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Okay Dakkanauts,

I have decided to double my gaming pleasure and join the realm of WHFB.

I am curious as to what Armies YOU play and WHY? All you magnificent generals out there must set aside your desire to issue orders and, instead, make a sales pitch so that a new player will join the ranks of your fantasy realm.

Someone care to convince me to become a Vampire Count?

Should I open my soul to Chaos? What about those Daemons?

I could help mankind preserve its existence against the myriad of threats out there?

What about beasts: skaven, lizards, ogres, dwarfs (do they belong in this list)?

Are the ancient Tomb Kings destined to rule the realms?

Elves? Are they light-weight faeries or magical masters of the universe?

Let me know...

Join those that well within the chaos wastes.

Commanding armies of the strongest, well trained iron clad warriors that only serve to kill for you and the chaos gods is a good feeling.

Cool models a pile and a half of magic stuff that only warriors of chaos can take. Three unique lores of magic as well as some pretty interesting mounts for lords and heros.

If you like the sounds of an elite army that can smash its way through anything in close combat or lots of barbarians rushing at the enemy.
Not much shooting but they more than make up for it in combat.

Lots of variety in the sense of what your units can do.
Warriors being able to take one of four marks of chaos, a variety of equipment and then access to a lot of magic banners makes it possible to make your warriors good at all sorts of things.

I love skaven, there unpredictability as well as options are amazing, whether your someone that bases your army around looks, fluff or competitiveness there's something for everyone in a skaven army

Mutated beasts, ogres, abominations of clan Moulder

The warpstone engineering of clan Skryre! mini guns, snipers, cannons, grenade throwers

Clan pestilence, crazy plague worshipping monks that are constantly mauling things with frenzy

or a regular jack of all trades warlord clan based army!


I personally find skaven hilarious to play, even if I don't win and my rats do some crazy stuff they can just make me laugh with there miscast / missfire tables but whilst still remaining incredibly competition competitive with steadfast units, cheap redirects, incredibly strong magic - artillery - monsters and numbers to make your enemies cry

Bretonnia as nothing is better than a massed cavalry charged, and good armour to boot

For me it's Chaos Demons.
All units are pretty solid choices, the fluff is cool, and I've been playing the army since Hordes of Chaos first came out. That was back when DoC got no save of any kind against magic, and was generally the suck.
I'm mostly a Skaven player now days; I wanted an army that could participate in all the phases of the game decently. Plus Skaven is an army that has it all;
Big monsters – yep
Crazy war machines – yep
Lots of units to push around – yep
Sweet ride for your Heroes – oh yeah.

But for a new WHFB player; I'd suggest finding an army you like the looks of first off, and play style second.

Feth it, I had written such a long, nice post, and accidentally deleted it. Ergh.
I'll try to write it again then...

Bah, don't listen to those fools! Join me in undeath, and you may take all you wish for? Power? Bloodshed? Vengeance? It's all there, for you to take.

On another note, I do love my VC, mainly because they're Undead. I've always loved the Undead. Zombies, Skeletons, Ghouls, Wraiths, Undead Dragons, Skeletal Knights, Wights... It's all there, and I love them all.

Even so, the biggest plus with the army would be the myriad of themes possible to do. There are enough choices to build around pretty much any theme, and your Vampires may be customized into VERY many different kinds of Vampires. Between the Lord, the Ghoul King, and every Vampiric Power... You've got a lot.

I know you want it... The gift of Undeath... Take it!

THough it would be better if you looked up the playstyle /looks of the different armies first, and decided based on that. Building an army is a daunting task, and you better love your army if you're going to get it all built and such.

Beatmen! Hear the call of the bray herd. We do night fight for power or riches, we fight because to not is like a dog that will not chase a cat or a baby that does not cry when hungry. We are looked down upon by everyone even our gods, we have nothing to lose and therefore fight harder then everyone else. Ohhh and Primal Fury is the shiz.

