2010
Forces of Warmachine: Protectorate of Menoth – April 2010
Forces of Warmachine: Cryx – June 2010
Forces of Warmachine: Mercenaries – July 2010
Forces of Warmachine: Convergence of Cyriss – July 2013
Mark III (referred to as "All New War" by Privateer Press) is another reworking of the game. As with MK II all models and point levels of army lists have been updated. Privateer Press has begun the Community Integrated Development or CID process to involve players in the development of errata, new releases, and theme forces as a quality control mechanism in what they are calling a "continuous development" goal. The idea of this process is to avoid new version releases following Mark 3. As a result, all model cards[4] and the base rules set[5] are available on the Privateer Press website.
Mark III Warmachine
Warmachine: Prime Mk III – June 2016
In July 2017 new faction was released: Grymkin (limited release, not limited edition). This was first step to prepare to the next global event.[6]
In July 2018 the next limited release faction appeared—the Crucible Guard.[7]
In October 2019 new global campaign started, forming new alliances to resist invading new faction of daemons—Infernals.[8]
In December 2019 a new Twitter account @HengeholdScroll started to report what was going on the battlefield, revealing character motivations and relations.[9]
WARMACHINE: MKIV
In July 2022, WARMACHINE: MKIV was announced. [10] Support for this edition began in January 2023. MKIV introduced a roughly 10 year time jump, which saw many existing factions and characters change drastically. All pre-MKIV models are now out of print from the publisher. [11]
The out of print Legacy armies have received updated rules, and all models can be played in the new edition. The rules for the game are provided for free through the Warmachine app. [12]
The new WARMACHINE: MKIV armies are Cygnar Storm Legion, Khador Winter Korps, Dusk House Kallyss, Orgoth Sea Raiders, Southern Kriels Brineblood Marauders, and Khymaera Shadowflame Shard. [13] New models are mostly made with 3D printing technology.
On July 10, 2013, Privateer Press launched a Kickstarter project to aid development of this game now titled Warmachine: Tactics, ultimately raising a total of $1,578,950.[16]
On July 9, 2014, the game was released on Steam under the Early Access program, meaning that people can buy and play the game while it is still in development and enjoy updates as they are released.[17]
The developers had initially aimed for a full release in August 2014, but by that date the game remained in early access, with only the online multiplayer available and the game still not having fully implemented all the models to be included in the full general release. By early November 2014 all models to be included in the full release were available for use in online multiplayer, with the full 21 mission single player campaign released at the end of the same month.[18]
Grind
Grind is an arena sports/combat board game published by Privateer Press in 2009 set the Warmachine universe in which each player tries to maneuver a giant spiked ball into their opponent's goal using warjacks. It was designed by Duncan Huffman, Doug Seacat, Jason Soles, Rob Stoddard, and Matt Wilson.[19] Each player customizes each steamjack's weaponry, and then places all five steamjacks anywhere on their side of the board.[19] Like ice hockey, the object is to hit the grinder ball into the opposition goal while bodychecking opposition figurines out of the way.[20]
Related Research Articles
Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, and the tenth and current edition was released in June 2023.
Mage Knight is a miniatures wargame using collectible figures, created by WizKids, Inc, and is the earliest example of what is now known as a collectible miniatures game. The game was designed by founder Jordan Weisman along with Kevin Barrett. The game is the first to use WizKids' Clix system, combining roleplaying and wargaming elements with aspects of collectible card games. Mage Knight achieved success after it was introduced in 2000.
Confrontation is a skirmish level tactical fantasy miniature wargaming in which the combatants are represented by metal or plastic figures in 28 mm scale. For comparison purposes, the system's figures are slightly larger than those of Games Workshop or The Foundry.
Battlefleet Gothic is a naval miniature wargame that was produced by Games Workshop from 1999 to 2013 with Andy Chambers as the primary developer. A spin-off of the science-fantasy setting of Warhammer 40,000, the game has players command fleets of large spaceships belonging to one of several spaceborne factions. Although the wargame's miniatures and rulebooks are no longer supported by Games Workshop, two video game adaptations have been made since its cancellation in 2013.
Warhammer is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley, and first published by the Games Workshop company in 1983.
