To start a new faction, or to stick to one

To kinda bounce off this idea from TrollBro, sticking to one faction will force you to try out models and combinations outside of your comfort zone. Many people get caught up in the easy or comfortable models that are just good and don't require a lot of thought to use properly, but once you are burned out on these ideas, concepts and combinations, try something different. Themes make this hard, unless you don't worry about them much.

I started with Khador and expanded into Circle before finding my true love Gators. It really opened up the game for me to have a totally different play style available. I never really appreciated how order of activations works with animi or what it really means to leave too much Fury on the board or how powerful out-of-activation movement was or or or until I played Circle.

Beyond Fury mechanics, playing Skorne will probably help you build better tuition for working with purely melee models.

But, even aside from the learning value of having a side-faction, it’s also just invigorating to have something fresh to swap over to if Cygnar ever feels stale. At the very least, Skorne will almost definitely have a CID cycle / model release before Cygnar next does. It’ll be good to have something new to think about even if you aren’t planning to buy everything that comes out new.

Playing more than one faction is expensive, no doubt about that, but if you can afford it I think it’s great for overall enjoyment of the game.

My suggestion on whether to stick with one faction or branch out is simple:   How often do you play ?

I once owned 8 factions ;  5 full and 3 with at least 1-3 lists.

At the point that took off i was playing at least two days a week, occasionally 3.  Over time it began to be more like once a week.  Then once every other week.  It's now "when i feel like it", which ebbs and flows from weekly to semi quarterly, heh!

The point is:  it made no sense any longer for me to own 8 factions.   I couldn't remember all the rules (even without CID),  and most of the non-full lists hadn't seen air time in months - in one case at least a year.   I looked at how much i spent (in fairness its not as much as one might think ;   i got a lot of these faction on Comp as a volunteer through the years,  and a decent portion more on the secondhand trade market - despite those facts,  its still quite a lot of actual investment in terms of cash),  and thought of all the better places and ways that money could go.

That was the moment where I decided to downsize into just Mercs as they were the most interesting thing to me (and as much as i'll always have a soft spot for Cygnar,  after literally playing them since Escalation,  i needed a break).  I decided that i would only expand my collection insofar as it was stuff i could play with the merc casters i own and like,  or expansions of merc stuff i found interesting.   CG isn't quite that exactly, but its close enough i can fool myself into thinking it should be okay.

There was also a healthy amount of "JFC,  this is hording like"  - i had an entire small walk in closet of my house that was my "gaming" closet,  and most of it hadn't seen the light of day in 6+ months (i am a neat freak, fwiw).

So for me it came down to fulfillment output was not living up to the time, money, environmental tidiness requirements in terms of fulfillment of owning another faction.   

I would look at it this way:   does the frequency with which you play (or paint,  if you enjoy that) justify the investment ?   If so, go for it.   If not,  well, there you go. 

glad to be of service!

No matter what plastyle you think you'll find in a second faction, you can still copy it to some extent in your main faction. There is almost nothing that Cygnar doesn't offer. Well, there might be a whole bunch of things, nobody runs. But that doesn't mean you can't run it.

Thats the reason why I stick to my main faction. Simple as is.

I got into Skorne from Cygnar back in MK2, and it really helped me understand strengths and weaknesses of my main faction more. For example, Cygnar has a far easier time into high DEF values than other factions, while having trouble with high armor values. I used to complain about the latter, while not appreciating the former. Skorne used to be the exact opposite, and picking the faction up in turn helped me appreciate the strengths of Cygnar, which I until then had simply taken for granted, a lot more.

You also develop an eye for the subtleties of Hordes that are harder to get when focusing on Warmachine. For example, the threat ranges of beasts can be enormous, but they can't force out of their warlocks control range. Staying 20" away from Molik Karn, while his Fury 6 Warlock is staying far behind him is not neccessary. Recognizing these situations on the table will be easier when you are used to a Hordes Faction.

That said, if the offered Skorne lot is primarily comprised of an MK2-based collection, be aware that you might have sub-par lists or at least lists that don't really show you Skornes current biggest strenghts. I think the faction is one of those that did a complete 180 in the faction change. I have a fairly large painted Mk2 collection, but feel like playing Skorne on a halfway serious level would mean a lot of additional purchases, while things that used to be strong (all the cataphract units, Nihilators, lots of Elephants) have fallen out of favor. Double battle engines, Venator Reivers and Ferox didn't see a lot of tabletime in MK2 and now feel like must-haves.

EDIT: small but (to me) amusing anecdote: back when I got my Skorne, I played into a buddies list that consisted of a ton of stealth Kayazy and a Conquest, first with Cygnar, then with Skorne. With Cygnar, I removed the Kayazy without a second thought, but had trouble against the Conquest. With Skorne, the Conquest died trivially to an enraged Bronzeback, but all my other stuff got tied up by those pesky Kayazy. Those two games really made me see two sides of the same coin.

Sounds like a good amount of stuff, and also like you made up your mind. Go for it! Skorne is a cool faction and very different in play style from Cygnar