Well the problem with new players needing to trade away for figures to build pure faction is that they are inexperienced. They may not know the value of certain figures, and would have to rely on possibly unfavorable players trying to scam them. That's why it would still be a hinderance for new players to try and get into a collectable game that requires single faction.

The way I iugre it, if WKs balances out the factions a little more (gives AE and BPR a power boost and Solonavi a worthwhile non and maybe a cheaper unique) in the next set, and maybe throws out some more domains that favor faction purity we will see a change in the attitude amongst the seasoned vets.

Wizkids seems to have a tendency to focus specific weaknesses in specific factions. I noticed this especially in Mechwarrior. The Swordsworn faction had almost every mech plagued with poor heat dials. Light, Medium, Heavy...it didn't matter. The second click almost always has a heat effect roll. Other factions with the same mech wouldn't necessarily.

This practice doesn't seem to be limited to that game alone. Although I prefer to see and play pure faction or forces that are pure except for mercenaries or unaffiliated figures like Mage Spawn added in, sometimes it isn't practical if you want to have a force that is more likely to win. Especially with retirement where many figures from a faction will not be allowed in some events.

So, I guess the question's answer would depend on all of the circumstances surrounding the event the force would be used for.

I'm really sort of torn on the issue.

On the one side, SF makes the game have more of a real battle feel (I never thought it looked right when you had 4 different factions represented in one army), and if they did it right (heh) WK could make SF viable in one more expansion, as VaporGeckon said.

On the other side, it's a little tougher to build SF armies when you get 4 randomly assorted figures in a pack. I always liked the idea that you could just buy a few packs and start playing. It helps to make it an easy entry level game.

Right now, I'd say that single faction wouldn't work. Give it another expansion and it may become more realistic.

Note that originally this was the entire theme of Mage Knight. The original "iconic" group consisted of members of all factions (Snow of BPR, Oakes of the Elemental League, etc.). The theme was Warlords with members of all factions were warring among themselves.

I have always liked playing single faction armies. I think it takes more skill to play an army that hasn't been min/maxed out with the perfect selection of pieces from whatever faction and/or set. Single faction armies, regardless what game system you play, always have their strengths & weaknesses. Though I wouldn't want every tournament to be single faction. That would get stale as well. Plus making the game into a single faction build will result in what happens in WH40K where everyone plays the "power" armies.

There was a time way back in the early days when there seemed to be more of a balance between the factions. But not now. Orcs and Dark Crusaders would rule IMO.

Single faction or mixed, I could care less. I just like playing. Tell me what it the particular match requires and I will show up with an army that fits.

I would not like seeing single faction required all the time, but do not mind playing that format for particular scenarios. Heck I have just recently fielded a 3200 point orc raiders army for conquest.

:D I play pure faction 99% of the time. I personaly like the look and feel of playing that kind of army. I also think it makes sense from a story-line and world concept point of view. We read about factions and their conflicts then play armies that totally disregard that aspect. So pure faction is the way for me.

Let me give an example of a game that is Faction pure, yet is easy to get into, is still rewarding to buy boosters with, is balanced very very well, and is a blast to play.

D&D MINIS.

Faction purity is what absolutely makes that game as great as it is. No more cherry-picking the best units from each faction, no more using Elven Lords figures to heal (!) undead Dark Crusaders units and so on - faction purity is just a great game mechanic and makes plenty of sense from a fluff standpoint too.

Let's do it for MK!

Originally in MK the story was about finding a Mage Prince the one who would rule The Land and bring peace in a time of Chaos. The comics were always written around Blackwyn, who other than himself (he was a Warlord in the Northern Lands with no faction) had warriors from nearly all factions: BPR, EL, NS and KI. He never had Dracs or AG.

Also the Draconum are mercenries who join a side in battle to further their skills and were never a faction in their own right, hense the fact that they had no land, and other than the Drakona held land still don't. They were nomadic by nature.

Now MK has moved away from the Mage Prince story, into faction based stories. Faction pure could be fun but could be difficult in the long run, in terms of getting new players in. Easily fixed by creating faction boxes of figures that are indepenant of any set release. One figure to hold relics, one faction relic, one faction domain and various nons. I know that faction boxes didn't work last itme but also they were realesed after Rebellion with Rebellion figure which most people had, make these figures exculsive to the box.

There would be at least one exception though, MS could be used by certain factions as they have been by the story. Also it could be fun if there was a storyline allience if those figure could be used togther as one faction, it would make the sotry mean something and represent it.

In D&D minis basically every alignment has at least 1 figure with the same spell or special attack, you can get the same abilities playing Chaotic Evil as you do playing Chaotic Good.

