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Hey guys, I currently play 40k rarely with my girlfriend, we've actually been getting more into mordheim due to the lower model count. And all of our friends are constantly pressuring us to play 1k+ games that last long into the night!

I was thinking about taking up fantasy because I like the models/world. However, I don't know if island of blood is a good investment, or a balanced game? I have heard that griffons can't even be legally fielded except in larger games. The 40k starter set, assault on black reach, seemed to heavily favor the space marines (they even got about 100 more points than the orks) making the basic set kinda un-fun for whoever ended up with greenskins. I'm not sure how far i'll expand into fantasy so I was wondering if island of blood on its own is a balanced game. I'm not sure my girlfriend or I would be too interested if one of us always got stuck with a losing army!

Also, in 40k, you can pretty much buy a battleforce and a HQ and have close to 500 pts, suitable for playing against the starter armies, is it the same type of setup for fantasy with their battalion boxes?

Thanks in advance for any replies

Pick an army you like. Having said that if cost is an issue I will bring up these points:

Island of Blood is a good start, they are great for starting HE and Skaven armies. Pieces of the set are available on Ebay as well cheap. I bought the Skaven army and 100 extra hand weapon/shield rats from IoB set for $100 total on ebay. That's a solid 1k list, I did add a doom wheel, gray seer and warp lightning cannon for 1,500 but even a gray seer and hell pit would be fine for boosting up to 1.5k.

If you want a non IoB army the cheapest routes are Ogres and Warriors of Chaos. A Battalion of Ogres with converting 2 models for a tyrant and butcher is enough for a 1,000 list, and for WoC adding a chaos mage/sorceror with the battalion is enough for a 1k, you may want to add a warrior or marauder box as well.

I have to admit, I bought IoB for the miniatures and the rulebook, and I never even considered playing out the scenarios they included. Unfortunately, that means I can't tell you if it's balanced or not. Off the top of my head, I'm guessing it's more or less balanced, as the war machines and rat ogres should make up for the griffon lord.

But do keep in mind that neither side has a truly legal army in outside the confines of that particular scenario pack.

The high elf army is very easy to add on to to make a quick 2000-25000 point army, especially if you can find someone selling off the HE minis for cash or trade. That's what I did, and it resulted in a solid core of seaguard and swordmasters (to say nothing of a griffon I can mess up on without caring too much!)

As far as battalion boxes go, they're a mixed bag. In my opinion (which is questionable):

Tomb Kings is pretty solid, unless the upcoming book totally turns the concept of the army on its ear.

Dwarves look pretty good with two blocks of warriors, some thunderers and a cannon. Nothing amazing, but as an elite style army, that would probably be at least 500-600 points, I'm guessing (don't have the army book yet)

High Elf box doesn't do much for me, as I think archers are too expensive, and I'm still not sure if the repeater bolt thrower's special rules overcome the general weaknesses of bolt throwers as a whole.

*I* like the look of the Empire box. I know a lot of people don't like Greatswords or Knights these days for whatever reason, but a solid block of state troops, one detachment of gunners, and a unit of knights is pretty solid starting point. The Greatswords are just icing.

I keep looking at the Bretonnia box and wondering if I could somehow start collecting THEM as well. So colorful!

I don't know diddly about a lot of the other races, so I'll keep my mouth shut on those. But I've heard repeatedly that the Ogre Kingdoms box x2 is pretty much an army. Also remember that if you get creative with your bases, you can field Chaos Demons in either 40K or Fantasy, so really its like saving money, right?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, I should add: when I say a box is "pretty solid" I mean it's a pretty solid STARTING POINT. Obviously in almost every case you're going to have to add some things to make it legal, much less viable.

If you want to go HE, you'll need at least the battalion to even field the Prince on a Griffon, due to the points % restrictions and his point cost.

I found the Empire box nice, but you'll need much more state troops to avoid being slaughtered, still a good starting point though.

The newer HE battalion (they still sell the older ones for some reason), with a chariot, a bolt thrower, 20 spearmen, and 20 archers is actually a pretty good deal in my eyes. You normally only get 16 spearmen and 16 archers in a box, so this set gives you that 4 more to fill out the ranks (not to mention that all 20 spearmen will be attacking once charged, and will be attacking first, likely with re-rolls to hit. That's 20 attacks recievinga charge, very good for a defensive unit.)

The battalion added to the IoB makes a good starting army, it's legal, you have a solid core, but you also have the deadly units (Sword Masters, a GriffonPrince, and the possibility of a Lion Chariot). You can also make the spearmen in the battalion into Sea Guard and add them to the IoB Sea Guard. Just make sure you only use 4 ranks, that means everybody will be able to attack.