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Greetings,
I have been pondering over the years on getting into WFB, and now I have decided its time for a "Counts As" army. I have decided that the Fantasy version of Chaos is what appeals to me the most over the other choices.

So now, with codex in hand I sit at my computer and ask myself.....

Now what?

I know next to nothing about WFB in every way you can imagine and am at a loss. And since Vassal WFB was never released I cant exactly test armies and setups out before I buy. So I figure my first step would be to stop by here and pick everyone's brain clean of knowledge.

First things first:

A: What works and what doesn't..
If WFB is anything like 40k, some units in the Dex will be completely garbage no matter how you look at it. May look good on paper, but in reality its just not worth it on the battlefield. So what are these units?

B: Pros and Cons..
What are the pros and cons for the different army types that you can field in this Dex. (Slann, Nurgle ect ect) I feel that I am leaning toward a Khorne army, mainly cause I love the get-in-your-face-and-smash-it style of play. Fluff wise I am loving the Norse spin off and find myself wanting to do a "counts as" army using viking figs.

C: Game play..
In the current edition, are any army styles better then others? Like magic heavy, or shooty, ect ect and are any styles of armies nerfed harder then others.

Other then that if you have anything that you would like to add please feel free to. Thank you for your time and have a nice day.

I'll try and give you a quick run through to get started, hopefully some more experienced WoC players will chime in too.

What works:
Knights, Marauders with marks (slaanesh seems to be popular), Sorceror Lords, Exhalted Heroes, Marauder Horsemen that stay as fast cav. There's probably more but that's what I think anyway.

What doesn't:
Chosen (very pricey but very slow moving, I could be wrong but it seems a recipie for disaster), Forsaken (same problem as Chosen), Chaos Lords (crazy expensive).
I'm sure some people will disagree with me there, but certainly Knights are a strong choice.

Pros and Cons:
Khorne: Nails in close combat, but frenzy means you can be baited into charging when you might not want to. A clever opponent could lead you round by the nose.
Tzeentch: Extra durability and good magic, but drives the price up. You'd want an army built to take advantage.
Slaanesh: All the bonuses of being immune to psych with none of the penalties. Seems pretty good to me!
Nurgle: Very durable, but very expensive.
Monster Mash: There's a troll hero special character who lets you take trolls as core. Aside from his fluff being undeniably awesome, and the greatness of core trolls, the army is a bit limited. 40Kenthusiast has some great battle reports using them though, and they look like fun.
All Cav: A popular choice because of the cheapness cash wise of chaos knights and their effectiveness in game. Basically, marauder cav and dogs for core, knights as special, blitz the enemy. Won't always work unfortunately.

Game Play:
In the current edition, big monsters and magic heavy are doing pretty well, and fighting infantry that is very expensive isn't doing that great.

Da Boss is not far off the money with his views.

Peersonally this is what I would briefly say about each unit:

Chaos Lord - Expensive, but much better at bringing the pain than two exalted in games of 2k or above. I take them over the other choices.
Sorcerer Lord - Well worth it. They can wear armour, be equipped to tear stuff apart too.
Daemon Prince - Absolute rubbish.
Sorcerer - Good to use as scroll caddies and low level wizards.
Exalted Champion - In games <1K he is your army general and is good value.

Chaos Warriors - Optimal build is Halberds and Shields, but I prefer HW/Shields, 2+ save is way too good on infantry. Add HW are good if they have the MOK, other wise, don't bother. I personally prefer the MOS over any other mark here. They are expensive, but they can really hold their own against nearly anything.
Marauders - I hate the models, but I won't deny their usefulness. Mass ranks of these guys work if given the MON or MOS, MSU of these guys with Fails and MOK also work well. If I used them I would take them as screening troops for any MOK units I had.
Hounds - I like them, I actually prefer them to Marauders for screening purposes. Cheaper too.
Marauder Horsemen - Again, I hate the models, but in the all Cav army, these guys are really good.

