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Hey guys,

I'm a big 40K player, I play a 2,000 point Ravenguard army, and have played Imperial Guard, Eldar and Orks.

Now, as much as I love 40K, my army just isn't fun to paint! (Prime black, wash with black a couple times, highlight). IMHO Fantasy is fun as heck to paint, since its not just one standard BDU or Armor, you can personalize your models.

I bought Orges a couple years ago, and now with my brother looking to play them, I'm really getting to like Fantasy. I just have a few questions...

-Is Fantasy harder to learn than 40K? Or pretty much the same?

-Is there still a good amount of players at your FLGS?

And lastly, I need some advice on what army is a good one to start with, out of them all my favorites are Dark Elf, Vampire Counts, and Tomb Kings. Could anyone give me some advice on how effective they are compared to each other and how fun they are to play?


I apologize for all the seemingly "Nooby" questions, I hope you don't mind,

Thanks in advance,

-Revackey

Fantasy is no harder to learn to play than 40k. Its just different.

There are a lots of fantasy players at my FLGS, there were 20 gamers there last saturday, outside of some 14 year olds playing 40k, everyone was playing fantasy.

I think any of the three armies you like can function well in this edition. TK are just old and are in need of a new book. But if your playing against ogres then you should be ok.

I play Dark Elves and WoC, and I can say Dark Elves are a blast to play and paint. Lots of ornate armor, unique looking unites etc.

Well thats all good news! Thanks, I appreciate the advice, I'm really thinking of doing Vampire Counts, but I just love the Dark Elf models. Do they play similarly?

I second all casper said and i jsut started a dark elf army and personally i love them! you should have a blast in the fantasy world!

Awesome, I'll probably do that, I just love the Vampire Counts ability to raise dead.

Also, is Fantasy more expensive that WH40K generally?

revackey wrote:Awesome, I'll probably do that, I just love the Vampire Counts ability to raise dead.

Also, is Fantasy more expensive that WH40K generally?

You cant go wrong with VC or DE. They do play differently though.

Fantasy typically is more expensive than 40k because you have more individual character on the table (most units going form 10-50ish) compared to 40k (squad size, largets unit being 30 orks).

However there are ways to get around this cost, like unit fillers. When starting an army i try to buy the first two ranks and have them completely painted. Then I move on to another unit using blank bases until i decide if the unit warrents me buying the rest of it. This is expecially useful for medal models as $26+ for 5 when you need a unit of 20 or more doesn't cut it for me.

WHFB "generally" has fewer young players in my experience. Most of them are drawn to 40k for whatever reason. And again, in my experience, those younger ones who DO play fantasy are generally quite mature for their ages.

As far as price, it REALLY depends on the army you choose and to a lesser degree the models available.

A good comparision I have is my wife's Dark Elves versus my future High Elves. Her army will cost about $325 retail as opposed to my $580. This is purely because the good high elf units are still metal, and thus costly.

Skaven, Orcs & Goblins, and to lesser degrees other "horde" armies will cost more due to the number of models needed. Vampire Counts will have a high model count mostly because of summoning. It's not that you will have alot of models in the list, but that you will be adding them throughout the game. So keep in mind that you will be buying alot of extra zombies and skeleton warriors.

Ok, thank you.

And yea, I've seen in games I've observed that VC's have a good amount of zombies in reserve for summoning.


Also: I am only 15, but have been playing 40K, and have many older friends that play (My brother and his friends are around 26), and I have to agree with you almost every kid I've seen around my age plays Ultramarines or Blood Angels. (Raven Guard wasn't my first army Imperial Guard was, just so I don't fall into the, "Kidd with Space Marines" category.

From what I heard, Vampire Counts were one of the top 2 or 3 armies in 7th edition. And so far I've heard they havent' been nerfed too much in the new edition.

Sounds like you found your army, they are a good one to play. Gotta love Zombie hordes...

The only downfall is that their Blood Knights are $90.00 for 5 of them...

Convert models. I don't know of many VC players who put down the $90 for those models.

revackey wrote:The only downfall is that their Blood Knights are $90.00 for 5 of them...

YEAH THAT IS INSANE WTF? i couldnt find any reason why they are that expensive!

They are priced because of their power in game. Simple as that. There is no reason a dragon which takes less plastic than a $35 regiment box costs $50 beyond the power and how many you are likely to buy.

VC players will rarely run 2 units of Blood Knights. Therefore the profit PER UNIT needs to justify production.

All in all, $90 for a metal unit is cheap if you compare to units like Phoenix Guard which run about $150. Granted it's for 25 models, but GW looks at the UNIT itself, not the number of models.

aerethan wrote:They are priced because of their power in game. Simple as that. There is no reason a dragon which takes less plastic than a $35 regiment box costs $50 beyond the power and how many you are likely to buy.

VC players will rarely run 2 units of Blood Knights. Therefore the profit PER UNIT needs to justify production.

All in all, $90 for a metal unit is cheap if you compare to units like Phoenix Guard which run about $150. Granted it's for 25 models, but GW looks at the UNIT itself, not the number of models.

well they're $18 a fig. I guess they count as mounted character blisters so they cost as much.

