Re-examining Warmachine

I had been a Warmachine player since the game was released and played a significant number of games during the MK I and MK II eras of the game. I was more of a casual player but I had an extensive Cryx army as well as a Magnus mercenary force and a smattering of Cygnar miniatures. While I loved my Cryx army, and played it quite a bit, I was never really very good with it. To be honest, I think I won more games with my Magnus force than I ever did with the Cryx despite playing the Cryx much, much more. 

While I truly loved my Cryx models I was woefully bad with them. That never really stopped me from getting them to the table though. How can you not want to play steampunk undead powering their army with the souls of the people they kill?

I tried to continue to play the game when Mk III was released but the local gaming scene I was in was highly focused on competitive gaming. I am not a tournament player. I don’t have the mindset for it and I really don’t have the core competitive nature that it requires. Some people do. Some people like to approach their games that way. I like to have fun with a game, win or lose, and have a fun story at the end of the game to share with my buddies. Neither is the ‘right’ way to play but it strikes me that they are somewhat incompatible.

So after playing quite a few games while getting hammered by tournament players I decided to look elsewhere for my miniature gaming fix. And that was it for me for quite some time. Despite that rather ignominious end to my Warmachine gaming time, I have recently found myself looking at the rules and models again. And this time it is more than just my ADHD and gamer’s lack of focus driving it.

So why now?

Recently, the Warmachine and Hordes games were sold by Privateer Press to Steamforged Games. This, in and of itself, didn’t really change my opinion of the game but two factors did. The first is that I moved to a new city that was also the home of two of the folks that I used to play Warmachine with all those years ago. The second was the Warmachine Keynote at Adepticon 2025. The critical announcement for me was that Steamforged was going to have a specific focus on casual gaming. I don’t know what that means or how it will actually impact the development of the game but I found it refreshing that they appear to want to make sure that the game is exciting for people that don’t play in tournaments.

Also, and lets be honest, who can resist the appeal of new models?

Steamforged Games have also had an inadvertent masterclass in how not to promote and build a game system via the events that brought the Warmachine and Hordes IP to their doors. It isn’t that Privateer Press necessarily did anything wrong but Steamforged can look back at the past history of the game to glean some important lessons. They are also able to continue expanding on the groundwork for the new Warmachine that Privateer Press started.

Changes to the business model

Privateer Press had already begun to try to rebalance their business model with the release of the MIK IV version of the rules. The main problem with the game was that it had far, far too many units in the game. Not only was this a problem in terms of getting stores to stock the game but in terms of players getting into the game. Once a player worked through all the solos, units, Warcasters and Warjacks in a faction they would then have to see if their local store even carried them. Even some online businesses had difficulty keeping the entire range in stock and Privateer had issues producing it all.

Privateer Press decided that the best way to save the game (and their business model) was to burn it all down. They released a new book, Oblivion, that had some background and new rules for the Infernals. These otherworld entities came to claim two-thirds of the souls in Caen as a reward for bringing the gift of magic to humans and allowing them to overthrow the Orgoth. Characters died, nations fell, entire factions were removed from the game and new ones brought in to take their place. You probably can’t find the Oblivion book anywhere but you can read some of the fallout from the old Privateer Press website. There is also a short summary of the lore changes to the game world on Reddit.

It was beautiful. Games Workshop should do it.

The downside to this extensive change is that Privateer Press wasn’t able to finish publishing the lore for this event. So currently it is a bit difficult to determine just what exactly has happened and is happening in the game universe.

There are also changes to the rules themselves but I don’t think that they are remotely as critical to the future success of the game as the changes to the game world and the distribution model. Removing the old factions and characters resets the existing player’s expectations of what to expect in terms of game support. Steamforged Games has been quite clear on this as well. Warmachine won’t continue to expand the way it had in the past. The idea of there being ‘Cygnar’ models that could all work together is gone. There are now themed forces such as the Necrofactorium, Gravediggers and Storm Legion. The latter two are both ‘Cygnar’ units but they are mostly distinct units that can’t be used together. There is a handful of models in the range that can be used in either force but the idea is to limit forces to a smaller number of units. This makes it easier to balance the forces (fewer possible rule interactions) and easier to package and sell them.

Why would this matter to a gamer? First, and this is critical I think, it removes the amount of information that you need to know in order to play the game. The Gravediggers, for example, have six Warcasters. No more. When I build an army this is the extent of the information space I need to explore to build an army. It is also the extent to which I need to explore a space to prepare to play against the Gravediggers. Secondly, it means that it should be easier to get models. Even at the beginning of the Mk III era it was sometimes very difficult to find some models. Less popular options would be unavailable for extended periods. This wasn’t as critical an issue for players with existing collections but new players could often find themselves unable to find critical pieces to an army.

