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So yeah, I got a totally hard time deciding what army to start up. On one side I have the totally hilarious (and interesting) Skaven and their marvelous background which has a real Lovecraftian theme to it (what would happen if Cthulhu got his hand on The Secrets of NIHM ). On the other hand I have the aweinspiring Beastmen, with a background that drew me straight back into the Ruinous powers and new monsters which made me want to convert the gakk out of a Trygon (I'll explain that later <,<. The question is, which one to pick.

My playing style converts pretty good with both races, I have had true success with brute force (orks), sneaky tactics (orks... kommandos), magic (Tomb Kings this time) and don't back down from sacrificing some of the weaker, and sometimes stronger, elements of my armies to achieve my goals (Imperial Guard =p). Further I have some mean knowledges from my experience as a military tactical historian, which makes me wonder out loud why I haven't returned to fantasy sooner, what with 40k slipping further and further away from my understanding and patience.

I am thinking of building up the armies as thus:

Skaven - A large force of skittering clanrats and slaves centered around Queek Headtaker and a large block of his personal Stormvermin, backed up by Skryre machinery and Moulder beasts. And Gutter Runners. A question here is if Queek can be mounted in a Warlitter or on one of them Ratogre mounts? Never got a clear answer from my LFGS.

Beastmen - Malagor the Dark Omen, accompanied by either a Beastlord or two Wargors, a group of Ungor Raiders, a healthy mix of Gor and Ungor units, some Bestigors and a Cygor and Jabberslythe. Question here is, does the Primeval Club fill its purpose as a good character-basher, because in that case I'll go for a hardhitting Beastlord instead of two jack-of-all-trades Wargors.

Hope you have gotten enough information about my thoughts to help me pick, my birthday is in a week and people are starting to ask what "sort of plastic soldiers" I want this year!

Beastmen.

Only because so many people are getting on Skaven because of IoB

Hmm id like to say Take which makes you enjoy the game more, but everyone said that to me when i started (what seems like a century ago) so i say take beastmen. simply because they have so much diversity.. and minotaurs.. and bloody ghorgons (srsly wtf is that all about) i really like beastmen, and they have so much converting potential, and they are really nice and the magics pretty awsome.

Skaven are still top tier and many of their selections are 'point and click' to give you a strong showing.

Beastmen. Most units are pretty lame, they depend on magic buffs, and tieing in different units in unison.

I'm looking at beastmen (for the third time since 1998) but Empire and HEs are ahead.

Also skaven are dirt cheap with IOB release.

Yeh but its going to get bretty lame and boring to fight rat player after rat player. He is right that skaven are cheap and they are pretty good, just depends what your views are on always playing against the same army :/

Go for skaven if you want the most competitiveness. Beastmen if you like their models and something different. They have a good selection of models and potential compositions for an army. Though you will always do well in investing in a battle standard bearer and a shaman of some description. Plus gors and minotaurs are great units to have plenty of. As well as a the odd chariot or two youve got a decent force. But yes they rely on units working in tandem to overwhelm and enemy. Much like a massive wave going across the table to crash over the enemies lines. If they lose momentum or take too many deaths to shooting they're usually going to lose. Though their big monsters are fun to field.

Team Beastmen! Seriously though everyone and their mom is going to be playing Skaven now (me included), so be the cool guy with the different army.

As a player who is sort of starting both themself, (love the beastmen but IOB was too good of a deal to pass up.) I'd like to put in my 2 cents.

For the skaven they are i'm told one of the more successfully competitive armies out there right now, so if your looking to get into tournaments and win prizes and blah blah blah, then they're probably better to aim for.

If you are just out to play for fun though then it's a lot closer.

Beastmen are a great looking army with lots of big tough units that can smash the crap out of things (assuming they arn't decimated too early on.)

Skaven are fun and unpredictable little blighters that can blow things up all over the place (mostly themselves.)

If you are going to play just for fun I suggest looking at 2 things, what do the people you normally play with use and how can you fit into that the best (which could mean in terms of backstory if your in a highly story driven group or what will best tick off/confuse your friends, what will get laughs, etc..) if you have a lot of people you play with focusing on ranged destruction I'd have to suggest against the lovely beastmen, not because you'd lose a lot (it happens to everyone.) but because you'd lose in a way that's just not much fun, getting wiped away before you have a chance to do anything just ruins a game in my opinion.

I would also lean towards Beastmen. I didn't have a lot of time for them really, and then my local GW staff painted up a 2000pt Beastmen force in a lovely range of greys and they look superb.

With that grabbing my attention I began to read through the army list. The Doombull is an absolute stud (no pun intended), I couldn't believe how tough he was! The army seems full of flavour and somewhat rare, at least where I live. Also, Beastman Ambush might appeal to you, gives you a couple more deployment options than setting everything up in a line, y'know?

Yeah, I am starting to lean more and more towards the Beastmen...

So, is the Primeval Club any good? And have anyone tested out the Cygor?

Skaven are cheap Beastmen are cool.

Beastmen.

Skaven are for NPCs.

Vargtass wrote:Yeah, I am starting to lean more and more towards the Beastmen...

So, is the Primeval Club any good? And have anyone tested out the Cygor?

Primeval club I feel is not worth its cost. I like to give my characters some defensive abilities. Cygor I would rank last in rare choices. Just for the fact that all the alternatives just deliver more for their points.

Lexx wrote:

Vargtass wrote:Yeah, I am starting to lean more and more towards the Beastmen...

So, is the Primeval Club any good? And have anyone tested out the Cygor?

Primeval club I feel is not worth its cost. I like to give my characters some defensive abilities. Cygor I would rank last in rare choices. Just for the fact that all the alternatives just deliver more for their points.

So what would ya'll recommend for some good gear? As for the Cygor, it's already set in stone, I want to convert one, whether I play Beasties or RATS!! (that is the correct pronounciation of Skaven btw).

That and a Jabberslythe, ever since I read about them in the armybook (have bought both books btw) I knew I had to convert one of each.

Best of luck on the Cygor then. Well if your going for a Beastlord. Brass cleaver seems to be a popular choice. Give him uncanny senses, gouge tusks, ramhorn helm + heavy armour and dawnstone and you've got a character that will help win most combat resolutions for the unit he is with. And will be going before most enemies due to his initiative. And rarely last. Usually have a character like that with battle standard bearer and a shaman in same gor unit. I tend to give the battle standard bearer the common heavy armour with 6+ ward save, gnarled hide, shield and a cheap magic weapon.

Oh, definitely Beastmen. Everyone is playing Skaven now that IoB is out, and it seems like everyone was playing Skaven before that, at least in my area. I had a wonderfully painted Beastmen army that I sold earlier this year, and I a painting up the leftovers that didn't make it into the army for a Vraks 2 list for 40K.

Of course now I wish I had kept it, but I *did* need the cash, and now I have a chance to do someting totally different and build a Dwarf army. But now I'm just rambling...

Thanks for all the answers, seems like you have brought me over the edge with this one!

Well, as quickly as that, I turned around. I picked up some Skaven Stormvermin today. Something about them right there were they were standing on the shelf, made me want them and the rest of their verminous race. Sorry to all you guys that I have been hassling with this, I don't know what came over me.

But I'll still make a Jabberslythe and Cygor... when my finances allow it <,<