Warmachine Nomeclature

[ATC 1982]

In case I make a mistake I was wondering if any of you all know of a place that has Warmachine Nomeclature. Since I am a noob at this I want to make sure when I say something that it is not the wrong thing.

As all ready pointed out to me by Absolute I was wrong in calling it a Board game when it is a Table Top game. Also I corrected that in the various places on the forums. Thank you Absolute. :cool:

So I was wondering if there were any other terms or words someone who is new would go to find this information. That or if you wanted to talk about things that many people make commen mistakes on when talking about Warmachine.

[Xarksas]

I think it's good place, to write small dictionary about Warmachine for new people:
Warcaster - general of army, the most impotant model on table, he use Focus points to give orders to Warjacks. There are many type of casters someone are good meele fighters, other good spellcasters.
Warjack - Big machine with cortex inside, they are pillar of army (in theory ;) ), they are controlled by warcasters (and someone's by solos and units with special abillity called Jack Marshall). There are two types of Jacks: Heavy and Light. They are very tough and can do lot of damage.
Unit - group of model, which must be in formation with temselves (there are 3 types of formation), they take orders from officers (they are part of unit) or from warcaster (when officer dies)
Solo - Single model, that aren't part of unit and aren't warcaster. They are stronger than normal Warrior from unit.
Cortex - is magical device inside jacks, that give them power, and are connection between Warcaster and Jack
Battlegroup - is group that include caster and his jacks (there are many spells that work only on battlegroup ;) )
Focus - Is magical power of all Warcasters, (its like mana in Warmachine)
Cryx - Army of Undead from western isles, they master was great Dragon Lord Toruk, they hate all others, they want to conquer a world for Lord Toruk
Khador - Army from North, from very cold and snowy lad, khadroian are very tough people, they are wery simillar for our Soviets :)
Cygnar - The biggest country in middle of continent, the most advanced country. Cygnar was rule by king Leto Raelthorne. They are master in arcane technology
Menoth - Army from South, from big deserts, they was part of cygnar, but separate from them. They are fanatic, and serve great, god Menoth, they slave or burn all people that don't serve menoth

that's all for now, Absolute please correct me if i got wrong somewhere ;)
i will end that sometime if i've got some more time, or maybe absolute do that

[ATC 1982]

Thank you Xarksas for posting these.

[absolute_d]

OK - so I'll just throw my own list up. Not to undo or change anything X has done, but just to give a bit of a more comprehensive list.

Independent models are those that activate individually. Warcasters, warjacks, and solos are independent models.

A warcaster is a tremendously powerful sorcerer, warpriest, or battlemage with the ability to control a group of warjacks telepathically. A warcaster is a deadly opponent highly skilled in both physical combat and arcane spell casting. A battlegroup includes a warcaster and the warjacks he controls. A warcaster can allocate focus points to or channel spells through only the warjacks in his battlegroup.

A steamjack is a mechanikal construct given the ability to reason by a magical brain, known as a cortex, housed within its hull. A steamjack does not possess high cognitive powers, but it can execute simple commands and make logical decisions to complete its assigned tasks. Throughout the Iron Kingdoms steamjacks perform a variety of heavy or dangerous tasks that would be impossible for a human.
A warjack is a steamjack built expressly to wage war. Armed with the most fearsome ranged and close-combat weaponry yet devised, a warjack is more than a match for a dozen men. Though able to think and operate independently, a warjack reaches its full destructive potential only when controlled by a warcaster. The warcaster forms a telepathic link to each of the warjacks in his battlegroup. This link lets the warcaster give his warjacks commands and use focus to boost their abilities with just a thought. Through focus, a warcaster can make his warjacks’ attacks more accurate and powerful. A well-controlled warjack can even perform amazing power attacks, such as slamming its opponents into buildings, grappling their weapons, or even throwing them.

Solos are individuals who operate alone, such as assassins and snipers. Solos are independent models.

Troopers are individuals such as swordsmen, riflemen, and mechaniks who operate together in groups called units. (there is a basic change coming to the unit structure in MKII, but I won't go over it here).

Attachments are troopers that can be added to some units. They include Officers, standard bearers, or weapon attachments.

