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Okay, well, my LGS is gonna start a progression league for Warhammer, and Ive decided that I want to try Fantasy, since my 40k games have just seemed a tad lackluster as of lately, and Ive always been a huge fan of fantasy games. Ive even played a few games of Warhammer with the help of a expeirenced player, and an IoB box set. But now, I wanna get an army of my own, and Im not sure which one. But I havent come empty handed, as Ive done quite a bit of research, and Ive narrowed it down to 3 armies. Basically I want to play either Dwarves, Bretonnians, or High Elves. I will admit that Im a very defensive player for the most part, which might then lead to the question of why Bretonnians. And Im not mightly fond of magic either, which would lead to asking why I would consider Elves. But basically, after playing, I did really well with cavalry, and I enjoyed the way that they can be a real force to be reckoned with. Also, I like the Elves ability to feild dragons. Plus, Im a painter, and I did like the elves armour for painting. But at the same time, I like the dwarves richer more earthy colors. I enjoy how the bretonnians dont have to feild 150 models to win the day, but I do like to see ordered ranks of infantry succeed in huge battles. And to top all that off, after playing Skaven in the IoB set, I realize that I HATE losing on a moral test and watching my units run away like cowards, that just really upsets me. I dont mind being tabled. But being tabled because all my units lost 5 guys and ran......yeah. I just....need some help balancing things out. So I ask of the expeirenced Warhammer players, which of these armies do you think you would be best for a new player with crazy tastes like these?

If you do go the Dawi route then hold off for a little bit to see if any more rumours about their new book surface, although you can't go wrong with great weapon warriors so go nuts!

My local store is also going to be running a similar progression campaign. Starting the 10th of next month.
Like you, I had trouble picking an army but am 95% settled on Skaven (cus they come in the IoB set helped me choose out of my shortlist tbh)
I voted high elves on the poll for that same reason. Similarly to you I have an understanding of how to play, but it just feels right to have the rulebook anyway (for me its more a must because I knew how to play in 5th edition and need to know whats changed)
I played Bretonnia back in 5th and I had a lot of fun collecting and painting them all with the bright heraldry they would be my 2nd choice just for that.

See, Skaven just arent my type, they are too weak and run away WAY to quickly. Especially if hit by a unit of cavalry. Not that large blocks of Skaven arent succesful by any means, but they sure arent the tough hardy troops Id prefer fielding. High Elves are more of painting and vanity thing for me, plus I already have a base for them with the IoB set. But they arent really all my type. To tell the truth, they are a bit too glass cannon for me. Im sure there are exceptions, but the few games I played taught me to NEVER let my Elf spearmen get charged, or they die. I dont know. And Dwarves are soon to get a new book? I dont know, Ill check the rumors.

Dwarfs are your best bet

Dwarves. They are outrageous.

Turtle up around your war machines that *cannot miss*.
Or charge and watch your 3" movement turn into 2D6+3".
And watch magic bounce off you.

You could go the other two of course - Brettonian armies are like tanks - aim the lance, charge, win on ridiculous combat resolution overkilling, overrun, repeat.

And High Elves are just bastards. With their Always Always Always Strikes First special rule + eternal hatred nonsense. As a Druchii player, I find this aggravating, but my win rate against them is like 80%, so...

How good are Dwarven war machines?

Purifyingflame_7 wrote:How good are Dwarven war machines?

Best in the game. I've only played a few games against Dwarfs (btw Dwarves is not the spelling used by GW) but they have one that does not miss (you only need to draw a LoS and then you roll to determine how any barrels fire and then roll to wound). And depending on the model, you can park it behind your Dwarfs and fire it over their heads - no need to worry about frontal attacks. And mortars are great considering the horde special rules and the general tightly-packed nature of units in WHFB. And cannons are like S10 (so kiss armour saves goodbye) and cause D6 wounds - fantastic monster killers. Mortars and cannons aren't even Dwarf-unique, but Dwarfs make them better. Don't remember/dunno how as I've never though to compare Dwarf siege weapons with their Empire counterparts, but I they're less likely to blow up in your face and ore accurate once you put an engineer on them.