Chosen - These guys are really expensive and at first glance, don't do much more than a regular Warrior. They have the added bonus of +1WS and a free roll on the EOTG table which, on a good roll, can make them really good. Leave it to chaos to make a unit really good.
Forsaken - Take Chosen and never speak about this unit again.
Chariot - I wouldn't take this in the Cav. Army, but in an infantry army, these guys can really break some heads.
Chaos Ogres - This might sound crazy, but I actually like this unit. Give them Chaos Armour, GW and MOK, wind 'em up and let 'em go. Remember to screen them though, so they don't go chasing after the nearest enemy unit. MSU are better than one or two big ones.
Dragon Ogres - Ahhhh, the other kind of Ogre meat. Fast, Strong and very expensive. They are a really good unit if you can find the points for them.
Trolls - Only take them in the Go Go Gadget Throgg army.
Knights - ZOMGOYF!!! The ultimate unit. Take at least one unit (don't ask questions) and give them MON and the Banner of Rage. 5 of these things armed like this get 15 Strength 5 Magical Attacks and 10 Strength 4 Attacks. If you don't take at least one unit of these guys, get another army - they are that damned good!!!

Spawn - Not much use really.
Scyla - I actually like him, he's a bit of a beast really. If you want to take Spawn, take this guy.
Warshrine - With MOT this is a good Tarpit unit. Otherwise I would leave it at home.
Hellcannon - Expensive, but I've seen entire armies panic when one of these things breaks a unit. Better in games bigger than 2K.
Shaggoth - Big scary Dude. Expensive, but worth it.
Giant - Just like a regular giant, but it can have marks.

Some words of wisdom:

Equip your characters to take out other characters - they'll be in challenges more often than fighting against rank and file.
Don't rely on the EOTG table as it is too random to have any big effect.
No matter what anyone else thinks, Chaos Lords are the most killy character in the army. Just don't go crazy on spending too many points on items for them.
Take at least a couple of magic users - You'll need them to snipe out march blockers (Eagles mainly) and disrupting the enemy magic phase.
Unless you go Magic Heavy, you are going to suffer in the magic phase. Thank Feth for awesome armour.
WE DO NOT SHOOT - WE MARCH!!! Unless you are a Hellcannon of course.
Killing Blow is your enemy, but also your friend. Don't underestimate the Axe of Khorne!!!
The Lore of Death from the BRB is better than the lores in the WoC book.

A note on Marks:

MOK - Mark of Khorne: Don't give this to all of your units. Frenzy is a double edged sword that can backfire.
MON - Mark of Nurgle: Really useful, especially on units you know are going to get shot at - Knights spring to mind.
MOS - Mark of Slaanesh: I always take this for my rank and file guys, it helps when needing to charge Fear causing units (DoC and Undead in particular).
MOT - Mark of Tzeencth: I only see this being used on magic users or for giving a lord or the warshrine a sick ward save.

I hope this helps.

I'm currently running an army with a mix of all the Marks (which works better than an army with a single Mark) in an old school Hammer and Anvil configuration.

I use Warriors with MOS/HW/Shields as anvils and Knights with MON and Banner of Rage with some Chaos Ogres with MOK as my Hammers. Throw in some Dogs and possibly a unit or two of Marauders and set phasers to kill.

Good:
Chaos Knights
Sorcerer (Lords)
Marauder Cav
MoS on units
MoN on Sorcerers
No mark on Sorc Lord (For Shadow)
MoT on BSB for +1 to cast w/book of secrets.
Dogs
Bronze Armor (Game winner right there)
Bloodcurdling Roar
Bloodskull Pendant

There is no point in taking a Chaos Lord in most cases...Your Chaos Warriors and Knights can fight as well as other army's characters. Chaos has issues against armies that don't want to fight and can outmaneuver you. The answer to this is magic.

skyth wrote:
There is no point in taking a Chaos Lord in most cases...Your Chaos Warriors and Knights can fight as well as other army's characters. Chaos has issues against armies that don't want to fight and can outmaneuver you. The answer to this is magic.

I second this, but if you face a lot of Daemon armies with Greater Daemons or Ogre armies with Tyrants or any other armies with a big nasty gribbly, take a Chaos Lord. I take one in all games at 2K and above and he hasn't failed me yet.

This is the configuration I use:

Chaos Lord = 360/370.

Mark of Khorne, Axe of Khorne, Enchanted Shield, Collar of Khorne, Juggernaut.

He has a -1 up save which is really hard work to get through, Str6 Killing Blow for character killing, Magic Resisitance 2, 6+ Ward save and a total of 9 attacks (6 str 6 for the lord and 3 str 5 for the Juggernaut) for unit killing, which he does well at too.

