Warmachine

Warmachine is a tabletop steampunk[1] wargame produced by

Privateer Press.
Warmachine

The game is played with white metal and plastic miniatures

manufactured by Privateer Press 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 is

named Hordes.
A metal Juggernaut model from the
Khador faction
Contents Manufacturer(s) Privateer Press
Overview Publisher(s) Privateer Press
Gameplay Years active 2003 to present
Releases Players 2+
Warmachine: Tactics Random Dice rolling used for
References chance task resolution
External links

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. Warcasters are powerful generals and spellcasters who have
learned to control warjacks. Warcasters serve multiple roles: in addition to guiding the warjacks' destructive
power, they are the army commanders, potent combatants, and powerful spellcasters. Each warcaster has a
special feat that can be used once per battle; their effects range from subtle to explosive and can be enough to
change 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 does 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 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.

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[3] and the
base rules set[4] 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.[5]
In July 2018 the next limited release faction appeared—the Crucible Guard.[6]

In October 2019 new global campaign started, forming new alliances to resist invading new faction of
daemons—Infernals.[7]

In December 2019 a new Twitter account @HengeholdScroll started to report what was going on the
battlefield, revealing character motivations and relations.[8]

Warmachine: Tactics
On August 14, 2009, Privateer Press announced they were in the beginning stages of development for a
Warmachine video game. The contract is with WhiteMoon Dreams, a small Los Angeles based video games
company.[9] WhiteMoon Dreams is an indie game developer with programmers with experience working on
hit titles such as the Fallout series, Myth 3, Flower, the Ratchet & Clank series, and the Medal of Honor
series.[10]

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.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13]

References
1. "Warmachine: What?" ([Link]
August 15, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2009. "Warmachine is the steampunk-themed
miniatures game"
2. "Origins Award Winners for 2003" ([Link]
ners-for-2003). ICv2. June 29, 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
3. "Privateer Press MKIII Card Database" ([Link] Retrieved October 16,
2017.
4. "WARMACHINE Prime & HORDES Primal MKIII Rules" ([Link]
machine-and-hordes-now-available). Retrieved October 16, 2017.
5. Grymkin Release ([Link]
6. Crucible Guard at [Link] ([Link]
Crucible_Guard)
7. Oblivion: A Retrospective ([Link]
e/)
8. @HengeholdScroll twitter ([Link]
9. "Warmachine Video Game Announced at Gen Con" ([Link]
eo-game-announced-at-gen-con). Press Release. August 25, 2009. Retrieved January 20,
2015.
10. Streva, Frank (July 19, 2013). "Lyle Lowery Interview: WARMACHINE: Tactics Kickstarter" (htt
p://[Link]/2013/07/19/lyle-lowery-interview-warmachine-tactics-kickstarter/).
gameverse. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
11. "Warmachine: Tactics by Privateer Press Interactive" ([Link]
0043/warmachine-tactics). Kickstarter. August 10, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
12. "Warmachine: Tactics on Steam" ([Link] Steam. Valve.
Retrieved August 21, 2015.
13. Dyer, Mitch (July 15, 2013). "Warmachine: Tactics Kickstarts the Tabletop Game's Digital
Future" ([Link] IGN.
Retrieved January 20, 2015.

External links
Game home page ([Link]

Retrieved from "[Link]

This page was last edited on 9 June 2020, at 08:23 (UTC).

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