Hi everyone,

I used to play this years ago, but sold off my collection (for a fraction of what it was worth too, ugh!). It's a dang good game, and I'd like to get back into it. Seems it's still pretty easy to get (some!) units online. I discovered the Battle Planner software that is a great way to browse the units - I've even been toying with the idea of making and printing out cards with the relevant information on them to allow proxying of hard to find units (I saw DF's Gunsho Jun'ko Oshiro going for 85$ online. zoinks.).

It seems this forum is still pretty active. Can anyone give me advice on which factions to start with? I want to start faction-pure because aesthetically, it looks nicer on the table to have two similarly colored armies, and it appeals to both my need to simplify (my opponents will not be experienced players!) and try to stick to a theme rather than a hodge-podge of units.

Battleplanner tells me that unit distribution for each of the factions is very different! Should I go for a faction with 100+ units (remember, most of my opponents will be total noobs), or something with half that? This is what I understand the breakdown of unique units for most of the factions (those with more than 20 or 30) to be:

Bannson's Raiders has 131 unique units (figures/models)
Clan Jade Falcon: 96
Clan Nova Cat: 40
Dragon's Fury: 122
Gunslingers: 105 (are these guys similar to the mercs?)
Highlanders: 118
House Davion: 58
House Kurita: 50
House Liao: 114
House Steiner: 56
Mercenaries: 97
Rasalhague Dominion: 44
Republic of the Sphere: 117
Spirit Cats: 126
Steel Wolves: 104
Stormhammers: 81
Swordsworn: 125

Which two factions would be a good match up against each other, and don't require "that one awesome unit" that I'll never find (for less than 85$...)?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have!

Ok, sounds like you quit pre-AOD based on the gunslinger question.
Gunslingers are mercs, but post AOD, the only merc units they released were the mechs, or gunslingers. Each Gunslinger mech had a pilot, but you could use the pilots without the mechs or the mechs without the pilots. Recruitment costs for the pilots could vary based on the faction you were playing.

As for matching factions, depends on what you want to do. Keep in mind that some factions are basically offshoots of other factions that were later basically absorbed.
Dragons Fury is connected to House Kurita
Swordsworn is connected to Davion
Stormhammer is connected to Steiner
Spirit Cats are an extension of Nova Cats
Steel Wolves and later the Wolf Hunters both kind of became part of Clan Wolf.
ROTS picked up the Highlanders.

Also, most of the early factions were phased out by the 2nd expansion in AOD. So Dragon's Fury, Swordsworn, Stormhammer, Spirit cats, Steel Wolves, and the Highlanders were pretty much phased out. Now with the power creep that happened late AOD, it would be unfair to pit a Post-AOD faction against a pre-AOD faction if you plan to stay faction pure. Spirit cats are going to be relatively equal in power to Dragon's Fury for instance, but Nova Cats would have some distinct advantages over Dragon's Fury.

So, either grab two pre-aod factions, or two post-aod factions, or two factions that cross both realms. So you could do Steiner/Stormhammer against Davion/Swordsworn. Those factions are relatively equal in all ways. The mechs hit hard, but are slow and have bad heat dials, and the vehicles/infantry are above average.

Some factions are harder to play than others. Kurita, Steel Wolves, Wolf Hunters, Clan Wolf, and Rasalhague Dominion all have some version of the berserker dials which are a little more difficult to play. The ROTS is a lot more dependant on unique units than other factions in my opinion. ROTS wasn't granted a lot of non-unique units till post-aod.

Ebay is a great way to pick up faction pure armies at a decent rate. I actually am currently working on finishing up my collection. I, like you, use to play pre-aod, then sold a large portion of my collection, and now I'm trying to complete a new collection....but I have a lot of spares (including some uniques) that I plan on selling on Ebay. My Davion and Swordsworn groups are pretty hefty, and some of the other factions have decent numbers too. I hope to have my auctions started by the end of the month.

Coming from a fellow new guy with a collection of a little 100 units:

I found Highlanders to be the best if you're a defensive player.

Swordsworn and Republic of the Sphere are really well rounded but have bad heat dials.

House Kurita and Dragon's Fury are more speed oriented but lacking in offensive punch.

Bannsons' Raiders are fun to play because they have really good units that are fast and have good offense, but die just a little quicker than others.

Don't have enough Nova Cats or Spirit Cats to tell you anything about them.
Same goes for Stormhammers, Rasalhague Dominion, House Davion and House Stiener.

Steel Wolves... I really like playing with these guys. I was unsure at first (I've only been playing for a little over a month) but once you get the hang of them, they can be really full of surprises.

I'm definitely gonna sink more money into this game over the next few months.

Good call WarWolf. Having an idea of your general strategy will help you pick a faction.

Bannson's Raiders are generally pretty solid units, but they tend to have shorter dials. They have little to no repair markers though, so if you bring a repair unit or two, you can keep units up for a long time. This is tricky if you play shorter time limit games as it's harder to attack, retreat, repair and attack again in a limited game.

Jade Falcon units have good attacks and good speed, but tend to be weak on defense and ranges.

Nova Cat/Spirit Cats have good heat dials, great range and damage on energy weapons, and longer than average dials. They have fewer special abilities on the dial, and their ballistic weapons suffer in damage and low ranges.

Sea Fox - fewer repair markers....not much else about them, and only a couple light mechs to choose from.

Davion/Swordsworn - bad heat dials, higher than average damage

Steiner/Stormhammer - high damage and strong attacks, but slow and bad heat dials.

ROTS - above average in most stats, but much more expensive.

R. Dominion - Attacks and damage increase throughout the dial, but they start weak and the defense goes down as they take damage. In the last couple clicks they are amazing, but frail.

