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Okay, so Ive played 40k for awhile. A good while. And now, Im sorta starting to get a bit bored. Plus.....ehh, being destroyed by armies that clearly arent as powerful in the lore as they are in game stuff grinds my nerves. So I arrived at the conclusion that Id like to try WHFB. But Im not sure what army to start with. Now dont get me wrong, if I end up liking this game, Ill probably play every army out there eventually. But I want some opinions on what a good starter army is. Keep in mind that I prefer to stand and fight, Im not a big fan of magic, and that Im not real fond of spending tons of money on an army that is gonna be good against two armies, then cost out the ass to make it work against anybody else. So, give me your thoughts please fellow Dakka users, what is a good starter army, whats the cheapest starter army, and what is an army that cant be beat? Thanks tons. ^.^

Well ogres are cheap because you dont need amny of them to make an army.

Down side they need magic support badly.

Warriors of chaos all warriors and knight army.
Cheap a little more than ogres.

Magic is just support that you dont need to make your guys better.
They have some fun spells that you might like when you start understanding magic but you dont rely on your magic to win.

So i suggest woc.
The lords can cost around the 400 point mark the heroes around 200 each, 18 warriors cost around the 350 points mark and knight units are around 300 a unit so ya cheaper than a lot of armies.
Also they have good fluff and lots of fun weapons and equipment in their book.

I think Empire are what you are looking for. They are the "all around" army. They are also all plastic so the price is fairly low for what you get. They have access to all 8 magic lores, have rather good shooting, and a few tricks up their sleeves for dealing with different problems.

Warriors of Chaos are a very straightforward army with a lower model count. They have no shooting besides the Hellcannon. They can access incredible magic, and are beasts in close combat. Keep in mind some models are still metal so will cost more which may offset the low model count.

I suggest one of those two for a beginner.

Hmm.....I do like the Warriors of Chaos. Very interesting looking. Hmmm....how are Dwarves?

Empire you do need magic tho from what is generally understood.
Woc have a lot of magic that they can use but dont have to but have the option to be good at it.

Either way most armies are fun go with the models you like and the fluff you like thats the best thing.

Dwarfs are the first thing that come to mind from what you describe. No magic, great shooting, and plays a great great Gunline. Just line up the cannons, get some gunners and some big blocks of hard as hell to kill Dwarfs and you're golden.

Warriors can be the same idea, except charging forward over sitting and shooting. Warriors DO have magic, but it's not needed, honestly, though it does give great support.

Dwarfs are a great gun line and anti magic.

It all depends on your play style.

Yes, it should be mentioned that dwarves have NO magic whatsoever. They can dispel magic like a mofo though.

Oh ya their anvil give you plus a lot of dispel dice and then then the other guys generate more.
First time I played as dwarfs I had 11 or more dispel dice as well as a bucket and a half of dispel scrolls muahaha,

Plenty of good suggestions above but reading you're post the army that springs to my mind is skaven. Simply because they feature in the starter set IoB and there's now an army box set too so you can set yourself up with a formidable force for realatively good money. And you'll get the mini rule book and a bunch of HE to pound on too (or sell)

You may have to relent on the 'no magic' a bit to make them really effective. But if you run a couple of hordes you will get to roll a lot of dice in combat.

I haven't played fantasy in awhile but my friend plays dark elves and they always do great. Honestly from what i've seen and would recommend would be dwarves. They are tough as nails.

it seems to me that your sort of leaning towards the Dwarfs. Fun army, great lore, and good rules. Also, no magic once to EVER! But we can dispell like nobody biznass!

There isn't an army that can't be beat.

I was not a huge fan f magic when I started too because I didnt understand it.

If you are unsure of magic dwarfs might not be the best idea because you never get to actually see what magic can do for you and what you can do with magic.

cowpow16 wrote:I was not a huge fan f magic when I started too because I didnt understand it.

If you are unsure of magic dwarfs might not be the best idea because you never get to actually see what magic can do for you and what you can do with magic.

You are right there.

The winds of magic have taken some of the worst aspects of magic out of the game, but it is still a very frustrating experience to be on the end of a powerful magic phase. Advising someone starting the game to effectively ignore one of the potentially strongest phases of the game seems a little odd. The same applies to a lesser extent to Chaos Warriors, because they don't have much of a shooting phase.

I am surprised no one as yet mentioned the High Elves. They are in the starter box, they participate in every phase of the game, they can be built to have a low model count/on the cheap, and they are fairly straight forward to play.

Another vote for WoC. I have played them for many years and they are amazingly versatile. I frequently play them as anti-magic (especially since I run a lot of Khorne dedicants) and by that I mean as many dispell scrolls as possible and magic items that help me defeat any magic my opponent uses. But when I feel like letting the winds of magic rage across the battlefield WoC can stand with any army.

Ive played 40k for years on and off, and I know for sure, that Elves are ALWAYS a glass cannon. They can hit hard, but when you pressure them, they pop like a bubble. I mean no offence there, but I had a phase where I experimented with both Dark Eldar, and Eldar, and it wasnt a bright expeirence for me. I do get that the spells here can do powerful things, but to me, sitting back and doing your best to shoot or magic your way to a win just isnt my style. I like to hit them like a sack full of lead, then go and find their magician, and trash him like three week old chinese food.

Magic is quite important we all know that but the magic
varies.
Some armies need to buff their units or they die.
Some need to debuff their opponents or die.
Woc mess with your magic phase and do damage to you in their magic phase it is a lot of fun. The other great thig is you don't have buff your guys so having a few dice magic phase
means you don't loose it just means you casters do less damage or you can always IF gateway on 3 dice and roll a 12 for str that can make a 4 dice magic phase pretty awesome.

Having magic around makes it more interesting also let's you throw a nice big ol wrench into you opponents plans.

cowpow16 wrote:Magic is quite important we all know that but the magic
varies.
Some armies need to buff their units or they die.
Some need to debuff their opponents or die.
Woc mess with your magic phase and do damage to you in their magic phase it is a lot of fun. The other great thig is you don't have buff your guys so having a few dice magic phase
means you don't loose it just means you casters do less damage or you can always IF gateway on 3 dice and roll a 12 for str that can make a 4 dice magic phase pretty awesome.

Having magic around makes it more interesting also let's you throw a nice big ol wrench into you opponents plans.

I fear the influence of Korne is too strong for reason

You could always take a sorcerer and give him collar of khorne so then you have a reason to have magic defence.