Warmachine/Hordes General

Any rumours about Morghoul3?

looking for a photo of a Carnivean converted from the new Proteus resculpt

So I'm looking at getting into warmahordes and picking up some circle orboros. I have some questions before I really jump in:
1. How are circle in the meta right now? I've heard bad things about hordes right now and cygnar running roughshod over the game but how bad is it really? Am I staring down 40k Orks tier or is it at least manageable?
2. Is the new battlegroup worth picking up?
3. Are the command books worth picking up or should I just use the cards that come with the models?

Welcome to the game and on to your questions:

1) Circle is good. Aside from a few choices everything is viable and will only become more so with the proposed changes to the Battle Engine that might unlock Mohsar. Circle was crutching hard on Wormwood at the start of the edition but that is no longer necesary (though he's probably still the best answer to hard gunlines). And to relieve your fear, absolutely nothing in this game is as terribly balanced as 40k. To add to that, experience and tactical expertise trump strong lists 10 times out of 10. In turn that means, you will lose early on and you will lose a lot. if you enjoy learning from your mistakes and slowly unlocking a strategic puzzle, this is the game for you. This requires effort though and without it you will have a bad time.

2) Sure. Tannith is really good, the Pureblood is a staple, the Gorax is one of two models that grant you the valuable animus 'Primal'. I'm not sure about the Wild Argus. As a warning though: The battle box (and any soft resin models by PP) requires a lot of cleaning before you can start painting.

3) Screw the books. Fluff is in the Skull Island Expeditions novels, rules are on the cards or Warroom (and soon online for free) and you can find plenty guidance on painting online.

The first thing I'd tell you as a new player is to ignore the bigger meta and what people talk about being competitive.

Well, not entirely, it's good to ask about what models are good and what aren't, because Warmahorde's internal faction balance tends to be really, really bad. But every faction can win, player skill is a huge, huge factor in this game. So when people are talking about top tier shit, keep in mind that there's a lot of hidden assumptions about your skill at the game behind those.

But in general, models tend to fall into a couple sets

1. Auto include. For Circle, the best example of this would be Sentry Stones

2. Generally useful. Models and units that just about everyone can use well

3. Selectively useful. Warmahordes is a synergy based game, and because of that there is stuff that will be great in some lists but terrible in others

4. Generally bad. Models that are considered to not have a role in any but the most specific situations.

How viable is the Cygnar army box list? The one with Kara and a bunch of trenchers. Doesn't need to be tournament worthy or anything but while I'm learning the game I want to have a chance at winning.

1. Circle are really good. Warmachine dominance is a meme spewed by butthurt players who are mad that warjacks can now compete with warbeasts.

2. Yes. Tanny's a solid caster, the Pureblood is one of the staple offensive warbeasts of Circle, and the Gorax is super useful for its animus.

3. I like the command book, but, eh, if you want to read it for the fluff it's in the OP of this thread.

It's viable. But if you want to learn the game you should not play Sloan as she is 100% braindead.

IKRPG.

Outside of that, zero. Warmahordes simply isn't that kind of game.

Well, that's not exactly true.

Sloan is braindead in the sense of higher level tactics, but she's pretty damn good at teaching warcaster placement and protection.