O okay that makes sense i guess.

Easiest way to convert them is to use chaos knights.

VC are still good in this edition, they took a bit of a hit with the new casting rules and fear no longer auto breaking. But they are still strong.

Yea, thats what I heard at my FLGS, I'm not sure what I'll do with the Knights, I don't think I'll field any zombies, just summon them.

Do you guys like Ghouls or Skeletons better?


Also, this might be a dumb question but, there is an 8th edition codex for VC? Or just the 7th, because I have the 7th and the cover looks the same (My FLGS doesn't carry the codex)

And if so, where can i find the necromancers spells? I only see Vampire ones.

The necromancers use the vampire spells.

The 7ed book is the only one available at this time and is still in use.

Ghouls are great in that they have poison attacks, more attacks, and higher toughness.

Skeletons can have spears (not so great unless you augment them with magic spells), they get armor and they can have a command group (musician allows quick re-form which is useful as long as the general is nearby or there is a character with higher leadership in the unit.

Also you have more choices in magic items for your vampires as the common item list has been expanded. Some good weapons and more ward saves too.

Ok, thanks a lot. I'l probably mix the two.

Vampire counts are quite cool raising undead is always scary for your opponet. O theres not THAT many skellies ill do fine wait WERE THEY COME FROM!!!!!!!

Then you think you killed the Bloodknights, and *poof* their back

Brickashimself wrote:Vampire counts are quite cool raising undead is always scary for your opponet. O theres not THAT many skellies ill do fine wait WERE THEY COME FROM!!!!!!!

Pity that mass raising dead to form super-size units isn't anywhere near as viable this edition.

revackey wrote:Now, as much as I love 40K, my army just isn't fun to paint! (Prime black, wash with black a couple times, highlight). IMHO Fantasy is fun as heck to paint, since its not just one standard BDU or Armor, you can personalize your models.

You appear to have made your decision already, but I'd just like to say I don't feel this is true. For me, the greatest advantage of 40k is that half your models aren't buried deep in a 4*5 block, meaning you can actually see your work and you have more options for poses and customisation without adjacent models getting in each others' way. Your biggest problem isn't that you've got a 40k army, it's that you've got Ravenwing instead of something like Orks.

AlexHolker wrote:

revackey wrote:Now, as much as I love 40K, my army just isn't fun to paint! (Prime black, wash with black a couple times, highlight). IMHO Fantasy is fun as heck to paint, since its not just one standard BDU or Armor, you can personalize your models.

You appear to have made your decision already, but I'd just like to say I don't feel this is true. For me, the greatest advantage of 40k is that half your models aren't buried deep in a 4*5 block, meaning you can actually see your work and you have more options for poses and customisation without adjacent models getting in each others' way. Your biggest problem isn't that you've got a 40k army, it's that you've got Ravenwing instead of something like Orks.

This post made my day. I have been looking at fantasy as well, but I really do not like painting (nor am I very good at it).

Tyranids can be pretty simple.

Leaning towards Tomb Kings or Lizardmen.

If only someone had an already mostly painted lizardmen army for sale. And in california no less! >.>

Shameless plug

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/309799.page

AlexHolker wrote:

revackey wrote:Now, as much as I love 40K, my army just isn't fun to paint! (Prime black, wash with black a couple times, highlight). IMHO Fantasy is fun as heck to paint, since its not just one standard BDU or Armor, you can personalize your models.

You appear to have made your decision already, but I'd just like to say I don't feel this is true. For me, the greatest advantage of 40k is that half your models aren't buried deep in a 4*5 block, meaning you can actually see your work and you have more options for poses and customisation without adjacent models getting in each others' way. Your biggest problem isn't that you've got a 40k army, it's that you've got Ravenwing instead of something like Orks.

I still love 40K and play it, I just don't really want to make another 40K army, I'd rather try something new.

Welcome to Fantasy.

VCs got made less powerful as they can't cast as many spells as they once did. they are still a good army.

as far as Blood Knights go a friend just got some Chaos knights and filed off all the chaos bits and greenstuffed on Vampire bits.


the new rules made most armies on par with each other. no longer the days of Deamon auto-win.



Unit fillers are pure gold. if you do vampire counts you can get the large 40mm bases and add in some zombie or skeleton bits(hand coming out of the ground, Skulls...)

most boxs have enough extra bits to do several unit fillers.

Thanks for the welcome, I'll probably make my blood knights out of Chaos Knights, not sure yet since they won't have the bat hlems or anything.

And I've made a base for one of my necromancers with zombies reaching out of the ground.

Yeah those big block things of undead are awesone, like a mini diorama in your unit, and they're easy to remove when units start dying 4 at a time+

Which will happen to you, but you wont care cause that's just what they do.

I would also suggest if you're going to try converting blood nights get some fierce looking riders from like dark elves or somewhere then buy individual armored horses for them, alll in all that might cost you more but then you could sell the spare cold ones and offset that.