Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

from 40k to warhammer fantasy im just wondering what would be the best fantasy to start off with and why. there is one army what does intrest me the lizard men.

Lizardmen are an awesome beginner's choice. Good combat unit, solid magic (maybe the best caster in the game in a slann), and steagdon for some monster goodness. You can look around for a good starter list but start small and work your way up. Now the thing with 8th edition is it's all about big blocks of troops I would grab 2 boxes of saurus and 1 box of skinks to get started. For heroes and lords you could pick up a BSB, these are key they let you reroll failed leadership tests, these are huge in fantasy because if you come across a fear causing unit and you fail your leadership you get a WS of 1, so a BSB is nice, but Lizardmen have the Cold Blooded rule, which means they roll 3 dice when they test and take the 2 lowest dice, but their leadership is 8 which is average/above average. So take a bsb or old blood to lead your army. I would also grab 2 skink priests. A level 1 caster doesn't cut it alone, the way Winds of Magic works is during your casting phase you will 2 dice and this is your power dice for casting, your highest dice is what you opponent gets for dispelling. If you throw all your power dice at a lame spell you could irresistable force cast it (double 6s), this is both good and bad, good because it's not dispelable bad because you roll on the miscast table and that will be bad for you. By only having 1 spell your opponent can throw all his dispel dice at it with no penalty and he can dispel with irresistable force if you don't IF. So you need at least one level 2 casters but 2 casters level 1 or level 1 and 2 or both 2 is better as that decides how many spells you get. I'd hold off on the stegadon for now, the way the Force Orginization works in this game is by percentage of points for your force so up to 25% lords, 25% heroes, at least 25% needs to be core, up to 50% special and up to 25% rare. And for rare choices you cannot beat the salamanders, get 2 of these too start though you will need more down the line, since these are a rare it does not leave much room for stegadons. Good luck and have fun. I'm jealous would love yo work my airbrush on a lizardmen army.

Sorry to but in, but I have similar questions-I'm gravitating towards Dwarves; is that a good idea or not? I played WFB a lonf time ago (Orc/High Elf starter set..) but not since...

Ahhh you're lucky I'm a dwarf player. I love em they are very reliable with their high leadership and runes on war machines that make them expensive but more accurate and hit harder. The dwarf battalion is also in my opinion one of the best buys if you are looking to start dwarfs for your first 2-3 battalions you will use everything. Dwarfs do not have a magic phase, however their rune system is really cool. Instead of getting a magic weapon or armor you add runes to them making them stronger, if you are familiar with World of Warcraft think of it as enchanting or jewel crafting. GW warrior is a steal at 10 pts for a WS4 S5 T4 5+armor save. Plus while they have no magic they still use their magic phase to generate dice for dispelling remain in play spells and buffs and since they can have I think up to 3 dispel scrolls called runes of spellbreaking and a rune that takes an opponent's power dice and gives it to you as a dispel dice, on top of all this most mages need to roll a 6 in their casting phase to generate an extra dice but dwarf runesmiths get 1 automatically and runelords get 2 dispel dice, and we get a +2 to dispel all spells. Their movement is low at 3 but in 8th charges are now all Movement +2d6 so they got a boost there. I'm going to copy and paste my guide for starting a dwarf army that is inexpensive and effective.

Try and get a BFSP dwarf set and 2 battalions.

You get 32 warriors in each battalion, make 32 as great weapon wielding warriors and convert the other 32 into hammereres see this link:
http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/20562-a-converters-guide-to-plastic-hammerers/
These hammerers also can double as great weapon warriors when you need them to be.

With the Battle for Skull Pass you will also get some shield warriors you can use as filler if you need too buff units up just put them in the back.

You also get 10 thunderers in the BFSP so use the 32 you would get in each battalion to make that 20 then use the other 22 as great weapon quarrellers

In the BFSP set you also get a cannon and a pony cart which you can convert a cannon or organ gun too with the left over bitz in the battalion:
http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/31388-dwarf-cannonorgan-gun-mount/
http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/29204-the-army-of-droum-peak/page__p__297469__fromsearch__1#entry297469 - Scroll down a bit about 60% of the way down and you'll see it.

So for war machines you should have 2 Organ Guns and 2 Cannons

The dragon slayer that comes in the BFSP set is actually pretty good at hanging back with your warmachines and protecting them. Any light cavalry or units that turn up on table edges will get tarpitted 1-2 turns by this guy because of his high WS and T.

The Thane in the BFSP makes a great Runesmith/Runelord as a shield is a cheap investment for a RS/RL, all you really need up to like 1.5k maybe even 2k is the Rune Smith/Lord and a BSB, I really like GWs bsb model but it's special order they don't carry it in stores but it is worth the 1-2 week wait.

You will also need a BSB you can make your own with all your bitz but I love the BSB model, probably my favorite GW model: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440054a&prodId=prod280006a

You will also get miners in your BFSP set, 8 of them, you can use them as intended or stick them in warriors blocks as filler.

So there you go a solid army...

76 warriors (32 hammerers can double as warriors) or 82 with miners
22 quarrellers-work great as rangers
20 Thunderers-These guys are cool, Organ Guns generally do the job cheaper
2 Organ Guns
2 Cannons
Runesmith/Lord
BSB
Dragon Slayer

Solid start, I highly recommend picking up a Grudge Thrower as well they are the best thing in our army book when runed up. I took down 18 of my buddies blood letters even with the 5+ ward save before he reached my warrior lines, GW warriors and hammerers are the next best thing.

I am actually working on getting some more miners for an idea I posted as ambushing dwarfs in the army list section, check it out it's not advisable for starters but kind of shows you all the cool variance in tactics in a dwarf army.

Whats a BSB?

Battle Standard Bearer.

Generally take the army that appeals the most to you, otherwise you are not motivated enough to spend the necessary amount of money
Of course some armies are older and less competitive than others, but they will be updated in the end. Some are also less easy to play, but you will learn.

Dwarves and Lizardmen are both decent starting armies- Dwarves are tough and brave, and cheap to build. Lizardmen are also pretty brave (or at least, sluggish), operate well in all phases of the game, and have a decent selection of units.
Dwarves have no cav or magic though, so they don't offer a "complete" experience, but they have awesome fluff.

how are the ogres as a starting army?

I like em, they got a boost in 8th. The battalion is just awesome, no doubt the best value out there. All ogres use the same body/legs so in each battalion you get options for 4 Lead Belchers, 4 Iron Guts (5 including standard) or the option to make all 14 ogre bodies bulls as you get a ton of bull bitz. So if you buy 2 you can make 4 Lead Belchers (you will need at most 4 and most Ogre generals don't even take them as they have a chance of blowing themselves up), 8 Iron Guts and the rest Bulls, or some might advocate all bulls. You can also make your own Tyrant, BSB, Butcher, Slaughter Master as the metal ones from GW are very expensive. Also in the battalions are 24 gnoblars but there are enough gnoblars in there that if you picked up some spare bases could probably make 10-15 more out of each battalion. I own 2 battalions and go on ebay or here and buy ogre bodies for all those extra bull bitz. Scraplaunchers are also gold, large template and killing blow. Gorgers have their place as do giants both of these are best taken in pairs if they are taken at all, pass on yhetees and man eaters for the most part, trappers have their place as well, but pretty much you can field all bulls and be successful.