with regards to getting more people playing if I can distract them from yawnmachine then jobs a goodun!
Leave poor Warmachine out of this. It is the only big/widely recognised wargame I have seen with some proper thought put into internal balance. The simple fact that they recognise the existance of the meta-game and develop their rules actively thinking about what effect they will have on it is outstanding compared to the industry's top company and their lets use power creep to sell our stuff method.
Before this progresses into a flame war (which I doubt it will, because the people who use this forum are lovely) lets leave the only game to get slagged off as noughts and crosses (and the reason being that it's far too easy to get a draw).
Personally, I like Warmachine/Hordes, although I do struggle to keep track of what all the new toys do. However, if Relics does get mentioned in the same sentence as, or as an alternative to, Warmachine or another of the big guns (WFB, 40K, FoW), then I think it indicates that Relics is moving in the right direction.
As faor games with good balance, I would recomend taking a look at flames of war