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So, before going over the specific factions, there’s a tiny bit of jargon that needs to be covered. Once again, I copied this from elsewhere, because it summarizes everything in a manner better than I am capable of:

Warlock- The lynchpin of the army, a powerful spell caster who controls the warbeasts and siphons the magical power of fury from them in order to cast spells. They can’t make their own fury without harming themselves, so they need their beasts around to keep them strong. Warbeast (Heavy/Light) – A warbeast is a large monstrous creature, controlled by a warlock and which creates fury to achieve its greatest results. However if their warlock can’t take enough fury from them they go mad and only attack the nearest thing. Troopers/Warriors/Units  – Groups of similarly trained soldiers, which are man-sized and fill many roles. Assassination - Killing your opponent’s warlock, usually early in the game by circumventing other models and defensive measures. This results in an immediate victory.

Factions in hordes are not morally grey city dwellers, or wizards of industry. They are ferocious, sometimes savage beings, and the reason you don’t wander into the wilderness alone...or even with others, for that matter.

Trollbloods

Trollbloods are largely the protagonists of Hordes. If there were a true ‘good guy faction’ in the game, it’d be these guys.  Trollblood armies consist of tribes, or Kriels, of warriors, priests, and their leading warlock. They also come to battle with fullblood trolls, their larger and more primitive cousins. Trollblood models stack buffs, magical powers, synergy, and protection like few other armies. They are also extremely resilient, and their warbeasts are some of the few models in the game who can potentially withstand a turn of dedicated abuse and still be standing. 

Pros:

Tons of layers of protection, raising your troops to unheard levels of resilience

Tough on all troop models, meaning upon death the model has a 33% chance to survive (in most cases)

Extremely powerful melee buffs, allowing nearly anything to become a skilled and strong fighter

Their warlocks are the hardest to kill in the entire game

Diversity among models means you can build a balance of troops and warbeasts, or viably skew one way or another if you desire

Cons:

Tons of support choices can lead to over-reliance or devoting too much of your list to it

Lack of reach on heavy warbeasts can be frustrating

Models whom can negate tough or healing shut down one of your defenses

The vast majority of the army is medium or large based, meaning it is larger in size. This size increase both elevates the space required for the army on the table, to transport, and to store. It also raises the cost of the models slightly.

Circle Orboros

Circle Orboros are worshipers of the Devourer Wurm, and as such want to “save” the world by destroying civilized life. They are mystics, druids, and other beings like that. More so than any other faction, they emphasize speed, terrain manipulation, and using hit and run tactics to ensure their victories. The vast majority of their forces are very speedy, and hit very hard. However, they are also very frail should they get caught out in the open. Circle armies want to press their advantage, make surgical strikes, and fight on their own terms. Their warbeasts are divided into two main categories: The quick and powerful, but fragile Warpwolves; and the slower but more resilient Wolds. Circle also has access to very powerful teleportation effects, further ensuring their models strike where most needed or most beneficial. 

Pros:

Full of power effects to manipulate terrain, model placement, and facing

Very easy to run warbeast heavy if desired

Some of the best denial warlocks in the game

Reliably accurate and powerful attacks 

Tons of powerful magical spell attacks 

Cons:

Has a steeper learning curve than most other factions

Getting caught out of position can get you killed VERY easily

The divide between wold and warpwolf beasts give variety but rarely work simultaneously 

Some models are deceptive; they may seem very good or useful, but never perform the way they want/need to.

Expect to spend a lot of time researching and asking questions before making purchases

Legion of Everblight

Imagine this scenario: swarms eyeless draconic spawn spewing flames and corrosive acid at your foes, burning and melting them. Ignoring defensive abilities such as stealth, forests, or even smoke clouds that would otherwise protect them.  As your enemy wavers, your forces close in and rend them to bits with claws and talons. 

Sound fun? Then Legion of Everblight may just be right for you. Legion runs a LOT of warbeasts. Their warlocks have a ton of warbeast related spells and support, driving your already strong dragonspawn to truly impressive levels. Legion can also “ignore” a lot of things other armies need to factor in; with wide access to pathfinder to ignore terrain, eyeless sight to ignore clouds/smoke/stealth/forests, and the fact that your beasts will never turn on your own warlocks if you push them too much. Legion is a faction that can excel early and grow even stronger as you learn the intricacies of the game. 