Model Statistics

Speed (SPD) — A model’s movement rate.
Strength (STR) — A model’s physical strength. STR is used to calculate melee damage, grab onto or break free from a model, or determine how far a model is thrown.
Melee Attack (MAT) — A model’s skill with melee weapons. A model uses its MAT when making melee attack rolls.
Ranged Attack (RAT) — A model’s accuracy with ranged weapons. A model uses its RAT when making ranged attack rolls.
Defense (DEF) — A model’s ability to avoid being hit by an attack. An attack roll must be equal to or greater than the target model’s DEF to score a hit against it.
Armor (ARM) — A model’s ability to resist being damaged. A model takes 1 damage point for every point that a damage roll exceeds its ARM.
Command (CMD) — A model’s willpower, leadership, and self-discipline. To pass a command check, a model must roll equal to or less than its CMD on 2d6. Command also determines a model’s command range.
Focus (FOC) — A model’s arcane power. Only models with the Focus Manipulation ability, such as warcasters, have a FOC stat. Focus determines a model’s control area and beginning focus points. A model uses its FOC when making magic attack rolls.

Factions - these are the breakdowns of alliances or armies in the game. Like X said you have Cryx, Khador, Cygnar and the Protectorate of Menoth (Menoth is the god of creation in the game, the army is the Protectorate) and the newest faction the Retribution of Scyrah or the Elves of Ios. Just to give you more insight into each -

Cryx - For the most part an undead army. Lord Toruk or The Dragonfather is just that, father of the Dragons of Immoren. There are not many dragons left, just a handful, and Toruk is the first, the largest and the most powerful. This army plays very trixy and is very manueverable. Magic and debuffs are a large part of this armies arsenal.

Khador - This army is the northern army, they are a very robust and proud nation, the army for the most part is heavy melee, high ARM and somewhat slower. Masters of cold and ice, they can shut down opponents in a number of ways.

Cygnar - High tech (for a steam powered country), they have moved into mastering electrical power - this army is very ranged oriented with higher DEF troops, with a decent mix of melee oriented support as well. With a number of electrical attacks available to them, they can make short work of troop heavy forces and shut down cortex of other warjacks.

Protectorat - fanatical zealots under the banner of The Creator or Menoth. They are another melee oriented force with access to a lot of high damage output units. They live on synergy and buffs from other solos and units. They have mastered the art of setting their opponents on fire.

Retribution - Angry Elves who blame human magic for the death of their gods. They're hell bend on revenge and punishing those who have wronged them. This army is brand new and has a lot of tools at their disposal in MKII - they are some what limited in what they can bring to bear for the current rules set though, and we are just now seeing the release of the first models.

Those are your basics - If you have any questions, obviously let me know.

[ATC 1982]

Really Thank you two for typing this up. I know for me this is a lot of valuable information. This way I wont be lost in conversations.

[Xarksas]

Absolute thanks for better dictionary :)
And for next time: Not X, use Xarksas or Xar for Friends ;) i'm not angry it's only my Request ;)

[Stormcaller]

Few other things that might be useful.

Anything with 'war' in the front tends to be shortened down to its appellation- 'jacks, 'casters, 'locks. Warbeasts (Hordes more than pure WM, though there's some overlap with the lesser warlocks) is the only one I can think of offhand that gets used interchangeably with beasts. Apostrophes are optional, but as you're likely aware by now, different people on the Internet get upset by different things.

Various 'casters and 'jacks have their own nicknames. For instance, Asphyxious is sometimes referred to as Gaspy, and the various Cryxian bonejacks have their own fowl-related names such as the Deathripper = Deathchicken. I think, although I've never been able to keep it entirely straight, the Nightwretch is the Doomturkey. I just tend to use their formal names, but if you run across odd things like that, that's what you get. Other one I can think of offhand- the Grundback Gunners and Grundback Blasters are often referred to as gunbunnies.

Eiryss is sometimes referred to as the soulless elven hooker, mostly because people despise how effective she is at disrupting your battle plans- though I've noticed this is falling out of use. Although with the Retribution releases there's now a (literal) soulless elven male escort, so it may experience a resurgence.

ATGM is commonly used to refer to the Arcane Tempest Gun Mages, for obvious reasons. The Journeyman Warcaster is sometimes referred to as Junior.

Drop n' pop is the term for using any sort of spell, ability, or other effect that will knock down a target, usually an enemy warcaster, and then taking advantage of their vulnerability by hitting them with as much firepower as you can muster.

'Needs Moar Bane Knights' is... well honestly it's generally just best ignored. The Mk I Warmachine Bane Knights were considered extremely powerful, and for a while every thread asking for advice on a Cryxian army list was met with advice to take Bane Knights. Thus, it's become something of a self-mocking meme used by Cryx players, and is not meant to be taken seriously.

Khador is a perennial source of consernation due to vocalization: about once a year people ask how you pronounce it. The official pronunciation is 'KHAY-door,' but there's a lot of people who insist it should be closer to 'Khaa-door.' Resign yourself to complaints about this if anyone in the game ever says the word. Regardless of which you use, someone will object.

