New stores and new army ideas

I mentioned in my last battle report that I was planning on trying out a new gaming store, but one of the things holding me back is I don't really have all the equipment needed to play a game. To remedy this, last week I went to another store a bit closer to my house, Gamma Ray Games, in an effort to find templates and a measuring tape (been borrowing both from the more experienced players). It turned out to be a really great store, and I'm going to try to go back Tuesday to meet some of the players - apparently they get together to paint then. Sadly they play on Fridays, which is normally pretty busy for me, but I may try to get in there once a month or so, depending on how Tuesday goes.

As I'm really amped up about Warmachine/Hordes right now, I've been giving some thought to starting a Warmachine army in addition to my Legion. It would be cool to experience both focus mechanic and see what the differences are between the games, as well as have some more stuff to paint! The trouble is picking an army. I actually like pretty much all the Hordes armies - I empathize with the trolls struggles to find peace, I like the werewolves of the Circle and the elephantine Titans of the Skorne, plus humanoid war pigs and crocodiles make Minions a fun choice.Warmachine, on the other hand, doesn't attract me as much. I'm not a fan of primarily ranged armies, so Cygnar is out. I can't really see myself enjoying playing the religious fanatics of Protectorate, and Cryx seems to similar to Legion. I really like Khador, and actually planned to play them as my first army, but I found out that a lot of people at my store play them, and I can't stand copying another person (which is also why I can't see myself playing melee-centric Cygnar). That leaves Mercenaries and Retribution. I don't really like any of the mercenary casters in particular; the closest one is Ashlynn, but shes anti-Khador, which is currently my favorite of the Iron Kingdoms. I guess that leaves Retribution. Flipping through the book, Kaelessa looks pretty cool, as do the Mage Hunters, so maybe I'll mock up a list based on them. I'll post as my thoughts on it develop.