I like TK, Skaven, and WoC. TK I like because of their Egyptian style (and the warsphinx ), I like Skaven because they've kinda always been my favorite. Idk why. I also like the Warriors of Chaos because of their cool "Men of the North" type thing. I always think of them as like people that would live in Northrend from WoW.

I suggest Empire as a starting army. The reason is that it is susceptible to absolutely any play style. Do you want to do magic? Do it. Do you want to shoot guns! Do that. Do you want to be a very speedy cav-heavy list! Go for it.

My style is what I call the "People's liberation empire." This style involves bringing a lot of cheap infantry, and then supporting it with a lot more cheap infantry. In other words, if you kill my troops, I will attack you with my other troops, and the last six or eight of my state troopers take down the last chaos warrior and win the game. However, if you build an army like this and you decide you hate the playstyle, go do something else! You don't have to buy a whole new army.

My favourite army is Dwarfs. They have more personality than most other armies, they have a unique and flavourful "magic" (rune) system, they are tough and dependable (nothing has leadership under 9), and can deal out quite a bit of pain. I like being able to manipulate my opponants magic phase, and the vatiety of builds (more than you think).

Lastly, one of my earliest models was a Deamon Slayer, so there's a bit of nostalgia.

Are you an elitist? Do you feel the surge of thousands of years of magical prowess coursing through your veins? Are you wanting speed and skill to shine out above brute force? Does the concept of dragons, eagles, and griffins soaring into battle inspire the general inside you? Take a look at the elves of WHFB.

High Elves will give you, arguably, the strongest magic in the game. You'll be able to dish out and absorb enormous amounts of damage, and can shut down entire enemy magic phases completely. Every single HE unit will have always strikes first, granting you first strike in combat and, more often than not, an ability to reroll failed misses in close combat.

Dark Elves provide an opposite coin to High Elves. They're magic isn't quite as strong, but they're shooting and hatred of all enemies more than compensates, and their units have a very unique appeal to the denizens of the world.

Wood Elves have, in my opinion, the best shooting in the game. Their magic can control forests, literally moving them around the map, causing all kinds of havoc to enemies nearby. Sniper shots, tree creatures, and hit and run tactics all done through a hail of arrows.

With any of the elves, you'll have speed, skill, great leadership, and power at the cost of strength and toughness. Limited access to war machines and a high unit cost mean's you'll often fight outnumbered, which means each model lost hurts that much more, but if you choose your engagements correctly you'll find your enemies ranks fleeing or destroyed before they get a single swing!

Now look at the space marine now back to me, then back to the space marine. The space marine is now a Greatsword!
Anythings possible when you play Empire
Im on a dragon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
May have to sig that

Not an empire player myself but nice one blood lance

Aipoch wrote:High Elves will give you, arguably, the strongest magic in the game.

That's a really strange way to spell Lizardmen.

Play the lizards. With the Slaan to dominate the magic phase, the Saurus to crush the enemy in man-to-lizard combat, the Skinks to harass his flanks and backfield, and several big 'ol dinosaurs to slaughter all that they behold you can't go wrong.

If you want an army than can defeat anything in combat an army that can dominate the magic phase an army with loads of cool options and different playing styles
Go with WoC

Play Ogres. Big monsters. Big cannons. Big buffets.

Honestly though, 8th Ed. Fantasy is the most fun I've had playing any table top in a long time.

Win or lose, you're gonna have a blast. *BOOM* HURR HURR HURR!

It's ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!!!

Ogres!!! Work for the highest Bidder, be on whatever side you want!

Come to the field in style, A thrunderous Earthquake as your Horde Stomps across the Field. Slammin ginto opponets with wild abandon. Crushing those mere puny one under the thick fat gut of your Charge!

Even as a huge monsterous Infantry, you can still ride even bigger Creatures.