Similarly, there's the Khadoran city of Cherov-on-Dron. It's been pointed out that this is a real city, and it's named for the fact that it's on a river. In Khardic, however, 'Dron' has a different meaning; I can't recall if it refers to a hill, or a hill with a castle on it. I'm thinking the former.

[ATC 1982]

Question: I was listening to something this weekend. What is circle? Also what are all the Warmachine factions and how do they differ?

I realize there is a warmachine wiki, but it reads greek to me and seem to understand better when we discuss things :cool: So thank you all for your time with me.

[Stormcaller]

The Circle is shorthand for one of the four Hordes factions, specifically the Circle Orboros. It's an organization of druids and their minions, both human and otherwise, that is attempting to maintain a balance between order and chaos. If either one becomes too powerful, in their minds, the Devourer Wurm (a god of predation and chaos) will return to the physical world (Caen) and would proceed to live up to its name.

As for the factions, let's see.

Cygnar is considered the jewel of the Iron Kingdoms, mostly because of its abundant resources including forests, arable land, minerals, clean water, and lots of academia both religious and otherwise. This is the faction generally referred to as the 'good guys,' although they have certainly done some things you wouldn't necessarily call good. King Leto deposed his brother to take the throne, and there's still a portion of the population that's quietly loyal to the former king.

Khador is more or less the frozen north. They are ruled over by Empress Ayn, and they're notable for being the first kingdom that freed the serfs. Although with the secret police, government censorship, and ogliarchy it's rather questionable just how free they are. They are at least on par with Cygnar with regards to industry, but they are not as technologically advanced, much to their chagrin. They are also the faction most bent upon expanding their hold on the surrounding lands, and have attempted many wars of conquest, though not always with any degree of success. Generally speaking their approach is that if you can't do it the first time, you weren't using enough brute force. Although they've gotten very good at applying large amounts of brute force in very specific fashion.

The Protectorate of Menoth is a religious cabal that attempted a coup in Cygnar, and failed. Believing that their god (Menoth) is not being given the proper respect, they have more or less condemned the world to burn unless it admits the error of its ways. Which doesn't necessarily forestall death, just burning. Fire is a big theme. They live in a desert area that is rich in mineral resources, including what may be petroleum. Ostensibly they are under Cygnaran rule, but they've made it fairly clear that although their god is called the Lawgiver, they find that particular law to be more of a suggestion. They lack much in the way of real industry but they make up for this with zeal, a tyrranical theocracy, the power of their god, and lots and lots of expendable troops armed with fire and sharp pointy objects.

Cryx is home to Lord Toruk, the Dragonfather, who's more or less a draconic god. These islands have been twisted and warped by the mutative power of his dragonblight, and the inhabitants are no better off. The islands that make up Cryx are home to the worst and most depraved people, ones who look at death as more of a pause than an end. This is because people are people, and parts are parts, and dead people are parts for the Cryxian war machine. Undead thralls are meshed to steam engines and foul alchemical mixtures to give them some semblance of life and evil cunning, all with the final goal of tracking down and eliminating the children of Toruk (he is the Dragonfather for a reason after all) so that their soul stones (athancs) can be reabsorbed by him. Terrorizing the populace of the Iron Kingdoms and using their twisted remains as fodder for the war effort is mostly just a bonus. Cryx favors speed and fear, although it also happens to have a good supply of corrosive acids, debilitating magic, and torturous devices to choose from. Somewhat flimsy, though.

[Stormcaller]

There are also the Retribution of Scyrah, but I can't say anything definitive about them of yet as I've yet to own the book to read up on them.

[Kaptajn Congoboy]

I, on the other hand, have the Retribution of Scyrah book.

The Retribution is a military-political-religious movement within the elven nation of Ios. To understand them, one must know a bit about the Iron Kingdoms Iosans.

Ios is a splinter nation of the old elven empire of Lyoss. The Lyossan empire was created over ten thousand years ago, at the direct urging of their very intervention-friendly gods, the Divine Court. It grew to dominate all of Eastern Immoren, contacting the primitive ancestors of mankind and the dwarves of Rhul, and pushing back skorne barbarians from their frontiers.

