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Hi folks,

I'm a regular 40k'er but I'd like to slowly start building up a fantasty army too. However, I've never played a fantasy battle before and I'm not sure which army to start collecting. I quite fancy one of the Elven armies - WE/HE but I'm not sure which offers the more rewarding painting experience foremost?

I'll likely stay away from Bretonnians...all that cloth *shudder*

Are both armies roughly the same in terms of prices?

Thanks

NC.

Edit: PS. Is the Island of Blood boxed set a good place to start i.e. is it like the 40k Assault on Black Reach set? With rule books and so on?

WE suck with the new rules. HE are good - you can get them cheap from the starter kits.

Edit sorry batt died (darned crackbook)

WE have cool minis and are more 'elite' however they are not elite in performance (partly due to the 8th ed rules)

HE have decent minis, you can get the starter set and swap the skaven away or buy a couple of sets on fleabay. They have good troops and rediculous magic. Magic is important in 8th edition.

All in all, with everything else being equal (fluff, what minis you like etc) I'd go high elves. I say this as a wood elf player as you will be frustrated.

Ok thanks - I must admit I DO like the look of the WE minis...I'm not sure how much of a gamer I'll actually be (all my friends are leaving the hobby behind and my circle is growing smaller!)

So from an aesthetic PoV I may start with a few WE units just to paint something different from a darned SM Tactical Squad!

But for a serious army I may research into HE as you've suggested so thanks for that

NC.

P.S. - Is this a 'good' time to start learning rules etc or is Warhammer due an upgrade soon?

We just entered 8th edition so you have a good 4+/- years or so with the current ruleset. WE are a solid choice, they are due for a new army book soon, probably this year perhaps. Having said that you are probably safe with buying like 3 boxes of glade guard and a lord. That might get you to 750 then decide what you want to pick up from there. It is more a finess army but the crowd, at least at my local store, that play Fantasy are generally older more mature and are looking for more of a fun time then WAAC.

I'm not a fan of HE for a beginner. They're pretty fragile and in my opinion take some skill to use.

WE can be great fun, but are a bit weak at the moment- as Hargus points out, due for an army book update, hopefully in a year or so. The question is, do you mind having a rather underpowered (many would say the weakest in 8th edition) army until then?

If the answer is that you don't mind, I'd go for them- glade guard and the like will always be a good choice. And by the time you're farther along, they might have an update and you can choose what direction to go in.

The hard thing to recommend getting an army when its' book is old, is that if you go all-in, you might end up with obsolete units when the new book hits.

All that's speculation, though- if nothing else, WE will be a unique choice in this edition.

If you decide on going with WE make sure you paint the glade guard bodies and cloaks seperatly before you put them together. It saves a ton of time and makes for a more enjoyable painting experience. WE are going to be a harder army to play, but if you are in it for the fun go WE, if you want to win allot use High elves, just be ready to buy tons of $40 sets of 10 guys.

Thanks for the comments guys - I should point out that I'm a very irregular gamer as it is, so quite how often I'll play isn't that important to me. I'm as much in it for the 'look' of an army as murch as 'how it plays' but I appreciate you're advice.

I haven't actually played Warhammer since the days when the Undead were indeed Undead and not these Tomb King things!

I need to get myself some WE painting guides! I'm not used to painting fantasy figures at all...

As I said I'm mainly at this stage lookign for alternative models to paint so I may collect a mix of fantasy figures but slowly begin focussing on a specific army over time.

I didn't realise Warhammer still had so long to go before the next edition so that's good to know. Having said that, does that mean the WE models will be out dated when the codex is re-released next year? In other words, will newer models come out that make the old ones look rubbish?

I think I'm going to go into my local GW at lunch time and have a chat to the guys in there.

Many thanks,

NC.

P.S. Thanks for the tip UnrealPwnage...I'll need a lot of painting tips!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
...I've just read in another post after searching that I might annoy you Fantasy lot for referring to the Army Book as a Codex Apologies

You'll have to forgive this noob Fantasy painter/player

NC.

I wouldn't worry about the plastic WE boxes being redone even with a new army book release, they kept the same models for the Tomb King Skeles and just repackaged the Orcs when they got a new book.

I love the WE minis and find them a very fun army, Have recently got my army to the table and have found a very step learning curve but I like having a somewhat unique army as not many WE players are in my area.

Fantasy is also getting a new Supplement this summer which is meant to be big monsters and more magic, I am holding out on a second Treeman just in case we get a plastic kit soon (fingers crossed) as it took me three days to convert my current Treeman from a wood.

Anyway best of Luck

WombleJim, thanks for your response. It's an encouraging note. The last thing any of us want is to pick up some nice new minis only to have them look outdated when a new rule set comes out!

I visited my local GW at lunch and the lad in there advised on a couple of core units to start with (Glade Guard and Glade Riders) and practice my fantasy painting on. Obviously I don't want to paint a 'special' unit until I'm happy with my skills/colour scheme.

He also advised that they weren't a bad army to play with as a few folk have suggested...maybe he was right...maybe he was just trying to make a sale haha

Either way I'm looking forward to finding some tutorials and getting started! I'm thinking of an autumnal scheme...lots of burnt oranges etc.

Man...it's going to be such a nice change from round shoulder pads and backpacks

NC.

Ok...I've painted one WE so far...oh dear. It's a lot harder than the nice big plate of the Space Marines! Lol!

I'm ashamed of the horse, it's atrocious...this will take some time to get into!

NiallCampbell wrote:Ok...I've painted one WE so far...oh dear. It's a lot harder than the nice big plate of the Space Marines! Lol!

I'm ashamed of the horse, it's atrocious...this will take some time to get into!

Lol, stick at it, I have just started painting my army as well, after an 8 year hiatus of touching anything with paint I wish I new about not gluing the cloaks on! anyway three GG with base colours n and will try and finish them this weekend (painting slow due to long list of household duties provided by the Mrs!)