Pros:

If you want to run a lot of warbeasts, this is the faction for you

Largest access to ranged attacks in Hordes

Circumvents a vast majority of rules that other factions cannot

Extremely strong support and solo models

Great choice for attaching googly eyes to

Cons:

Their infantry, while decent, is largely unsupported and overlooked in favor of more warbeasts

Needs a strong alpha strike to press an advantage

Losses of warbeasts considerably more significant than losing a few troops

Expect to purchase a lot of multi-part plastic warbeast kits if you don’t learn to magnetize them

Skorne

The Skorne is a faction of pure aggression. They want to make it up the table, smash into your opponent, and leave nothing but corpses and destruction in their wake. Skorne is largely a melee oriented faction, with very few guns. Skorne warlocks focus on delivering your army to your opponents face, protecting them, or further increasing the damage they can deal. Skorne is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Their infantry make excellent speed bumps for your opponent, although are largely vulnerable to shooting. The army as a whole wants to deliver their biggest, baddest models to your opponents big baddies and let them duke it out to show who is stronger.

Pros:

Capable of delivering their army fairly reliably

Immense melee power

The few guns they do have are unconventional, like eye lasers or acid sprays

Heavily armored

Strong combination of both buffing and debuffing spells and abilities

Cons:

Inexpensive, hard hitting models will diminish your effectiveness

General weakness to lots of ranged attacks

Very vulnerable to having their defensive buffs removed

Lots of warbeasts means lots of large models, which means lots of space to transport and store

Again, Hordes has options that I generally do not recommend. However, like my last guide, I will include them.

Minions

Minions is roughly like the Hordes version of Mercenaries. They are divided into two main categories, the Blindwater Commission, which is voodoo gatormen; and the Thornfall Alliance, which is militaristic pig-men. Many players view minions as a “one or the other” choice, when in reality you really do need to focus on both if you want to play it fully. Gators are largely considered to be the stronger of the two options currently, though. AGAIN, I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY NEW PLAYER BEGIN HORDES AS A MINIONS PLAYER. And that’s coming from a Minions player.

Pros:

Extremely strong warlocks

Very powerful battle engines

Some models usable within other factions

Cons:

Low available model choices, so a lot of lists look the same

Struggle harder with issues most factions have easy answers for

Virtually all metal models, meaning they are heavy and slightly more expensive

Every match generally begins as an uphill battle

Also pay the “merc” tax, since they can be taken within other factions

And that’s all for this guide, folks! Hopefully by now, you’ve compared the factions a bit, found some models you like, and have narrowed down your options! In my next installment, I will be doing a buying guide for those just getting started. 

Until next time, 

So, before getting into the specifics of the forces, there are a few pieces of technical jargon that need to be covered. This is to simply terms as we progress. I am copying this from a post I found online, as it covers it just as well, if not better, than I can myself.

Warcaster- The lynchpin of the army, a powerful spell caster who generates and spends focus (magical energy) to cast spells. He can also place this focus on warjacks to improve their power but he has a limited supply and a warjack can only hold so much. Warjack (Heavy/Light) – A warjack is a large magic and steam powered construct, controlled by a warcaster and which uses focus to achieve its greatest results. Troopers/Warriors/Units  – Groups of similarly trained soldiers, which are man-sized and fill many roles. Assassination - Killing your opponent’s warcaster, usually early in the game by circumventing other models and defensive measures. This results in an immediate victory.

Now that we’re done with the technical part, let’s move on!

Cygnar

Cygnar are the ‘good guys’, the main protagonists of the Warmachine story. Just because of that, though, doesn’t mean they are always looked highly upon by the other nations and factions. Cygnar has the greatest technology of all the nations, and harnesses this fully in war. From excellent ranged weapons, to lightning-based guns and melee weapons, to a wide variety of troops and warjacks, Cygnar has a little bit of everything. 