In 4250 BR (Before Rebellion, the human calendar) a Lyossan grand project called the Bridge of Worlds was initiated. The Lyossans and their gods cooperated on an effort to build a structure that would link the otherworld of the gods (Urcaen, which the elves call the Veld) and the real world (Caen) so that the Divine Court could live amongst the elves. When the project, at great cost, was completed in 4000 BR, the Bridge exploded catastrophically as the Divine Court entered Caen, leaving the gods alive but devastating eastern immoren and permanently ruining its environment. The Divine Court led the surviving elves on a westward exodus, eventually ending up in the area they now occupy.

The elves built a new civilization in Ios, trading with the dwarves and primitive humans. Each elven god had a city built around him or her. However, the gods' powers slowly waned due to their lack of connection to the Veld, and in 840 BR the Divine Court left Ios to attempt to find a way back to the Veld. The followers of the god Nyssor - the Winter Father, Grand Crafter of Ios - left in a search for him a few years later. These followers eventually found him, frozen solid in a block of ice in the north of western Immoren. They regressed to a more primitive state, becoming the Nyss, or Winter Elves.

In 140 BR the priests of the elven gods lost connection to their respective god. Most went mad, some became homocidial, and only the priests of Scyrah - goddess of Spring and midwife of the gods - recovered their sanity and powers. This event shook Iosan civilization to its core, and the Iosans isolated themselves, refusing to trade and killing all trespassers. They soon discovered that some elven babies were born without souls (lacking to a large extent personalities and being practically emotionless, in addition to having black irises) and that no prayers to the other gods were answered. The Nyss were entirely exempt from this.

In 34 BR, Scyrah returned to Ios, looking severely depleted and unable or unwilling to talk. She rests on a slab in her central Fane (Temple-home) in Shyrr (old city of Lacyr, leading goddess of Ios) and slowly wanes, her powers weakening to such an extent that her priests do not expect her to last out the 7th century. Nyssor eventually sent Nyss envoys to Ios to attempt to help her, but the Iosans, in a state of turmoil, turned them away.

Sometime later, the Iosans discovered that the Gift of Magic, when the dark goddess Thamar granted mankind arcane powers, coincides closely with the Rivening. A sect grew up in Ios that believed that human arcane magic was the cause of the Rivening, and more importantly, that it was currently draining Scyrah of her power and vitality.. This sect eventually became the militant Retribution of Scyrah, intent on killing human arcane mages and destroying techno-magical constructs like warjacks. The Retribution was outlawed, its leaders and members forced underground, as the Consulate Court, the assembly of the hallantyr, the High Houses of Ios, feared that it would provoke human counter-attacks. This is an understandable thing to worry about: the Homeguard Coalition, the defensive military of Ios, counts only 60,000 elves all told - short of 1/10 of the manpower available to just Cygnar. The elves rely on their fearsome reputation as much as on real military strength in their waning days. Since its inception, the Retribution, with the tacit support of some of the hallantyr, have carried out undercover assasinations of human spellcasters through their Mage Hunter cells.

The Retribution would have remained a minor sect still if certain recent events had not changed the political climate in Ios. In recent years, the dragon Ethrunbal or Everblight, have taken control of the Nyss through certain arcane methods. Blighted (dragon-tainted) Nyss and Ogrun have driven their own people to extinction or willing enslavement to the dragon. In 607 AR, the elder priests of the Fane of Nyssor accepted an offer of sancturay from the Morrowan Primarch Arius, through the Morrowan clergy in Korsk. Nyssor (frozen in a block of ice, a step he has taken to preserve himself), and the remains of the Nyss, fled to Korsk and Nyssor was guarded within the Katrinska Cathedral by Nyss guardians and human knights of the Precursor Morrowan order militant.

Unfortunately, the Cryxian warcaster Goreshade (formerly Concul Ghyrrshydd of House Vyre of the Consulate Court, who once attempted to usurp power in Ios) discovered the whereabouts of Nyssor and, assembling a Cryxian strike force, assaulted the cathedral in the dead of night, and managed to slaughter his way through the Precursors and Nyss. Before being forced back by reinforcements of Khadoran Winter Guard and Greylord Covenant wizards under the kommand of warcaster Koldun Kommander Alexandra Zerkova, Goreshade gained access to and spoke to Nyssor after melting him free with a tainted religious artifact. He then fled after stealing Nyssor's blade. On his way out of the city he tangled with Eiryss, Mage Hunter of the Retribution, and while he beat her, he also told her that Nyssor was in the Cathedral and that the Greylords held her.

Eiryss returned to Ios and these news caused great upheaval and a power shift in Iosan politics. The military house of Nyarr, masters of the Dawnguard order and the magical artificer-house of Shyeel openly declared for the Retribution, as did their minor houses. The Dawnguard now march to war alongside Mage Hunter Strike teams and House Shyeel Myrmidons (warjacks) and Battle Wizards. A plan of action was put into place to secure Nyssor through a semi-covert assault on a Khadoran bunker complex where Retribution intelligence indicated he was being held. In the most "recent" Iron Kingdoms event, this assault was carried out...

