WARMACHINE

Warmachine is based, along with Hordes, in the Iron Kingdoms, as featured in the 3e D&D Iron Kingdoms books. There are noticeable differences between the RP and wargame versions of the setting.

Factions

Warmachine has five factions, and Mercenaries who pretend to be a faction.

Khador

Cries of "For the Motherland", red banners, gold stars, frigid bitches, and beardy berserkers personify Khador. They're a northern Imperial Russia/Soviet Union style nation bent on imperialist conquest. Khadoran army tends to be smaller than other armies and usually slower, but their infantry and jacks tend to be much tougher and deal more damage. Their jacks are potentially the most ridiculous looking (such as the "dancing" Behemoth) in the game, while their infantry and warcasters suffer from the Warhammer 40k pauldrons.

Cygnar

Cygnar is the most despised army in Warmachine, fluff-wise. Cygnar is the ostensibly "good guy" nation of the Iron Kingdoms, and if it wasn't for its huge technological edge (i.e. repeating rifles, chain guns, and LIGHTNING CANNONS) it would've been destroyed long ago.They're all about lightning, Tesla coils, World War I trench fighting, brave heroes, and ethnic diversity (for example: "Siege" Brisbane).

This army used to be for shootyfags who like to stay on a hill and shoot instead of charging the enemy like they got a pair, though as of MKII that's no longer a valid tactic, leading to much more respectable combined-arms forces. Surprisingly for a game that's supposed to be all about aggression, this lack of aggressive tactics on Cygnar's part often works extremely well. Perhaps that's why it used to attract the majority of twelve year olds who play Warmachine, though quite a few have now jumped ship for Hordes and Khador (the tactically simplest fashion). As a side note, Captain Maxwell Finn is a fucking beast.

Cryx

Steam-powered zombies, mutated demonic witches, rampaging insectile engines of destruction, and just as planned spellcasters signify Cryx. Their army is the fastest, cheapest, and largest on the table, and is for more advanced players. Cryx excels at assassinating enemy casters and utilizing "dirty" tactics, but is never quite as good in a stand-up fight. Perhaps that's why cries of "cheater" echo more frequently whenever a Cryx army is on the table. Cryx jacks are also really difficult to assemble and tend to fall apart easily.

Protectorate of Menoth

A bunch of desert-dwelling religious lunatics who hate Cygnar the most (who doesn't?) and everyone else just slightly less. Protectorate army is about setting up devastating combos, army synergy, and generally setting things on fire ("We put napalm on everything" can be their motto). Their jacks vie with Khador for being some of the most ridiculous looking and most fragile jacks in the game (see Avatar of Menoth for example), while most of their infantry and warcasters are inspired by beaky marines (like the Dark Angels), Grey Knights, and Lawrence of Arabia.

Retribution of Scyrah

The Retribution of Scyrah are pretty much eldar. They're apparently a bunch of super-advanced cyber-elves who hate magic and want to save their dying god by killing every human who uses magic. They've got some interesting mechanics, like 'jacks with force fields that lose special abilities when they're crippled, and enough firepower and magic hate to make a Menite blush and a Cygnaran player green with envy. However, although not as uniformly fragile as the eldar, they're certainly one of the harder and more expensive factions to play, limiting their player base.

Mercenaries

Once upon a time Mercenaries were meant only as additions to the real factions, so that two armies of the same faction wouldn't be composed of exactly the same troops. Since then, whinyfag mercenary fans forced PP to make a number of mercenary "contracts" to allow them to play weaker armies filled with dirty hobos. There are five mercenary contracts: Four Star Syndicate (which pretty much means playing any kind of mercenary), Highborn Covenant (they're French), Searforge Commission (they're Dwarves and thus the only viable Mercenary contract), and Talion Charger (a bunch of pirates. Lots of pirates. How many pirates can you imagine? There are more than that. Also, Napolean. Also, a fukhuge cannon that is easily the best damn artillery piece in the entire game). As of MKII Mercs possess some of the most awesome warcasters, including Magnus the Traitor/Warlord who has the most awesome backstory for a character in the game and some of the most annoying abilities ever. Mercs are awesome because they get paid to get shit done and literally have access to a character for every rule breaking exploit, except for Protectorate Choir of Menoth, no one gets anything that broken.

Getting into Warmachine

Are you nuts? You got spare cash? Just send it to me! Are you still here? OK, fine, go to: http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/ for more information and advice on how to start an army, as well as the official site: http://www.privateerpress.com/WARMACHINE/default.php. Remember, I warned you, but you didn't listen, so don't come crawling back once you realize that you've invested your life savings into a lot of hard-to-put-together pewter and acrylic particles.

Though, it must be said, it takes far, far fewer dollars worth of Warmachine stuff to enjoy yourself than other games.

Also commonly known as Skubmachine.