Pros: 

Contender for best ranged units in the game

Strong Warcasters, with the ability to focus on Assassination or scenario style of game play

Largest selection of non-faction Mercenary units and models to accompany your forces

Extremely potent warjacks, more than capable of dishing out a large amount of damage

Wide array of magical weapons, for taking out pesky evil spirits

Lightning based attacks generally ignore having to roll to hit, and often bounce to multiple models

Cons:

Most of their infantry is highly specialized, fragile, or difficult to use

Their Warjacks can be fragile under a lot of circumstances

Most of their guns aren’t especially high powered, so while they excel at taking out infantry, they will often struggle to crack high armor

A lot of their Warcasters are very selfish with their focus, preferring to keep it for themselves, limiting the amount of warjacks you want to take in any given list

Cryx

If Cygnar are the good guys, then without a doubt Cryx are the bad guys. Do you like zombies? Do you like robots? How about robotic zombies, lead into battle under the command of an Iron Lich? Well, Cryx might just be the place for you. Cryx focuses on strength of numbers, epitomizing quantity over quality in most cases. You will almost always out number your opponent. Cryxian Warcasters are also extremely potent, witha wide array of crippling spells, denial, and the ability to return your destroyed models back to the battlefield. Cryx is largely famous for the warcasters who lead them, often considered the single most powerful models in the entire game.

Pros:

You have lots of dudes. LOTS of dudes. Your losses over the course of the game are much less impactful because of this

The models whom do make it to your enemy can easily swing the tide of battle very quickly, with support from extremely powerful warcasters

The names of some warcasters alone can strike fear into your opponent. Seriously, ask someone who plays about their last game against “eGaspy” and see what happens.

Cons:

Lots of dudes means lots of space required to transport and store them

Cryx has little to no shooting. If you really love guns, this isn’t the place for you

A lot of your models are incredibly frail. Moreso than any other faction, you will lose models in droves. 

Cryxian warjacks keep the theme of being frail but capable of insane amounts of damage. However, most warcasters have better uses for their focus than powering warjacks, so don’t expect very many of them on the field

Cryx focuses heavily on assassination style of play, preferring to deliver a killing blow to the opponents warcaster than playing a long attrition grind

Khador

Forget heroes, forget villians. Khador is a faction of Military Superiority. Their warcasters primarily focus on getting your already elite infantry to combat unscathed and making them more effective when they get there, or personally turning the tide so that their valiant troops press the advantage for the Motherland. Khador can play a mixture of assassination or scenario, generally focusing moreso on the latter. Khador can play a fairly strong ranged game, but also can more than hold their own in melee. Rather than relying on trickery, Khador is very straight forward, preferring to press their advantages of versatile and elite infantry to meet their goals. 

Pros

Elite infantry of all sorts, with ranged or melee specialization, but also mixed arms units who are very strong

Very versatile warcasters, who further boost your already elite infantry to ridiculous levels

Possible to skew army lists in a wide variety of plausible ways, if desired

Cons

Their warjacks, while among the biggest and most stompy, are sadly overlooked in favor of more reliable elite infantry

Suffers from a bit of an identity crisis, finding itself currently in a place where once viable tactics have been deemed unreliable due to other faction’s progress

Most warcasters buff spells and abilities are faction specific, meaning you will likely make very little use of the available mercenaries

Somewhat small amounts of magical weapons, making incorporeal enemies a potential problem

Protectorate of Menoth

Protectorate of Menoth is a group of religious zealots and fanatics, who believe that if you don’t worship their god, you should be set on fire. It’s hard to dispute such a strong argument. Menoth models on their own don’t seem that strong, individually. However, the faction it built upon synergy between your models and units. That group of seemingly un-threatening guys in robes can suddenly become engines of destruction. Their warjacks are generally cheap points wise, and well supported, making them one of the best factions in the game if you want to field a lot of stompy robots. Menoth specializes in bolstering their own models, while simultaneously denying your opponent the ability to cast spells, shoot you, or various other things. 

