Sell me on Warmachine and/or Iron Kingdoms

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Warmachine, and its sister game, Hordes, were one of the first fantasy games since the 90s to seriously contend with Warhammer. They have a rich mythology, a well-designed and comprehensive miniature line, and an exacting set of rules very much geared towards the competitive tournament crowd. Warmachine is Steampunk in style with a WWI blended with medieval aesthetic, while Hordes is more traditional fantasy, and one of the novelties of the game is that both lines are cross-compatible and Hordes armies can be fielded against Warmachine armies and vice-versa.

Iron Kingdoms is the RPG based on Warmachine's lore, which originated as a D20 setting, but later struck out as its own game. I havent played it, but its a rules medium-to-light system based around 2d6 rolls that seems perfectly solid. Nothing that would cause me to drop my preferred house rules system (Phaserip), but no overall criticisms come to mind. On the other hand, the big draw is the very rich setting. A serious amount of work has gone in to developing the game's fluff, and the differing factions of the game all have a very unique identity. Every detail of the world, from religion to politics, is well thought out and presented. It has carved out its own unique identity, not quite like any other game setting, and is worth it just for the read. Additionally, the art and production values are top notch.
 
Definitely leaning toward getting it, even if I dislike one of the authors (not going to get into details, just mentioning).
 
I only played the d20 version but FWIW I too am a fan of the worldbuilding. I like how most human nations draw on familiar stereotypes yet are not quite calques of historical Earth nations — even Khador, which is clearly Russia, goes back and forth between Tsarist Russia and Communist Russia.

They also do a good job of integrating goblins, ogres and trolls (with different names) into human society.

The whole invasion metaplot leaves me cold, though.
 
I liked the original setting a lot. Like really, despite the main antagonist being a little fan service-y. The main authors were also the artists and there was some very flavorful b/w art in the original adventures and the big background tomes.

Now, I never got into the wargame, and the new revision is really taking its direction from that. Which I don't mind rules-wise, as those are actually pretty great -- I liked them better than Savage Worlds, which is a close relative when it comes to the style of play. But a few setting details feel a lot more "out there". We went from single shooters with a rather high "bullet tax" to ubiquitous sixguns, combat robots are now regular party associates, and the magic lost a lot of its flavor (which says a lot, considering that the original was D&D blandness).

It's a bit like WFRP taking in too much of the more zany WHB stuff (i.e. straying close to Warcraft).

At times, the original Witchcraft adventure series felt a bit like Enemy Within, or at least could be pushed that way. These days? Too much warty gobberkind & steampunk gun pr0n.

But the bundle was a good offer. The nation guide is quite great, and with the right attitude, it's not even that hard to get the main game in the direction I want -- or one could fully embrace the zanyness and play the monster side of the game. I recently used the beginner's box as some kind of one-shot scenario, and we had great fun skirmishing with warthogs and croco snipers.
 
I have the D20 hardbacks for Iron Kingdoms somewhere. I picked them up right as D20 fatigue was setting in, so I never gave them more than a cursory read. I should give them another look to raid for ideas.
 
I enjoyed Iron Kingdoms' setting, and ran the Witchfire Trilogy adventures something like 16 years ago. I used WFRP1e as the rules system, and did some light conversion work. Cool setting, not bad adventures. But I haven't looked at IK since, and I no longer have the adventures.
 
I jumped into Warmachine before it was even published... there was some sort of proto-kickstarter thing where I got the rulebook and some minis... I think the company name was Rivet Head back then.
I loved the minis but the original rulebook read like a 7th grader wrote it (I just got done grading a bunch of 7th grade journals and I recognized the style).
Still, the game has grown a LOT since then and while I'm not fond of the wargame (too CGG-like) or their move to resin-ish figures I DO like the setting and its various factions. I got some of those discounted D20 IK books as well... and I've thought about combining it with some other steampunk-ish game... like maybe Etherscope... though playing it with WFRP sounds like pretty good fun to me.
 
15.00 for that bundle is simply too good not to get.
1 Steam game
$20 coupon off a Battlebox
3 more coupons for other physical products
26 e-books from the Wargame, RPG and Novel ranges.

If you've ever been even remotely interested in Warmachines at all, it's a no-brainer. The only way you can justify NOT getting this is if you know you will never buy a Warmachines product of any kind for the rest of your life. Otherwise, if you do, you're an idiot and you wasted money because you passed this bundle.

Just make sure to go into the "Where your money goes" and make sure Privateer Press and Humble Bundle get nothing and it all goes to charity, and of money donated, Doctor's Without Borders will eat less on operating costs than Red Cross, who sucks up something like 90% of all money donated in overhead.
 
I played in a lengthy and wonderful GURPS Iron Kingdoms campaign and I don't like GURPS at all.

IK is my favorite steampunk RPG setting. I'd run it in Savage Worlds because of the warfare component, and I'd probably covert in Hordes.
 
CRKrueger said:
15.00 for that bundle is simply too good not to get.
1 Steam game
$20 coupon off a Battlebox
3 more coupons for other physical products
26 e-books from the Wargame, RPG and Novel ranges.

If you've ever been even remotely interested in Warmachines at all, it's a no-brainer. The only way you can justify NOT getting this is if you know you will never buy a Warmachines product of any kind for the rest of your life. Otherwise, if you do, you're an idiot and you wasted money because you passed this bundle.

Just make sure to go into the "Where your money goes" and make sure Privateer Press and Humble Bundle get nothing and it all goes to charity, and of money donated, Doctor's Without Borders will eat less on operating costs than Red Cross, who sucks up something like 90% of all money donated in overhead.
Click to expand...

I bought the bundle earlier and I endorse every bit of this advice.

I am unlikely to ever play the minis game and not very likely to play the RPG, but I will almost certainly read some (if not all) of the fiction and then there's the computer game.

Edit: The computer game has mixed reviews and the recent reviews (a small fraction of the total reviews, admittedly) are very negative.
 
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The tutorial has a bug, you'll probably have to play the mission without the guidance. Also there is no blue button to activate the warjack, you'll have to use one of the icons under special abilities to activate it. It seems pretty cool. I like how the grave diggers can volley fire together and the Warcasters have a lot of tactical options with focus. I wasn't going to make use of the coupon for the starters box, but now I might.
 
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