Changes to the models

Privateer Press started to rework their models so that they were sold with more optional parts to create different Warjacks. You can see this in an article about two of the Privateer Press army box releases as well as on the current Steamforged Games Warmachine store. The Cryx Malefactor Heavy Warjack comes with four different heads, left arms and right arms. In the past Privateer would have released a metal model with a single weapon loadout. Some of their later plastic-resin releases came with two possible variants you could build. The Malefactor can make 256 different Warjack variants. And it has space for you to add magnets so you can easily swap out arms and heads. Not all of the Warjacks have this adaptability. The various Character Warjacks are all(?) single option figures. It does mean though that you can create a dizzying array of possible Warjacks from the base Warjacks. This means that Steamforged won’t need to produce 101 different models and 101 different packages/SKUs to keep the game fresh. Steamforged Games also sell some of the Heavy Warjack chassis without the head and weapon options making it easier for you to build new variants without having an excess of optional parts.

The Warmachine app

I don’t think that this game/production model would work without the Warmachine app. Available for phones and tablets, it allows you to build your armies, including selecting weapon and head options, and then play against your opponent using the app to track the status of Warjacks, Warcasters, solos and units. Never again do you have to ask your opponent to pass you a card so you can see what their Warcaster’s feat does.

When building a force, the app clearly shows you when a Warjack or Warbeast has optional equipment and it displays the cost for them and the rules. It is simple to change them out and your opponent can see the options in the app when you play. You may not be able to tell the difference between any of the four Malefactor head options but the app knows so you don’t need to. And all without you having to find the correct card and without Steamforged having to produce 100s of cards for each faction.

I initially thought that the app was a poor way to play a game. This was, in part, because Privateer Press made each faction an in-app purchase. The cards from the core rulebook were free (for Warmachine and Hordes) but any subsequent releases were not. This was, to my mind, an unnecessary roadblock to gamers exploring the entire game world. It also meant that to be fully informed about your opponents options prior to a game you either had to buy several books or pay for the in-app purchase of their faction cards.

The current Warmachine app from Steamforged Games runs on a subscription model. You can store six different armies in the app and have access to all of the cards and factions rules free of charge. Privateer Press announced this change to the app prior to the sale to Steamforged. The subscription gets you access to a growing library of Warmachine fluff, novels and short stories as well and an unlimited number of army lists. If you buy a yearly subscription you will also get a Cephalyx Warcaster and an enormous Drudge Warbeast. If you subtract the cost of the models from the yearly subscription price it drops the monthly cost of the app down to something like $3.

Less is more

The future for the game seems to be focused on creating smaller, self-contained forces that exist in a larger thematic faction. Those forces will have fewer models but some of the models will allow you to create, and game with, a huge number of possible options. Back when I was playing my Cryx army, I have a layer of foam in my model case that were models (mostly Chicken Jacks) that I almost never used. There were better alternatives in the game and so some models didn’t get used. That is probably a thing of the past, at least in terms of Warmachine, when your ‘basic’ Heavy Warjack can be re-equipped into 100s of different configurations. You have more weapon options but far, far fewer abilities and special rules to remember. You still have to have an idea of what some of the options can do but the Malefactor or Stryker Heavy Warjacks still only have a single set of abilities that are based on the chassis.

The game also has, for the moment at least, far fewer factions and those factions all have fewer models in them. This limits the amount of information you need to carry with you in order to plan for possible threats from your opponent. Currently if you play a game against someone bringing a Gravediggers force you know that they can only have access to six different Warjacks and a handful of different units and solos. My hope is that this also makes it easier for the rules developers to keep the game balanced. A smaller pool of units should make it easier to see OP rule interactions.

The Mk IV rules themselves also appear to be streamlined but I will be looking at that in its own article.

Will I be playing?

Happily one of my local gaming buddies has already bought both of the new Warmachine starter sets so I can try out the game without having to spend any cash. One of the local game stores is signed up with Steamforged Games and can bring product in so getting the models won’t require online ordering, shipping charges and brokerage fees. The possibility of having some casual games is compelling and I am quite excited about the changes that have been made to the game. Having access to all of the game stats and abilities via the Warmachine app is a bonus as is the small number of models that you need to commit to in order to fully explore the faction/force you play.

I also like the idea of once again ripping the souls out of my opponents and using them as fuel for my spells and Warjacks. As part of the process of determining whether I want to play Cryx in this new system I will also be writing a series of articles looking at the various boxed sets available on the Steamforged Games website

And did I mention that they are going to be releasing 3D models and terrain as well?