Pros

Excellent warjack support, making them easily one of the best choices for warjack heavy armies

Extremely resilient infantry, with abilities to circumvent damage or decide which models actually die

One of the best attrition/scenario style armies in the game, generally wanting to play a slow, grinding game

Abundance of magical weapons, both ranged and melee

Tons of support, building buffs upon buffs, making your models extremely difficult to deal with at times

Can shut down other armies ability to deal with things, from magic to shooting, to even sometimes deciding which of your models can even bet attacked

Cons

Very few ways to deal with terrain features on the battlefield

Vast majority of their warcasters are not physically powerful themselves, making them unable to close out games on their own

Being religious fanatics and hating everyone who doesn’t worship your god puts a bit of a damper on available mercenary options

The majority of their “Knight” units are difficult to use in most circumstances

Retribution of Scyrah

Retribution is a faction of xenophobic elves, who believe that humanity’s use of magic is killing their gods. As a result, their solution is to kill all of humanity’s magic users. Seems simple enough! Ret is similar to Khador in some aspects, in that its infantry is very elite and its warcasters take a strong support role. However, unlike Khador, Retribution has a large variety of tricks up its sleeve; from ignoring line of sight when shooting, to ignoring buff spells on enemy models, to getting out of turn attacks against anyone using magic. Retribution infantry come in two broad categories: fast, hard to shoot infantry which ignores defensive abilities and excels at murdering casters and magically protected units, and elite soldiers who have incredible numerical statlines and damage output. They will often use a mixture of these elements, favoring ranged combat to destroy enemy troops, and blow holes in heavier targets.

Pros:

Some of the most potent combat solos in the game, meaning a single model can potentially be a huge threat

Excellent support across the board, allowing them to circumvent a lot of their weaknesses at specific times

Heavy assassination focus, ignoring a lot of bonuses an enemy warcaster might have, and bringing them down

Extremely powerful ranged attacks

Cons

Infantry can be extremely fragile, dying to errant explosions or spray attacks

Warjacks are somewhere between Cygnar and Khador, which means they are also generally not numerous

Little to no mercenary support at all

They’re elves. C’mon.

Some of their warcasters seem to be lacking, generally not having the tools they need at their disposal to accomplish their goals

The following are also Faction choices, however not really ones I recommend for newer players. They are either limited release, too new, or for various other reasons. However I chose to include them; just know that if you start off as one of them, you’re going to have a more difficult time. 

Convergence of Cyriss

Convergence of Cyriss is one of the newest factions, and was also labeled by Privateer Press as “limited release”. This doesn’t mean it isn’t something that will only be available for a short amount of time, it means that they had a large release cycle at first, and will see very few releases over time compared to other factions. Don’t expect some super amazing thing to pop up in the next cycle of model releases, you likely won’t get it. However, the army itself is unique in a lot of ways. The faction is made up of worshippers of Cyriss, a science/math goddess in space. They are, without question, the single best warjack faction in the game. You could feasibly run an entire list of just warjacks and your warcaster. The army is clockwork constructs and machines, who synergize in ways no other army can, sending focus to one another or storing it for later use. 

Pros:

Best warjack synergy and support in the game

Wide variety of warjacks, filling nearly every possible role

Special rules that no other factions have access to

Clockwork robots. Seriously.

Cons

Limited model release means what they have is what you get

Relatively new army in general

Higher than average learning curve because of special rules

Confusing model names, but excellent player-based nicknames for models

Mercenaries

Mercenaries are hired guns, sell swords, pirates, outlaws, strange beings, and all other variety of things. It would be completely impossible for me to summarize mercenaries in a post like this, quite frankly. Mercenaries are divided into several “contracts”. Each of these contracts defines which models you can use for your army lists, and there are a large amount of models with little to no overlap. Mercenaries are also the only faction that currently does not have an officially release starter box. While I cannot give much of a description, I will still give pros and cons. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE START WARMACHINE AS A MERCENARY PLAYER. And that’s coming from a Mercenary player.

Pros

Wide array of models, units, and options

Tons of themes upon which to build your forces

Some models can be used to supplement ‘primary’ factions forces

Cons

Huge model base, with restrictions on what can be used where and when

Because of the aforementioned restrictions, mercenaries have a very high start up cost

Models pay a bit of a ‘tax’, in that since they can be used in other factions, they often suffer stat or ability wise so they wont be too strong in other factions

Tons of space required to transport and store

Primarily all metal models, making them very heavy