Ogres can be Hard Hitting Hammers, Unmovable Anvils, Mobile Hiters, and even a Gunline. Magic is the best, with the gruesome pells that will see your already hard skull Ogres even tougher, and able to regerate. As well as being able to hold their own with most other spell castors. Better yet, your Mage can carry Armor and Weapons and still hit like a ton of bricks!!! (Literally)

And for those strategic Generals out there. The ogres are masters of Battle and can use all those same important tactics. Retreating and setting up those perfect charges,

Even the tiniest of our troops cause fear to any charging unit. Laying traps and flinging scraps of pointy stuff, and sending others of in a strategic misdirect. We have nice little pet kitties (Sabertusks) Thay can run all over the field causing trouble, wether it being redirecting those massive units or hunting down those warmachines and lone character.................

Did I just say Warmachine?? Orges Warmachines are so dangerous they can move and shoot, And are mounted on huge beasts that can be just as effective charging into a battle!! A Cannon that can shot a grapeshot at the main strength of a cannon ball ??? Seriously!!!!!!

Ogres are the way to go!!!

Don't bother mess'n with those rats or pointy-ear'd folk... Grab yer'self a pint of Bugman's finest and spend some time defending the mountain home of the Dwarves!

'Em other races got horses, dragons, and magic users that blow up. We Dwarves got a say'n, "If you want it to blow up, it better be cuz you shot it with a cannon!" Why even mess with that other stuff, when you could have all the gold, ale, and bearded women you can handle right in our mountain home.

And talk about variety, we've got both kinds of shooting over here: Boomstick and Non-Boomstick. We've got Miners to tunnel with, Hammerer's for a stubborn, royal pain, and Slayers when you want some fashionable hair designs. Yep, we've got it all!

So what are you wait'n for?

'ave you wanted to 'eadbutt a dragon, krump a dwarf or thump an elf? Then the ladz 'ave a spot for you!

Start by smashn a few skulls ta be da rula of da clan, then bash a few more. Then gather up da boyz and start krumpin your way through da Empire!
Gather up ur gobbos, da war machines, more gobbos (kuz dey be puny) an' some trolls an' more boyz as da WAAAAUGGGHHH!! gets bigger, meaner and fightier.
Use da powa of da shamans of Gork an Mork to smi... smmit... smoosh your rivals (just don't kick them, they leak green bolts).

If ya do not want to be a proppa orc then ya can an entire tribe of shooty..ness and not like the oomies or dwarves, you can actually move while doing dis!
If ya have da urge to run lotsa critters, then ya can run an all mounted clan. And unlike Britonians, you can have first turn!

Watch as all da puny elves, stubby dwarves and squishy oomies flee an' hide from you as dere be nothin dey can do.
Stomp dem flat, crunch dem hard an' pull da entire world inta da unendin' WAAAAUGGGHHH!! dat all da greenskins love!

As an added bonus, you can talk like dis and not like da other weedy gits around!

As much as I'd love to come up with some grade-A Skaven propaganda, I'll leave that sort of thing to the posts above and below.

Take an army with a tone and theme that appeals to you. Obviously.
For me, that's...everyone. From High Elves to Warriors of Chaos to Vampire Counts to Skaven. I love the idea of horde-armies and elite armies and shooting and magic and good and evil.
So beyond that, I'd suggest an army that is, ya' know, good, with enough stuff in the book to keep you interested.

- Dwarfs are rock-solid, but really limited in their play style. Cannons and great weapons and Grudge Throwers and great weapons. So unless you're sure you want to be sitting around, accepting charges after a lot of shooting, and not casting spells, I'd look elsewhere first.

- Wood Elves are...awful. Their book is just sad. It might get better soon, but until then, I'd start with something else.

- Beastmen have variety, but not much of it is strategically viable, and you really can't do much mixing-and-matching.

