i have never played warmachine before. how does it compare to things like Flames of War or Warhammer. How much does it cost for an army and what would it cost to buy

I've never played Flames of War and I've only played 40K once or twice (never played WFB, either), so any comparisons I make I do so with limited knowledge.

The startup costs are more than what they were because everything got an overhaul for Mark II (their term for second edition). Nowadays you'll need Warmachine Prime: MKII (the rulebook), a battlebox, and if you like it, you'll probably end up with the "Forces of..." book for your faction.

The rulebook contains the rules (obviously) and the stats for a number of models for each faction. When the game first released these model stats represented the entirety of the WM line of models. The stats for all of the models that came in later expansions will be found in their respective factions "Forces" book. The WMP MKII softcover runs for $30 USD and the hardcover $45 USD.

Battleboxes usually contain four models; 1 caster, 2 light jacks, and 1 heavy jack. There are a couple of factions in all of WM and Hordes that this will vary on, but this is pretty average. Battleboxes are currently not being produced, but I think they are being redone for MKII. They aren't hard to find in any case, so I don't think it would be an issue. Battleboxes run $50 USD.

As I mentioned earlier, the "Forces of" books contain the MKII stats for all of a faction's models that were released by expansion after MKI Prime. You can think of it as a Codex. When WM resumes it's release of expansion books (probably next year) it will continue with its traditional format of releasing the stats for all new models of all factions in that expansion book. I think that the Forces books are going to be $25/softcover and $35/hardcover.

I have some stuff I have to do, but I will make another post when I get done with them.

Other than all of that the costs of building a "full" army is relative. In my experience during a casual game I will run a 15 point list (basically a battlebox or an equivalent number of models), 25, 35, or 50 point list. Mostly it's been 35 point lists but judging by online communities and podcasts I think 50 is pretty common.

So as an exercise I used my faction (Menoth) and took it's battlebox and added the models from just the core book that I would use to expand it out to 35 points. On top of my battlebox I would have had to spend an additional $125 for what I chose. You could definitely spend alot more than that on a 35 point army, but in my opinion things are overall balanced enough to where it's not absolutely essential.

I don't know if you are at all familiar with the D&D Miniatures game, but model stats work more like that then they do 40K. A model's abilities, spells, and weaponry are static and are specifically enumerated on its stat card, unlike 40K where you have the option to swap weapons/armor/etc. per that models entry in the Codex. In that regard I think I would have preferred 40K. WM's system works great, though.

Models can be synergistic in a manner similar to cards in Magic: The Gathering. Combos can be a pretty strong factor in strategy and listbuilding. I didn't play enough 40K to see what it could do, but I was under the impression that it was not as combo-oriented as WM. In my opinion combos don't replace good playing, though. I'm sure that there are a couple retarded broken combos that even a moron could use to win, but most of them are just strong supplements to good playing.

The game itself is an assassination game. Kill the other guy's warcaster before he kills yours. The caster has a focus stat which gives him the ability to cast spells or he can allocate focus to the jacks which allows them to "boost" (add a dice to...) damage or attack rolls, make power attacks, make extra attacks, or a few other miscellaneous actions.

Attacks are made vs. a defense stat. Ties go to the attacker. A successful attack grants a damage roll. Damage is determined by rolling against armor. Damage is done by rolling over the armor stat (2d6 + attackers damage stat minus defenders armor stat = damage). Jacks will lose functionality as they take damage to specific parts of their "bodies". Warriors (non-jack models) do not.

I don't know if this answers all of your questions, but it's what I can do with my wife asking me when I'm going to be done . If you want to know anything else just ask.

Its been years, so I have forgotten the details of the game, but I did not like it. I just remember thinking that the rules had some things I liked better than Warhammer, but not enough to get over what I felt was a lame setting and ugly models. The less subjective aspects of it I felt were about on par with 40K... at least not a deal breaker. Had the models/setting been more to my liking I probably would have just ignored since I already have a huge Warhammer collection. Getting into gaming from scratch... assuming you kile the models/setting... I'd say go with what is more popular in your circle.

As a person who just got into Warmachine and tabletop games myself I hope I can shed some light.

First find at least 1 friend who would be interested in a tabletop game. Then go out and buy the soft cover mark two rulebook at your flgs or thewarstore.com ( favorite online miniatures store everything is 20% off). This will run you around 30-35 USD. Then read through the book and pass it around your friends to get them hyped up. After you and your friend(s) give the book a once over both of you should pick up a battle box (around 40-50 USD). This will give you a basic group to test the game with around the 15 pt mark. Warmachine scales a lot better then the other tabletop games I have tried and will give you a good idea if you will like the game or not. Play the basic game a couple of times. If you and your friend(s) decide that this isn't the type of game for them then you can usually resell the models for a decent price and even if you don't you won't have spent nearly as much as you would have to in other wargames to get a good feel of it. Heck swap forces and play some more you may find that you like your opponents army better.

If you decide to get stuck in after trying it out then the only thing you require is a MK2 stat deck. This will give you the stats to every unit in a factions range currently. Any new models that come out will have their stat card packaged with them. I find that around here most competitive play is either 35 pts or 50pts. Personally I am a more casual gamer so I am slowly building up to 35 pts and probably wont go to 50 anytime soon.

Also go to privateer press events site and see if their is a press ganger in your area. They are fans who demo the game to bring more people into the hobby. Also check around for any local groups in your area tabletop gamers like in RPGs are usually a very friendly lot and welcoming to newcomers in the hobby.