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Hey. I've been a long time Warhammer 40k player, started a while before the 3rd to 4th transition. I tried to get interested in WFB way back in about '03 but nothing came of it other than one heavily proxied game between HE and HoC with a friend of mine. I fell out of the hobby for many years and have recently come back to 40k a year or two ago and have several armies in different stages of completion. I keep getting urges to look into WFB again even if only as a change of pace. I bought two army books back in the day, WoC and Lizardmen because I really liked the Saurus blocks and the old Juan Diaz Daemonettes. The things that are peaking my interest more recently are Black Ark Corsairs whos cloaks I have been trying to get a hold of for some conversion work.

If I had to pick an army based on nothing else but looking through the available models, I would go with Dark Elves or Lizardmen. Both ranges seem to have some older clunky miniatures that need an update as well as some newer sculpts which really shine. I know very little about the rules of WFB, or the current metagame. I am under the impression that the game is more tactical and a little less random. I know almost nothing about particular army strengths and weaknesses, competitive builds, or even strong units. I am wondering if someone would be kind enough to give me a short description of the current edition and a rundown on the strengths/weaknesses of these two army books, what their magic does, what units excel and under perform, and how long since/until a rules update for either even speculative.

The units for Dark Elves that really speak to me are the Dreadlord on a dragon, the Corsairs, and Lohkir Felheart. Seems to have a pirate vibe that reminds me of the Iron Islands from Song of Ice and Fire. As far as Lizardmen, I have always liked the Saurus and Temple Guard models along with Slaan. Definitely a superstitious Aztec, culty feel. Can these be used for the basis of something competitive in either case? While I am not a WAAC player I do like to be competitive. I am not afraid of a steeper learning curve or an unforgiving list. I have been playing Eldar for years and am very much familiar with the right unit in the right place at the right time recipe. Any insight or direction that you can share is most appreciated and I'll be doing some digging of my own elsewhere.

Eldar are pretty much 40k elves, so if you like the look and feel of dark elves and don't mind continuing that play style I'd say you're safe.

There will always be a special place in my heart for lizardmen; I love the idea of fielding dinosaurs. I have never played as/against them, but I believe they have strong magic and CC. Dark elves are more oriented towards magic, shooting, and using the right hammer at the right time (since elves have T3)

Both are competitive

You're right about that WHFB is a little less random than 40k and there are way more armies that people actually play, instead of the usual Space Marine armies. Well, Orcs and Goblins are random, but since you're not interested in them you don't have to worry.

Lizardmen are good and Slanns (Slann's?) are great, maybe even too great! They're not overpowered and I think they are priced right but man, they are powerful. But that's not all, I got some great news for you - Temple Guards are good and they're there to protect your Slann.

Lizardmen are mostly about magic and dinosaurs. Saurus Warriors are good and tough as well, but they are slow - even slower than Orcs! But then again they are +4 Armour Save and S4 so they make up for it.

I don't know much about Dark Elves since I rarely play against them, but Hydra's are great and they got some decent magic. Only downside is that almost every unit in the Dark Elves book is T3 so you need to think before you charge in and make some good moves.

Lizardmen are an awesome army, skinks are great and cheap for laying down fire. and the saurus / TG are very good warriors S4/T4 2A, but slow because they do have the lowest initiative (1) in the game. Slann are the most powerfull magic users.

On the other hand dark elves have awesome elite troops and heroes/lords that are near unkillable and nasty magic.
Both are fun army that can also make very competative builds. So either way you can have a lot of fun

Muppas wrote:You're right about that WHFB is a little less random than 40k

Hmm I'd be careful about that. Magic and Charging are very much random, heck even shooting is somewhat a gamble with the bazillion modifiers you have to tack on.

I'd go with Lizardmen. Colorful and a good solid tier army. Then again their really cool stuff is a bit risky to use (stegadons and krox are not the most reliable), but have some excellent units like salamanders

Dark Elves are also pretty solid too but have much more fragile infantry. Even their elite infantry are a tad weaker than most, although they have have one of the best monsters available. Hydras will make any opponent squirm

Fantesy is random in certain areas and predictable in others.

I find it a little more enjoyable then 40k as it involves more critical thinking.



Dark Elves and Lizardmen are both solid armies that can compete. Both do have somewhat dated miniature ranges but I think the older models are cool.

Dragons as mounts arn't the best choice in this meta because of the ease to which cannons and magic can outright destroy the dragon, which leaves your expensive general exposed. They scream "free victory points" to many armies. Of course if you are just playing casually/semi-competitivly then Dragons are really fun. they can still do tons of damage, which is why people shoot them down.

Dark Elves rely on magic(particularly Shadow) to buff their units because with the majority of the army being Str3 T3 you can't afford to start taking hits. Their high I ensures they strike first most of the time and Hatred lets them reroll to hit first round of combat, but Str3 means they don't punch very hard. Shadow helps with Mindrazor, which turns them from wimps into absolute monsters. Witch Elves are an exception with their poisoned attacks, although Witch Elves with Mindrazor is infinitly more scary.

Lizardmen are focused on tough and strong blocks of saurus backed up by some monsters and skink based shooting. Slann magic can either bring dead models back/make them harder to kill(Lore of Life) or take a more offensive magic lore. Slann are also good at shutting down their opponents magic phase(becalming cogitation)

In a sense the Lizardmen are more reliable then the Dark Elves because their troops don't need magic buffs to kill the enemy as much as the Dark Elves do.

Stegadons are a good support monster with some shooting and good CC attacks. the Engine of the Gods Stegadon also buffs the Lizardmen army.