Foodhammer Vs Foodmachine! The battle for gaming supremacy begins!

With Foodhammer and Foodmachine behind us, I figured this would be a great time to establish which game is better, for once and for all!

I have something to confess.  I am an unabashed Games Workshop slappy.  I love their products, especially the models.  I have used LotR minis for my D&D characters and even was trying to justify buying more to start an army for Saga (because good minis are hard to find for that game!).  I am a narrative-driven gamer first and a competitive gamer a very distant second.  Telling a story through the game is something I feel 40k does especially well.  The current trend of Supplemental Codexes and Dataslates just reinforces that belief for me.  Heck, I kinda even like Escalation!  Even though the game itself has many flaws and it is becoming more and more obvious that GW is first and foremost a business, I still find myself solidly behind it whenever the question is raised about which I like more.  It is, simply put, fun.

All that being said, I am also a huge fan of Warmachine and Hordes.  While their models might not be everyone's cup of tea (I personally love them), there can be no doubt that Privateer Press has developed a significantly cleaner and tighter set of rules.  It is for that reason I chose to teach my 6 year old son how to play Warmachine instead of 40k.  However, despite it's simple to learn nature, Warmachine and Hordes has a very steep mastery curve.  It is often said that you will get pounded on the first dozen or fifty games you play.  That can be a big turn off for many gamers.  However, if you slog through it, it can be very rewarding.  These elements also make WMH a significantly better tournament game.  Rounds are faster, there is an official and heavily supported Organized Play format, and scenarios are designed to be clear and easy to understand.  It is, simply put, fun.

When it comes time to answer which is the better game, it is like comparing apples to bananas; the only thing they have in common are the fact that they are both fruit.  In order to settle this argument, for better or worse, we decided to leave it up to the generosity of gamers.  As you all know, we have held Foodhammer at Gamers Sacntuary for the last two years.  In total, we have raised nearly $4000 in cash and food for the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.  This year, we wanted to add Warmachine and Hordes to the mix.  However, we knew we couldn't fit them all at GS on a single day.  We divided the event into two separate days; Foodhammer and Foodmachine.  Each event would be catered towards the strengths of the games themselves; Foodhammer would have several smaller narrative driven Premier Tables while Foodmachine would run the well established tournament system we ripped off for the first Foodhammer three years ago.

Over the last two weekends, we saw buckets of dice being thrown at my Reavenant Titan and Geneguard's Stompa while others braved the first blizzard of the year to pass out Focus and leech Fury with abandon.  We grilled some hot dogs, gave away a TON of awesome prizes, and had two incredible days celebrating our hobby in the best way we know how; by playing games.  Most importantly, we managed to help out many struggling families of Genesee county.  If that isn't the best way to kick off the holiday season, I don't know what is!

However, the big question remains.  Which game reigns supreme?  Would the Imperium of Man dominate the Kingdom of Cygnar?  Could the forces of Chaos corrupt even the Lich Lords of Cryx?  Would the Seer Councils of the Eldar be revealed as pulling the strings of both sides for their own nefarious purposes?

Once the smoke cleared from Foodmachine and the final online and telephone donations were calculated, the results were incredible!  Both events took in nearly the same amount of food, with Foodmachine bringing in slightly more than Foodhammer.  However, through a last minute telephone donation from a Necron Crypt World (in other words, Utah), Foodmachine raised $1188 to Foodhammer's $1006, giving Foodmachine the victory by a fair margin.  It would seem, as far as this battle is concerned, that Warma/Hordes is the better game!  I would also like to point out that they did it with just about half the number of players as well (16 to 30).

Of course, the real winners from these last two weekends are the families of Genesee county who can feed themselves and have a very merry Christmas.  Foodhammer/Foodmachine is BY FAR the event on our calendar I look forward to the most every year.  I take more pride in being a part of this than any model I paint, game I win, or league I run.

A HUGE thanks go out to Chad, Damien, Dave and CJ at Gamers Sanctuary for always supporting us and giving us a place to push around our little army guys.  Thanks to our families for putting up with all the time we put into the events while we ignore the mountain of dishes in the sink.  Thanks to all the FCG members who contributed time, money, or construction skills into this endeavor.  Thanks to the enormous list of sponsors who made sure every participant walked away with something fro their donations.  Finally, major props go out to the 46 players who made Foodhammer and Foodmchine a rousing success!  Without you guys and your generosity, none of this matters.

Stay tuned to the blog and our Facebook page for some incredible news from Fresh Coast in the new year!  Have a merry Christmas, may the Emperor protect you and yours, and Game On!.

PS: I expect that Foodhammer 2014 will be the year Aleph shows us just how deep the rabbit hole goes...