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Hey guys
I was interested in starting up WHFB army but cant decide on an army to roll with ive narrowed it down to 4 armies whose lore I dig but not being experienced with the tabletop styles of these armies I was hoping you grizzled war veterans could give me your insights . My preferred playstyle is a small elite fighting force which moves quickly and causes havoc when they hit home, so do tell me which of these armies would best cater to that.

Warriors of chaos
High Elves (they were my first choice but ive been told that for the points there nowhere near as killy as id like them to be and lack strength and toughness in there more elite units)
The Empire (Id want to make my army centered around greatswords, a general on griffon and be backed with loads of free company / handgunner cannon fodder)
Vampire counts

Now I know Vampire counts completely oppose my ideal but I still find them interesting, Id really appreciate your experiences playing / playing against the aforementioned armies and how they function so I can hopefully narrow this down ;P.

Cheers
C-3

a small elite fighting force which moves quickly and causes havoc when they hit home

That describes Warriors of Chaos greatly. Or eventually High elves, if you take many White Lions and/or Swordmasters.

From what you say warriors of chaos would be ideal for you. But I would avoid them because there properly is a million people in your area that play them. I would suggest empire, you can make a small elite army with lots of wacky war-machines; for example pigeon bombs.

Kinda depends on if your the type of person who enjoys winning more than they enjoy playing.

I made the mistake of going Warriors of Chaos to start, after being advised their a great starter army, and am no regretting my choice. Yes their powerful, and very predictable, but their also pretty boring to play as the core of your army will be Chaos Warriors.

From your list I would probably go with Vampire counts, or maybe Empire, as they seem to have more options.

You are describing dark elves imo.

Fast, nasty and competitive.

I wanted to play chaos warriors primarily cause they look so damn cool but im definately someone who prefers something fun to play rather then something designed with the sole intend of winning, hate the idea of cookie cutter army builds much prefer trying to tell a story or paint a mental picture with my motley crew.
What are high elves / vampire counts / empire like ? Im really drawn to the high elf lothern guard being able to fire ranged bows and use spears at close range, vampire counts summoning additional undead sounds cool and empire I just like the look of them.
Ill be making a decision by Friday probably going to drop in to my local store and see there views, I dont think theres many guys there who even play fantasy if I cant even get an opponent or two on game night I might postpone WHFB temporarily.

Whoever said that HE aren't killy doesn't know anything about HE. sure, we're fragile as hell, but somehow that doesn't matter as much when you've cut your enemy to ribbons...

Sea guards are often regarded as the worst of the HE core choices, but there's quite a few players (myself included) that feel that they work just fine. High Elves are also among the best teams in the game when it comes to magic ( THE best if Teclis is involved). The main issue that High Elves have is their fragility; we aren't called glass cannons for nothing! As an added bonus, if you find someone to share with you can get IoB for a decent start, even though the Griffon Prince isn't that desirable and the Reavers take a bit of finesse to use properly.