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Warmachine is a fun game, kinda reminiscent of hero-hammer to some extent, as the warcasters (or warlocks, if you play Hordes) are very powerful (for a D&D comparison, most of the named warcasters are 20th level characters going by the lists in the Iron Kingdoms rpg setting). Don't get me wrong, it's possible to mob a caster with a unit of troops and kill them, but don't count on having too many troops left.
Warmachine and Hordes are set in the same universe, and take place at the same time. The rulesets are so compatible that it's pretty typical to see Warmachine v. Hordes matchups all the time at the FLGS. As was mentioned, Warmachine is about resource management (and warmachine armies work better in attrition-type strategies), while Hordes is about risk management. Having a 4-ton Dire Troll go psycho on you can really derail your plans, unless he goes psycho in the middle of the *Opponents* army, which may still derail your plans for him, but can also win the game for you.
There are 9.5 different factions in the game(s) right now: Cygnar, the boys in blue; Khador, the thugs in red; Cryx, the undead legions of a very unfriendly dragon; the Protectorate of Menoth, the religious zealots in white; Circle Orboros, the tree-hugging wrath of nature in green; Trolls, the scottish-inspired (and closest thing to "good guys" in the entire storyarc); Skorne, the invaders from across the blasted wastelands in Dark Red; and the Legion of Everblight, another force of slaves of a Dragon. There's also Mercenaries/Minions for both sides of the discussion which are playable in a couple different ways, including as PIRATES!.
Cygnar has all the best toys. Khador is for people that like heavy metal. Cryx moves fast and hits pretty hard, but can't take a hit. Menoth is all about multi-unit synergy, and not caring if you lose a bunch of Zealots... and fire. Lots and lots of burning goodness for all your pyromaniac needs. Circle is all about controlling the battlefield, hit&run ambush tactics, etc. Trolls are a cross between Khador and menoth. They are very tough, but have incredible synergies that you really NEED to take advantage of to win. Skorne have great beasts and great troops that will deliver a devastating charge, but don't deal with terrain well at all. And then there's the Lesion of Evercheese (sorry, cant stand the faction's fluff, rules, and ugly infantry models. Too much stuff that flatout ignores everything that you use to try to stay alive long enough to do damage to their beasts.) They're often referred to as the easy button in the game. Very powerful units that don't need a lot of synergy to work well, all for a lower cost than comparable units in other lists.
Despite my earlier comparison to herohammer, there's a lot of stuff that really makes you think, as many models and units apply benefits to other units, so which model you activate first (order of operations) is critical to actually winning a game.
The biggest thing to remember is that there's NO SUCH THING as an "unbeatable combo". Every faction has some very nasty multi-unit combos... that don't work at all if a unit is out of place, or is activated in the wrong order!
also, the game is built around the Rules as Written. if a card says "model or unit" then it can affect both individual models (solos and Jacks/Beasts) and troop units, and affects the entire unit. If it only says "model", they mean ONE MODEL.
The only book you need is Prime Remix for warmachine, and Primal for hordes, although I don't remember if you need Superiority or Evolution for the Cavalry rules. Everything else is written on the card. PP has a good quick-reference guide that you can download to remind yourself during play.
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"For the Lion and the Emperor!"
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