The Retribution has access to fairly advanced equipment by IK standards. The most radical difference between their equipment and human gear is the fact that where human mechanika is clockwork, steam or electrically powered, the Iosan equipment, and even their warjack-equivalents, the Myrmidons, run on arcane energy accumulated from their surroundings. The accumulators don't make myrmidons all that much more dureable than warjacks, but myrmidons are, on average, much lighter than equivalent human constructs (a light myrmidon is lighter than a Cryxian bonejack and the heavies heavy, the Phoenix arc node, weights only about 4,5 tons, as I recall it). The energy accumulated also enable myrmidons to project a power field much like warcasters (which they need, they are squishy) and to generate energy ranged attacks....as well as certain other abilities.

[ATC 1982]

Thank you Kaptajn this has been helpful to at least me. So thank you for posting this.

[Kaptajn Congoboy]

I'd really advise anyone working on the game to get the Warmachine books, and as many of the Iron Kingdoms books as they can get their hands on (the slumbering/discontinued RPG series). There are some great stories in there.

[ATC 1982]

@Kaptajn - The WhiteMoon Dreams staff is working with Privateer directly. So they have a good amount of material at hand for them to look over.

Me personally I am trying to work on getting materials to read. As I may be the one you all speak to the most of the time on these forums. :)

[Skyydragonn]

Me thinks I might consolodate all of this info into a single post (or two) and submit it for a sticky. That way its always at the top for those who are unfamiliar with the terminology to reference.

any questions, feel free to PM them to me and if i dont know the answer offhand I'm sure I can find you one :)

[skarburn]

I would post up info on the factions of Hordes, but I know that someone will be able to eloquate it much more finely than myself.

[I-am-robot]

A rather fun addition to the major factions are the Mercenaries contracts. Although they aren't "factions" per se, they certainly play a large role in the future history of Immoren.

The Rhulic (Iron Kingdoms' Dwarves, effectively) kingdom refuses to take an official part in the conflict raging across Immoren, but as they are prominent traders, they have need to protect shipments and trade routes with the embattled factions. The Rhulic mercenaries make it their job to make sure no one interferes with their trade, and if they do, that they'll receive several heaping spoonfuls of Rhulic warjack and soldier-y goodness.

The Llaelese resistance is pretty much what it sounds like. After the country of Llael, traditionally allied with Cygnar, was taken by Khador, the Cygnaran military thought it prudent to pull back into their own borders. The Highborn Covenant, spearheaded by the Llaelese warcaster Ashlynn d'Elyse, works on its own, or alongside anyone willing to push the Khadorans out of their home country.

The Privateers are a ragtag bunch, encompassing anyone, outside of the factions, who takes to the high seas for some good old-fashioned piracy! Indeed, just imagine classic pirates, but with aquatic-capable warjacks and some cool iron kingdoms quirks, and you've just about struck them dead on.

And my personal favorite, Magnus' Agenda. Also called Vinter's Loyalists, this group is led by the ex-Cygnaran warcaster Asheth Magnus with the purpose of reinstating the deposed tyrant Vinter Raelthorne to the Cygnaran throne. Magnus thinks that the new Cygnaran regime under Leto is weak and indecisive, unlike Vinter, who ruled with an iron fist, but was always able to defend Cygnar's borders with crushing decisiveness. Magnus has a deep-seated hatred of Coleman Stryker, Cygnar's posterboy, and, as his first violent act of treason, tried unsuccessfully to kill him.
Meanwhile, the deposed king Vinter has crossed the nigh-inhospitable Bloodstone Marches to the East, and has brought a new empire, that of the warlike race of the Skorne (difficult to describe, but think Persian army, plus bald, vampire-y appearance, plus crazy soul magics and dangerous, pain-driven beasts) under his heel. Vinter's plan is to "smash" the Skorne armies into the Iron kingdoms, effectively driving everything it into the ground, along with all of the other countries, and rebuilding a new empire from the rubble.
Magnus and the Skorne eventually catch on to the "run blindly at the Iron Kingdoms and die" part of the plan, although Magnus is subjected to the attentions of the Skorne's best torturer (don't worry, it turns into a bonding moment for both of them, what with all the "he's screwing you over? hey, me too!").
That known, Magnus is "currently" trying to track down Vinter's alleged bastard son before Cygnaran agents can get to him first.