Main Page
Welcome to Warmachine University Archive
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Warmachine University Archive Mission Statement
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What's on this website
- 1 - Model Articles
Warmachine University was perhaps best known for having an article for every model in the game. Each article has three distinct sections:
- A copy of the model rules, as word-for-word as we can possibly make them.
- Tactical advice on how these rules translate into what the model really does in a game, its combos with other models, and so on.
- Trivia, Rules Clarifications, and other Miscellaneous information.
The tactical advice is user-submitted and may not be up to date with the latest errata and/or model releases. Also, the advice does not have much relevance to higher levels of competitive play, mainly because that style of play evolves quickly as new models are released and strategies are developed (more quickly than users update this website). That said, the tactical advice is always great for beginners and more casual players.
To get to the model entries, click on the relevant Faction in the left-hand sidebar or click here.
- 2 - Theme Forces Articles
Models are subdivided into factions, and factions are further subdivided into Theme Forces. WMU has an article for every theme force in the game as well.
- 3 - Newbie Guides
We have dozens of newbie-friendly guides on everything from what Warmachine & Hordes is to how Theme Forces work to what the rules for Cavalry are and more.
- 4 - And more
Poke around in The Vaults and you'll find lots of information that doesn't easily fit anywhere else.
New (or returning) Players - Start Here!
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We've got articles to help you whatever stage you're at:
- What is Warmachine and Hordes?
- What do I need to buy or borrow?
- Faction Overview
- Starter Products
- Online Retailers & Buy-Sell-Swap Groups
- Cheat Sheets
- Info for returning players
Creating/Editing Content
Who wrote Warmachine University?
Warmachine University was a public wiki, which means anyone could edit it.
Historically this meant everything was written by volunteers of varying skill levels, experience, and writing ability. As of May 2018 the reins were taken over by the Line of Sight team, who put together a team of writers to handle most of the writing. Their last status is unchanged in the Archive. This site is now operated unchanged. If needed it might become a curated archive with editing limited to a very small trusted editor group.
Check out the guides in the Contribute section before diving in to editing.
Warmachine University Archive is not a source of Official Rules
Warmachine University (WMU) is not officially endorsed by Privateer Press (PP) or Steamforged Games.
Historically this meant we could not provide exact stats or rules because of copyright and intellectual property issues and had to give more vague "pseudo-rules" instead. However, this changed in 2016 when PP announced they would go fully digital with their rules, provide them for free, and allow third-party sites to share exact copies.
Since that announcement we edited nearly all pages from pseudo-rules to exact copies, but we do not always get it right.
We try our best, but there are mistakes on this website. Always play the game based on the official rules.
Contact Us
If you need to contact an admin, refer to the Talk:Main Page#Contact Us.
Rules and Rules Clarifications
At the top of every model page you will find a Rules summary.
At the bottom of most model pages you'll find a list of Rules Clarifications.
The clarifications were from discussions on the official, nowadays offline, Rules Questions forum and can be considered the "communally accepted proper way to play the rule."
Warmachine University (Archive) - A brief history
The beginning
Warmachine University started life as Battlecollege.com way back in Mk I. It was a non-wiki website run by a single person, Ringsnake. Unfortunately, when Mk II happened (2010) Ringsnake did not feel he could maintain or update the site.
The wikispaces era
The site would have died then, but for the efforts of StJason who archived and transported the content to the "wikispaces" website (wikispaces.com/battlecollege) which, at the time, was a free service sort of like 'wikipedia lite'.
As a wiki it lets everyone have a say, rather than just showcasing the opinions of one individual. As the games grow and evolve, so does the wiki. By letting a more general consensus appear, not to mention the voices of dozens of you mad tactical geniuses, we can get a more accurate, more inventive, and more dastardly tactica set up for the beginner. Who will turn around and invent something even more nasty?... Sharing is caring!
In 2014 juckto came into the picture and said "Battle College has gotten a bad reputation for giving bad advice more often than it gives good advice, so let's restructure how we're giving players info." He spearheaded several changes to the site, and somehow convinced other editors to follow his lead.
- He made the "Basic Info" and "Thoughts On" section into seperate sections. Previously it was a hodgepodge of factual info and tactical advice.
- He expanded "Thoughts On" to have subsections for "nutshell", "combos", "drawbacks", and "tips". Prior to this, "drawbacks" were never discussed and new players would get the wrong impression on how good stuff really was/was not.
- He implemented using standardised templates for abilities/spells/etc. Before this, editors would often just write the names of the abilities, and a new player was left scratching their head wondering what those abilities did.
- He started writing the Rules Clarifications.
As of 2020 juckto is still the main WMU admin/editor, even though the site is running under the LOS banner (more about that below).
The dot org era
Near the end of 2015 the Monocle Society company generously offered to take over the running costs of the wikispaces host software (which by then had not been free for several years) and also purchased the battlecollege.org domain name, and their offer was happily accepted. Also around this time the website had grown to the size and complexity that it the underlying wikispaces code was struggling and glitching quite often. So when Mk3 was announced (mid-2016), the decision was made to leave the old wikispaces site behind completely and instead run modern wikipedia software engine on a new server (battlecollege.org).
The LOS era
In early-2018, after the site went offline a couple of times, the CEO of Monocle Society announced that he needed to pass the torch of hosting over to someone else. He didn't have the time to manage it anymore and, asides from the cost, it really does need better love and attention. The CEO gave the other admins the password for the server account and then went almost completely incommunicado. Unfortunately an extra layer of security implemented by the server host service meant the other admins were unable to gain access even with the password.
After a month or two of trying to contact the server host and/or the CEO and getting nowhere, juckto decided the best way forward would be to create a brand new account with another server host and manually copy the site content to a that different server host. juckto didn't have the technical expertise to do any of that himself, so he made a public plea for help. This was answered by many players, but the most organised bunch were the "Line of Sight" (LOS) team who did a fantastic job of setting up the server of these days.
After the announcement of MK4 in summer 2022 the community was asked what to do with Warmachine University. It was decided that the side should be kept online as an archive. Nevertheless, the wiki went offline in spring 2025 -- apparently, because the renewal of domain or hosting was missed.
The Archive era
In summer 2022, when MK4 was announced, I began downloading the entire Warmachine University wiki and several related sites. Over the last month, I looked for an opportunity to bring the wiki back online because I believed there were still people who missed it, even beyond my own community. In spring 2026, I succeeded. With the permission of the LOS team, I am happy to bring Warmachine University back as Warmachine University Archive.
Huge thanks go to juckto who did most of the work and maintained warmachine university for a decade.