101 - The Statblock
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- This article is part of Warmachine University's Crash Course (101) series, which is "Basic Training" aimed at new players who are still learning the core rules.
- The 101 series is intended to help you understand the rulebook, but you shouldn't be reading this instead of the rulebook.
You've just started playing Warmachine or Hordes, you're looking at the cards, and wondering what all those numbers mean. Not what they "are" (the rulebook explains that pretty well) but what's "good"? What's "average"? Is this model a good deal for its points cost, or vice versa?
Statblock
SPD, Speed
A model's movement rate
The average is 5 or 6, depending on faction.
- In a speedy faction such as Cryx or Legion 6 is considered average and 5 would be a slow model.
- However, in a slower faction like Cygnar or Trollbloods 5 is considered average and 6 would be a speedy model.
STR, Strength
A model's physical strength in melee combat.
This is almost completely irrelevant for all models that aren't a warjack or a warbeast. It's relevant for warjacks and warbeasts because they can perform Power Attacks, which do damage based on STR.
In almost every other case, though, you add the melee weapon's power (POW). So the more relevant stat is the melee attack's total P+S (Power plus Strength).
- Warjacks: The average STR for lights is around 9, heavies is around 11, and colossals is around 18
- Warbeasts: The average STR for lights is around 8, heavies is around 10, and gargantuans is around 17
MAT, Melee Attack
How good you are at hitting people with melee weapons.
- The average is 5-6.
RAT, Ranged Attack
How good you are at hitting people with ranged weapons.
- The average is 5-6, but there is some debate about that:
- Really shooty models/factions can often sit still at long range and get the +2 aiming bonus, and players of those factions will often feel the lower RAT 5 stat does an adequately average job of hitting the target.
- Whereas models that have a short range gun almost as an afterthought often need to be on the move, don't get to aim, and find a RAT 5 stat misses more than average.
DEF, Defence
How good you are at not getting hit.
Simply put, someone with average MAT/RAT will hit someone with average DEF an average amount of the time.
- The average is 12-13.
(Mathematically inclined readers will notice that average DEF is 7 points higher than average MAT/RAT, and also that for a 2d6 the most common result is 7.)
Median DEF can vary depending on model type: Heavy warjacks/beasts sit around DEF 10-12, lights are about DEF 13-14, infantry is DEF 12-13, and casters 14-15.
ARM, Armor
How good you are at not being damaged, once you are hit.
- The average is 14-17, although as with DEF it varies widely depending on model type.
- It's also very important how many hitpoints you have - if you have only a single wound (as most infantry does) then it doesn't really matter if you're ARM 10 or ARM 15 - chances are someone is going to roll about 17 for damage and you'll be just as dead either way.
CMD, Command
How good a leader you are.
- The average is 7-8.
- For units, it measures how much the unit can spread out.
- For everyone else, it's (almost) always irrelevant. The exception being a few special abilities.
FOCUS & FURY (warlock)
How powerful the warcaster or warlock is.
- The average is 6-7.
- Focus/Fury is used for multiple things:
- how big your control range is (which affects how far you can spread warjacks/warbeasts, and the range of many spells)
- how much "magic resource" you have each turn (which affects how many warjacks/warbeasts you can control simultaneously, and/or how powerful your spells are, and/or how powerful your combat attacks are)
- how accurate your offensive magic spells are.
- The average given above is based on the accuracy aspect, similar to MAT/RAT, with the average FOCUS/FURY determined by comparing it to average DEF models.
- (You'll note that the average is +1 compared to MAT/RAT - this is because warcasters and warlocks are more awesome than average troops.)
WJP & WBP, Warjack/Warbeast Points
How many bonus points your caster gets to spend on warjacks/warbeasts. These bonus models must be in the caster's battlegroup, they can't be assigned to a 'Jack Marshal or etc.
- The average is 26-28
FURY (warbeast) & THRS, Threshold
How good a warbeast is at fighting.
- The average is 3-4 FURY and 6-7 THRS.
Non-Statblock Stats
MA, Magic Ability
How good a model is at casting offensive spells.
- The average is 5-6
- Similar to MAT/RAT, the average MA is determined by comparing it to how hard it is to hit average DEF models on 2d6.
HP, Hitpoints, Damage Points, Damage boxes, etc
How much damage you can take before you die. If a model has zero boxes given in its statline, it has only 1 hitpoint. Also known as "single-wound infantry".
- The average varies depending on model type - the average heavy warjack has a lot more hitpoints than the average solo. For more info see the #Hitpoints and Points Costs section below.
PC, Points Cost
How much a model costs to add to your army.
- The average varies depending on model type - the average heavy warjack costs a lot more than the average solo. See the next section for more info.
FA, Field Allowance
How many times you can take multiple of the same model/unit.
- FA U - Unlimited. You can take as many as you like.
- FA C - Character. You can only take 1, and you can't take any other character with the same name.
- FA 1 - You can take 1 in a normal game; 2 if you are playing a large game with 2 casters; 3 if you have 3 casters...
- FA 2 - You can take 2 in a normal game; 4 if you are playing a large game with 2 casters; 6 if you have 3 casters...
- FA 3 - And so on...
RNG, Range
How far a weapon can attack. (Sometimes renamed Reach for melee weapons to help differentiate them)
- The average is 8"-10" for ranged weapons.
- The average is 1" for melee weapons.
POW, Power
How much damage a weapon can do.
- The average is 10-12 for ranged weapons.
- POW is omitted for melee weapons in favour of the P+S stat.
P+S, Power + Strength
How much damage a melee weapon does (after adding the weilder's STR)
- The average is 12-14
- Heavy warjacks and warbeasts are generally expected to hit a lot harder than average, though, so a warjack with P+S = 16 may be described as "pillow fisted".
COST, Spell/Animus Cost
How much focus or fury it costs to cast a spell.
- 1 is a cheap spell
- 2 is on the cheap side of average
- 3 is on the expensive side of average
- 4 is an expensive spell
Animi:
- 1 is a cheap animus
- 2 is an expensive animus
(this is a rule of thumb, which needs some clean-up in the descriptions)
Hitpoints and Points Costs
There are a few things that vary so wildly between model types that they can't be easily pigeonholed to a single average value. Namely, hitpoints and points cost. In this case we assign averages that are relative to that model type.
For instance
- The average light warjack costs about 9 points, but the average heavy warjack costs about 15 points.
- The average hitpoints of a warcaster is about 16 HP, but a Colossal has about 56 HP on average.
Average Cost | Average Hitpoints | |
---|---|---|
Warcaster | N/A | 16 - 18 |
Light warjack | 8 - 10 | 18 - 20 |
Heavy warjack | 14 - 16 | 27 - 29 |
Colossal | 38 - 39 | 56 - 58 |
Warlock | N/A | 16 - 18 |
Warbeast pack | 9 | 5 each |
Lesser warbeast | 3 - 4 | 13 |
Light warbeast | 8 - 10 | 18 - 20 |
Heavy warbeast | 14-16 | 27-29 |
Gargantuan | 35 - 37 | 55 - 58 |
Solo | 4 - 5 | 5 |
Unit | 1.6 to 2 points per model | See note |
Battle Engine | 15 | 25 - 30 |
Note: HP for units varies widely in and of itself.
- Most troops have 1 hitpoint
- Officers, heavy infantry, and cavalry have 5 hitpoints
- Super-heavy infantry have 8 hitpoints
"Missing" Stats
On this website you'll notice some models are "missing" some stats, such as CMD or RAT. This is because they don't use that stat to do anything in-game, so we don't bother to show it. For instance, a model with zero guns doesn't need to have its RAT shown.