Highlanders have AMAZING defense and longer than average dials. Their attacks are really low though....so they won't hit you, but you won't hit them either.

Dragon's Fury - Fast with decent attack, but spotty defense stats and short ranges.

Kurita - Attack increases throughout the dial. Decent ballistic range.

Liao - Little to no salvage markers means these guys can fight right till the end. Pretty solid attack/defense stats too.

Steel Wolves/Clan Wolf/Wolf Hunters - Berserker dials. First couple clicks increase most if not all stats on a unit to usually above average numbers.

Thanks for the advice, all very helpful. It sounds like, so long as I stick largely with AoD or DA across the factions, I should get two reasonably well balanced factions.

If I were to go with two of the AoD factions, say Davion vs. Steiner, each with relatively few units to choose from, would they still provide interesting tactical choices and depth, or would I need to mix with their DA "precursor" factions? I like the idea of fewer units so as not to overwhelm my friends, but want to make sure he doesn't get into the situation where he has no "rock" to my "scissors", so to speak.

I think they have a good mix of units. Davion & Steiner have the worst heat dials. If you learn to use their mechs you should be able to use any factions mechs. Their Dark Age allies in Sword Sworn & Storhammer can add more depth to your armies in time. HD/SS & HS/SH have good support to help their heat sensative mechs - artillery, VTOLs, heavy tanks & good infantry

I agree with Vyk. Davion and Steiner both are pretty solid factions that are represented well in the AOD sets. They both have command vehicles, tanks, mechs of all classes, artillery, transports, and a spread of infantry. So neither group will be hindered, and since they have very similar strengths/weaknesses you'll truelly be testing the strength of your strategy. If at any time you feel the factions are lacking a little variety, you can easily pick up some stormhammer or swordsworn army groups from Ebay that could compliment the parent faction.
The swordsworn have more units in total that stormhammer, but a lot of the swordsworn stuff is junk, while most of the stormhammer stuff is pretty impressive.

I know Dark Age stuff best. While the 2 factions are quite similer Swordsworn gets a high dose of Streak Missiles with Stormhammer getting a lot of Improved Targeting. I would say HD/SS hit a little harder with HS/SH having slightly better heat dials. By this I mean they blow up slightly less often on their first click of heat.

I'm a little late to the party, and I'm extremely rusty but at one point I was something of a solid player.

I'll break down the factions for you :

Swordsworn (My favorite) Are an elite turtle army. They focus on Vtols, Artillery, ranged fire power. They have Average to below average defense values, and high damage output. Usually high point costs. Awful heat dials.

Spirit Cats : Vanilla army, long dials, long range high damage energy weapons, very little special abilities. They generally have average stats everywhere. Medium point costs. Longest dials in the game.

Banson's Raiders : Min/Max pro army. They are an expert level army, because all their units are top loaded, with short dials and little to no repair markers. HEAVY on infiltrate, and their LE's were the best in the game by far. Total cheese fest if you're good enough to maneuver them.

Dragon's Fury : Medium/short ranged army, highest attack values in the game, high damage, heavy on evade/speed values. Medium to high point costs. Amazing heat friendly mechs, but not really a long range firepower armor.

Jade Falcon/Sea Fox/Liao - Gimmick armies. Typically pretty elite, have special abilities attached to all their units.

Steel Wolves : They have dials that "peak" at around the 2-4 damage mark, stats that start low, peak and then fall off again towards salvage. Very long range ballistic traits, pretty good spread of special abilities, heavy on armor piercing. Moderate to low point costs because they are not top loaded stat/ability wise.

Highlanders : Low attack values, very high defense values, high frequency of special armor, frequently have point defense. They are alright, but the game's mechanics doesn't really reward staying power. Weaker heat dials on mechs. Moderately expensive units.

Republic of the Sphere : Elite armor, all around very good, lots of command special ability, very high cost. They are the typical good at everything, but you're paying for it faction.

Stormhammers - Swordsworn but with improved targeting. Worst heat dials in the game. If I remember correctly, their mechs were pretty unplayable until they got absorbed by House Steiner.

hope that helps.

Overall, I'd suggest trying to go with AoD units. AoD marked a shift in the thinking of the game's design, for the better.

Republic units tend to be very well suited to new players. They have decent attack and damage output, strong defense, and average heat dials.

Davion is focuses on hitting hard, sacrificing defense and heat management, which can make them more difficult to play for someone who's not familiar with heat management.

Steiner is a bit like Davion, but a little more balanced.

Kurita tends to be very big on defense, with lower starting attack and damage values, however their attack increases as their damage goes down.

House Liao units, pre-Domination had special abilities. Stat wise, they tend to be a sort of mix of Republic and Bannson's Raiders. They had high defense values, but not much armor. They were designed to be healed by one of their faction abilities, so didn't have as many repair markers. They also tended to have very predictable heat dials.


For the Clans, Wolf is big on long range and Ballistic, much like the Steel Wolves, but the berserker aspect Steel Wolves had is toned down, and made easier to play.

Nova Cat is big on long range energy, like the Spirit Cats.

Falcons were designed to be fast, making up for their range with their speed. Pre-AoD Falcons get special abilities. Aside from the special abilities, they have a number of similarities to Dragon's Fury. That does tend to make them one of the more difficult factions to play.

Rassalhague Dominion are like Kurita but with backwards damage. Their defense tends to be very even, as does their speed. Their attack increases gradually, though not as much as Kurita, but their damage can get insane, with some incredible damage output right before salvage. It can be tricky to play this faction against an experienced opponent.


To get a feel for the different factions, I'd suggest browsing the Wolf Strike mechs. For that set, they did 6 versions of every common Mech, rather than 4, so major factions were well represented, and it makes comparing their various play styles a bit easier.