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I haven't played WHFB in a while but I'm coming back to the game and am in need of some advice. I really don't know which army I would like to play. My main issue is that I really want to avoid any "horde" armies. I played the Undead in the old days before the Tomb Kings/Vampire Counts schism, and I played Menoth in Warmachine so I'm tired of fielsing armies that stretch from one edge of the board to the other. I like the Tomb Kings (Vampire Counts, not so much) and the Goblins, but a 2000 point army with 2000 figures is a bit much! I would go with the Dwarves because of the army you get when you buy "Skull Pass", but I'm not 100% sold on them.

So, I guess what I'm asking is for the various armies' enthusiasts to sell me on them. Tell me why army A is better than army B, beyond how cool the models are, because all the models are cool.

Thanks!

Wait a month, buy daemons. While it's a bit tweaked from the Storm of Chaos daemonic legion list, the rumors strongly suggest your choice of several viable (god-specific) forces with differing playstyles and low model counts.

If you want artillery, however, look elsewhere. Or guns. Or the ability to bait-and-flee.

Battle of skull pass will fill in your gobbo needs too, if lots of gobbo's is what you were lacking.
About the dwarf models from BFSP, I find some models very sub-par, but all your dwarf needs are in there. Thunderers, warriors, Miners and a cannon. What I did was taking two BFSP boxes, sell the gobbo's, buy another thunderer box, and find out that there's enough shields in one box of thunderers to equip the 20 from two SP boxes and my ordinary thunderers. You can make your first HW/shield 20+ block from the warriors too (note: now it's 7th editions, ranks need to be 5 wide, making 20+ feasable).

The Miners are very necessary too, as they are the only way to get behind enemy lines fast (aside from gyro).
All in all, the dwarfs are very fun to play with, some lists are considered to be some of the strongest, but overall, they can't follow the competition.

You can bet your [insert valuable possession] the following people are all gonna suggest lizardmen, since they have it ALL, are very potent, look incredibly nice, and....dinosaurs (Bastirous666 is gonna sue me).

Are you looking for a very competitive army or...well, what makes you tick?

Well, I don't know about competitive. I like to win as much as the next guy, but I don't want to stomp my opponents into the dust. Honestly, I rather have a good time than win every time. I'd like to avoid the Lizardmen because my nephew would like to play them and I've never liked the Bretonnians, but other than that I'm wide open to suggestions.

If I did a Gobbo army I would like to go all Night Goblin, just to be goofy. Plus I think the squigs and fanatics are freakin' hilarious. Dwarves, I don't know enough about to say what I would like to do with them.

Daemons are good; I've played Chaos in 40K and in the old WHFB and liked it, but I've never played an all-daemon force. Might be cool, though.

Skull pass offers 40 night gobbo's with spear, 20 night gobbo's with bow, shaman, boss, 10 gobbo forest spider riders. All looking very nice. If you share, you pay 50-ish (dunno what it is in dollars) for 120 night gobbo's +20 spider riders, which is a nice start for a goofy night gobbo army, i'd say. :p

Dwarfs will always consist of advancing marching blocks + anvil, miners + anvil, gun line (possibly with anvil). This because they are the slowest army EVER. M3 for every single unit (except the gyrocopter, which flies, but is a rare choice). Thank the Ancient Ones that they can always march, but that won't solve much. The problem with dwarfs is that you're stuck to a specific formula if you want to win, not too much variety, unless you're playing inexperienced players (on which level the dwarfs are hella fun).

If you're into it for the supercool models, Daemons will indead be satisfying.

I only had one man ever suggesting playing bretonnia, and that is only if you don't mind playing the most one sided army ever.

I heard the MSU property of Ogre Kingdoms make 40k players feel most at ease.

From what I'm hearing from you, you have two options... High Elves, or Ogres.... every other army out there really is a "horde" army except for a couple of sub par lists.

horde armies are really what makes this game though. almost all armies depend upon large blocks of troops in some manner. there are some exceptions, but an average game played in my gaming group has each player with around 100 models. now of course you could increase expensive units frequency and size to drop the model count, but that always isn't a great idea.

overall there is nothing in WHFB that is easily done so one player puts his army down and says "i win" WHFB really is about the maneuvering and the general. all lists are pretty balanced and able to be beaten.

the main thing you want to look at is which play style are you going for (i left lizardmen and brets out)? shooting = empire/dwarves/skaven, horde = skaven/orks, magic = tomb kingsK/high elves, big guys = ogres/beasts of chaos/wood elves, nasty characters and troops = VC/hordes of chaos/wood elves. It's really all up to you and your play style

talthar wrote:Daemons are good; I've played Chaos in 40K and in the old WHFB and liked it, but I've never played an all-daemon force. Might be cool, though.

Again, we're mostly rumor-gathering (for another week or so), but the storm of chaos daemonic legions broke down thusly:

Slaanesh: SPEED. Most things are pretty fragile, but it's one of the fastest armies out there. The Lore of Slaanesh is getting changed, though, so it's hard to be sure how it'll work out.

Tzeentch: MAGIC. Couple ways to work Tzeentch - character-heavy uber-mages, or more units (including some with shooting).

Nurgle: Slower, but resilient. Rumors say regenerating, too. Probably a more "traditional" feel, with some truly lovely modeling options.

Khorne: I wouldn't, unless they've done something to adjust frenzy. Too many armies are very good at leading frenzied daemons (or whatever) around by the nose.

Thanks for all the advice. Sorry it's taken me so long to say that, but my computer caught a virus and it's taken me a loooong time to get the bugger fixed. I'm actually leaning toward Dwarves now, especially with the 1000 pt army deals GW is offering. I might follow the sage advice of buying 2 copies of BFSP and unload the Gobbos on someone.

I'd avoid the 1000 point army deals if I was you. 2 BFSP, some creative greenstuff work and a battalion box from somewhere online will net you 1500 or so, and you can grab heores by converting up some warriors. Also, go ahead and stob by bugmansbrewery.com; it's a great site with lots of friendly people.
Best of luck!

Having started WHFB with Dwarfs, I love them, but they're very limiting gameplay wise. They're so slow, and it turns out that I don't like not moving a whole lot when I play, so you really need to consider what you want to do playstyle wise.

Non horde style lists, I'd say Demons, as they're unbelievable game play/power wise, small, and look fantastic.