Last time, I took a look at the overall shape of things for Warmachine MK IV. A brief glance, and a primer on what you the prospective player can expect when it comes to your existing or new model collection. Today, I want to talk about what we know of the factions we knew and loved, or hated, or loved to hate.
I'll preface this with the fact that we don't know ANYTHING about what has become of the Hordes factions, and likely won't learn anything until the summer of 2023. I'm sorry to Trollbloods, Circle, Legion, Skorn and pigboy & gator players, you'll be stuck with your legacy rules for a while it seems. And of the Grymkin, I have no idea if they'll carry forward.
I'll open up with that for the Warmachine side too. Infernals fans, you're probably going to be stuck with your legacy rules for a while. I think other factions, especially the original 5, will probably be taking the front seat for refreshes.
For those classic factions, three have had their new forms revealed to us in some way as of right now. Cryx, Menoth, Convergence and Crucible Guard haven't had their full army updates yet.
And its now army not faction. The landscape has changed in that regard. There will now be splinter armies within the classic factions. These will be a core of models dedicated to that army, and then a number of auxiliaries called Cadres from their faction that can join them as well as some Mercenary units.
To the juicy bits now.
Cygnar will be debuting with the Storm Legion, made up of a bunch of the lightning wielding knights the boys in blue were so iconic for and a new light and heavy warjack chassis to compliment them. A second army under their kingdom MAY have been hinted at in the Gravediggers, but that may also have been a purely hypothetical name. The Storm Legion will be a familiar taste of the old Cygnar for returning players and they should feel right at home.
Khador's headlining army are the Winter Korps. A familiar, if new, name for the cold North. Aside from the new line troops, the next evolution in the classic Winter Guard, we have yet to see many hints what other forces will be joining this army. As a Khador player myself, my hopes lie with a return of the Man-O-War troops and new shiny kits for our heavy infantry. In classic Khador fashion our starting warjack chassis' are both classed as heavies, though one is slightly lighter armoured than the other they'll fit right in among the old ones.
Surprisingly, the Retribution of Scyrah is close on the heels of the debut. Though the elusive elves of this world have taken a drastic turn. Little has been revealed of the newly crowned Dusk House of Kallyss other than the story behind their change. But know that the gods you once protected have died, your people forever changed. The 'eldritch' which are like Iosan vampires, who have since established noble houses and reshaped the society of Ios to server their new needs. It will be interesting to see what they field, though that won't be until April 2023 according to the current road map.
And now to the new faces. The Orgoth, who's current army in the Sea Raiders are doing as their name implies, striking along the coasts of the Iron Kingdoms from across the sea. They have some incredibly cool models, though little in the way of lore currently. With their release slated for October I'm sure we'll learn more soon.
For the others we will have to wait and see what has become of them. To my knowledge they are still around, with one of the battle engine scale Crucible Guard warcasters featured in the pages of the beta rules (more to come on those next time).
The future is mysterious and bright, and I know I'll be having my name down for the Khador Starter box as soon as possible.
Until next time, watching for the bright horizon
-Blair
