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I've played 40k for a while but now I'd like to try some WHFB since my girlfriend is starting. The problem is that I can't decide which army to go with.
I'm stuck between (in order of fluff appeal):

1. Warriors of Chaos
2. Tomb Kings
3. Ogre Kingdoms
4. Daemons of Chaos

- Hows does each army play?
- Are they viable competitively?
- How expensive do they get?

Okay, I don't play any of them, but three of those are played by one person each in my gaming group, so I'll try and see what I can describe. I can't say anything about Daemons though, as I don't know anything about them.

WoC:
A very strong and beginner-friendly army, with lots of solid choices. Warriors are the mainstay Core the heaviest infantry around. Another option for Core are Marauders, which is light infantry, and can ride too. It's a rather elite army.
I usually face 2 units of Warriors, kitted differently, 5 knights supported by an Hero, some warhounds to block charges and two Wizards.
They are rather competetive and not hard to play, and I would belive them to be acceptable in terms of expensiveness.

TK:
Magic-based army, with spells focused on buffing your units around the Wizard. Most units are frail and cheap, but rather easy to restore since almost every spell reanimates lost models. You'd have to go slightly phalanx with it to keep units within the area range of your wizard. The whole army is also kind of slow since it cannot march (move double their movement - everyone else can do that).
I usually face an army composed of one big unit of skeletons with a Tomb King in it (as he raises their WS to 6 or 7) and a Necrotect (gives them Hatred), 6 Chariots, a Warsphinx, a Casket of Souls (helps Magic) and Tomb Guard (Elite infantry), backed up by two Wizards.
In terms of money, I believe it comes down to what list you're running. Lots of Chariots and Horsemen aren't going to get as expensive as hordes and hordes of Skeletons.
They're not as strong as the current WoC, but I'd still say they are decent. Like, perfectly balanced.

OK:
A unit composed of Monstrous Infantry. Each of your models is worth several of any other army's equivalent. The core is solid, and with the exceptions of the Gnoblars, each of your Ogre has 3 wounds, S and T 4 as well as 3 attacks and 1 auto-hitting attack in the end of combat. Ironguts even take it as far as to hit at S6 with their Great weapons. This army is so elite it makes WoC look like horde.
This is probably the cheapest out of these three choices.
And they too are balanced, like TK. I'd say they end up slightly above TK in terms of power, but still around the middle-ground.

Thanks!!

I think I'm leaning more towards WoC now but perhaps I'll get around to the others another time.

No problem ^^
I would suggest you search around a little for other peoples opinions on the armies too, since my experience with them can be vastly different from another one's experience with them.

Anyone have an insight into Daemons of Chaos? I'm quite interested in Daemons but I've heard a lot of rage from WHFB players. Are they really that broken?

They used to be broken in 7th and they are still a major pain in 8th but lost that cheesey edge due to new magic rules. IMO they are in the top 3 best beginners army so its good to start with

Some people have pretty negative opinions of Deamons so be wary of potential groaners.

WoC are close combat orientated with good magic. Ogres just came out and people seem to really like the new book- some have described them as very beginner friendly too. Ogres have the lowest model count.

Johnny-Crass wrote:They broke the entire game in 7th and they are still a major pain in 8th but lost that cheesey edge due to new magic rules. IMO they are in the top 3 best beginners army so its good to start with

Fixed that for you!

Daemons are a good army that offers you a chance to play a bit in every phase of the game and allow you to play with every kind of unit type as well.
You've got solid options for basic infantry, some 'fast cavalry', war beasts, monstrous units, chariots and actual monsters. Only thing actually missing are war machines!
In terms of the game phases, you can play magic light/medium/heavy and have a solid shooting unit as well, plus amazing combat & movement potential.

As long as you avoid obnoxiously spamming the broken stuff, Daemons will offer both you and your opponent a fun game!
Basically, just avoid the things like;
- Multiple Lore of Life and/or Lore of Shadows Tzeentch characters. (obtained via the cheap 'Master of Sorcery' gift and gives you all 7 spells from any rulebook lore!)
- Multiple hordes, (like 3 or more), of 40 Bloodletters led by Khorne Herealds. (litterly nothing outside of a WoC 'chosenstar' has much of a chance against them!)
- Slaanesh Ld-bomb army. (boring & gimmicky at it's finest, undead & other daemons will laugh at you however!)
- 3x 6 Flamers of Tzeentch units. (they're OTT really, 1 unit or a pair of small ones is fine, but please, just don't spam 12-18 of them!)
- Fateweaver in games under 3k pts. (he's even more insane in fantasy than in 40k, like ALOT! more insane!)

Those are the biggies that still get moaned about for the most part. Avoid abusing the obnoxious stuff, and only sad pandas will still call you names for playing daemons.

WoC and OK are both great beginner armies with room for expansion. WoC probably has more room. OK are cheapest.


I like Daemons lore a lot. I think the biggest thing about them now, is they simply have some really good units and some really bad. Out of any 5 DoC armies, 3 are probably going to look almost identical and 2 are going to suck.

They have a fantastic infantry, Monstrous Cavalry, Elite shooter, and some extremely good Lords and Heroes (for their cost). And a few Special Characters who are the only ones not only worth their points, but piss people off a lot.

TK are just like Necrons from 40K. Or the other way around, really.