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I was having a look through some army books last night and wondered what you guys thought about an army made entirely of Core choices (plus the require Lords/Heros)

Id suppose any army made that way isnt going to win every game, but which armies could do it?

My thoughts were

warriors of Chaos- probably masses of warriors in a variety of variations with a couple of hard hitting Lords/Heroes

Ogres- largely the same but with Ogres

Empire- massed gunline

High Elves lots of variety

Dark Elves similar to high elves

thoughts?

Doable but you'd suffer extremely bad match-ups

I think Empire would be a lot better off with knights and big hordes of halberdiers than a gunline. Since handgunners/crossbowmen are pretty bad.

If you allow supporting captasuses and mounting your AL on an altar, other than just the basic required characters, it could work.

Warriors could do it either combo of warriors and chariots, or all chariot. 2400 point list with 16 chariots and a tooled up dp or lord. Oh Yes.

It is possible for a couple of armies to go almost all core but I can't think of any that can completely reduce everything else to even near nothing. As you say, Ogres & WoC are probably the closest you'll get to it.

Not really sure why you'd want to? Core isn't designed to win the fight.. it's designed to hold the line while your beefy units do the heavy lifting, to focus on core you're just rejecting part of the strategy of the game.. and horribly limiting yourself.

Skaven core would be hilarious bad.. I'd kill like 2 models in a game.

Those mega steadfast rank bonuses could win the day for Skaven

No they cant. Steadfast means nothing without the ability to do damage.

Yay I can pass LD tests but get 0 VP! Core is not the way to go I'm afraid.

Last Doc book, I did this. 1 unit letters, one unit horrors, one unit ladies. 2 fiends for chaff and characters. did excellent.

Well with the old skaven book I could do stuff like that too but..old books don't really factor into tactics.

Hard to do that with the new demon book considering they totally changed how things work.

I think there are a bunch of armies that can do it well, You just have to build your Heroes to counter what you are loosing, Off the Top of my head, Brets, All Cav, Have used it with good success. Ogres are basically All Specials anyway, Just loose access tho shooting. WOC can do it easily. Lizzards are another than can do it rather easily. Empire busses, Dwarfs Just means more crossbows, and warriors, Elves would have some issues, but could be worked, Most armies could do it and do it well, the only ones I could see really having an issue are VC, TK, People just have to rethink how they work things, and not fall back on the normall cruches.

I would have to say my vote goes to Dark Elves, Ogre Kingdoms, and Warriors of Chaos.

Actually, all Elves would do well. High and Dark have very versatile Core in their fast cavalry and infantry blocks (Corsairs and Witches are probably the best, though). Wood Elves might fair the best, though. I've faced a list or two with characters + tons of Glade Guard. There is very little they can't shoot down.

Skaven would be...interesting. Something like:

1 Grey Seer + stuff (315)
1 Warlock Engineer + equipment (150)
1 Chieftain + gear (122)

40 Clanrats + shields + full command (200)
1 Poisoned Wind Mortar (65)
24 Clanrats + shields + full command (128)
1 Warpfire Thrower (70)
24 Clanrats + shields + full command (128)
1 Warpfire Thrower (70)
41 Stormvermin + full command + Razor Standard (357)
1 Ratling Gun (55)
50 Skavenslaves + musician (102)
50 Skavenslaves + musician (102)
20 Skavenslaves + musician (42)
20 Skavenslaves + musician (42)
5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)
5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)
5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)
5 Giant Rats + Packmaster (23)
10 Night Runners + slings (80)
10 Night Runners + slings (80)

That's 2,200, I think.

Not quite sure why you'd want to go all-Core, but it's possible.

I've done all core ogres before, and it's quite good.
2 units of 8 Iron Guts, full command (one has standard of discipline).
2 units of 2 Ogres, iron fists, full command
7 units of 10 gnoblars
7 units of 10 gnoblars with trappers.
1 Slaughter masters, fully tooled up.

2500 points.

Gnoblars just flood the table isolating units for the ogres to pick off. Running 14 units for 500 points is tough to beat.

-Matt

 HawaiiMatt wrote:
I've done all core ogres before, and it's quite good.
2 units of 8 Iron Guts, full command (one has standard of discipline).
2 units of 2 Ogres, iron fists, full command
7 units of 10 gnoblars
7 units of 10 gnoblars with trappers.
1 Slaughter masters, fully tooled up.

2500 points.

Gnoblars just flood the table isolating units for the ogres to pick off. Running 14 units for 500 points is tough to beat.

-Matt

I think you made a small mistake.

BUt the point remain correct WOC, and Ogres could do all core Armies.

Suprised no-one has said it but I have won a couple of 2,000 with an all core Goblin army that I run mostly for the fun of seeing a table flooded with goblins. It was three big blocks of Night Goblins with fanatics flying all over the place (three in each) and more than a liberal sprinkling of Warbosses, Big bosses and shamans. There were also wolf riders and spider riders as support It was a massacre but I have managed to pull out a few wins (mostly against dwarfs).

I've also been brutally slaughtered so take that with a grain of salt.

Wood Elves because the two best units in the book are core (glade guard and dryads) Tons of MSU units of archers and dryads. The whole army advances and tries to get as many close range shoots at whatever unit has been marked for death and then after destroying the unit the MSU units of double flee etc to save points while the dryads clear chaff and protect the lanes of fire.

Silver_skates wrote:
Suprised no-one has said it but I have won a couple of 2,000 with an all core Goblin army that I run mostly for the fun of seeing a table flooded with goblins. It was three big blocks of Night Goblins with fanatics flying all over the place (three in each) and more than a liberal sprinkling of Warbosses, Big bosses and shamans. There were also wolf riders and spider riders as support It was a massacre but I have managed to pull out a few wins (mostly against dwarfs).

I've also been brutally slaughtered so take that with a grain of salt.

The goblin army has a few hard counters.
1) Terrain. All it takes is a few hills and your opponent can trigger your fanatics with immunity.
2) Ethereals. 60 point wraith hero can trigger and sweep up fanatics in a 12" line.
3) Terror. This one is a big deal. Goblin leadership is bad... really bad. Terror tests will make them flee, and kill the fanatics before they are released.
4) Panic, as terror, only it spreads to multiple units.

-Matt

And as far as "hard counters" go, Terror is a pretty big deal. Most armies have something that causes Terror (...Dwarfs are the only one that doesn't, right?). And everyone can cause Panic. In at least three ways.

Wood Elves is still my bet.

WOC take Throgg and get some core trolls then add a load of chariots and warhounds, hell even some marauder horsemen with flails.