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Ok, so I'm a long time 40k player, but I've been thinking about getting into fantasy, but can't decide on what army to do.
I don't want a repeat of my 40k armies. I want something fresh. (40k: dark angels, necrons, and tyranids)
I want an army that is fun to paint and play, also not overly gimmicky.
I have no idea how to play fantasy, so consider me a big noob.

So here are some ideas I have:
Beastmen: I like how they look, minotaurs are awesome creatures (I studied some classical mythology and really like the minitaurs and centaurs)
Warriors of Chaos: those guys with the big shields look pretty cool. No idea how they play. Never played a chaos type army, might be fun.
Lizardmen: Lots of color. Don't know much at all about them.

So please, can you supply me with some ideas of what each army plays like, how difficult are they to use, and who do you think I should start with.

I vote Lizardmen. As a new Fantasy player, they're the most forgiving with the Cold-Blooded rule, the core infantry are very tough and they've got quite possibly the best magic user in the game. And honestly, who doesn't love dinosaurs? I mean really...

I am a Beastmen player. A lot of people will say they suck but they are wrong. Primal Fury is hands down the best army rule in the game... Well maybe High Elves ASF even with great weapons. However if you are only into the minotaur/centaur then skip them, you cannot get an entire army of them as they count as special, you could do up to 50% special and 25% hero and 25% lord in those level minotaur, but you have to have 25% of the army be core which means gor/ungor/tuskgor chariots, though a very fun army would be a minobus (minotaur unit with hero/lord level minotaur in the front so attacks have to be directed at them with their higher WS, T and defensive magic items with minotaur behind providing ranks and supporting attacks) then have it supported with chaff like ungor raiders. chariots, harpies and razorgor (big pigs). Someone recently posted a list on The Herdstone (Beastmen Forums) that did well that consisted of Gorebulls in large units of ungor then supported with chariots and monsters. The cool thing about minotaur is every time they win combat they get +1 attack, sometimes you can max them out at 10 before the end of the game. Beastmen are also considered in the fluff as a chaos army, however they are the true children of chaos they do not serve for glory or power they serve because they are instinctively chaos.

Warriors are also solid, good beginning army. It's like being a 400lb offensive linemen, you can be lazy and still do as good as that 300lb linemen next to you that has to be perfect every down.

Lizardmen are cool my major turnoff on them is their Saurus warriors are I1, which isn't bad in combat but a lot of spells out there make you take an initiative test or die so I stay away. And cold blooded is nice but at Ld10 with BSB rerolls you will fail less then 5% of the time.

Moronic Nonsense wrote:So here are some ideas I have:
Beastmen: I like how they look, minotaurs are awesome creatures (I studied some classical mythology and really like the minitaurs and centaurs)
Warriors of Chaos: those guys with the big shields look pretty cool. No idea how they play. Never played a chaos type army, might be fun.
Lizardmen: Lots of color. Don't know much at all about them.

So please, can you supply me with some ideas of what each army plays like, how difficult are they to use, and who do you think I should start with.

Beastmen - Most people seem to Gor hordes and heavy magic w/ Bestigors. The only other viable play style is the Minobus (using Minotaurs lines and as many Minotaur characters as possible). Overall, army is good in CC and magic. Has some good manoeuvrability. Also low Ld. Check this site for any more info - http://z8.invisionfree.com/herdstone/index.php?

WoC - Possibly the most forgiving army in the game. Great Core w/ high stats. Not much finesse needed. Magic is good. Some of the best Cavalry in the game (although, Cavalry is usually considered not good in the first place). Hellcannon is the only shooting, but it's good. Popular list is the Chosenstar (big block of Chosen w/ a Warshrine), but it isn't a "necessity". This is the popular WoC site - http://s4.zetaboards.com/cotec/index/

Lizardmen - Another very forgiving army. Great magic, possibly best in the game. Lots of monsters. Really good combat troops except they have low ini...as low as you can get . Very flexible w/ play style. Just get anything and a Slann and you should be good. Here's their main fan site for more info - http://www.lustria-online.com/

If fluff matters. Beastmen are Chaos-twisted, dung-covered, nomadic savages. WoC are similar to Norse, civilized, but follow Chaos gods. Lizardmen, stylized after the Aztecs, are all about serving the Old Ones and their Great Plan, and hate Chaos as it is the exact antithesis to the Great Plan.

Thanks for the help guys. I think I'm leaning towards the lizardmen or the WoC. Despite how cool the beastmen look. I don't want to start on a difficult army.
Now it is just a matter of pawning off my 40k orks to give me a jumpstart into fantasy!

Warriors of Chaos are easy to use, magic is still hard to use correctly. Combat for Warriors is simple.

Ok, I think I am going to pick Lizardmen.
This Sunday I'm going to my GW store, hopefully they can take me through an introductory game of Fantasy.

Do any of you know a good place to start with Lizardmen? I am thinking about doing blocks of Saurus warriors and skink skirmishers to pester and distract the enemy. So is a battleforce and a Slann a good place to start?

I thnk so.
Or the Saurus oldblood + Battallion

Slann is really really good but based on how fantasy army composition works you won't be able to field him until higher point games (you are capped at 25% of your total army points for lords and 25% for heros so to field that 300+pt slann you need a much bigger force) . For starting stick to old bloods and skink priests for your hero and lords.