Dunno if the Anvil counts as a siege weapon, but that thing is broken to high heaven. Good luck casting 'over-powered' 8th Ed. spells with that thing on the table. Magic phase will be so locked down it won't even be funny.

Dwarfs have probably the SECOND best war machines in the game. Chaos Dwarfs have the best, but they cost more and are all Daemon-y. And the models are very very expensive IRL and in the game, point-wise.

Dwarfs does look like the next army after Empire to get a new army book - and as such new models - which may be something to look forward to. I've always wanted to build a Dwarf army as they do seem to be very fun indeed and have some cool rules like the oathstone.

I voted for Bretonnians tho - and in retrospect am considering a change in text to dwarfs. Bretonnians, while a really interesting feel good army, get really REALLY boring after a while. I used to play the ol' brets and really it was just the same thing over and over. In fact there's little way to build your list differently than I have 4 or 5 blocks of heavy armored knights..... I charge your dudes.... you lose combat and break... I run you down... wash, rinse, repeat.

Granted with the steadfast rule that doesn't happen as bad as it used to - but the potential is still there!

But I would go with dwarfs if anything for the diversity of the army - the fact that you have more things to play around with.

Ive read a bit more on the dwarfs, and Im sorta confused by the fact that they arent the most armoured and defensive army out there. I mean, Ive been a big fan of the lore for awhile, and all dwarfs are small blocks of steel practically from what Ive read. I dunno, maybe I crazy there. But that does sound pretty amazing to have blocks of warriors standing there with a cannon just giving an enemy hell. And would the quarrelers or the thunderers be better for shooting? Anyways, it seems like the dwarfs are SERIOUSLY winning out here. But as for the Bretonnians, I mean....sure, they may be a bit boring, but if they can atleast bring consistent results, thats not specifically a game breaker. Then again....Ive been playing 40k a long time now, and with Imperial Guard, Blood Angels, and Space Wolves, they all have basically the EXACT same game plan each and every time. But again, Im still really new to Fantasy.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&categoryId=300002§ion=community&pIndex=2&aId=14700053&start=3&multiPageMode=true

You will notice BRetonnians have some of the better showings in the tourney circuits recorded by GW.

However, that said, in the recent masters in England none of the 16 armies fielded were bretonnian armies. I think the reason is because of the steadfast rule - it really makes a mess of lance formations (that is you should run 12 models deep and have a flank if you hope to break a big block) and Brets just dont do so well in round 2 of combat.

Dwarfs have always been an army I like, just not the current models; I remember many of them coming out while I was collecting dark elves 10 years ago.When GW get around to renewing the models for them, like theyre doing to all the other races gradually (perpertually lol) I might have another look at them.
I understand that during the 10year gap I took, that GW started to change their production methods by having 3D computer models laser etched as the molds? That alone should cut down the design time for new mini's as theres no longer a need to sculpt a master cus it can all be done in a 3D rendering software?

I voted Dwarfs. 'Cause Dwarfs are awesome. 'Nuff said.

I'm basically in the same boat as XmarvX40k, waiting to see what the Dwarf update will bring model-wise (unless they decide to update and/or re-release DoW/RoR in the mean time, which aint gonna happen). It's not that I don't like the current ones or anything, but yeah, I tend to wait for updates.

well, Im sort of in a need to play now. So how hard would it be to acquire a Dwarf army compared to the others?

Purifyingflame_7 wrote:well, Im sort of in a need to play now. So how hard would it be to acquire a Dwarf army compared to the others?

In what sense

The GW website has a full range of Dwarf minis and materials, same as any other army. Whenever I've gone into a store there's Dwarf stock out on the shelves. So, exactly the same as the others, I guess.

Yeah, we're not saying that there isn't figures, because, well... there are. Infact they're decent looking, not much wrong with them its just a personal taste thing for me, I might consider dwarfs next time the models get renewed because I have already painted some of the current ones before.

edit; just had a look on the GW site, much of the range is in plastic or finecast kits that will be in the stores, the metal figures will be order only though, so if you want their Slayers, Hammerers and Longbeards (and a few other bits) it might be a lil more hassle.. but only that of waiting for a delivery or getting a store to order them in especially for you.