As those before have said, MK started as a multi-faction warband type of game. 'Pick a hero, build an army' Now we are getting faction specific events, domains, relics.

Perhaps that is the problem. The designers keep chaning their mind about what sort of game this is.

Has there been a big change in DnD minis to make it balanced? Last I checked (January) almost every published event was won by some drow chick with a big freeze spell. Not exactly balanced.

@Bahamut: that's totally wrong. Chaotic Evil has terrible commanders, no Fireball or Lightning Spells, no defensive spells, no healing, and no "buff" type spells beyond Magic Weapon. But they have massive damage, and high hit points. Chaotic Good has better commanders, Fireball and Lightning Spells, plenty of defensive, healing, and buff spells, but lower damage and very low HP. <--Same????

In fact, every alignment has identifiable weaknesses. In addition to the two above, the Lawfuls are slow and do less damage: Lawful Evil has almost no healing but plenty of HP, Lawful Good has tons of healing/buffing, but very low HP - though they have the highest Armor Class in the game. <--Same???

@Braden: I'm guessing you must be talking about the Drow Wizard. I hate to break it to you, but the Drow Wizard is a flimsy support unit at best. Especially now that the format has moved to 200 point games, her wimpy 10 damage Snowball (usually only 5 because of the easy save) is pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Her best use is for the multiple castings of Magic Weapon and her strong Command Effect really. The bigger format has opened up the game a lot.

The whole point of mentioning D&D minis is to illustrate how easy and effective it is to have faction purity. It's also to debunk some of the arguments thrown about around here against faction purity, like:

- "purity would make it tougher for newer players" - total BUNK. What's much tougher for newer players is hunting down those "power" units that are expensive, all the while realizing that 90% of the units they opened in a booster are *worthless*. Since with purity everyone's in the same boat, it becomes pretty easy to TRADE your unwanted figures for those of your faction - especially since fewer figures are worthless like they currently are under the rules.

- "people would have less incentive to buy boosters" - not really true. Plenty of people play more than one faction (it's easy when there are only 4!) and enforcing faction purity means that many of those units you open in a booster are actually playable. Also, it's never a waste to buy boosters because there is a guaranteed Rare in every single one.

- "but some factions have obvious weaknesses" - that's the whole point! Every faction (if Wizkids knew what they were doing) would have some incentive to play them, as well as some drawback! This is Basic Game Design 101. If every faction is exactly the same, what's the point of having factions?!?!?

- "we couldn't do faction pure right now" - sure we could! Every faction has at least one unique, and few of the Relics are faction pure, so no trouble there, and every faction has a good selection of figures. Would Orcs be overpowered right now if faction purity happened? Possibly, but probably not! In faction purity, Orcs would have no access to Flying units, and little access to Magic Healing. In short - they would have flavor. See where this is going?

Until Wizkids makes their games Faction pure, there will continue to be no reason to buy/use about 75% of the units release in various expansion, and WK will continue to lose money like they did last year ($2 million bucks in the hole - obviously something's not working...)

PowerHorse's comments are right on the mark. The main issue with DDMG at the moment is not faction or game play balance but price hikes. The next set will have huge figures which will significantly increase the costs. Oddly though, it's still a lot cheaper than MK when you take into the account the chase rarity level of uniques and the prices of hard to get LEs.

[quote]Originally posted by PowerHorse


Are you joking? If we make it faction pure do you know what factions will win each time? There's 3, DC, orcs, and the EF.
The orcs and the EF would have to get lucky to beat the DC too. DC has revenant, the insanely powerful bonestaff, and the Zombie Centaurs. No other faction can really compete. AE and BPR are a joke right now. They don't stand a chance at beating any other faction. EL would only get used because of Spirit Armor, and even then it's unlikely it could compete with the DC.

Yes, they would be overpowered compared to every other faction except the DC. What do they have? Well, they have the strongest range figure(rava) the best melee figures(broken tusk) tons of immunity to auto damage, amazing healing figures(heart drinker and blood shamans), what are they missing? Soaring? Who cares? They don't need to soar, they're other figures are already good enough. Rava can just bring down enemy soarers. They lack revenant, which is why the DC will usually beat them. The DC really has no weaknesses besides lack of healing. Who cares about that? They don't need to heal, they revenant or necromance.

OK, I fail to see the logic here. First, it'll make MORE figures suck. The figures that suck will still suck. But now, only the EF, orcs, DC and maybe drac figures are at all playable in competitive play. All the other faction's figures are unusable. Now, on top of the sucky figures sucking, the good figures of the lousy factions won't see any play.