He is a lot of points, but he has made his points back in nearly every game and those which he hasn't he comes damn close to doing so.

I sometimes change the Enchanted Shield for the Bronze Armour of Zhrakk if I'm facing a lot of stuff with Killing Blow/Poisoned Attacks and give him a shield. It's a 0+ Armour save, which is nothing to sniff at and it makes him slightly tougher to kill when facing Daemons, Skaven or other Warrior armies.

The main advantage a Chaos Lord has over an Exalted Champion is the extra wound, extra attack, and wargear option increase. Point wise they're a bit pricey, and in regards to WS and the like they're already the peer / superior of other army's lord choices.

Spawn and Forsaken are basically the only units I haven't seen in use. Chosen I've seen rarely, but they (alongside a bunch of Warshrines) are often in the big Death Star armies. Giants are used either for fun or keeping something tied up. Knights and MoK Marauders can do some extensive damage to any unit they hit. And so on and so on.

Sorceror Lords are much more common at my GW, but then when you can cast "Infernal Gateway" and you have the luck of getting the "Unit goes poof" result almost every time you cast it, it's hard to argue against that and to take a combat lord instead (the lack of Ogre Tyrants / Greater Daemons also probably plays a factor in the choice).

Spawn are great...Shocked you haven't seen them.

I don't rate them at all Skyth.

I tried them out and I wasn't impressed.

Scyla was pretty good, but even then, not great.

radiohazard wrote:
Chaos Lord = 360/370.

Mark of Khorne, Axe of Khorne, Enchanted Shield, Collar of Khorne, Juggernaut.

I want to suggest bronze armor instead of e.shield, but then his nice Ld 9 goes away ... Crimson armor is sexy, but $$$. Nice build all the same, that dude's a tank.

Here's my tzeentch aetherlord build:

Chas Lord - MoT, aethersword, enchanted shield, collar of tzeentch, favor, disc = 335

Pretty decent points-wise, and he murders heavy cav, particularly when they don't drop the big points for a champ. Also does a number on engines
Unfortunately I haven't quite gotten the hang of him and tend to commit far too early, which pulls his Ld 9 away from my boys and messes up the lord's later turns ...

- Salvage

radiohazard wrote:I don't rate them at all Skyth.

I tried them out and I wasn't impressed.

Scyla was pretty good, but even then, not great.

In my experience, Spawn are great when used right. One of the best things about them is that they fill the roll of skirmishers in the WoC list...With a 360 degree charge. They are great vs fast cav/flyers/skirmishers.

skyth wrote:

radiohazard wrote:I don't rate them at all Skyth.

I tried them out and I wasn't impressed.

Scyla was pretty good, but even then, not great.

In my experience, Spawn are great when used right. One of the best things about them is that they fill the roll of skirmishers in the WoC list...With a 360 degree charge. They are great vs fast cav/flyers/skirmishers.

Spawn are invaluable for taking care of those little, pesky skirmishing units. Plus, since they don't actually charge, they can get around some of the charge reaction rules.

Alot of good points and good reviews.

Chaos Warriors - Optimal build is Halberds and Shields, but I prefer HW/Shields, 2+ save is way too good on infantry. Add HW are good if they have the MOK, other wise, don't bother. I personally prefer the MOS over any other mark here. They are expensive, but they can really hold their own against nearly anything.

Actually, I'm thinking about Great Weapons (and shields) now. Running the maths, they do better in most circumstances which HW+Shield isn't better in, even with Striking Last and they can really lay on the hurt on the charge. Main problem is increased cost, but for the unit size I usually use (12), it's not too much of a big deal. Gonna try it next game, I think, and see how it goes.

I want to suggest bronze armor instead of e.shield, but then his nice Ld 9 goes away ... Crimson armor is sexy, but $$$. Nice build all the same, that dude's a tank.

Actually, I was thinking maybe Runeshield (dropping the Collar and Ench Shield), even if it is a bit pricy; you get MR1 from the Jugger anyway (though the 2 is nice) but it means enemies with weapons that give killing blow, ignore armour saves etc. don't, meaning they are reduced to Hand Weapons most of the time (watch out for those GW or Lance wielding Dwarf Lords and Vampires though, or Wardancer Highborns, who will have Killing Blow without needing a magic weapon; I'm not sure who else has it mundane though). You are more vulnerable to Cannons though.