The top armies are probably something like Warriors of Chaos, Lizardmen, and Skaven, I guess in that order. But the power difference is a lot smaller than it used to be, back in the days of the Unholy Trinity of 7th Edition.
Anyone else want to claim that a given book is heads above/below its fellows?

I will make the case for the Empire.

-Great shooting
-----Handguns have good power and armor pen
-----crossbows can hit the enemy from turn one
-----Bowmen can scout
-----Pistoliers are fast, powerful harassment units
----Outriders are a bit of a soft option because they are vulnerable to shooting, but they can fit a lot of shots into a small footprint and they have the ever useful vanguard rule.

Great war machines
-----Cannon is very useful with all the giant monsters running around
-----Mortars are great against the huge infantry hordes that are so popular in this edition
-----Rockets are like more powerful (if less reliable) mortars
----hellblaster volley guns can be great at medium range despite their higher tendency to misfire

Infantry
-----State troops are cheap and reliable if near the general and/or BSB
-----Great swords and flagellants are decent elite infantry though they may be a point or two overpriced given recent army books.

Cavalry
-----Knights are heavily armored, can take great weapons for extra hitting power, and best of all are core choices.
-----Pistoliers and outriders, see shooting

Other
-----Steam tanks kick a lot of butt. They have high toughness and can be painful hammer units. Plus ITS A STEAM POWERED TANK!

Characters
-----Warrior priests/Arc lectors are great right now because of bonus dispel dice and confer hatred to the units they join, not to mention the powerful war altar
-----Wizards are just as good as any other army, and can take any of the normal lores
-----Captains and generals are a soft option, but at least are cheep.
-----Engineers allow re-rolls on cannons and mortars and can therefore make your already deadly war machines even more so



I love the flavor of the empire. Chaos to the north, orcs, beastmen, and ogres to the east, undead in their midst, and skaven below. They are truly surrounded and assailed from every side. If they are lucky the dwarves might come down from their mountains, or the brets will stop looking for that damn cup for ten minutes, but for the most part they are on their own. The empire has a lot of potential for cool conversion and unit composition. My units of state troops include mercenary ogres, hunting dogs, and even lions in chains held by several empire soldiers. One of my cannons will soon be manned exclusively by monkeys. There are all sorts of cool oop models that can be mixed in with your units.

The flavor has strong themes of religious fervor, but in a different way from what you see in the space marines. There is much more "repent and pray for deliverance!" and less "Victory or death. For the Emperor!" It has some of the shinny gleaming nobility with the knights, steam tank, and war altar, but there is a lot of dirty gritty desperation from a people who's faith is the only thing keeping them fighting against overwhelming odds.


As far as tactics and strategy, the empire has a few good thing going for it. Basic troops run around five points. This allows for multiple hordes to anchor a line without eating up all your points. From there I go for either greatswords or knights or both. Throw in a steam tank if you have the points and fill up your characters with priests and wizards. Simple as that. You can also go with a strong gunline with as many as five or six war machines in a standard list. Knights can be very hard for opponents to deal with if your opponent doesn't have some high strength weapons or good magic. Take two units and watch your opponent squirm.

All in all they are a versatile list that can fit almost any playstyle you want. The two big drawbacks are the lack of monstrous infantry and big scary monsters. They are a great place to start if you are looking into fantasy.

Do you like Raising the undead? if so choose either TK or VC.

Main reason for TK:

If your of noble intent and want to restore the nehekarian empire, while having armys of living statues choose TK.

If However you are wanting to ressurect hordes of zombies and I mean HORDES while having cool undead dragons and a vampire better suited to your tastes choose VC.

If you choose the undead you can't lose (because you will just get back up again XD)...

I am a WoC player and have enjoyed their-in-you- face- then-smash-it-ness, but have to say that there are more aspects to the hobby then dice rolling and tactics and think that if you were going to choose, have a look at some of the miniatures available to you and see which ones you like. For instance VC and Skaven have some models that are way cooler than WoC IMO and I'd like some!