Man O' War is a now out-of-print table top war game by Games Workshop. The game was set in the same realm of Warhammer Fantasy as used for the Warhammer Fantasy Battle and included most of the factions from that setting. Other races of the Warhammer world were not included, either because they were lacking seafaring abilities, missing from the main factions at that time, or both.
Privateer Press is a role-playing game, miniature wargame, acrylic paint, board game and card game production and publishing studio. Privateer Press is based in Bellevue, Washington, United States, where they have their headquarters and American factory/distribution center. They have also licensed a factory in the United Kingdom to increase production capacity for worldwide markets.
Heavy Gear is a mecha science fiction game universe published since 1994 by Canadian publisher Dream Pod 9. It includes a tabletop tactical wargame, a role-playing game, and a combat card game. The setting is also known through the PC game incarnations published by Activision in 1997 and 1999, which were developed after Activision lost the rights to the Battletech/MechWarrior series. It also spawned a 40-episode, 3D-animated TV series in 2001, which featured a much simplified version of the universe developed in the role-playing game.
Chainmail is a medieval miniature wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the core medieval system of the game by expanding on rules authored by his fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) member Jeff Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly. Guidon Games released the first edition of Chainmail in 1971.
Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, previously marketed as The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Strategy Battle Game and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Strategy Battle Game is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies directed by Peter Jackson, and the books that inspired them, written by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Star Wars Miniatures is a 34mm scale collectible miniatures tabletop game based on the Star Wars fictional universe that was produced by Wizards of the Coast. The game was originally released in September 2004 and continued production until May 2010. Star Wars Miniatures players build point-based squads from one of ten different in-universe factions then conduct battles between those squads. The game mechanics are a simplified version of the d20 roleplaying game system. Multiple maps, scenarios, and set themes from different settings and time periods from within the Star Wars universe are available.
Real-time tactics (RTT) is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time, simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics. It is differentiated from real-time strategy gameplay by the lack of classic resource micromanagement and base or unit building, as well as the greater importance of individual units and a focus on complex battlefield tactics.
Hordes is the name of a 30mm tabletop miniature wargame produced by Privateer Press, announced at Gen Con 2005 and released on April 22, 2006. Although a completely standalone game in its own right, Hordes was designed as a companion to Warmachine, Privateer Press' flagship miniatures game. The games are 100% compatible, and share much of the same rules set, although the most important mechanic - fury for Hordes and focus for Warmachine - remains unique to each. Hordes forces and Warmachine forces often face off against each other both on the tabletop and in the background fiction. The games share the same setting, the Iron Kingdoms, with much of the Hordes storyline taking place in the wild areas away from the 'civilized' areas where Warmachine's major action takes place.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos is a real-time tactics game set in the Warhammer universe. It was developed by Black Hole Entertainment and co-published by Namco Bandai Games in North America and Deep Silver in PAL territories in November 2006.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion to the real-time strategy video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dark Crusade was released on October 9, 2006. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Dawn of War's first expansion pack Winter Assault, a total of seven playable races in this expansion.
Empire: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. The fifth installment in the Total War series, the game was released in 2009. The game, which focuses on the early modern period of the 18th century, was announced at the Leipzig Games Convention in August 2007. The macOS version of the game was released by Feral Interactive on 10 June 2014. The Linux version was released, also by Feral Interactive, on 8 December 2014.
Monsterpocalypse is a Kaiju-themed collectible miniatures game which is published by Privateer Press. Released series include Rise, I Chomp NY, All Your Base, Monsterpocalypse Now and the current series Big in Japan.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop that simulates battles between armies by using miniature figurines. Games are typically played on a relatively flat surface such as a dining table, bespoke gaming table, or an area of floor. The playing area is often decorated with models and materials representing buildings and terrain. Players take turns taking a range of actions with their models: moving, charging, shooting ranged weapons, fighting, and casting magical spells; the outcomes of which are generally determined by dice rolls. Besides the game itself, a large part of Age of Sigmar is dedicated to the hobby of collecting, assembling and painting the miniature figurines from the game.
The Ninth Age: Fantasy Battles is a tabletop miniature wargame created and updated since 2015 by the non-profit association The Ninth Age. It simulates mass battles between two high fantasy armies represented by 28 mm scale models on square bases in rank and file formations.
References
↑ "Warmachine: What?". August 15, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2009. Warmachine is the steampunk-themed miniatures game
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
