Publisher: Privateer Press
Designers: Simon Berman, David Carl, Robert Hawkins, Ron Kruzie, Brian Putnam, Doug Seacat, Jason Soles, and Matt Wilson
Artists: Kris Aubin, Daren Bader, Matt Dixon, Brian “Chippy” Dugan, Kimberly Goddard, Ilich Henriquez, Andrew Hou, David Kidd, Luke Mancini, Josh Manderville, Sławomir Maniak, Karl Richardson, Sean Jones, Brian Snoddy, Stuart Spengler, Greg Staples, Andrea Uderzo, Chris Walton, Eva Widermann, Matt Wilson, and Drew Wolf
Year: 2011
Players: Two or more
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 60 minutes of so for a small battle
Genre: Fantasy Steampunk skirmish level miniatures game
Retail Price: $29.99 (Softcover)
Warmachine is a skirmish level miniatures game set in the fictional land of the Iron Kingdoms. This is a steampunk setting filled with magic, mayhem, and six ton metal constructs known as Warjacks, or ‘jacks for short. The central theme of the game are the ‘jacks and their magic wielding controllers – the warcasters – which players will build their armies around. Theses armies are rounded out with support units of infantry, cavalry, 
The Cryx – This is the all-out evil faction of Warmachine. They boast powerful necromancers and their warjacks are made of steel fused with bone. They have a very distict look and will certainly appeal to those who enjoy taking on the head of a darker themed army. The Cryx are masters of trickery and assassination on the battlefield.
The Cygnar – This faction takes on the role of the classic “good guys” somewhat in the Iron Kingdom. Style-wise, the Cygnar is a bit of a mish mash as units have a look which mixes the medieval with early twentieth century technology. The Cygnar tend to have the most advanced units in the game and themed for players who enjoy leading an army with steady ranged attacks.
The Khador – The Russian influence is hugely apparent at first glance with this faction. These figures are also extremely unique in appearance with a distinctive Soviet look. Players who enjoy an in your face close combat style will immediately take to the Khador as they focus on slower moving heavy hitters.
The Protectorate of Menoth – These are religious zealots and that influence is apparent in the design style for these units. With a mix of powerful knight units and weak religious mobs this faction is an interesting play as the Menoth become more powerful as their numbers thin.
The rules of Warmachine are built around a 2d6 roll, plus or minus modifiers. This means the game doesn’t bog down into memorizing loads of different roll types. Attacks are simply 2d6, plus the attack bonus, compared against the defense of the target. Damage plays out very similarly as the weapon’s power is added to 2d6 and compared to the target’s armor. Pretty simple I’d say. Of course each unit has other stats involved but, for the most part, once you grasp the basic concept of that 2d6 mechanic (and that should take you all of about 30 seconds) everything flows nicely; Warmachine is all about getting to the table and duking it out and not sitting with a rulebook in hand memorizing minutia.
If the game were just warjacks and infantry battling that would be one thing, but the inclusion of the warcasters adds an extra dimension to play. These warcasters orchestrate the action on the battlefield and one path to victory is to knock out your opponent’s spell wielder. Warcasters have additional powers that bolster their forces. Each warcaster also has a special feat that can be implemented once each game. These feats, if unleashed at the 
Warjacks can also use focus ( provided by their warcaster) to run, charge, or perform power attacks. Power attacks can be particularly devastating and add a lot of flavor to the fight. Since Warmachine has such a strong backstory your battles will possess a nice narrative as opposed to being simple smash ‘em ups. Woe to those who are content to sit back with a defensive stance in mind as bold action is rewarded and turtling up will surely lead to defeat.
Games can be played on a 4’ by 4’ table as the ranges for weapons are rather short when compared with other miniature games. It’s also important to keep in mind that you don’t need hundreds of figures to play; army sizes are small in comparison to a game along the likes of Warhammer 40k. Pricing for the miniatures are in the same ballpark as Games Workshop products yet, because you field fewer units, you’ll find that the investment to get started with Warmachine is quite affordable. Of course, miniature gaming is not normally for those on a fixed budget as collecting miniatures can be a pricey endeavor.
All in all Warmachine offers up a system that rewards aggressive play and lends itself to action packed, white knuckle battles where the outcome is always in doubt. Factions and units have a wide range of abilities and much of the fun is in learning how to effectively use those abilities against your opponent.
If you’ve been thinking about getting into the wonderful world of miniatures gaming, you’d be hard pressed to find a better entry point than Warmachine!
