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I am thinking about fantasy again, and at first i was thinking the brets, then i thought about beast men, then was skaven, then it was lizardmen...ect, ect.

i thought about a lot of things actually.

as i play 40k and i have a few army types two gun lines, a meched up list ect ect.

I have read the stickied thread about the armies but its not providing much of an answer for me.

Things that i want know what has an easy learning curve for fantasy armies.

My main oppents would be ong, vc, and he...and i still like the idea of beast men and i like the thought of running like 20 dudes with ogers, i guess im trying to find out what would be good besides the book and a battalion box. what has a a gradual learn to it.

any thoughts would help

Beastmen and brettonia are those armies that are one of the hardest to play with due their lack of competive units
(outdated armybooks)

Beastmen does have a rather steep learning curve, but depending on the shootiness of the OnG guy you might not be in a bad spot with those match ups. The High Elf player will have shooting, there's really no getting around that, but OnG might not. If he doesn't, Beastmen are a bit easier to play.

Armies that generally have forgiving learning curves I would say include Lizardmen, Ogres, Warriors of Chaos, or Empire.

Lizardmen have core troops with a solid statline (Saurus Warriors) and are hard to shift in combat due to above average leadership and Cold-Blooded rule. Weakness is low weapon skill and initiative

Ogres are tough, have multi-wound models so die slower, and generally have simple tactics (run forward, beat face, profit). Weakness is low weapon skill and leadership

Warriors of Chaos have very good statlines and the basic Chaos Warrior can kill pretty much any other core model hands down. Weakness is low numbers (expensive troops)

Empire have lots of buffs available for their pretty basic (but cheap!) troops. They're also hard to shift due to Hold the Line from captains. Weakness is average stats, troops ability relies on buffs/magic


But... at the end of the day, I would suggest taking the army you think looks the coolest. Beastmen are a bit harder to play, but it's not a auto-lose army, as even the worst books in fantasy can still win games. I personally love the Beastmen models and enjoy playing them because it's challenging and requires more than just pushing my units forward and charging as soon as possible. I lose more than I win, yes, but I enjoy it which is the point.

Lizardmen and Ogres are very forgiving.

Lizardmen are highly resilent and their special leadership rules mean they will usually do what you want them to do without running away.

Ogres are just a shove forward and they will do the heavy lifting type army: Gut star, ledbelchers, two kitty cats, mournfang, and two super whizbang most accurate cannons in all of fantasy and 40k, your good to go. Pretty much an army for beginners if there ever was one.

I was somehow on the same position that you are right now so I just went for the army that as the kind of units I like and appearence I like so I went for Skaven since I love their looks and they have assassins wich I just love

Lizards are a pretty solid choice and what i chose to get back into WHFB with.

Cold blooded rule means they rarely have issues with LD.

Basic troops excel at what they do (saurus for combat, skinks for shooting)

Both VC and HE that you will face use alot of magic, and VC rely on it heavily.
Lizardmen slaan mage priests are possibly one of the best casters in the game.
Atleast with a slaan you dont spend turn after turn being crushed by magic.

You have access to fun units like stegs and salamanders, which when used right, cause a ton of damage and look impressive on the table.

All in all, i rate armies on what they can do.

Magic - Great, they excel at it.
Shooting - Not alot, but poisoned shots really hurt anything.
Combat - Pretty damn good, even basic saurus tear through most rank and file.

Anti-war machine - I consider this important when playing an army with big monsters, as the last thing you want is a cannon ball smashing though your stegs.
Terradons make this quite simple to solve, as do chameleon skinks.
Failing that, a basic skink chief can be given cloak of feathers to fly about with, or even a saurus scar vet with a flying carpet works.


All in all, they do alot and very well.
Any mistakes are not likely to cost you the game like with brets or beastmen.



Edit: Ogres are also pretty damn good for starting out.

Tough, decent with magic, and have one of the most potent magic items (hellheart - forces enemy wizards to roll on the miscast chart) which when used, can be a game changer.
All in all, JWhex summed em up nicely.

Slaughtermaster is a must, even if a tyrant does look good.
Fire belly or a butcher for more magic support.
Bruiser to carry the banner.

2 units of ogres, bulls or ironguts work, i tend to take 1 of each unit.

2 sabertusks, simply for getting in the way, chasig war machines or any unlucky wizard thats not in a unit.

As many mournfangs as you can fit in the list.
They really are a solid, hard hitting unit and people fear them alot.

Ironblasters, well, they are pretty much the same as above.
Accurate at range, or a S10 flame template up close really is nasty, not to mention it can fight in combat if it has no option.
Its a blend of a chariot and a cannon, just on steroids.

Another heads up on the lizardmen is that they are widely believed to be the next book to be updated for fantasy.

Out of all the armies I play, I think regular skink skirmishers may be my favorite unit, cheap, effective and versatile as any unit can be.

Why not just play beastmen, they aren't rocket science. Really all chaos armies are just push foward and fight, but its what you compose characters with and what chaff you bring that decides your battles.

The beastmen army is not a good choice for a beginner in my view because the book has some very serious flaws and really only about 1.5 competitive builds which leads to rather stale play after awhile.

The WoC army plays nothing like the beastman army at all now, your typical beastmen army will choose from

Beastlord or Chuck Norris Doombull build of hittiness
miasma spam and herdstone hovering low level shamans
maybe level 4 with death, depending on points
BSB ith str +1 banner for gors
bestigor herd
gor horde with ahw
harpies
razgors
maybe a couple of chariots
ungor raiders if you are smart

something from the rare section if you are not smart

This is a classic deploy on refused flank and shove forward combat army, and can do ok if you manage to get the right buffs and debuffs off. However a typical WoC army will just pick it apart with the chimeras and unbreakable demon prince.

A nurgle/epidemius build on the other hand will just straight up engage it and destroy it, consistently, routinely and to the point where it is so one sided it just is no fun for either player. None of this is theory hammer, it is based on a series of many games my group has been playing as two of us have beastmen armies as well as WoC and demons.