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Hey hey!

Im looking to start my second fantasy army for 8th edition. At the moment im really looking at skaven or dark elves, but im not sure which one i should go with. So any vets out there who have experience with either who would be willing to let me know the pros, and cons?

Im really into the painting aspect of the hobby and then more of a low key, fun side of playing...not really hard core but i do like to have a competitive army.

So yea, army has to be (in order of importance)
Fun to paint/convert
Fun to play
Competitive

thanks in advance.

Johnnysigs

time will tell on the competative side. i play Dark elves but i think skavern are better atm.

Skavern would be more fun to play! because getting your own men killed is cool

but they might be horrible to paint. the models are pretty good looking but the sheer amount of them you will to paint could be depressing

What is your first army?
Both Skaven and Dark Elves are strong, competitive and characterful armies. But you need lots of Skaven for an army, so starter sets are a must. Dark Elves might be more variable in games, but time will tell.

BTW: Read Darkblade and Malekith novels for Dark Elves and "Children of the Horned Rat" (Warhammer RPG Skaven sourcebook) plus Grey Seer novels for Skaven. Both are featured in Gotrek novels as well (Grey Seer and Elvenslayer).

I've only started skaven recently, but I can say with confidence that the models are fun to paint (i mean the centerpiece of your army, such as the screaming bell, plague furnace, warp lightning cannon and doom wheel). The troops are too numerous to be called "fun" lol. But still, with their numbers, you have freedom in variation. You can give each rat a different fur color, different spots, etc. Still, there's only so much variation you can do on DE (hydra, cold ones, etc) compared to skaven in terms of painting and converting.

Speaking of converting, skaven has a lot of units which doesn't have an actual model. (Hellpit abomination is a prime example). You'll have a lot of fun making your own abominations with putty and clanrats / rat ogre parts So, bottomline : Go SKAVEN!